Choral Movement Research Articles

Serious musicking: choral pedagogy in ‘low-threshold’ choirs

ABSTRACT The voice plays a paradoxical role – it is inclusive because everyone has one, and it is exclusive as it is used to falsely separate ‘singers’ and ‘non-singers’. A new choral movement has emerged, with a low threshold for participation and inclusive practices, where one of the early offerings was Everyone Can Sing (ECS) in Norway. As a low-threshold choir, it focused on solid vocal training as well as the advanced features of the music. This study investigates to what extent this blended choral pedagogy is realised and differs from more traditional choirs. A quantitative analysis of ECS singers (N = 495) was done, comparing it with a more experienced choir (N = 81) and elite choirs (N = 106). The results show that a blended approach in low-threshold-choirs is possible and that attention to musical refinement grows with experience. The article positions such low-threshold choirs within key choral pedagogic positions.

Chamber Choir "Moravski": History, Achievements, Present Day

The purpose of the research is to study the history of the chamber choir “Moravski” formation, creative, performing, and popularizing activities as a bright representative of modern Ukrainian amateur choral art. The research methodology is based on the use of empirical methods (chronological, descriptive, analytical), as well as methods of generalization and systematization, historical and cultural methods, which allowed to outline the history of the group's formation and creative and performing activities in the modern domestic choral art in chronology. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time in the cultural and musical scientific space, the stages of chamber choir “Moravski” formation are studied, and creative and performing achievements are outlined through the prism of modern choral performance in Ukraine. Conclusions. The activity of the chamber choir “Moravski” is, first of all, the need of the young Ukrainian society in the development of national culture, and secondly, the popularization of national culture and national ideas through choral singing for the mass audience both in Ukraine and abroad. The revival of the amateur choral movement in Ukraine testifies to the need of the society for highly intellectual activity, where the choir has ceased to be a transmitter of political ideology and has regained the diversity of artistic activity. Therefore, the emergence and development of amateur art lead to an increase in the level of cultural awareness of the nation and the strengthening of intercultural, interethnic ties.

A Queerly Joyful Noise: Choral Musicking for Social JusticeFocus: Choral Music in Global Perspective

A Queerly Joyful Noise: Choral Musicking for Social JusticeFocus: Choral Music in Global Perspective

Сhoir conductor Mykola Hobdych: the facets of a creative personality

The purpose of the article is to analyze the creative personality of Mykola Hobdych, to consider the directions of his multifaceted activity for 30 years, to confirm the significant contribution of the artist to the revival of the national choral art of Ukraine, to draw the attention of musicologists to the study of the creative work of the master of choral performance. Methodology. Historical and general scientific methods were used in the analysis of the choral movement in Ukrainian society during the period of state independence, the comparative method revealed a significant contribution of the Kyiv Chamber Choir to the revival of national traditions of spiritual singing, the systematic method was used to assess the activity of the choir leader Gobdich. The scientific novelty is that for the first time M. Hobdych's creative interaction with such modern composers as Lesya Dychko, Viktor Stepurko, Myroslav Skoryk, Romuald Tvardovsky, Valentyn Silvestrov was noted, the importance of his organizational, publishing, and scientific activity was emphasized. Conclusions. At the turn of the XX and XXI centuries, the flourishing of spiritual choral creativity is strongly connected with the creative activity of M. Hobdych and the Kyiv Chamber Choir, as the founders of the International Festival "Golden-Domed Kyiv", which was able to revive the links between past and present. M. Hobdych's creative activity as a choirmaster. arranger, editor, and cultural figure deserves the more meticulous attention of musicologists.

De vita cum imperfectis

De vita cum imperfectis Alfred Dürr Translated by Traute M. Marshall (bio) The creation of new editions of old music, an important area of musicology, usually has two goals: to enrich our understanding of history and, at the same time, to provide present musical practice with new material—a goal to which the overused notion of the "unjustly forgotten master" bears eloquent (and dubious) witness. The editorial method employed assumes the incontrovertible high quality of the work to be edited; the original, as conceived by the master, is deemed flawless. From this it follows that all the errors contained in the work as it has come down to us are due to flawed transmission and therefore have to be emended in the new edition. Similarly, all additions made to the work by another hand in the course of transmission do not measure up to the level of the master; therefore, they too have to go. This attitude leads to the ideal of the Urtextausgabe, the edition of the original text. And even though the term in recent decades has been interpreted in a considerable number of different ways, it still implies that the new edition must focus as much as possible on the evidence of the composer, and that foreign interpretation of any kind is to be excluded. There is no need to challenge the general validity of these principles. Whoever follows them, however (in the conviction that clarification of the composer's intent is demanded by the commitment to truth, without which our discipline makes no sense), must also become aware of the method's limits in order to use it effectively. The following observations will consider some of those limits. A work like Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion, which the author is currently [1971] editing, is well suited to clarify the problems, since there is no question about the quality of the work or the capabilities of the composer. Therefore, we will be able to focus exclusively on editorial problems. [End Page 212] First of all, we must address the following question: to what extent should the notational appearance of the autograph score be preserved? Whenever the fair copy of a composer is the topic, the autograph Mus. ms. Bach P25 in the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek must not be, and cannot be, overlooked. All scholars agree that the idiosyncrasies of Bach's notational handwriting reveal to the eye—as well as to the inner ear—essential features of Bach's music. For that reason, every editor will strive to deviate from this visual representation as little as possible. Max Schneider, in his new edition, met this obligation in exemplary fashion.1 Therefore, the result reveals the problem of the method with particular clarity. Bach, for example, combines the two continuo staves of the first of the two choral movements, "Laß ihn kreuzigen," onto one staff (the lowest) for four and a half measures (folio 54r of the score): there was no space available for the normal separation. On folio 54v, on the other hand, there was sufficient space, and each chorus is given its own continuo staff for the remaining four measures of the movement. The same situation recurs in the second choral movement of the same text: on folio 56v it had to be notated on one staff for five and a half measures, but there was enough space on folio 57r to separate the continuo parts onto two staves for the remainder of the movement. Schneider notates both movements with just one continuo staff throughout (as the lowest staff), thus turning Bach's stopgap measure, necessitated by lack of space, into the governing rule. But when this rule is applied, should it then not be necessary to reproduce visually the lack of space in a new edition, so that the user can understand the rationale of the score layout? Would it not be more important to clarify what caused the composer to proceed in this particular way than to copy slavishly the mere appearance of the score? But is the lack of space the composer faced worthy to be enshrined in a new edition? A blind trust in authority ("he must have known why...

De vita cum imperfectis

De vita cum imperfectis Alfred Dürr Translated by Traute M. Marshall (bio) The creation of new editions of old music, an important area of musicology, usually has two goals: to enrich our understanding of history and, at the same time, to provide present musical practice with new material—a goal to which the overused notion of the "unjustly forgotten master" bears eloquent (and dubious) witness. The editorial method employed assumes the incontrovertible high quality of the work to be edited; the original, as conceived by the master, is deemed flawless. From this it follows that all the errors contained in the work as it has come down to us are due to flawed transmission and therefore have to be emended in the new edition. Similarly, all additions made to the work by another hand in the course of transmission do not measure up to the level of the master; therefore, they too have to go. This attitude leads to the ideal of the Urtextausgabe, the edition of the original text. And even though the term in recent decades has been interpreted in a considerable number of different ways, it still implies that the new edition must focus as much as possible on the evidence of the composer, and that foreign interpretation of any kind is to be excluded. There is no need to challenge the general validity of these principles. Whoever follows them, however (in the conviction that clarification of the composer's intent is demanded by the commitment to truth, without which our discipline makes no sense), must also become aware of the method's limits in order to use it effectively. The following observations will consider some of those limits. A work like Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion, which the author is currently [1971] editing, is well suited to clarify the problems, since there is no question about the quality of the work or the capabilities of the composer. Therefore, we will be able to focus exclusively on editorial problems. [End Page 212] First of all, we must address the following question: to what extent should the notational appearance of the autograph score be preserved? Whenever the fair copy of a composer is the topic, the autograph Mus. ms. Bach P25 in the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek must not be, and cannot be, overlooked. All scholars agree that the idiosyncrasies of Bach's notational handwriting reveal to the eye—as well as to the inner ear—essential features of Bach's music. For that reason, every editor will strive to deviate from this visual representation as little as possible. Max Schneider, in his new edition, met this obligation in exemplary fashion.1 Therefore, the result reveals the problem of the method with particular clarity. Bach, for example, combines the two continuo staves of the first of the two choral movements, "Laß ihn kreuzigen," onto one staff (the lowest) for four and a half measures (folio 54r of the score): there was no space available for the normal separation. On folio 54v, on the other hand, there was sufficient space, and each chorus is given its own continuo staff for the remaining four measures of the movement. The same situation recurs in the second choral movement of the same text: on folio 56v it had to be notated on one staff for five and a half measures, but there was enough space on folio 57r to separate the continuo parts onto two staves for the remainder of the movement. Schneider notates both movements with just one continuo staff throughout (as the lowest staff), thus turning Bach's stopgap measure, necessitated by lack of space, into the governing rule. But when this rule is applied, should it then not be necessary to reproduce visually the lack of space in a new edition, so that the user can understand the rationale of the score layout? Would it not be more important to clarify what caused the composer to proceed in this particular way than to copy slavishly the mere appearance of the score? But is the lack of space the composer faced worthy to be enshrined in a new edition? A blind trust in authority ("he must have known why...

Muzyka chóralna w diecezji lubelskiej w okresie posługi biskupa Stefana Wyszyńskiego

The article presents the pastoral project of recreating the musical culture of the Catholic Church in Poland after World War II. The author outlines a broader context of pastoral activities undertaken at that time by the Primate of Poland, August Hlond. The pastoral work of Bishop Stefan Wyszyński in the Lublin Diocese was part of this nationwide plan to rebuild the role of music in churches, especially in the field of choral music. The article discusses the main assumptions of this work. It was based on Wyszyński’s understanding of choirs as a very important pastoral group in the Church, which should be constantly educated musically and religiously formed. The main liturgical task of the choir, as understood by Bishop Wyszyński, was to introduce new liturgical songs to the churches of the diocese. Choirs, as always, also performed polyphonic pieces. Together with the Diocesan Organist Commission, he precisely defined the repertoire of the choirs, both in terms of liturgical monody and polyphonic pieces. This procedure helped achieve two goals: raising the level of performance by drawing attention to valuable and original compositions and creating a diocesan choral community. The latter case was especially favored by the conventions of choirs of a competition and festival nature, which gathered several hundred people. Bishop Wyszyński’s extensive pastoral activities, also in the field of choral music, contributed to a significant revival of the diocesan choral movement and to raising the level of church music performed in the Diocese of Lublin.

THE INFLUENCE OF NATIONAL IDEAS OF T. SHEVCHENKO ON THE UKRAINIAN CHORAL CYLTURE OF THE LATE XIX – EARLY XX CENTURIES

Object. The objective of this article is studying the influence of T. Shevchenko’s national ideas on the development of student choir movement in Ukraine during the period of the late ХІХ and early XX centuries. Methods. The traditional historical and pedagogical research methods were used in the work: analytical, historical and comparative, retrospective, comparative analysis of scientific and pedagogical literature, archival documents, educational materials. Results of the scientific research show that the problem of youth national education has attracted many people of arts and culture such as F. Prokopovych, O. Duhnovych, M. Dragamanov, M. Grushevsky. It is still in the center of attention of contemporary scientists in the field of theory and practice of higher school pedagogic – O. Vyshnevsky, O. Lubar, O. Morozov, Y. Rudenko, M. Stelmahovych, M. Shkil. Nevertheless, the ideas of student youth national education by means of choir music on Shevchenko’s lyrics have not been the subject of consolidated historical and pedagogical research. Summarizing theoretical studies in literature, the author highlighted the main postulates of Shevchenko`s national creed – this are patriotism, revolt against national slavery and political pressure, struggle for national independence, extermination of the national inferiority psychology, defense of national interests, national language, and culture. According to the historical and pedagogical analysis of the chosen period choral groups/choirs have proved to be the centers of youth national education. They were created at universities (Kyiv, Kharkov, Odessa), gymnasiums, educational and musical societies («Prosvita», «Boyan», «Torban», «Ukrainsky club»). Leading Ukrainian composers and musicians O. Koshyts, M. Leontovych, M. Lysenko, S. Luydkevych, K. Stetsenko, L. Revutsky, Y. Stepovy, Y. Yatsynevych headed the national choir movement and as a rule organized and conducted a great number of choirs at educational institutions. Inspired by T. Shevchenko’s national ideas they made such distinguished choral compositions as musical cycle «Music for Kobzar by T. Shevchenko» by M. Lysenko (more than 80 diversepieces of vocal and choral genre), cantata-symphony «Caucuses» by S. Lyunkevych, cantata «Kerchief», «Why are you blackened» by L. Revutsky, «Tara’s night» by Y. Kyshakevych, «Blaze of Lights», «Thickets ways thorns ...» by S. Vorobkevych. Being a part of student’s choir repertoire musical compositions based on Shevchenko’s works raised and promoted the national awareness, patriotism, social ideology, interests to national history. Conclusions. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, a choral movement was actively developing on Ukrainian lands, led by leading Ukrainian composers and musicians. Inspired by the national-patriotic work of the great Kobzar, they created vivid choral compositions filled with civilian sound. Amateur and student choirs actively promoted Ukrainian choral art, among which works on the words of T. Shevchenko occupied an honorable place, which preserved the national face of the people and filled spiritual voids in the cultural space of the then society.

Wandering Chapel Choirs of the Dniprosoyuz: Importance for the Present from the Perspective of Historical Retrospect

The relevance of the study is to study the little-known pages of Ukrainian choral art. For a long time, all that was associated with the period of Ukrainian statehood, as well as the Ukrainian liberation struggles of the 20s of the 20th century against the bolsheviks, was held "by seven castles".After the independence of Ukraine in 1991, the archives of this period gradually began to open, and researchers as well as the public discovered that this period was marked by an extraordinary rise in all spheres of national life: science, art, education, linguistics, religion, etc. This “explosion” was not a spontaneous phenomenon, but rather a culmination of those processes that preceded it.The creation of national choral chapters, as well, was a result of the powerful choral movement of the early twentieth century. After the revolution of 1917, the young Ukrainian state had the opportunity to declare itself to the world, as well as to know oneself, to prove to itself its unique national identity. And in this sense, two fateful decisions were made: the formation of two choir chapels — the Republican, headed by O. Koshits for an artistic representative mission abroad, and — a chorus on the basis of the Dniprosoyuz, according to the original plan of the traveling model choir, the example of which would be local Choirs in various cooperatives and other organizations and societies.Thus, the Ukrainian choir became an important strategic element of both the foreign and the national cultural policy of the state.The scientific novelty is determined by its focus on in-depth study of the history of the creation of the outstanding Ukrainian team of the NZAK of Ukraine “Dumka”, namely the period of its foundation and its first trips as the State Traveling Chapel Choir, which made it possible to substantially complement knowledge about the progress of the choral movement in Ukraine of the 20s of the twentieth century.The main objective of the study is to identify the main principles of the creation of the Wandering Chapel Choirs in Ukraine, as well as to substantiate their role in the development of Ukrainian choral art and meaning for enlightening and raising the national consciousness of both the mentioned period and the present.The article uses methodology of research, in particular, historical, system-analytical, cultural, realized with the help of historical-retrospective functional approach. With the help of which it became possible to highlight the history of the creation of Ukrainian wandering chapel choirs, their artistic and educational mission, realization, and perception of different layers of the population. As a result, an analysis of a certain public "cut" of the audience attending concerts of the chapel choirs was carried out to realize the degree of artistic influence and the ability to transform the national consciousness.Thus, according to the results of the study, the extraordinary significance of the specific choral art for the education and development of Ukrainian society was revealed.

Asocianismo coral en el Cádiz del S. XIX: El orfeón gaditano

The documentation that has come up to us from Cadiz Chorus is very scarce. Nevertheless, it must have been a very popular society in the second half of 19th century. The musicological tradition reduces the incipient activity of the choral movement to the north of Spain. At present, it is necessary to claim the role of the periphery. The working grouping, the sense of nation, the musical pedagogy of base, are the elements that set in the choruses. Definitely, tradition has constructed different speeches on the Chorus on which it is worth to go in depth, refutate or put into context.

Choral groups in Spain: A space for coexistence and music education

This paper presents the most relevant data obtained from a study conducted with the participation of 1255 choirs, most of them registered in the database of the Music and Dance Documentation Center from the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music of Spain. The main aim of the study of such an extensive array of choirs is to get sufficient information to describe the basic profile of choral activity in Spain. In order to conduct this study a questionnaire was designed including some specific questions for each one of the three types of choirs in which the sample was classified: children/youth choirs, mixed choirs and equal voices choirs. The questionnaire includes variables referring to the basic profile of the choirs, institutional linkage, repertoires, financing, data about the activities of the choirs and the conductors’ profile. The results show, among other things, that the choirs establish long lasting associative experiences and that, though many conductors are trained as musicians, they are not specialized in choral conducting. Finally, the qualitative and quantitative importance of the choral activity to enhance cultural heritage, musical education and social relevance of the choral movement in Spain stands out.

Review: The Psychophysical Ear: Music Experiments, Experimental Sounds, 1840–1910 by Alexandra Hui; Helmholtz and the Modern Listener by Benjamin Steege

The Psychophysical Ear: Music Experiments, Experimental Sounds, 1840–1910 , by Alexandra Hui. Transformations. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013. xxii, 233 pp. Helmholtz and the Modern Listener , by Benjamin Steege. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. xii, 282 pp. Let us imagine an aesthetics of music grounded in the notion of compression . Audio file-compression locates the point at which the granularity of the signal is of sufficient density to recreate sound, to give the illusion of an original indistinguishable from that of a higher-resolution reproduction. We might stipulate that the efficiency of perception is an aesthetic desideratum: the beautiful or well-formed is that which transmits musical information without waste, locates a “sweet spot” in the density of information. The flattened dynamics of commercial music could be said to be well formed, locating the ideal point in the dynamic range or the place of maximum efficiency. Should we be catholic in our definition of music, we could assert that the clarity of the cinematic soundscape (wherein everything is completely audible) is likewise efficient or ideal. From this a corollary: sound designed or rendered is to be preferred to “natural” sound. By extension, we might imagine a sociology, one wherein the beautiful is that which is coded by timbre or genre or the like so as to allow internal soundscapes to be optimized ; or to allow even for an optimized listening, one locating an ideal point between attention and disattention. What is interesting here is not the exercise itself (admittedly facile) but the almost automatic rejoinders it provokes. Rejoinders epistemological: Would not neuroscience, perhaps, provide a more solid ground for an aesthetics, one whose development rested less on suggestion and more on things empirical, testable? Rejoinders moral: Would not an aesthetics grounded in efficiency sacrifice a richness of experience? Is there not something important captured by lossless encoding, or vinyl? Rejoinders ethical or disciplinary: Given that the desideratum of such a theory would be a set of covering laws governing music, could the end result be anything but mechanistic, …

THE MAKING OF A NATIONAL ICON: COMMEMORATING NIE ER, 1935–1949

The choice of his song, “March of the Volunteers,” as the PRC’s national anthem catapulted Nie Er to fame, but the groundwork for his iconic status began soon after his death in 1935. This article examines the relationship between the politics of commemoration and the development of sonic nationalism, in both its textual and performative dimensions, between 1935 and 1949. I argue that Nie’s mass songs both represented and served as media for the expression of a class-inflected nationalism. Leftist cultural workers highlighted Nie’s music and compositional method to advocate “popularization” and to reject the popular music associated with Li Jinhui and “academy” music informed by the Western musical tradition. Nie’s iconic status derived from a combination of Communist cultural policies, grassroots mobilization in the form of the national salvation choral movement, and the international reception accorded to his “March of the Volunteers” as mediated by Liu Liangmo and Paul Robeson.

The Making of a National Icon: Commemorating Nie Er, 1935–1949

The choice of his song, “March of the Volunteers,” as the PRC’s national anthem catapulted Nie Er to fame, but the groundwork for his iconic status began soon after his death in 1935. This article examines the relationship between the politics of commemoration and the development of sonic nationalism, in both its textual and performative dimensions, between 1935 and 1949. I argue that Nie’s mass songs both represented and served as media for the expression of a class-inflected nationalism. Leftist cultural workers highlighted Nie’s music and compositional method to advocate “popularization” and to reject the popular music associated with Li Jinhui and “academy” music informed by the Western musical tradition. Nie’s iconic status derived from a combination of Communist cultural policies, grassroots mobilization in the form of the national salvation choral movement, and the international reception accorded to his “March of the Volunteers” as mediated by Liu Liangmo and Paul Robeson.

Steven Berkoff, Choral Unity, and Modes of Governance

Steven Berkoff has remained a polarizing and influential figure in British theatre for almost forty years, yet his work has received scant critical attention despite its widespread imitation and regular appearance on British stages. In this article, Jon Foley Sherman identifies choral movement as a key element of Berkoff's signature aesthetic of exaggerated, precise, and violent movement and language. Tracing a trajectory from his 1971 experiments with Agamemnon to his direction of Coriolanus, this article analyzes the uses to which choral movement has been put, and reveals a startling political development in Berkoff's work that belies the consistency of his chorus's manner of moving. His commitment to a particular kind of ensemble performance not only altered the political valences of his source texts, it eventually resulted in a stark assessment of self-government that is rendered more problematic by Berkoff's deployment of polyracial casts. Jon Foley Sherman is a visiting assistant professor at Beloit College; he recently earned a PhD in theatre and drama at Northwestern University, where his dissertation proposed a phenomenology of stage presence in contemporary performance. One of Jacques Lecoq's last students, he is also the artistic director of Sprung Movement Theatre.

A History of the Choral Music Activities at Gustavus Adolphus College from 1862–1933

The 2006-2007 school year marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Gustavus Choir. For three quarters of a century, The Gustavus Choir has been an indispensable contributor to the educational environment of Gustavus Adolphus College. The choir has developed an international reputation as an ensemble deeply rooted in the traditions established by F. Melius Christiansen and the a cappella choral movement. This study documents the historical events leading to the beginning of the Gustavus Choir. It attempts to provide insight into how a collegiate choral ensemble develops and presents principles that might be used to supplement current beliefs about such an organization. An exploration of related literature indicates that published research in the field of historical documentation of performance ensembles at the collegiate level is somewhat lacking. Nearly all colleges and universities have some sort of performing group. Written histories of these ensembles can provide an historical ideology of the structure and administration of an academic ensemble. Further research in this field can also help current and future music educators and administrators better understand how choral organizations develop, as well as note trends and philosophies that may be valuable to these educators in their own music programs. Gustavus Adolphus College Gustavus Adolphus College is a small private, liberal arts college located in St. Peter, Minnesota and affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. (1) The roots of the college can be traced back to the mid-nineteenth century when the first significant wave of Swedish immigrants settled in Minnesota. In 1858 the Lutheran Minnesota Conference was organized and two years later the conference became the largest part of the Augustana Synod. The congregations that made up these organizations believed that a Christian education was important. In 1860, the Synod formed Augustana College and Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois to train teachers and pastors for this area. The people of Minnesota believed this school to be too far away to serve its needs. (2) In 1862, the idea for a school emerged from a meeting of the Minnesota Conference. Later that year, Erik Norelius united eleven older students who traveled to Red Wing, Minnesota with the children of the Red Wing congregation to form a school, which he taught by himself. (3) The following year, the Minnesota Conference adopted the school and voted to permanently locate it in the settlement of East Union in Carver County. At this time it received its first name from the synod, the Minnesota Elementary School. The name was later changed to St. Ansgar's Academy in 1865 to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of St. Ansgar's death. When the school opened in East Union in 1863 it was housed in a small church. As land and money were acquired several renovations took place to expand the building and the campus. (4) The total enrollment for the school during the East Union days, 1863-1876, numbered approximately 700 students, the largest class being sixty-eight. (5) Throughout the college's early years, debate on educational philosophy raged within the Synod between those who wanted to centralize power and those who wanted to strengthen the conferences. Finally, a compromise was reached which allowed individual conferences to establish colleges, but also kept Augustana College in Illinois as the institution for the entire Synod. Augustana was also meant to stand as the only theological seminary for the Synod. (6) As the population of Minnesota grew and high schools developed throughout the state, Erik Norelius, now a leader in the Conference, recognized the need for a college. He began to search for a location. In 1873, a board of directors was selected and the name Gustavus Adolphus Literary and Theological Institute was chosen to replace St. Ansgar. After failing to raise the funds to move to East Minneapolis and partner with the University of Minnesota, the small town of St. …

The reform of music education in schools and the choral movement in German-speaking Switzerland in the first half of the nineteenth century :

The reform of music education in schools and the choral movement in German-speaking Switzerland in the first half of the nineteenth century :

A Garland of Songs for a Nation of Singers: An Episode in the History of Russia, the Herderian Tradition and the Rise of Baltic Nationalism

Analysis of the contents of Jānis Cimze's harmonized folksong collection A Garland of Songs (1872) and the cultural context in which it was published reveals its musical portrait of an emergent Latvian nation to be a synthetic construct. Drawing upon aspects of the German nationalist choral movement, the quasi-Herderian work of Baltic German folklorists and new opportunities for cultural expression afforded by mid-century Russian imperial reforms, Cimze's work inspired heated and increasingly xenophobic debate among his contemporary Latvians about the destiny of their community in pre-Revolutionary Russia.

Millennium Harvest: The BBC Singers Commissions for 1999

One recurring theme in the 75-year history of the BBC Singers (and their various predecessors) has been the tension between their role as a model for amateur choirs and their capabilities as a professional ensemble. Their longest-serving director, Leslie Woodgate, who was in charge from 1934 until his death in 1961, was also an important figure in the amateur choral movement; he clearly believed that part of the BBC choruses' role in broadcasting was to demonstrate how part-songs and oratorios, and indeed hymns and psalms, should be performed. But, given the quality of the forces he had at his disposal, Woodgate was hardly likely to turn down opportunities to conduct the first performances of, for example, Britten's A Boy was born and Hymn to St Cecilia, nor decline to prepare the chorus for the premieres of Bartok's Cantata Profana and Webern's Das Augenlicht and First Cantata.

The Workingmen's Choral Movement in Germany before the First World War

The 'unpolitical' workingmen's associations and societies are, as one scholar realized as long ago as the 1950s, of considerable importance to the social history of the labour movement although they have been seriously neglected up to now.' Nor, on closer examination, do they prove to have been quite as unpolitical as they might at first seem. By offering workers independent organizations of their own, clearly distinct from those of the bourgeoisie, and which not only determined the entire context of workers' lives but could also provide a ready-made communications network, if required, for concrete political action, they were politically highly relevant. One of these 'unpolitical' yet political workingmen's associations was the 'German Workers' Choral Federation' (DASB Deutscher Arbeiter-Sdngerbund) which came into being in 1908 as the successor to the 'Association of German Workingmen's Choral Societies' (Liedergemeinschaft der Arbeiter-Sangervereinigungen Deutschlands) of 1892 and which, with a total membership in 1914 of almost exactly 200,000, was the largest and arguably the most important workers' cultural organization in Germany before the first world war. The workingmen's choral societies of which the Federation was made up are to be seen as part of a much broader attempt to create a separate proletarian culture or 'workers' culture'.2 This term is more neutral in its associations than that of 'social-democratic subculture', which was coined with special reference to the Wilhelminian period and the social-democratic movement and which 'is intended to signify both social democracy's detachment from the system and its inner links with it.'3 There are two additional reasons why this latter definition cannot be considered entirely satisfactory. First, the