Choral Music

Why listen? #

The best thing about choral music, and the key aspect that distinguishes it from instrumental music, is the text. Instruments can play notes alright, but only voices can overlay those notes with semantic meaning. Good choral composers remember that this is their art’s great strength, and they don’t simply toss random text overtop of pre-written music. Instead, they try to achieve a kind of harmony of sentiment between the words and the notes.

This is why I never listen to vocal music in a foreign language without a translation on hand. You simply miss too much of the composer’s art if you don’t know what the words mean and why they’re interwoven with the music the way that they are.

I also think this principle–text and music should speak to one another–explains why so many hymns are a bit dull. A hymn might have four to eight verses, all of which are sung to exactly the same notes (setting aside a possible descant on the last verse). This causes a dilemma for the hymnist. Either all the verses of the hymn will say substantially the same thing, which is boring, or else the tone of the music will jar against the meaning of some of the verses. Still, there are some hymn-like pieces that dodge both horns of the dilemma by varying the music just enough from verse to verse, (1)My favorite example might be the carol “Bethlehem Down.” All four verses are almost the same, but the third verse, the one that foreshadows the crucifixion, is just a bit louder and more anguished. and of course, sometimes the melody is so compelling that you hardly notice it doesn’t suit the words.

Here’s a small example of text and notes working well together. In the second to last section of Bach’s Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden, there’s a moment when the tenors sing “Gnade und Wahrheit” in this intricate phrase with lots of movement, while the altos above them are crescendoing through “in Ewigkeit” on a single note. (2)The moment I’m talking about starts just after 3ʹ 40ʺ in this recording by the Netherlands Bach Society. You can hear two ideas here, neatly superimposed by the musical arrangement. There’s the beauty of God’s grace and truth (gnade und wahrheit) plus the idea of changelessness, eternity (ewigkeit). A bit on the nose, but I quite like it.

Choral CV #

I’ve been in choirs regularly for the past five years, and I’ve been lucky to sing with some lovely groups. Here’s a list in chronological order.

Feel free to ask me about any of these choirs. I have nice things to say about all of them.

Bucket list #

This is a shortlist of the pieces I most strongly wish to sing some day.

Last updated 13 October 2024