Choral Music

Choral Music

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Choral music is defined as music for voices in two or more parts, containing more than one voice to each part.  There are two types of composition for choir, based on its intended purpose. Sacred choral music is composed for the purpose of singing in church or as part of a religious service Secular choral music for purposes outside of the church.

The middle ages •

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In this period, choral music was largely monophonic and choirs in church were confined to singing plainchant. Choirs of this period were all male and consisted of monks from the monastery. Polyphonic music for voices did exist, but it was confined largely to music outside of the church and in folk music. Advances in the notation of music and the teaching of theory made part-singing for choirs more possible throughout the 14th and 15th centuries.

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Sumer Is Icumen In •

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One of the earliest manuscripts of  music that exists is that of the round Sumer Is Icumen In. It dates from the mid 13th century and is written using mensural notation – a type of early notation that distinguished notes of different pitches and lengths.  The red crosses on the manuscript indicate when each in subsequent part Sumer is icumen should enter

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Organum •

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One of the first types of part-singing was organum, in which another voice was added to the plainchant, initially as a drone, experimenting with the concept of harmony. Gradually the part became fixed at a particular interval from the melody to create parallel organum. It was in the 11th century that composers began to experiment with free organum – two parts with their own musical shape or contour.

Organum: Alleluia - Inter natos mulierum

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The Renaissance period •

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 The Renaissance period (c.1500–1600) saw a rapid growth in choral music. Churches invested heavily in liturgical music (Liturgy - A prescribed form or set of forms for public religious worship) and the output of  sacred music for church choirs was substantial throughout this period. Initially, composers such as Dufay and John Taverner composed masses based on a cantus firmus. This term refers to the use of a recognised plainchant as the basis of a polyphonic composition, which became the unifying element throughout the movements when separated in the service.  Josquin Des Prez As time went on, composers moved away from the use of the cantus : Missa l'Homme Armé Super firmus as support for the other voice parts in the mass and Voces Musicales composed freely.

 Josquin Des Prez : Missa l'Homme Armé Sexti Toni 5/7/12

The Renaissance period •

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As well as the mass setting, composers began to write individual pieces based on text outside of the liturgy, the most common of  these being the motet and later the anthem.  The motet, with its roots in the Roman Catholic Church, is always to be found in Latin and the anthem, which emerged after the reformation, is in the vernacular; that is, the mother tongue. In secular society, the madrigal flourished in the Renaissance period emerging from Italy in the mid 1500s. Initially based on love poetry, madrigals were composed to be performed by amateurs in domestic or social settings. Madrigals gained in popularity and versions emerged in England and Germany.  The English madrigalas championed by composers such as Thomas Morley, John Wilbye and Thomas Weelkes flourished in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. " Now is the month of maying“ - a Madrigal by Thomas Morley

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Among early forms of the madrigal, the English ballet is instantly recognisable with its fa-la-la refrain and more homophonic style. 5/7/12

Fair Phyllis •

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English madrigal by John Farmer.  The song describes a person who saw a young shepherdess sitting alone feeding her sheep near a mountain. The other shepherds did not know where she was at the time. Her lover, Amyntas, goes looking for her and wanders through the hills playing hide and seek. Eventually he finds her, and when he does, they fall down and start kissing.  The music is polyphonic and was published in 1599.  The madrigal contains four voices and uses occasional imitation. It also alternates between triple and duple beat subdivisions of the beat in different parts of the work. Farmer uses clever word painting. For example, in the opening line "Fair Phyllis I saw sitting all alone", Farmer had only the soprano sing since she was all alone. In the 5/7/12 next line "Feeding her flock near to the

Fair Phyllis I saw sitting all alone Feeding her flock near  to the mountain side. The shepherds knew not, they knew not whither  she was gone, But after her lover   Amyntas hied, Up and down he wandered whilst she was missing; When he found her, O then they fell akissing.. Fair Phyllis I saw

The Renaissance period •

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 The reformation of 1534, when the Church in England separated from the Roman Catholic tradition under the reign of King Henry VIII, had a huge impact on choral music in England, albeit fairly gradually. Up until that time, composers were confined to setting Latin texts for the Roman Catholic Service  The reformation and the subsequent publication in 1549 of the English Book of Common Prayer enabled composers to write in the vernacular – indeed they were under instruction to do so. In place of the mass and the motet, the two forms of composition required by the Anglican Service were the Service and the Anthem.  Thomas Tallis and Christopher Tye were two musicians who were composing throughout this period and evidence of both styles can be seen in their works.  Thomas Tallis’s - Spem in alium - (c.1570) – a composition for 40 parts, divided into eight choirs of five parts – is a good example of music with Latin text from this period

Thomas 5/7/12 Tallis

Spem In Alium Thomas Tallis Thomas Tallis - If Ye Love Me

The Baroque period •

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 The rise of instrumental music in the Baroque period (c.1600–1750) resulted in the decline of the unaccompanied choral music popular in the Renaissance period. Instead, instruments were combined with choirs to produce new types of choral music. Henry Purcell developed the work of the Renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons in the verse anthem – sacred works alternating solo and tutti sections, (Tutti  is an Italian word literally meaning all or together and is used as a musical term, for the whole orchestra as opposed to the soloist. It is applied similarly to choral music, where the whole section or choir is called to sing accompanied by instruments)

When I am laid in earth (Dido's Lament)

 J.S. Bach took Lutheran hymn tunes, until then sung in unison, and Bach - Mass in B minor harmonised them creating the chorale. He also combined instruments and voices in large Handel - Messiah - Hallelujah Chorus multi-movement works to create the oratorio and the passion. Handel too took an interest in this form and in 1741 composed his 5/7/12 •

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The Classical period •

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In the Classical period, the emphasis for vocal music was in the development of the opera and the solo song, which resulted in relatively fewer choral works emerging during this time.  Joseph Haydn developed an interest in the oratorio towards the end of his life, his most notable work in this genre being The Creation (1796–98), and Mozart and Beethoven each composed settings of  the mass. Haydn "Creation"

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An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is musical theatre, while oratorio is strictly a concert piece—though oratorios are sometimes staged as operas, and operas are sometimes presented in concert form. In an oratorio there is generally little or no interaction between the characters, and no props or elaborate costumes. A particularly important difference is in the typical subject matter of the text. Opera tends to deal with history and mythology, including age-old devices of romance, deception, and murder,

The Classical period •

One of the most important developments in secular choral music came in 1820 at the hands of Beethoven, whose introduction of a chorus in the last movement of his ninth symphony was to redefine the symphony and once again elevate the voice to supreme status.

Beethoven Symphony No 9 - 4

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The Romantic period •

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 The two giants of the symphony later in the 19th century, Mahler and Bruckner, both regularly used choirs in their symphonies creating works of gargantuan proportions. Gustav Mahler was rumoured to amass performers nearing 1,000 in number in his eighth symphony, ‘The Symphony of A Thousand’, in 1906.

Mahler - Symphony No. 8 - Finale "Imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no longer human voices, but planets and stars revolving." -Mahler on this symphony

Gustav Mahler (1860 – 1911) - Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of  Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliste in 5/7/12 the Czech Republic.

The Romantic period •

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Along with the growing popularity of opera in the Romantic period, the medium of choral writing also appealed to a number of the great composers of the era. Rossini, Bruckner and Schubert found favour through mass settings and Elgar, Berlioz and Mendelssohn via the oratorio. One of the great sacred choral works of the 19th century is undoubtedly Verdi’s Requiem, showing his versatility as a composer outside of the realm of opera for which he was best known.

Verdi' Requiem

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Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (1813 – 1901) was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century. His works are frequently performed in opera houses throughout the world and, transcending the boundaries of the genre, some of his themes have long since taken root in popular culture. Verdi’s masterworks dominate the standard opera repertoire a century and a half after their composition.

La Donna È Mobile (Rigoletto) Libiamo Ne' Lieti Calici (La Traviata) Grand March (Aida)

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The Romantic period •

With the development of secular choral music in the 19th century and the increasing number of large-scale sacred works being performed in concert halls, the role of the choral society – groups of amateur musicians performing as a chorus, became increasingly important. The singing of choral music was becoming a social activity for the amateur as well as for the professional and the increasing availability of printed music ensured that the great works could be accessed by the masses.

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The 20th Century So diverse were the musical trends in the 20th century that it was no surprise that this period saw a resurgence of choral genres that had declined in popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries. Composers such as Arthur Honegger and William Walton composed successfully in the medium of the oratorio Benjamin Britten and Herbert Howells in their anthem and canticle settings (including one by Howells for Gloucester Cathedral).  Towards the end of the last century a notable number of composers turned to sacred a cappella choral music reminiscent of  Renaissance polyphony. Eric Whitacre and John Tavener are two names that immediately spring to mind  This return to the simplicity of the unaccompanied choir takes the story of the development of choral music back to its roots and celebrates the– voice as an instrument in its own right.  John Tavener The Lamb •

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