By Linda Stull Moeller ’66 | Photos Julie Pagel Drewes ’90

A year ago, restrictions created by a global pandemic made it impossible to stage the college’s 74th consecutive Advent-Christmas concert in the traditional mode. Yet the program continued, brightening a truly bleak midwinter with a video production that brought joy and hope to individuals and communities sequestered by COVID-19.

“It’s a great responsibility and a great honor to be a part of a tradition that is so storied and means so much to so many different people,” said Dr. Lee Nelson, Christmas with Wartburg artistic director and the Patricia R. Zahn Chair in Choral Conducting. “Those people who created this tradition, I feel a great sense of honor to be a part of it and a great sense of responsibility to continue to lift it up and bring it up in new ways.”

Beginning as a simple Christmas concert in 1947, Christmas at Wartburg mirrored the growth of the college and expansion of the campus. For the first two years, it was staged at the Waverly High School auditorium because Wartburg had no facility suitable for large audiences. In 1949, the program moved to the newly built Knights Gymnasium, which was equipped with a large stage at one end of the gym floor. In 1961, the Chapel-Auditorium, later named Neumann Auditorium, created a new venue with more comfortable seats and better acoustics.

The first concert featured the Wartburg Choir and the Chapel Choir. The program expanded to include the Concert Band and Castle Singers, and in 1952, the newly formed Wartburg Community Symphony Orchestra made its first appearance. Today, Christmas with Wartburg features five choral groups (Wartburg Choir, Castle Singers, Ritterchor, St. Elizabeth Chorale, and Kantorei) and three instrumental groups (Wartburg Wind Ensemble, Kammerstreicher chamber orchestra, and Handbell Choir).

“To be in the middle of all of that beautiful sound is just something that very few people can grasp unless you are a part of that,” said Ro Foege ’60, who was a member of the Wartburg Choir. “In the more recent years, the presentations are just amazing. The multimedia and how they use technology is quite different from the 1950s. We didn’t know any different, and we thought it was absolutely wonderful. And the spirit was just the same because we had a great audience and a receptive audience.”

The name, Christmas with Wartburg, first appeared on the 1951 program and by 1953, attendance had reached 1,500. Over the next 40 years, attendance grew to 6,400 and the schedule included a total of four shows, two in Waverly and two at off-campus venues as the college sought to gain broader name recognition throughout the state.

“If you look at the Lutheran choral tradition around the country, it is something unique and something to be proud of. It doesn’t happen in all places, but because of the very nature of the community, it still exists, and it is something that I am quite proud to be a part of,” said Dr. Paul Torkelson ’76, director of choral activities from 1984 to 2009. “I still have a bit of the Christmas with Wartburg spirit that is still with me at the beginning of every Christmas season. If we leave that with the students and the community, then we really have done something special.”

Throughout its history, Christmas with Wartburg has combined music, narration, and scenic effects to create a cohesive theme. Set design was always a piece of the Christmas with Wartburg performance, but banners and large-scale pieces weren’t added until 1976. Then, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Christmas with Wartburg in 2007, the college commissioned artist Janiece Bergland of Floyd, Iowa, to create a hand-painted backdrop that was used for three years. She created a second backdrop for the 2010 program, which celebrated Wartburg’s 75th consecutive year in Waverly.

In 2011, mural designer and illustrator Chris Knudson ’01 began creating a yearly mural that reflects the program theme, accommodates a variety of special lighting effects, and provides graphic elements for programs, posters, and other ancillary materials.

“Christmas with Wartburg has morphed and changed into something different, and yet it’s not different at all. It’s still Christmas with Wartburg, and the ones who did it when they were here are right back in that same spot,” said Dr. Craig Hancock, Wind Ensemble director. “They can remember where they stood to sing. They can remember where they were sitting as they played their instrument. They are transported back to another time, another place.”