The Bach Choir: Choir History

Musical Director David Hill

“Probably the finest independent choir in the world”
(Evening Standard)

History of The Bach Choir

The Beginnings of the Choir | Into the 20th Century | The Choir Today

The Beginnings of the Choir · Top

The original idea for the choir came in 1875 from a young lawyer, Arthur Coleridge, the possessor of a fine tenor voice, who had become acquainted with the music of Bach while a student at Cambridge. Although at this time interest in Bach in England was growing, Coleridge realised that no performance of the B minor Mass had yet taken place. He was a friend of Otto Goldschmidt and his wife, Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt, the famous 'Swedish nightingale', and was one of a small group who met at their house to sing madrigals and motets under Goldschmidt's baton. Goldschmidt himself had been familiar with Bach's music since his student days in Leipzig, where he was a pupil of Mendelssohn. Coleridge suggested to Goldschmidt that a choir should be formed to perform the Mass, and he readily agreed and undertook to conduct it. Their wide circle of friends and acquaintances enabled them to assemble a strong organising committee and recruit a choir of some 150 voices to give two outstandingly successful performances of the Mass on 26 April and 8 May 1876.

The pleasure of making music together and the enthusiastic reception given to the first performances led to the formation of a permanent choir with Otto Goldschmidt as Musical Director. The name and policy was set out in the first Rule - "The Society shall be called 'The Bach Choir' in commemoration of the first performance in England of J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor. The object of the Society shall be the rehearsal and performance of choral works of excellence of various schools." This rule has remained unchanged throughout the life of the choir.

What was The Bach Choir like in those early days? The membership reflected the group in which the Goldschmidts and their friends moved - the upper levels of Victorian society. Recruitment was from the same social group since to become a member it was not only necessary to pass an audition but also to be proposed and seconded by two existing members and approved by the committee. Once approved and accepted, however, membership was continuous as long as the annual subscription was paid as there was no provision for voices to be re-tested. Not surprisingly, the organisation was also geared to the requirements of upper class life at that time. Rehearsals were held in the late afternoon, so allowing members to go home in time for dinner or visit their friends. Rehearsals commenced in November, when all the members would have returned to London for the season, and finished early in the summer. One of the early Treasurers, before accepting the appointment, expressed some doubt as to whether he could do the job adequately because he never returned from the country before the end of November!

From the outset there was a connection with Royalty. Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt was popular with the Royal Family, and Princess Christian, the third daughter of Queen Victoria, received piano lessons from Otto Goldschmidt and became one of the first singing members. The Queen herself became Patron in 1879.

The repertoire reflected the taste of the Musical Director and his friends with a bias towards motets and church music and regular repeats of the Mass in B minor. There were, however, some notable first London performances including Bach's Magnificat and Ein' feste Burg.

That Goldschmidt was extremely serious about his conducting is borne out by J.A. Fuller Maitland, the distinguished musicologist and critic, who joined the choir as a bass in 1878. He noted that Goldschmidt always spent the night before a concert alone at the Langham Hotel to calm his nerves!

One result of having a membership drawn from a wealthy group was the opportunity to have a more flexible programming policy without reliance on the popular oratorio repertoire which guaranteed a profit. Any losses were covered by calls on members and by guarantors, drawn mainly from members of the organising committee.

Goldschmidt resigned in 1885 to be replaced as Musical Director by the young Charles (later Sir Charles) Villiers Stanford. Stanford had already made his mark as organist of Trinity College, Cambridge and conductor of the Cambridge University Musical Society. An Irishman with a true fiery Celtic temperament, he soon stamped his authority on the choir, broadening the repertoire and including concertos and orchestral works using leading soloists such as the violinist Joachim. A notable event during this period concerned the Golden Jubilee of the Queen in 1887. In anticipation of this the choir intended to include in their Jubilee concert a cantata, The Glories of our Blood and State, by C. Hubert H. Parry, who had joined the choir in 1875 and had sung in the second performance of the Mass in B minor. To the committee's horror, however, it was discovered that the work contained the words:

"Sceptre and crown must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade."

Judging, probably accurately, that this would not commend them to their patron, the committee asked Parry to provide another work for inclusion in the programme. His response was Blest Pair of Sirens - an immediate success which is now rightly regarded as one of the outstanding English choral works. The Jubilee programme was completed by the first London performance of Berlioz's Te Deum, a work dedicated to the late Prince Consort.

Into the 20th Century · Top

Towards the end of the nineteenth century the standard of performance fell markedly and attracted comment from most of the leading critics. One of the main reasons was the inevitable deterioration in the voices of the members, still not subject to re-audition, together with the early rehearsal time which ensured a continuing shortage of tenors and basses. Stanford attempted to overcome the problem by securing assistance from a few members of the Leeds Philharmonic Society but this was only a temporary solution. A reorganisation committee was appointed and their report, which was unanimously accepted, required an audition on entry but removed the socially restricting requirement to be nominated by existing members, altered the rehearsal time to the early evening and provided for regular re-testing of voices. At this point Stanford, who had been appointed Director of the Leeds Festival, resigned and his place was taken by Henry Walford Davies. This proved to be an inspired choice, for what the reorganised choir needed was a period of patient rebuilding so that it could once again become a notable part of the London choral scene. Walford Davies, who had already shown himself at the Temple Church to have the personality to draw the best from individuals and groups, achieved this objective in six years. He resigned in 1908 to be succeeded by Dr Hugh Allen.

Hugh Allen, who had gained a considerable reputation as organist of New College, Oxford and conductor of the Oxford Bach Society, took over an established choral group with a membership which included Ralph Vaughan Williams and Adrian Boult. He was a disciplinarian, yet with an ability to communicate with and enthuse an amateur chorus. He was a keen sailor and this showed in his demeanour. One of the members at this time said, 'Every syllable of his often incisive comments on the performance were clearly heard. He brought with him to the rostrum a hint of the quarter-deck and was almost invariably dressed in blue serge.' Many people will be familiar with the story of how lady members of the choir, wishing to leave the rehearsal early but fearing the wrath of the conductor, would crawl out behind the long skirts of their colleagues. Few escaped his eagle eye, however, and the inevitable furious reprimand! During Allen's period as Musical Director the choir gave many notable first London performances including Vaughan Williams' Toward the Unknown Region and A Sea Symphony and Parry's Songs of Farewell.

Allen resigned as Musical Director in 1921. He had ensured that the choir remained active throughout the first World War, but after his appointment in 1918 as Director of the Royal College of Music he had found it increasingly difficult to continue in office. His place was taken by Ralph Vaughan Williams, by now recognised as a composer of stature. He was already familiar with the choir as a singer but brought a completely different approach to the members from that of Allen. This is well illustrated by the oldest living retired singing member of the choir, Miss Nancy Tennant. Now aged 103, she can remember every detail of her audition as a young soprano in 1924 in the Westminster Cathedral Hall (still the rehearsal venue of the choir today). At the end of the rehearsal she was called to the piano by what she described as 'this gentle bear of a man' to be given a test which included, as usual, a tricky piece of sight-reading. At the end of the piece Vaughan Williams looked very kindly at her and said "not a bad piece of composing". She was admitted to the choir!

In 1926 the choir celebrated fifty years of music-making and the concerts included Sancta Civitas, a new work by Vaughan Williams, and performances of works by Walford Davies and Stanford, and Parry's Blest Pair of Sirens.

Vaughan Williams resigned in 1928 to concentrate on composition and he was replaced by his friend, Gustav Holst. Shortly after accepting the position, however, Holst was forced to withdraw on medical grounds and, although heavily committed in other areas, the conductorship was accepted by Adrian Boult. He could only manage the commitment for three years and relinquished the appointment in 1931. It was during his tenure of office that the annual performances of the St Matthew Passion were established.

Boult was replaced by Reginald Jacques, who had been a pupil of Hugh Allen at Oxford. Jacques' association with the choir was a long and fruitful one, lasting until 1960. His period as Musical Director was marked by the upheaval of the second World War, but the choir managed to remain active, with regular rehearsals held at lunchtime on Saturdays. Among the notable events in this period were the initiation of the annual Carol Concerts and the first recording by the choir - a complete performance of St Matthew Passion - which filled 42 sides of the old 78 discs! It was natural that after 28 years a great bond existed between Jacques and the choir, and it was with great sadness that he resigned in April 1960 following a slight heart attack on the rostrum during a performance of St Matthew Passion.

His successor, David Willcocks, developed and guided the choir to the pre-eminent position it occupies today on the British choral scene. Coming as he did as successful Director of the choir of King's College, Cambridge, he immediately set about broadening the repertoire. One result was that the choir gave the first London performance of Britten's War Requiem under the baton of the composer with an international cast of soloists - Galina Vishnevskaya, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Peter Pears. The choir then recorded the work with the same artists. Other recordings followed, among them a new interpretation of St Matthew Passion and an acclaimed version of Belshazzar's Feast. The choir's centenary in 1976 was celebrated by repeating the Mass in B minor on April 26, the date of the first performance. Also in the centenary year, the Prince of Wales became President of the choir. No mean musician himself, he has sung in the choir on a number of occasions, including performances of the B minor Mass in London and motets at St George's Chapel, Windsor.

Hitherto the choir's activities had been mainly confined to central London but visits to other areas including the West Country, Wales, Yorkshire and East Anglia were undertaken. A succession of tours abroad were also made with visits to the United States, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, Israel and to many countries in Europe. Some concerts were broadcast and televised, among them the Family Carols and the Mass in B minor.

A feature of David Willcocks' period as Musical Director, apart from his musicianship and high standards of training, was his knowledge of and concern for the individual members of the choir. Many personal letters of kindness and sympathy were received by members experiencing personal problems or distress. His final concerts, performances of the St Matthew Passion in the spring of 1998, attracted capacity audiences.

The Choir Today · Top

David Hill, the ninth Musical Director, was appointed in 1998. As well as spending much of his time with The Bach Choir, he is also Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers and Associate Guest Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. His previous appointments have included Organist and Master of the Music at Winchester Cathedral (until 2002) and Musical Director at St John's College, Cambridge (2003-2007). In his first twelve years with The Bach Choir David Hill has conducted a Royal Gala concert at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as well as four world premieres (three of which were Bach Choir commissions), led tours to Germany, Lebanon, and Australia, and conducted recordings of carols, discs of Handel, Howells and Carl Rütti and, most recently, Vaughan Williams' Dona nobis pacem and Sancta Civitas. The Bach Choir looks forward confidently to even greater achievements in the next decade!

The choir today is very different from the one which gave the first performance of the Mass in B minor in the spring of 1876. The choir has been fortunate to secure the services of a procession of outstanding Musical Directors, each of whom has left his mark upon repertoire and performance while the membership, now drawn from all walks of life, reflects the enormous social changes which have taken place since those early days. In all this time, however, the basic object of the choir has remained unchanged: "the performance of choral works of excellence of various schools" - performance to the highest possible standard.

A new book, The Bach Choir: The First Hundred Years, was published in the Spring of 2008. Written by the independent scholar, Dr Basil Keen, who was himself a bass in The Bach Choir for 37 years, the book provides a thorough examination of The Bach Choir, including the response of the Choir to social changes; the influence of conductors and officials; changes in musical taste; relationships with composers and composition; major national and international events; and the effect of these matters on organisation and repertoire. The Bach Choir: The First Hundred Years is available from Ashgate.