Funeral Event for Tenor Valentin Mees

The funeral of one of our longest-known singers, Valentin Mees, took place on the 10th. For twenty years, he was part of the singing scene, and hundreds of his singer friends attended and sang for him for the last time. He was born in Mainz (Germany), and came to New York in 1849. The talented tenor became a member of the Schillerbund and the Rheinische Sängerbund. Shortly after, he founded the New Yorker Liedertafel. In 1858 he joined the Teutonia chorus. He then turned to the Beethoven men’s chorus and the Mozart chorus. He married very young and soon had to support a growing family. The weight of the responsibility might have played a part in the severe illness of consumption which he died of in his best years at 35. He leaves behind a widow and 8 children. He was an honorary member of the Beethoven men’s chorus and the New Yorker Liedertafel. His house was also the head quarters of the Liedertafel, and that is where the Beethoven men’s chorus sang “In des Friedhofs stillen Gründen” (lyrics and music by Carl Träger) after the funeral. On his grave, the Mozart chorus sang “Aus schweren Herzen tönt das Lied”, lyrics and music by Carl Sahm, as well as “Ritters Abschied” with altered lyrics, performed by the German Liedertafel.