Welsh Men's Choirs
If you are thinking of moving to Wales a visit to listen to a Welsh choir is a must as you settle into your new home.
Not for nothing is Wales regarded as the "Land of Song". The Principality has a proud tradition in so many areas of music, not just vocal, but in the brass band movement as well. It is the male voices, however, which are unmistakably Welsh, and leave in no doubt whatsoever as to where the music you are listening to is coming from. The Welsh Male Voice Choir has become such an institution that it is now being developed in other parts of the world, often by Welsh expatriate communities.
The world of the Welsh Male Voice Choir has its big gathering every two years at the Royal Albert Hall in London. This is an even organized by the London Welsh Male Voice Choir, which attracts choirs from all over the world. The next two events, looking four years ahead, have already been booked up. Although a large amount of the seating, as with the National Brass Band Championships, will be taken up by friends and relations of the choir members, some seats are sold to the public.
Any male person can become involved in choir of this type, as the higher parts normally designated to female voices are sung instead by young biys. Although most people can learn to pitch their voice well enough to sing in amateur choirs, there are certain demands you will need to fulfil if you are to reach the highest level. The ability to sight read is important, as you need to be able to pitch your voice with purity and clarity in exact tune with the other singers.
The first evidence for the type of polyphonic singing which you will hear with a male voice choir is in an old document called the Old Hall Manuscript, which dates from 1420. Since that time, there has been a continuous development of choral music, much of it contrapuntal in nature, featuring more than one melody being sung at a time. The Catholic Church has contributed much, with a long history of sacred madrigals. Monteverdi was the supreme master of counterpoint, and many choirs and choruses bear his name today.
One of the greatest composers of the classical era, Franz Josef Haydn, began writing extensively for voice after his triumphant London visits during the 1790s. In twentieth century England, Ralph Vaughan Williams made a major contribution to choral music, and the modernist schools started by Schoenberg were heavily involved. In Wales itself, the Male Voice Choirs were at their peak during the last two decades of the nineteenth century, and the early part of the twentieth. With mining and industry flourishing, many collieries and works had their own brass band and male voice choir. All vredit goes to the people who are keeping these movements alive, despite worsening economic and social conditions.