orpheonist

English

Etymology

From French orphéoniste.

Noun

orpheonist (plural orpheonists)

1. A member of an orphéon.
   • 1860 July 1, The Bromley Record and Monthly Advertiser, volume I, Bromley: […] Edward Strong, […], published 1865, page 233:

     This year, happens to be, leap year,—to ensure eternal amity between the two nations (for the people, after, all have the alternative of peace, or war, in their own hands;) what if the bachelor orpheonists of France, and the maidens of England, should take this opportunity of uniting themselves in lasting bonds as suggested in the orchestral painting, and settling the matter at once to the tune of the Wedding March?

   • 1866 September 21, Prosper Mérimée, edited by Louis [Alexander] Fagan, Letters of Prosper Mérimée to Panizzi, volume II, London: Remington and Co., […], published 1881, page 193:

     Michel had engaged a dozen orpheonists, who sang very primitive Basque airs in chorus, accompanied by a species of shrill flageolet, the invariable refrain being Viva Imperatrisa!

   • 1867 June 28, “The Paris Exhibition”, in Zerah Colburn, editor, Engineering: An Illustrated Weekly Journal, volume III, London: Office for Advertisements and Publication, […], page 668:

     On the 5th and 7th the festival of the French orpheonists will be held, and on the 8th there will be an international competition of orpheonists, with from 5000 to 6000 performers.

   • 1874 February, Edward Strahan [pseudonym; Earl Shinn], “The New Hyperion. From Paris to Marly by Way of the Rhine.”, in Lippincott’s Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, volume XIII, Philadelphia, Pa.: J. B. Lippincott and Co., page 148:

     The orchestra and the orpheonists filled the sacred apsis.

   • 1878, Alphonse Daudet, translated by E. Clavequin, The Nabob: A Story of Parisian Life and Manners, volume II, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], page 78:

     The orpheonists, out of breath with the double exertion of singing and running, but keeping on their howl for all that, dragged after them their flag-bearers, with their flags flung over their shoulders.