Culture with Schlaraffia in New York is made by the members themselves. Every other Wednesday at the Steubenburg on the Upper East Side, the Sassen of the Brooklynia (123) recite their own verse, sing, play, parody one another and trade impromptu wit, all in German. Guests listen, and their laughter is the only thing asked of them.
A motto, then the pens come out
Each Sippung carries a motto, and the members answer it with Fechsungen, as Schlaraffen call any piece of their own making. When the knights are granted their Brandlethe, wit is not merely welcome but required, and everyone is told to bring his sharpest wordplay. Another evening takes an old German proverb about the agony of choice and turns it into a study of the art of deciding. In January the Reych checks honestly whether the New Year's resolutions still hold, in March it praises the gorse that still shines golden, and the last evening of the year sends 2026 off with ice wine, champagne and rhyme. Nobody knows in advance what the room will make of a motto, which is precisely the point.
A house built on song
The Steubenburg sits in the house of the Liederkranz of the City of New York, a male choral society founded in 1847, twelve years before Schlaraffia itself. The Liederkranz became one of the first addresses of the city's musical life; its Wagner evenings at the Metropolitan Opera were among the first of their kind in the United States. How strong German singing was here shows a single date: in 1900 more than 6,000 singers from 174 German-American choral societies came to the New York Sängerfest in Brooklyn. The Brooklynia's earlier home, the Delphinburg, also stood in a singers' house, that of the choral society Arion, and the chronicle calls it the most beautiful Burg the Reych ever had.
Brass bands and a festival play
Music and verse run through the Reych's own history. When European Schlaraffen landed in New York in 1914, the police band of the city greeted them with Lustig bum and Heil Praga, Dir, possible only because the bandmaster, Rt Glissando, was a Sasse of the Brooklynia. In 1944, in the middle of the war, some two hundred took part in the 50th founding feast, whose high point was a festival play by Rt Arcadius titled Vom Wunderland der Schönheit.
Next door to the Met
The Burg lies a few steps from Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum, in a city that has gathered the art of the world. The Brooklynia offers the opposite of a museum: nothing on its walls is for sale or on loan, and most of what is heard on a Wednesday was written for that one evening. Since 1894 the Reych has kept German verse alive in New York without interruption.
Pull up a chair
No guest is asked to contribute. The mottos of the season are listed in the Brooklynia calendar, and practical questions are answered in the FAQ for first-time guests. For the larger story in English, see how Schlaraffia began and what unites Schlaraffen.
Come and listen?
Join us as a guest - free of charge, without obligation and without any fuss.
