A History of Western Choral Music by Chester L. Alwes

Abstract

Reviewed by: A History of Western Choral Music by Chester L. Alwes Anne Shelley A History of Western Choral Music. By Chester L. Alwes. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015–2016. [Volume 1: xiv, 488 p. ISBN 9780195177428 (hardback), $150; ISBN 9780199361939 (paperback), $74.00; 9780190457723 (ebook), varies; Volume 2: xiv, 452 p. ISBN 9780199376995 (hardback), $150; ISBN 9780199377008 (paperback), $74.00; 9780190463656 (ebook), varies.] Music examples, tables, illustrations, bibliography, index. [End Page 73] In this two-volume set, author Chester L. Alwes discusses composers and elements critical to understanding Western choral music from the medieval period until the mid-2010s. Alwes feels it is essential to familiarize oneself with medieval-era liturgy and theory before examining fifteenth-century masses, so these works are presented mostly chronologically. Volume 1 begins with Guillaume de Machaut (approximately 1300–1377) and ends with Josef Rheinberger (1839–1901); volume 2 opens with the development of the oratorio and nineteenth-century genres such as the choral symphony, and concludes with John Adams. The publication is based on thirty years of Alwes's teaching of upper-level undergraduate and graduate student courses on the history of choral literature. In the preface to volume 1, Alwes outlines the three foci of the set: (1) text, due to the fact that most elements of choral music are naturally driven by words; (2) analysis, because knowing the composer's intent leads the conductor to a more informed performance; and (3) external influences—such as religion, culture, and politics—that shaped composers' motivations (ix–x). Few comprehensive surveys of the development of Western choral music are currently in print, so Alwes's contribution is particularly welcome. The most comparable recent publication is Dennis Shrock's Choral Repertoire, published in 2009, also by Oxford University Press. The two publications differ in several ways. Shrock's book first appeared as a single volume that was later supplemented by an anthology, Choral Scores (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015). While there is no separate score anthology for the book by Alwes, his discussion of the music is detailed and theoretical enough that music examples are necessary, and the charts exploring texts and translations as well as movement titles and their elements (keys, meters, modes) are helpful. Shrock very cleanly assigned major musical eras to his chapters, and within each chapter he adhered to a hierarchical arrangement by country, composer, and selected works listed by genre (for composers with a notable output of choral music). He followed a predictable formula for each composer: a brief biography, summary of the composer's compositional output, and some detailed discussion of select works. While this is a sensible structure, Shrock's book functions more like a reference tool than Alwes's history, which is much more free-flowing in thought and concept, and more transparently acknowledges the ambiguity of transitions between time periods and classification of works into certain genres. Alwes's volumes could certainly be used as course texts. Section headings tend to reflect the composer, time period, or genre being discussed, rather than something more specific. Both volumes have an abbreviation key, and the thorough indexes represent composers, work titles, genres, techniques, and subject terms in useful detail. However, the volumes lack the pedagogical tools typically provided in a textbook; for example, there are no checklists at the end of each chapter or in the margins, or obvious questions that might encourage readers to reflect on what they just read. Volume 1 has fourteen chapters that flow mostly chronologically, each focusing on a genre, composer(s), or location within a particular time period. Alwes covers the Middle Ages in a single chapter; in chapter 1, he briefly explains the liturgical frameworks that became the basis for later polyphonic vocal music, then follows with the effect of modality on chant, and concludes with the emergence of polyphony. Sacred choral music of the Renaissance outside of England receives two chapters, which sandwich a single chapter that discusses madrigals, chansons, and other secular genres. Ending at the year 1525, chapter 2 explores developments in the mass and motet. Alwes unsurprisingly turns to the innovations of Franco-Flemish giants—Guillaume Dufay, Johannes Ockeghem, and Josquin des Prez—to demonstrate the...