CHOIR MARKS CENTENARY

WITH the end of the First World War in 1918 men began returning to normal civilian life. One of the many happy consequences was the reconstitution of choral societies, deprived of male voices for so many years, and the formation of new ones.

One such was the City of Birmingham Choir, founded in 1921. Now – lockdown-postponed for a year – it is celebrating its centenary with a concert also marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams.

The choir came into existence almost simultaneously with the City of Birmingham Orchestra (now City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra), and many of its greatest triumphs have been in concerts presented it.

But one of the original objectives of the choir was to perform unaccompanied choral works, and indeed early programmes did feature madrigals and part-songs – though with a total complement of 185 voices, somewhat depleted in terms of altos and tenors, the results must have been highly distorted from what the composers had imagined.

Far more spectacular has been the choir’s enthusiastic embracing of contemporary music. In 1922 it gave the premiere of Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor, in 1938 it gave the UK premiere of Bloch’s Sacred Service, and under David Willcocks gave the UK premiere of the Durufle Requiem, the composer himself presiding at the organ.

The choir’s longstanding relationship with the CBSO hit a huge buffer in 1973 when Louis Fremaux, the CBSO’s principal conductor and music director, decided that the orchestra needed its own chorus to enable it to programme demanding works for chorus and orchestra.

Rather than sulking, the choir moved on to newer pastures, increasing its appearances in other venues in this country and abroad.

Links with the CBSO remain, however, with the preChristmas performance of Handel’s Messiah still a timehonoured tradition.

And on Sunday afternoon, Adrian Lucas conducts an allVaughan Williams programme, culminating in the composer’s mighty, Walt Whitmaninspired A Sea Symphony.

Symphony Hall, 3pm. All details on citychoir.org.uk