A choir, chorale, or chorus is a musical ensemble of
singers.
Melbourne Chorale (back of stage)
A body of singers who perform together is called a choir or chorus. The former term is very often applied to groups affiliated
with a church (whether or not they actually occupy the quire) and the second to
groups that perform in theatres or concert halls, but this distinction is far from rigid. "Choir" has the secondary definition of
a subset of an ensemble; thus one speaks of the "woodwind choir" of an orchestra, or different "choirs" of voices and/or
instruments in a polychoral composition. In typical 18th to 20 century
oratorios and masses, chorus or choir is usually understood to
imply more than one singer per part, in contrast to the quartet of soloists also featured in these works.
Structure of choirs
Choirs are often led by a conductor or choirmaster. Most often choirs consist of four
parts but there is no limit to the number of possible parts: Thomas Tallis wrote a 40-part
motet entitled Spem in alium, for eight choirs of
five parts each; Krzysztof Penderecki's Stabat Mater is for three choirs of
16 voices each, a total of 48 parts. Other than four, the most common number of parts are three, five, six and eight.
Choirs can sing with or without instrumental accompaniment. Singing without accompaniment is called a cappella singing (although the American Choral
Directors Association[1] discourages this usage in favor of "unaccompanied"). Accompanying instruments can consist of practically
any instruments, from one to a full orchestra; for rehearsals a piano or organ accompaniment is often used even if a different
instrumentation is planned for performance, or for rehearsing a cappella music. While Eastern Orthodox churches and some synagogues ban the use of instruments, in churches of the
western rite the accompanying instrument is almost always an organ.
Beside the leading of singing in which the congregation participates such
as hymns and service music, choirs still sing the full propers (introit, gradual, communion
antiphons appropriate for the different times of the liturgical year) at a few churches,
chiefly those of the Anglican or Roman
Catholic churches; far more common however is the performance of an anthem at the
offertory. The Vatican conducts all of its Masses in
Latin [citation needed], and its choir mainly made up
of religious clergy[citation needed]. They sing a repertory of Latin Chants known as Gregorian Chant. Local Roman Catholic Churches also use at their discretion to have additional
orchestral accompanyment. The most noted Roman Catholic Church in the world to use
an orchestral accompanyment is Saint Patrick's Cathedral in
New York City.
Choirs can be categorized by the voices they include:
- Mixed choirs (i.e., with male and female voices). This is perhaps the most common type, usually consisting of
soprano, alto, tenor and
bass voices, often abbreviated as SATB. Often one or more voices is divided into two,
e.g., SSAATTBB, where each voice is divided into two parts, and SATBSATB, where the choir is divided into two semi-independent
four-part choirs. Occasionally baritone voice is also used (e.g., SATBarB), often sung by the
higher basses.
- Male choirs, with the same SATB voicing as mixed choirs, but with boys singing the upper part (often called treble or boy soprano) and men singing alto (in falsetto), also known as countertenor. This format is typical of the
British cathedral choir.
- Female choirs, usually consisting of soprano and alto voices, two parts in each, often abbreviated as SSAA, or as soprano,
soprano II, and alto, abbreviated SSA
- Men's choirs, usually consisting of two tenors, baritone, and bass, often abbreviated as TTBB (or ATBB if the upper part
sings falsetto in alto range like barbershop music, even though
this notation is not normally used in barbershop music). Occasionally, a men's choir
will have Basso Profundo, the lowest of all male vocal ranges.
- Children's choirs, often two-part SA or three-part SSA, sometimes more voices.
Choirs are also categorized by the institutions in which they operate:
Finally, some choirs are categorized by the type of music they perform, such as
Layout on stage
Image:Choir-layout.svg
One possible layout
There are various schools of thought regarding how the various sections should be arranged on stage. In symphonic choirs it is
common (though by no means universal) to order the choir from highest to lowest voices from left to right, corresponding to the
typical string layout. In a cappella or piano-accompanied situations it is not unusual for the men to be in the back and
the women in front; some conductors prefer to place the basses behind the sopranos, arguing that the outer voices need to tune to
each other.
More experienced choirs often sing with the voices all mixed together. Proponents of this method argue that it makes it easier
for each individual singer to hear and tune to the other parts, but it requires more independence from each singer. Opponents
argue that this method loses the spatial separation of individual voice lines, an otherwise valuable feature for the audience,
and that it eliminates sectional resonance, which lessens the effective volume of the chorus.
For music with double (or multiple) choirs, usually the members of each choir are together, sometimes significantly separated,
especially in performances of 16th-century music. Some composers actually specify that choirs should be separated, such as in
Benjamin Britten's War Requiem.
Skills involved in choral singing
Choral singers vary greatly in their ability and performance. The best choral singers possess (among others) the following
abilities:
- to sing precisely in tune and with a vocal timbre which complements the other singers;
- to sing at precisely controlled levels of volume, matching the dynamics and expression marked in the score or prescribed by
the conductor, and not sing so loudly as to be markedly detectable as an individual voice within the section;
- to sight-read music fluently;
- to read and pronounce the lyrics accurately and in the pronunciation style specified by the leader, whatever the language may
be;
- to remain completely alert for long periods, monitoring closely what is going on in a rehearsal or performance;
- to monitor one's own singing and detect errors.
- to accept direction from others for the good of the group as a whole, even when the singer disagrees esthetically with the
instructions;
Singers who have perfect pitch require yet other skills:
- to sing music in keys other than that in which it is written, since choirs often sing music in transposed form.
- to stay in tune with the ensemble, even in the event the ensemble modulates slightly away from "perfect" pitch
Historical overview of choral music
Medieval music
-
The earliest notated music of western Europe is Gregorian Chant, along with a few
other types of chant which were later subsumed (or sometimes suppressed) by the Catholic Church. This tradition of unison choir
singing lasted from sometime between the times of St. Ambrose (4th
century) and Gregory the Great (6th century)
up to the present. During the later Middle Ages, a new type of singing involving multiple melodic parts, called organum, became predominant for certain functions, but initially this polyphony was only sung by soloists. Further developments of this technique included clausulae, conductus and the motet
(most notably the isorhythmic motet), which, unlike the Renaissance motet, describes a composition with different texts sung simultaneously in different
voices. The first evidence of polyphony with more than one singer per part comes in the Old
Hall Manuscript (1420, though containing music from the late 1300s), in which there is occasional divisi (where one part
divides into two different notes, something a solo singer obviously couldn't handle).
Renaissance music
-
During the Renaissance, sacred choral music was the principal type of (formal or
'serious') music in Western Europe. Throughout the era, hundreds of masses and
motets (as well as various other forms) were composed for a
cappella choir, though there is some dispute over the role of instruments during certain periods and in certain areas.
Some of the better-known composers of this time include Dufay, Josquin des Prez, Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina, and William Byrd; the glories of Renaissance polyphony were choral, sung by choirs of great skill and distinction all over Europe. Choral music from this
period continues to be popular with many choirs throughout the world today.
Madrigals are another particularly popular form dating from this period. Although
madrigals were initially dramatic settings of unrequited-love poetry or mythological stories in Italy, they were imported into
England and merged with the more upbeat balletto, celebrating often silly songs of spring, or
eating and drinking. To most English speakers, the word madrigal now refers to
the latter, rather than to madrigals proper, which refers to a poetic form of lines consisting of seven and eleven syllables
each.
The interaction of sung voices in Renaissance polyphony influenced Western music for centuries. Composers are routinely
trained in the "Palestrina style" to this day, especially as codified by the 18c music theorist Johann Joseph Fux. Composers of the early twentieth century also endeavored to extend and develop the
Renaissance styles. Herbert Howells wrote a Mass in the Dorian mode entirely in
strict Renaissance style, and Ralph Vaughan Williams's Mass in G minor is
an extension of this style. Anton von Webern wrote his dissertation on the
Choralis Constantinus of Heinrich
Isaac and the contrapuntal techniques of his serial music seems informed by this
study.
Baroque music
The sudden developments which mark the beginning of the Baroque period around 1600
(instrumental music, opera, chords) were only introduced gradually into choral music. Madrigals continued to be written for the
first few decades of the 17th century. Contrapuntal motets continued to be written for the Catholic church in the Renaissance
style well into the 18th century.
One of the first innovative choral composers of the Baroque was Claudio Monteverdi
(1567-1643), a master of counterpoint, who extended the new techniques pioneered by the
Venetian School and the Florentine
Camerata. Monteverdi, together with Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672), used the new
harmonic techniques to support and reinforce the meaning of the text. They both composed a large amount of music for both a
cappella choir as well as choirs accompanied by different ensembles.
Independent instrumental accompaniment opened up new possibilities for choral music. Verse
anthems alternated accompanied solos with choral sections; the best-known composers of this genre were Orlando Gibbons and Henry Purcell. Grand motets (such as those of
Michel-Richard Delalande) separated these sections into separate movements.
Oratorios extended this concept into concert-length works, usually loosely based on Biblical
stories. Giacomo Carissimi was the principal early composer of oratorios, but most
opera composers of the Baroque also wrote oratorios, generally in the same musical style as the operas. George Frideric Handel is the best-known composer of Baroque oratorios, most notably
Messiah and Israel in Egypt.
Lutheran composers wrote instrumentally-accompanied cantatas, often based on chorales (hymns). While Dieterich
Buxtehude was a significant composer of such works, Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685-1750) made the most prominent mark in this style, writing cantatas, motets, passions and other music. While Bach was little-known as a
composer in his time, and for almost a century after his death, composers such as Mozart and Mendelssohn assiduously studied and
learned from his contrapuntal and harmonic techniques, and his music is regularly performed and admired in the present day.
Classical and Romantic music
Composers of the late 18th century became fascinated with the new possibilities of the symphony and other instrumental music,
and generally neglected choral music. Mozart's choral music generally does not
represent his best work, with a few exceptions (such as the "Great" Mass in C minor and Requiem in D minor). Haydn became more interested in choral music
near the end of his life following his visits to England in the 1790s, when he heard various Handel oratorios performed by large
forces; he wrote a series of masses beginning in 1797 and his two great oratorios The
Creation and The Seasons. Beethoven wrote only two masses, both intended for liturgical use, although his Missa solemnis is suitable only for the grandest ceremonies. He also pioneered the use of
chorus as part of symphonic texture with his Ninth Symphony.
In the 19th century, sacred music escaped from the church and leaped onto the concert stage, with large sacred works
unsuitable for church use, such as Berlioz's Te Deum and Requiem, and Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem. Rossini's Stabat
mater, Schubert's masses, and Verdi's
Requiem also exploited the grandeur offered by instrumental accompaniment.
Oratorios also continued to be written, clearly influenced by Handel's models. Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ and
Mendelssohn's Elijah and
St Paul are in the category. Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Brahms also wrote
secular cantatas, the best known of which are Brahms's Schicksalslied and
Nänie.
A few composers developed a cappella music, especially Bruckner, whose masses
and motets startlingly juxtapose Renaissance counterpoint with chromatic harmony. Mendelssohn and Brahms also wrote significant
a cappella motets.
The amateur chorus (beginning chiefly as a social outlet) began to receive serious consideration as a compositional venue for
the part-songs of Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and others. These 'singing
clubs' were often for women or men separately, and the music was typically in four-part (hence the name "part-song") and either
a cappella or with simple instrumentation. At the same time, the Cecilian
movement attempted a restoration of the pure Renaissance style in Catholic churches.
20th and 21st centuries
As in other genres of music, choral music underwent a period of experimentation and development during the 20th century. While few well-known composers focused primarily on choral music, most
significant composers of the early century wrote at least a small amount.
The early late-Romantic composers, such as Richard Strauss and Sergei Rachmaninoff, contributed to the genre, but it was Ralph Vaughan Williams who made one of the greatest contributions of this type, writing new a new
Mass in G harking back to the Renaissance style, but displaying the vibrancy of the new harmonic
languages. He also arranged English and Scottish folk songs. Arnold Schoenberg's
Friede auf Erden represents the culmination of the late Romantic style, a tonal kaleidoscope whose tonal centers are
constantly shifting (similar to his Verklärte Nacht for strings dating from the
same period).
At around this time, at the tail end of the nineteenth century and the start of the twentieth, male voice choirs attained a
particular popularity amongst the coal miners of South Wales, with numerous choirs being
established at this time, such as the Treorchy Male Choir. Although the mining
communities which birthed these choirs largely died out in the 1970s and 1980s with the decline of the Welsh coal industry, many
of these choirs have gone from strength to strength and are seen as a 'traditional' part of Welsh culture.
As the century progressed, modernist techniques found their expression in choral music, including serial compositions by
Schoenberg, Anton von Webern, and
Stravinsky; eclectic compositions by Charles Ives;
dissonant counterpoint by Olivier Messiaen (Cinq Rechants) and Paul Hindemith (When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd). Because of the difficulty of singing
atonal music, these compositions are rarely performed today, although enjoyed by specialists.
More accessible styles found an enduring legacy in choral music. Benjamin Britten
wrote a number of well-known choral works, including the War Requiem, Five Flower Songs, and Rejoice in the Lamb. Francis Poulenc's Motets pour
le temps de noël, Gloria, and Mass in G are often performed. A primitivist approach is represented by
Carl Orff's widely performed Carmina
Burana. In the United States, Aaron
Copland, Samuel Barber, and Randall
Thompson wrote signature American pieces. In Eastern Europe, Béla Bartók and
Zoltán Kodály wrote a small amount of choral music.
Post-World War II music took experimentation to its logical extreme. Sinfonia by Luciano Berio includes a chorus. Krzysztof Penderecki's
St. Luke Passion includes choral shouting, clusters, and aleatoric
techniques. Richard Felciano wrote for chorus and electronic tape.
Minimalism is represented by Arvo Pärt, whose
Johannespassion and Magnificat have received regular performances.
Avant-garde techniques:
Black Spirituals came into greater prominence and arrangements of such spirituals
became part of the standard choral repertoire. Notable composers and arrangers of choral music in this tradition include
Jester Hairston and Moses Hogan.
During the mid 20th century, barbershop quartets began experimenting with combining larger ensembles together into choruses
which sing barbershop music in 4 parts, often with staging, choreography and costumes. The first international barbershop chorus
contest was held in 1953 and continues to this day, the most recent one being held in Denver,
CO, with the Westminster Chorus winning the gold
medal.
During the late 20th century, one of the major areas of growth in the choral movement has been in the areas of
GLBT choruses. Starting around 1979, gay men's choruses were founded within a period of months in
major U.S. cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Dallas. Over the last quarter century the number of such groups,
men's, women's and mixed, has exploded. GALA Choruses, an associative group, now has
well-over 100 member choruses throughout the world.
At the turn of the century, choral music has received a small resurgence of interest due in no small part to a renewed
emphasis and interest in multi-cultural music. Ethnomusicology often focuses on vocal music because of the unique combination of
both text and music. Although it is too soon to discern trends in the 21st
century, the spirit of more practical music which dominated the last decades of the 20th century, most notably represented
by John Rutter, Karl Jenkins, and Morten Lauridsen, seems to be continuing in the works of composers like Eric Whitacre and Kentaro Sato.
See also
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