British Choral Singing

A History from Medieval Times to the Present Day
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-1-83765-319-5
Verlag: Boydell Press

Buch, Englisch, 460 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 696 g

Charts choral traditions in Britain, evolution, sociological composition, engagement with and place within cathedrals and secular spaces.

Choirs are living organisms and ever changing. This book tells the story of British choral singing (not choral music) and deals with both sacred and secular choirs and institutions from the medieval era through to the Covid pandemic and its aftermath. A series of different choral traditions has emerged over the centuries. The oldest is that of the all-male cathedral choir, while the secular choral society evolved from the eighteenth century onwards. Although there are many histories of individual cathedrals and choral societies, this is the first general history of British choral traditions. While English matters predominate, those of Scotland, Wales and Ireland are also considered. Even though British choral traditions have penetrated many parts of the world, there has also been much cross-fertilization of late with the rich choral cultures of other nations in Europe and beyond. Choral singing inevitably involved matters of social class, and a much more nuanced story is told here than the current view of choirs as being a largely middle-class phenomenon might suggest.

Scholarly in method while highly readable, the book offers invaluable background to choral practitioners. When choral activity is reviving healthily after the Covid 19 pandemic, such a volume appears timely, reminding the reader of the essentially communal and social nature of the choral experience.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ward Jones, Peter

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikgattungen Geistliche Musik, Religiöse Musik
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgements
Notes to the Reader
Introduction
1 The Medieval Choir
2 From Reformation to Civil War
3 From the Restoration to Georgian Enlightenment
4 The Musical Festival and Choral Society in the Victorian Era
5 Church and Cathedral Choirs in the Nineteenth Century
6 World War to World War, 1914-1945
7 Into the Second Elizabethan Era
8 Enter the New Millennium
Further Reading
Notes
Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Ward Jones, Peter
PETER WARD JONES is the retired Music Librarian of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, a former Fellow of St Cross College and ex-organ scholar of Balliol College. He has a lifelong experience as organist/choirmaster and conductor of choral societies. Publications include The Mendelssohns on Honeymoon: The 1837 Diary of Felix and Cécile Mendelssohn Bartholdy; Catalogue of the Mendelssohn Papers in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 3, and numerous contributions to encyclopaedias, journals, Festschriften and other works of joint authorship, including a chapter in Music in Twentieth-Century Oxford (Boydell, 2023).