Choral Singing

CHORAL SINGING. In Great Britain choral singing, from 1913 to 1928, falls into three periods—the splendid activity which was checked by the World War, the struggles during that dark period, and the efforts. since 1919 to find means of meeting the new situation. In the first period there was extraordinary vitality and much new impetus.

Some Notable Figures.

The old tradition of solid, square toed choralism had been shaken to the roots by the personality of Dr. (now Sir) Henry Coward, the Sheffield chorus master. He had turned the big, heavy, unwieldy body of the provincial choral society into a living, sensitive, functioning organism, and his ex ploits had created a sensational interest in this form of art. Some of his disciples, no doubt, carried his ideas too far and lost sight of the end in exploiting the means. There were other notable workers in the field, with different aims, each contributing to the general good. Harry Evans, by his work in Wales and Liverpool, his keen personality and penetrating insight, made a great im pression on the choral world. He was particularly successful in modern works for large choirs, exploiting vivid colouring. His comparatively early death in 1914 was a severe loss.

Two other choirs, also under men of outstanding personality, were beginning to attract attention. Both were breaking away from the lines traditionally followed by the average British choral society. In 1904 Charles Kennedy Scott, an able and versatile musician, founded in London the Oriana Madrigal Society, a small body originally intended to arouse interest in the English madrigal school. It eventually widened its scope and devoted much atten tion to modern British unaccompanied choral works, and in the period in question it was becoming firmly established in public notice. The choice of programmes struck out new lines and gave fresh ideas to choral conductors all over the world.

In Glasgow an amateur musician, Hugh S. Roberton, was attracting attention by the skilled singing of his Orpheus Choir, a body of about 120 singers, concentrating mostly on Scottish song arrangements and unaccompanied works on a small scale. Dr. E. C. Bairstow, organist of York Minster since 1913, was proving himself one of the most able choral conductors in the land, and a church musician who made the services at the Minster among the finest of the world.

The period being described was also remarkable for experi ments in choral composition. The new technique acquired by large choral societies and the enormous strides made by choirs in touch with the competition festival movement opened up new possibilities to composers. The most daring experimentalist was Sir Granville Bantock, who wrote (1912-14 ) Atalanta in Calydon and The Vanity of Vanities. Entitled choral symphonies, they are divided into four movements on the lines of the traditional or chestral form, and are written for unaccompanied voices. The voices are disposed in 20 and 12 parts respectively, not with a view to polyphonic writing, but to obtain contrasts of colour on the lines of strings, wind and brass of the orchestra. Many highly original effects are obtained, and severe problems set for choir and trainer.

Recent Developments.

On the conclusion of the World War the task of reconstruction proved even greater than had been anticipated. Traditions had been broken and the formerly constant supply of tenors and basses was not and has not been recaptured. Subscribers who had supported institutions for many years as a duty did not resume their help. The war, too, had accelerated a change of taste which had gradually been coming about. Standard societies had always been able to rely upon the popular oratorios of Handel and Mendelssohn to crowd houses and fill coffers. The Messiah had paid many and many a deficit. But, generally speaking, this was no longer the case. Moreover, costs of halls, or chestra, printing and advertising, were all higher, and in addition there was the devastating entertainment tax. Consequently few societies could meet their expenses.

On the other side of the account, however, there was a new awakening of competition festivals, which, firmly established before the war, have attained an extraordinary vitality since. One great value of this movement is that it affords a raison d'ętre for the existence of every kind of society, except the larger bodies. Rural festivals bring into existence choirs in the smallest of villages, and the larger festivals stimulate the virtuosity of the leading bodies. Choirs connected with churches and chapels, women's institutes, guilds, boy scouts, all sorts of male, female and mixed organizations, are encouraged, improved and given a new outlook. In this way the problem of finding an audience for a concert and making ends meet may be avoided.

There has been a remarkable development of male voice choirs, mostly of working men, often connected with factories or works of various kinds, and these have, to a certain extent, thinned the male ranks of mixed choirs. A keen sense of sportsmanship and comradeship results in much more intensive work than is cus tomary with mixed choirs. "Trade" bodies were willing to submit to 6o or 70 rehearsals of a single part song. A much higher stand ard of music is now obtained through the influence of these festi vals. The singing of madrigals has received an immense impetus. Choral arrangements of folk songs and compositions by the best of our modern composers are being brought within the ken of many thousands of people. For some festivals choirs prepare choruses from an important work which is finally given by com bined forces. In this way tiny rural villages know their Bach cantatas, and are even intimate with the B minor Mass and other large-scale compositions.

Another striking development of importance has been the growth of "works" choirs, some of which are very fine bodies. The Glasgow police and tramways choirs and the L.N.E.R. Musi cal Society are examples. One interesting fact is being disclosed by this activity. It was thought that the best choral singing was to be found only in Yorkshire, and that other parts of the country could not hope to rival that county. But the opinion of most adjudicators is that first-rate work can be produced anywhere. Without doubt the most robust voices come from this northern county, and in other parts of the country the current quality is less adapted to powerful and brilliant results, but a good con ductor can produce superlatively good results from material exist ing in any district in the British Isles. Adjudicators of the widest experience have found astonishing results in places which were supposed to be unmusical. The general consensus of opinion among critics at the Leeds festival of 1925 was that although vocally the choir there was perhaps the finest in the world, technically it was inferior to many bodies in other parts of the country. This change of centre foreshadows a new era in choral singing.

Some Notable Choirs.

In London the Oriana Choir con tinues to do good work, forming a model for madrigal singing, and producing the latest works of modern British composers. In 1919 the Philharmonic Choir was formed in order that a large choral body might be affiliated with the Philharmonic Society. Kennedy Scott was appointed conductor, and he had proved as brilliant with a large choir as with a small one. Among the important works produced, in addition to classics, have been Bax's motets and the choral works of Delius. In particular, the performance of the Mass of Life in April 1925, reached a remarkable standard. London possesses, for the first time in its history, both a large and a small choir which can give performances unexcelled any where else in the kingdom. A junior philharmonic choir, composed of young women, is now in existence. Besides giving concerts of its own, it forms a source from which experienced singers can be drafted into the main body.

In Scotland.

The Glasgow Orpheus Choir has reached a state of popularity unprecedented in the history of choral singing, and maintains the level of its superlatively polished performances. It attracts crowded audiences in Glasgow, gives concerts all over Scotland, and makes annual raids into England. It has done much to stimulate choral singing; its policy has been to afford opportunities for the training of conductors, and to give advice and assistance on the question of formation of new choirs. It is probably the first time that any choir has undertaken mis sionary work on such a large scale. A most successful tour was made in Canada and the United States of America, in the summer of 1926, and the reputation of British choral singing was bril liantly enhanced. In Manchester the Halle Choir (chorus master, Mr. Dawber) has within late years won fresh honours at the con certs conducted by Sir Hamilton Harty.

Changes of Taste.

A significant feature in recent years has been the greatly increased interest in Bach. At the beginning of the century Bach was considered suitable for only the finest choirs, and especially cultured audiences. His cantatas were almost unknown in Britain. Now large and small societies pro duce his larger works frequently, and his church cantatas are being regularly performed. Reference may be made in this connection to an experiment, the founding of the Newcastle-upon Tyne Bach Choir in . I 915 to perform the works of the master, not with the wrong proportions of an orchestra of 5o and a choir of 300, but with forces approximating to those used in his day. The choir, after a period of experiment, was fixed at 4o, ten to a line. The orchestra varies according to the work concerned; in some cases it is practically equal to the choir in numbers. Besides all the large works of Bach and the motets, about 8o of his can tatas have been given. A three days' Bach festival was given in London in Feb. 1921. British composers are also included in the scheme of work, over 6o having been represented. It gave in Newcastle cathedral in 1924 the first known complete per formance of Byrd's recently discovered Great Service, and the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust sent the choir to give three per formances of it in St. Margaret's, Westminster, London, in November of the same year. Several choirs have been formed on its lines, in Doncaster, Stockton, Leicester, Liverpool, and are helping to spread a knowledge of Bach unrivalled in any other country outside Germany if, indeed, that country is not now out distanced in this direction by Great Britain. A Bach Cantata Club began operations in London in Feb. 1926, under the direction of C. K. Scott.

The Newcastle-upon-Tyne Bach Choir was invited to sing at the festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music, in Frankfurt-on-Main in July 1927, and afterwards made a short tour of German university towns, singing unaccompanied British music ranging from Byrd to Holst.

Advance in Technique.

It is impossible in a short article even to mention all the manifestations of choral singing through out Great Britain. As a result of the competition festival move ment, new conductors of merit are appearing everywhere. Works which, a few years ago, were looked upon as extremely difficult, for instance, Elgar's Gerontius, are now sung in many small towns. The work in question will receive 5o to 6o performances every winter. To take a single example, an isolated town like Kendal, with a population of 14,00o, can produce such works as Holst's Cloud Messenger and Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony.

At the same time the improved standard of choral singing has inspired a series of fine works by British composers. Vaughan Williams' unaccompanied Mass, and his oratorio, Sancta Civitas, Hoist's Hymn of Jesus and first choral symphony, and a remark able group of unaccompanied motets by Arnold Bax, are a tribute alike to the technical efficiency of choral bodies and to the vitality and high level of the great tradition of native compositions for choirs.

Community singing has been another development of the movement and was inaugurated in 1915 on the lines of successful gatherings in Australia. Meetings were organized at which folk, national, and simple classical songs were sung in unison, and easy rounds were rehearsed, the music being taught by pattern, so that no technical knowledge was demanded from the singers. This "caught on" in a remarkable way, and the movement promises to become a permanent feature of national life, closely allied with the folk dance revival. Notable leaders are Gibson Young (who was one of the prime movers in Australia), Geoffrey Shaw, Sir Richard Terry, and Sir Hugh Allen.

In the Dominions.

British choirs overseas bid fair to follow the good example of the Mother Country. Dr. Fricker, late of Leeds, is doing splendid work in Toronto. The Winnipeg Male Voice Choir, under Hugh Ross (since conductor of the Schola Cantorum in New York) impressed visiting adjudicators greatly. British adjudicators returning from recent competitive festival tours, report that choral activity may outdistance the Mother Country in a short time, and speak enthusiastically of a remark able standard of performance. Possibly by virtue of its climate, Australia produces splendid women's voices, which rather over weigh the men's. South Africa is producing some astonishing results with native races, especially in schools, where early ma turity enables fully fledged four-part singing to be cultivated. There is much choral activity in the main centres of that con tinent. (W. G. W.) The early growth of choral music in the United States, as elsewhere, was associated with the Church. It was the Puritans of New England rather than the Dutch colonists of New York who were mainly responsible for the earliest developments, and this although the Pilgrim fathers brought to America a hatred of musical culture that is without parallel in history. Over a century of controversy was required, indeed, before the Church reluc tantly accepted organized singing in "the new and ruleable way," which simply meant singing from the printed page rather than constantly repeating the traditional tunes from memory. Even late in the i8th century some localities still sang in "the usual way," which often consisted of the congregation's singing parts of two or three different tunes to one stanza of a hymn, or even singing different tunes at the same time. These melodies were sung so slowly that it was often necessary to take breath twice on one and the same tone or word-syllable.

In the face of such a handicap, it is surprising that early choral singing developed as rapidly as it did. But the acceptance of organized singing in the Church brought with it the advent of the singing school, with its psalm-tune teacher, and thereafter the choral society was a natural development. An early, but it must be admitted not too well authenticated, report describes a performance of the Messiah with organ accompaniment in the New York Trinity church as long ago as Jan. 9, 177o, less than 28 years of ter the original production of the work.

Early Organizations.

Probably the first stable organization of amateur singers in America was the Stoughton Musical Society, founded in Stoughton, Mass., by the first American composer, William Billings, in This antedates by five years the famous Berlin Singakademie. A rapid growth of similar choral societies followed, so that by 1812 the regularly established amateur choruses in America already outnumbered those of Germany, although the latter were doubtless vastly superior in quality. Of more lasting influence than the Stoughton Society was the Handel and Haydn Society, founded in Boston in 1815. This, while it lasted, became to America what the Singakademie of Berlin was to Continental Europe—the model for all similar organizations throughout its native country. It may be added that this society, whose present conductor is Thompson Stone, actually negotiated with Beethoven for a new choral work.

Henceforward, choral societies appeared in rapid succession. The short-lived Handel and Haydn Society of New York gave way to the New York Choral Society and the New York Sacred Music Society, both established in 1823, though the former only lasted a year. In 1844 the Musical Institute of New York was founded, but by 185o it was saved only by an amalgamation of the three New York choral groups, the Vocal Society, the Sacred Music Society and the American Musical Institute, all combining to form the New York Harmonic Society. As a result of a con troversy the short-lived Mendelssohn Society was formed in 1863, but nothing of a permanent nature was established until 1873, when Dr. Leopold Damrosch organized the New York Oratorio Society, which remains to-day as probably the foremost choral organization in the United States.

New York Oratorio

Society.—Starting with a group num bering from 15 to 20, and giving its first concert with only 6o voices, Dr. Damrosch lived to direct such a festival as that of 1881 when he conducted a chorus of 1,200 and an orchestra of 25o. At his death the work was continued by his son Walter and later, for a short period, by Frank Damrosch. Louis Koem menich, a German conductor, did much for the development of the Oratorio Society. Since 1921 the society has been under the leadership of Albert Stoessel, who, in its annual Christmas pro duction of the Messiah, and performances of other compositions of the great classical masters, as well as of modern works, has continued the traditions of the organization. In 1927 the society gave the first complete performance in New York of Bach's B Minor Mass.

The Oratorio Society shares with the more recent Schola Cantorum of New York, founded by Kurt Schindler in 19o9 (Hugh Ross, conductor), and the still more recent Society of the Friends of Music, founded in 1913 (Artur Bodanzky, conductor), the responsibility of maintaining the highest ideals of choral singing in New York.

It was due largely to the singing schools of New England that choral culture found its way to other sections of the country. In the west, Cincinnati became a choral centre, developing around the German population who were responsible for the first Amer ican Songerfest in 1849, just four years after such reunions had been introduced in Wurzburg, Germany. Theodore Thomas was responsible for the first of the famous Cincinnati festivals, in 1873. With one exception they have taken place biennially since that time, and lead the western contingent in choral enterprise. The conductor in 1927 was Frank van der Stucken.

Of eastern choral festivals, two are of outstanding importance. The annual Worcester (Mass.) music festival was established in 1858 under the name of Musical Convention. In 1873 it became the Worcester County Musical Festival. The annual Bach festival at Bethlehem, Pa., is devoted to the works of the great master, and was responsible for the first complete American perform ance of the B Minor Mass.

To-day the choral societies in the United States are almost innumerable ; Philadelphia alone boasts over 6o, and the number of such bodies throughout the whole country is being added to every year.

The History of American Music; Key, Inter national Music Year Book; Krehbiel, Choral Music in New York; Mees, Choirs and Choral Music. (A. STO.)