Choral music
Singing together is something natural for people all around the world. Therefore, throughout history, many different choral music ensembles have been developed over the world.
The choir
The choir is the most complex musical ensemble for voices. It is formed by a variable number of people, and it’s meant to interpretate musical compositions in a wide range of tessituras.
Generally, it’s formed by four kinds of voices of different tessituras. Two of them would be Treble voices and the two others male voices. From sharper to lower they are:
Soprano, Alto, tenor, and bass.
It’s also possible to divide a choir into 6 different voices adding mezzo-soprano and baritone.
Because of the complexity of the music composed for choirs they also need a conductor, to prepare and rehearse the music and to coordinate them in the stage.
The usual disposition of a choir in front of the public is as follows (although others are also possible):
Generally, each kind of voice will do a melody that unites with the other voices in a polyphonic texture. It is very normal for choral music to be written in 4 parts or simultaneous melodies, although this is not always the case.
This makes possible to reduce a choir to the minimum singing choral music with only 4 people. You can see it in the former example, The Kyrie of a Josquin des Prez Mass, interpreted with only one person per voice.
Music a cappella vs. choir with instruments.
Choirs can sing with or without instruments. When they sing without instruments, we say that they sing a cappella. You can see this kind of interpretation in the videos above.
The singing a cappella is very common in the interpretation of religious music from the renaissance, although in the period they used to sing it along with instruments of different tessituras doubling the melodies of the voices.
From this period on, a cappella singing is not usual anymore, and choirs are used together with instruments in musical compositions.
This is a “concert interpretation” of a film musical composition by Vangelis. Originally for the film “1492 The Conquest of paradise”
Other kind of common choirs are the treble voices choirs. Many of them are linked to religious school institutions and are called boys choirs. Kids that sing the numbers of the “Lotería Nacional” in Spain belong to one of this choirs.
The most famous of these choirs at an international level is “The Vienna’s Boys Singers”
Choral music Throughout European history
We are going to see now a little glimpse of choral music throughout history.
Classical antiquity (Form the begining of writing to the 5th Century)
Choral singing has been very important in European music from classical antiquity . Many of the scarce fragments of ancient Greek music that we know are choral music. This music was part of a kind of theatre that was called Tragedy by the Greeks.
In this video you can see the process of reconstruction of choral Greek music from the evidence that we have from antiquity:
If you want to see the second part of the documentary follow this link.
- The Middle Ages (from the 5th to the 15th century)
The first big musical repertoire that we known is the religious style of singing called “plain chant”, Gregorian chant is a kind of plain chant. It was composed between the sixth and eighth centuries in the Middle Ages. It is sung at unison or with very simple harmonies like drones or parallel intervals. It was sung by male or female choir but not by mixed voices choirs.
In the following video you can see a female choir singing music of the German female composer Hildegard Von Bingen.
And here you have an example of Gregorian chant in the Solesmes style. That is the style of interpretation developed in the French monastery of Solesmes and has become the official way of singing Gregorian chant in the Catholic church.
- The renaissance
Religious music in the renaissance is the tipping point in choral music in Europe. Compossers made very complex polyphonic works to sing during the Mass. In this period appeared choirs very similar to those that we know today. With 4 different voices singing different melodies at the same time.
Every cathedral and every important religious centre maintained a choir and a “Instrumental Chapell”. In this period, as we have already said, choral compositions used to be sung together with instruments playing the same melodies than the voices.
Throughout this period many master pieces of polyphony were composed, some of them for more than twenty different simultaneous voices.
One of the most famous polyphonic works even composed is the Ave Maria of Josquin Des Prez.
You also can listen to this Ockeghem cannon for multiple voices.
- Baroque period (1600-1750)
In this period composers still do many choral religious music to be sung together with instruments. But in this period the relationship between the vocal parts and the instruments is going to change entirely. Instead of just doubling the vocal parts they are going to act independently, accompanying the choirs in the basso continuo style typical of the rest of the baroque music. This style is called “concertatto style”.
One of the most famous choral works in every musical period is the Hallelujah form Haendel’s Oratory The Messiah. It’s a good example of concertatto style.
Besides many coral music was composed in the context of opera, and dramatical music. Here you can see a choir in a Haendel’s opera.
- Classicism (1750-1820)
During this period choral music follows the idea of concertatto style defined in baroque music, with the logical changes that affected all the music of the music of the period.
In the other hand the prestige of instrumental music grows over that of the vocal music that is being left behind by composers.
- After Beethoven. Romantic and postromantic choral music.
At the end of the classical period Beethoven opens a new path for choral music with hie 9th symphony combining a choir and instruments in one of the bastions of instrumental music the symphonic genre.
In this video you can listen to the last movement of the 9th symphony interpreted by 10.000 people in Japan.
Romantic and post romantic composers took this idea because of the huge prestige of Beethoven.
- Contemporary choral music
Some contemporary composers have explored dissonant harmonies in choral compositions.
Other choral traditions
Choral music is very popular in traditional music styles both inside and outside Europe.
- Working songs
These are songs that accompany certain works helping people to keep them up with the rhythm of the song.
One example of working song are the Scottish waulking songs, sung by women to make woollen clothe. It's very usual, for this kind of singing, to use the “responsorial style” in which one person sing a stanza and the rest answer with a chorus (beware of the use of the name chorus in this context).
Working songs have been sung all around the world and are one of the main influences in the origins of blues music.
In this example you can see Afro-American working songs in an American prison.
- Choral singing to celebrate some festivities.
On many occasions in Cantabria the neighbours of the villages came together to sing in choirs. “Las Marzas” "Los Picayos" and many other similar chants are and examples of that.
Here you can see a version of “The Sacraments of Love” that were sung in the priest house the the day of “Las Marzas Day”
As we have already said, another example of choral singing in Cantabria are "Los picayos"
The "coros ronda" are a traditional choral ensemble from Cantabria that sibg with simple polophonies as "singin at the 3th"
The most famous in the area is the choir "La fuentona".
- Sea songs
Sailors have many traditions associated with coral singing. From rowing songs to choral works to entertain themselves.
One of these traditions are the “shanties” in the British Isles. You can see an example in this video.
Seaside villages in Cantabria, like San Vicente de la Barquera or Laredo, have choirs that compete in contests of sea songs. In Cantabria singing of habaneras is very popular due to the maritime traffic with Cuba in the Nineteenth Century.
In the next video you can see La Barquera Choir singing “Remeros de San Vicente”.
Choral traditions around the world
Some musical traditions are famous because of their choral singing.
One of the most interesting in Europe is the polyphonic choral singing traditional on the Mediterranean Island of Sardinia.
In this case they are singing together with two mogul people that are singing in their traditional diphonic style.
There are similar traditions of polyphonic chant in places in contact with the religious music of the Orthodox Church.
You can see that in Georgia.
The area between Sout Albania and Northern Greece.
Bulgaria
Africa is another place in the world where choral singing is very important. South African choirs are especially famous. Here you can see the choir of a school in Zambia.
Gospel is a famous style of Afro-American singing that combines some aspects of both African and European choral traditions.
All in all, choral chant is as widespread around the world as the humankind. To finish with it look at these traditional dances and choral songs in the Russian far east in Kamchatka peninsula.
- Anthems
Singing together is a good way to create bonds. Thats the role of anthems. There can be national anthems or anthems that represent other kind of groups like football clubs.
You can see here the Celtic supporters singing one of the anthems of the club.
- Choral music and the military
From antiquity we have testimonies of choral singing associated to war and armies. In the Greek world were famous the “peans” that the spartan army used to sing before battle. This warrior tradition can be found everywhere.
Celtic people from Gaul, people in Hispania (with special mention to the Cantabri people) in Germania attacked the enemies’ singing songs and beating the ground and shields rhythmically with their feet.
Its not that surprising. War needs coordination and singing is a good way to encourage it.
In these videos you can see a recreation of Zulu singing before the battle of Isandhlwanaa, in which Zulu warriors defeated the British in a spectacular action.
And here real warrior Zulu singing.
You can compare it with this Māori warrior Haka. It is the same idea develop thousands of km away.
Today here are thousands of examples of military choral music in modern armies. American marines call and response chants are used in training marches.
Those soldiers in the French army are also singing wile marching.
