Established on 04.24.1992 by the Board of Regents
A speech by Paul J. Dovre at the inauguration of the Paul J. and Eleanor Christiansen Chair in Choral Music:
Paul might have been honored for having served longer than any member of this faculty and staff – 50 years, more than half the life of the college at the time he retired in 1987 but, obviously, that is not the reason for this honor. Rather, we recognize Paul for outstanding service in a continuing role as teacher, artist and composer.
I believe it is impossible to overstate the role of Paul J. Christiansen in setting quality standards for the college – for the whole faculty, for every student. For the choir, Paul’s creation, set a stander of excellence which rubbed off on all of the rest of us inside the college. And then, as the choir set out on annual tours, they exemplified our commitment to excellence throughout the region first, then across the nation and eventually in the international arena.
Paul is heir to a distinguished choral tradition, a tradition to which he gave his own voice for the color of his choral sound was distinctive, the choir’s repertoire reflected his own sense of adventure, and his compositions – full of energy and wide-ranging in sense and feel – reflected his own encounter with, and expression of, life and art. When one things of the sensitive tone of such chorales as “The King of Love,” the driving energy of “Prayers of Steel,” and the sense of excitement of “Be a New and Different Person” one gains an appreciation for the scope of Paul Christiansen’s art.
Now I have been dwelling on Paul’s work and you note that the chair contains another name as well, the name of his wife Eleanor. As this chair was being established with the leadership and input of choir alumni, they made it clear that the chair would carry both names. Eleanor’s contributions to the Concordia Community are well known – leader of Cobber Friends, Women’s League, Mu Phi Epsilon and the Study Club. Eleanor set a standard of loyalty and quality and expectation for more than one generation of faculty and students. In addition, she should have earned medals for accompanying the choir on countless tours serving as counselor, nurse, surrogate mother and – if truth be known – number one critic as well.
But the deeper reason for this dual naming is that there would not have been a professional career as distinguished as Paul’s without the personal investment and persistence of Eleanor. Symbiosis is the word of choice these days in describing how the sum of one plus one is something more than two. Paul and Eleanor demonstrated the truth of that premise long before it entered into our popular discourse. Eleanor saw to it that Paul had the time, the emotional support, the prodding and the appropriate setting to pursue his art. Indeed, their career, the career of Paul and Eleanor – their symbiosis – simply leave us with a sense of awe and wonder and praise.
The purpose of this endowed fund is to support the Paul J. and Eleanor Christiansen Chair in Choral Music.