Bath Choral Society - 125 years of Performance
We
all celebrate anniversaries and Bath Choral Society is
no different in wanting to acknowledge an important event in its history.
A ‘Bath Choral Society’ can be traced from 1819, performing at
the opening of the Freemasons’
Hall in York Street. A further three
concerts were organised during the autumn months when ‘all the other
amusements in Bath are suspended’!
The trail goes quiet until 1830 when Bath Choral Society gave another concert, again in the Freemasons’ Hall, in aid of
the newly created Royal Victoria Park There
is evidence to suggest that this Society performed
between 1828 and 1850 (we are
lucky enough to have a programme cover dated 1837). Various choirs — the
Bath City Choral Society, Bianchi Taylor’s
Choir and the Bath Choral Union - now
competed for public approbation for the next thirty or so years.
Fortunately we have continuous records for Bath Choral Society from 1884, when a
choir led by Emilio Pieraccini
gave its first concert in the New Assembly
Rooms. At much the same lime
Henry Sims formed the Bath Orchestral
Society. After a period of subdued activity these two groups
were wedded together in 1890 and
called ‘Bath Choral and Orchestral Society’. It
celebrated its centenary in
the season 1981/2 based on
the view that the Society was established
in 1882; a not unreasonable
decision given that many programmes stated this on the cover. In 1951 Bath
Choral Society featured in the film The
Magic Box starring Robert Donat about the life
of William Friese-Greene.
For
125 years the present Society has built
on the traditions of the past; not least being the annual performances of
Handel’s Messiah in Bath
Abbey. In 1989 it
changed its name back to ‘Bath Choral Society’, engaging fully professional
orchestras to accompany concerts
under which banner it continues
to perform
to this day. In 1998 the society was
selected to perform a new commission in association with the SPNM and the NFMS, resulting in the world premiere of ‘Visions of Sorrow & Joy’ by Brian
Inglis. The Society has worked
with many great soloists - Madame
Belle Cole, Esther
Palliser, Dame Isobel Baillie, Dame Janet
Baker, Emma Kirkby, Lesley Garrett,
David Mason and in 1992, José Carreras
and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. The
choir enjoys a fruitful association with The City of Bath Bach Choir, including joint performances of Walton’s
‘Belshazzar’s Feast’, and
Britten’s ‘War Requiem’.
Bath Choral Society is distinguished
in having only four principal conductors
during its 125 year
history — Henry Sims, William Jackman, Clifford Harker
and Matthew Bale, who is celebrating
20 years as Musical
Director with the choir.