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Early in the novel, Fidelis founds a singing club like the one he remembers in his German home, Ludwigsruhe, and the men begin weekly meetings to harmonize and socialize.
The Master Butchers Singing Club is a 2003 novel by American author Louise Erdrich. It follows the lives of German immigrants Fidelis Waldvogel and his family, as well as Delphine Watzka and her partner Cyprian, as they adjust in their separate lives in the small town of Argus, North Dakota.
- Louise Erdrich
- 2003
The The Master Butcher’s Singing Club Community Note includes chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quizzes written by community members like you.
They were left in the cellar of the home a retribution towards Porky Chavers, the Chavers family patriarch, who sang over Roy in Fidelis' singing club. Roy never intended to kill them but when he was drunk he completely forgot about them and simply abandoned them in the locked cellar.
Fidelis is a master butcher whose shop is successful. In Argus, he finds a community of German immigrants and starts up a men’s choral group that sings songs from the old country. His hard work eventually pays off, and he is able to bring Eva and her son, Franz, to Argus to join him.
In Argus, North Dakota, he builds a business, a home for his family—which includes Eva and four sons—and a singing club consisting of the best voices in town. When the Old World meets the New—in the person of Delphine Watzka—the great adventure of Fidelis's life begins.
Once in Argus, Fidelis began to settle down. He eventually sent for Eva and their child, Franz. Shortly thereafter, the couple opened a butcher shop of their own, called Waldvogel's Meats. They soon became an integral part of the Argus community.
