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Specially recorded by the BBC Singers (the BBC's own full-time professional choir, and one of the world's great vocal ensembles) conducted by their Conductor Laureate Stephen Cleobury, the timeline gives a bird's eye view of some of the peaks of the choral repertoire, of the developments in choral writing over the centuries, and of the music of some of the modern-day composers.
Benjamin Britten (1913 - 76)
Arguably the pre-eminent musical figure in both pre and post-war Britain, it's difficult to over-rate Britten's influence on the music of this country.
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He revived English opera with Peter Grimes in 1945, made major contributions to all the main musical genres, and - almost uniquely - concentrated in particular on making music more accessible to children with works such as The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Noyes Fludde and The Little Sweep.
His choral works were pioneered by the BBC from the beginnings of his career - the BBC Chorus (fore-runner of today's BBC Singers) giving the broadcast premiere of Britten's mould-breaking choral variations A Boy was Born in 1934. Sacred and Profane is one of the Britten's last works (composed the year before his death), and its sophisticated harmonies and refined writing make it difficult for any but the best singers or choirs to perform. In it, Britten set out to create a typically mediaeval contrast between the sacred and secular. The work is written for five voices (Britten originally intended that these should be solo singers), and comprises eight mediaeval lyrics - kept in their original language to offer more of a 'display piece' for the performers.
Maiden in the Morlaye is a slightly irreverent and ironic parody, where a pastoral scene of a maiden lying on a moor is told in deliberately unsurprising harmonies and rhythms. It is clear from this movement that Britten took a great deal of delight in the reshaping of simple tunes.
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- Available to listenDeborah Bull explores ballet music in late Victorian London, at the music hall theatres.
- Available to listenSara Mohr-Pietsch explores Britten's choral works.
- Available to listenAndrew McGregor explores Mahler's Das klagende Lied.
- Available to listenSarah Walker explores Rachmaninov's choral works.
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A guide to the orchestra
Explore the instruments of the orchestra
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