Glee (music) - Glee Clubs

Glee Clubs

The first of the great Georgian clubs to popularize the glee was the Noblemen and Gentlemen's Catch Club of London, founded in 1761. Glee singing societies became popular in the 18th century and remained so, well into the 19th century. Glee clubs were at their most active during the second half of the 18th C., encouraging the production of new glees by awarding prizes to their composers. For example, in 1763 the Catch Club was offering four prizes annually - two for glees (one serious, one cheerful), one for a catch and one for a canon. From around 1850, as larger choral societies supplanted the earlier clubs, the term glee club was increasingly used in the U.S.A. to describe collegiate ensembles performing 'glees' and other light music in informal circumstances. As these glee clubs began more to resemble standard choirs during the 20th century, the tradition of singing glees in a social context faded.