BBC - Radio 3 - Classical/Choral

British Broadcasting CorporationHome

Accessibility links

Skip to content
Skip to local navigation
Skip to bbc.co.uk navigation
Skip to bbc.co.uk search
Accessibility Help

This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving.

Music Genres
Choral This category relates to music written for choirs. The tradition of choirs within religious establishments as begun in the middle ages continues to this day, and has provided an enormous wealth of music in a wide variety of forms and styles. Other than these and the choruses employed by opera houses, professional choirs are few, though there are many large amateur choirs. In the church tradition, forms such as plainsong , the Mass and the motet have all involved choirs, though scholars continue to argue over the number of performers ideal for any given piece. In the specifically German Protestant tradition within which Johann Sebastian Bach worked the regular performance of cantatas each Sunday encouraged him to write many masterpieces. In addition, two of his works in the genre of the Passion survive -- large-scale pieces that set the sections of the Gospel relating to the Passion of Christ interspersed with reflective arias. Many of his predecessors (such as Heinrich Schütz ) and contemporaries left similar pieces. Bach also wrote a number of secular cantatas. Beginning around 1550 there developed in Rome the new genre of oratorio , which usually told a Biblical story in a sequence of choruses and solo arias. Similar to opera in that it was regularly dramatic in tone (though not staged), the oratorio flourished in the hands of Giacomo Carissimi . Oratorio was introduced to England by George Frideric Handel , who left many examples that influenced subsequent composers such as Joseph Haydn and Felix Mendelssohn . Important later oratorios were written by Hector Berlioz , Edward Elgar and William Walton . The Requiem Mass developed a life beyond its liturgical origins. One can frequently encounter in the concert hall examples by Hector Berlioz , Giuseppe Verdi , Gabriel Fauré and the more individually conceived Requiems of Johannes Brahms ( A German Requiem ) and Benjamin Britten ( War Requiem ). During the nineteenth century, many sacred and secular cantatas were written for the concert hall, while composers from Beethoven onwards occasionally introduced choirs into their symphonies. BACK TO THE TOP		Guide to Classical Music Index Music Genres Instrumental Chamber Orchestral Vocal Choral Opera Music Timeline Medieval Renaissance Baroque Classical Romantic Modernism Musical Instruments Strings Woodwind Brass Percussion Electronic Related Links on radio 3 Classical Discovering Music Composer of the Week on bbc.co.uk Essential Guide to Classical Music What's On Classical TV and Radio Classical Reviews Guide to the Orchestra on the web Gramophone Classic FM Concert Diary Classical.com Classical.net The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.

BBC navigation

BBC links

BBC © 2014The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.