Choral music
In the 20th century the oratorio tradition continued, although the sound of the music was of course different. Sir Edward Elgar wrote several, including ‘The Dream of Gerontius’, perhaps his best known, and ‘The Kingdom’. Listen to this excerpt from the second one, a scene in the ‘upper room’ on Pentecost; the group of disciples are played by the male chorus, the female chorus are mystical spirits and the male soloists are the disciples Peter and John.
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(left) Sir Edward Elgar 1857 - 1934
Sir Michael Tippett wrote a ‘A Child of Our Time’ and while continuing the tradition of the oratorio, it has some similarity to Bach’s ‘Passions’ of the Baroque period, only instead of having chorales or hymn tunes during the work, Tippett replaces these with wonderful settings of Negro spirituals. Listen to ‘Steal Away’, sung in this recording by the National Youth Choir of Scotland.
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In the 20th century the 'War Requiem' by Benjamin Britten, an ardent pacifist, is a work of major significance. This Requiem was commissioned for the opening of the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral, which had been bombed in the Second World War. It is a different work in many ways as the chorus and soprano soloist sing the words of the Mass, while the male soloists and a second smaller chamber orchestra perform settings of poems of moving and closely related poems by Wilfred Owen. Listen to this excerpt and notice the different treatment of the 'Dies Irae' from that of Mozart. Notice the fanfare treatment of the brass instruments, the dramatic use of male and female voices and the very rhythmic singing and playing.
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Cantatas continued to be written through the coming centuries although no one produced such a large number as J S Bach. Here is an example from Benjamin Britten’s cantata, ‘Rejoice in the Lamb’, written in 1943.
Listen to this performance by the National Youth Choir of Scotland and notice the imitation, the dramatic use of the choir in dissonant harmony and the syncopation in the music.
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(Singers from the National Youth Choir of Scotland).
In 1963 the restrictions on language were lifted within the Roman Catholic church and services which until then had always been conducted in Latin began to be conducted in the vernacular, the language of the people in the country where the service was being conducted. As a result, motets no longer had to be in Latin. Here is an example by the English composer, Herbert Howells, written in 1964 with English text in memory of the recently assassinated President of the United States, John F Kennedy.
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Finally, listen to an excerpt from the motet ‘Funeral Ikos’ by one of our present-day composers, John Tavener. Listen for the six-part homophonic, a cappella singing in this excerpt.
Many of the best examples of anthems are from the 20th century and are by many of the great composers of that time. Listen to an excerpt from ‘I was Glad’ by Hubert Parry. Listen to the magnificent beginning on the cathedral pipe organ before the choir enters and note that this example, like the previous one, is sung by an English cathedral choir which uses boys’ treble voices instead of sopranos and altos.
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