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For other uses, see Choir (disambiguation).
"Choirgirl" redirects here. For the song by Cold Chisel, see Choirgirl (song).
Evensong rehearsal in the quire of York Minster, showing carved choirstalls.

A choir (/ˈkw.ər/) (also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.


The term "Choir" has the secondary definition of a subset of an ensemble; thus one speaks of the "woodwind choir" of an orchestra, or different "choirs" of voices and/or instruments in a polychoral composition. In typical 18th- to 21st-century oratorios and masses, chorus or choir is usually understood to imply more than one singer per part, in contrast to the quartet of soloists also featured in these works.

Structure of choirs[edit]


Choirs can sing with or without instrumental accompaniment. Singing without accompaniment is called a cappella singing (although the American Choral Directors Association[1] discourages this usage in favor of "unaccompanied," since a cappella denotes singing "as in the chapel" and much unaccompanied music today is secular). Accompanying instruments vary widely, from only one to a full orchestra; for rehearsals a piano or organ accompaniment is often used, even if a different instrumentation is planned for performance, or if the choir is rehearsing unaccompanied music.

Many choirs perform in one or many locations such as a church, opera house, or school hall. In some cases choirs join up to become one "mass" choir that performs for a special reason. In this case they provide a series of songs or musical works to celebrate and provide entertainment to others.

In worship services[edit]


Egyptian Alexandria Jewish choir of Rabbin Moshe Cohen at Samuel Menashe synagogue. Alexandria, Egypt.

Eastern Orthodox churches, some American Protestant groups, and some synagogues do not use instruments. In churches of the Western Rite the accompanying instrument is usually the organ, although in colonial America, the Moravian Church used groups of strings and winds. Many churches which use a contemporary worship format use a small amplified band to accompany the singing, and Roman Catholic Churches may use, at their discretion, additional orchestral accompaniment.

Liturgical function[edit]

In addition to leading of singing in which the congregation participates, such as hymns and service music, some church choirs still sing full liturgies, including propers (introit, gradual, communion antiphons appropriate for the different times of the liturgical year). Chief among these are the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches; far more common however is the performance of anthems or motets at designated times in the service.


  • Men's choirs, or Male Chorale, usually consisting of two tenors, baritone, and bass, often abbreviated as TTBB (or ATBB if the upper part sings falsetto in alto range). ATBB may be seen in some barbershop quartet music.
  • Children's choirs, often two-part SA or three-part SSA, sometimes more voices. This includes boy choirs.Boy choirs typically sing SSA or SSAA, sometimes including a tenor part for boys whose voices are changing.
  • Indian music choral group, takes the elements of western music in Indian music. Madras Youth choir is a pioneer in this.

Choirs are also categorized by the institutions in which they operate:

An English school choir
  • School choirs
  • Signing choirs (of Deaf or Hearing individuals), using Sign Language rather than voices
  • Integrated Signing and Singing Choirs, using both Sign Language and Voices and led by both a Signductor and a Musical Director.
  • Cambiata Choirs, often the same SATB, but with girls singing soprano and alto, along with trebles and cambiatas and boy altos


Arrangements on stage[edit]

One possible layout
German Kantorei in front of the orchestra





For music with double (or multiple) choirs, usually the members of each choir are together, sometimes significantly separated, especially in performances of 16th-century music. Some composers actually specify that choirs should be separated, such as in Benjamin Britten's War Requiem.


Historical overview of choral music[edit]


See also: Ancient music




Medieval music[edit]

Main article: Medieval music
Church singing, Tacuinum Sanitatis Casanatensis (14th century)


Renaissance music[edit]

Main article: Renaissance music




Baroque music[edit]

The Baroque period in music is associated with the development around 1600 of the figured bass, with dramatic implications in the realm of solo vocal music such as the monodies of the Florentine Camerata and opera. This innovation was in fact an extension of established practice of accompanying choral music at the organ, either from a skeletal reduced score (from which otherwise lost pieces can sometimes be reconstructed) or from a basso seguente, a part on a single staff containing the lowest sounding part.

A new genre was the vocal concertato, combining voices and instruments; its origins may be sought in the polychoral music of the Venetian school. Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) brought it to perfection with his Vespers and his Eighth Book of Madrigals,[5] which call for great virtuosity on the part of singers and instruments alike. His pupil Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672) (who had earlier studied with Giovanni Gabrieli) introduced the new style to Germany. Alongside the new music of the seconda pratica, contrapuntal motets in the stile antico or old style continued to be written well into the 19th century.


Independent instrumental accompaniment opened up new possibilities for choral music. Verse anthems alternated accompanied solos with choral sections; the best-known composers of this genre were Orlando Gibbons and Henry Purcell. Grand motets (such as those of Lully and Delalande) separated these sections into separate movements. Oratorio, pioneered by Giacomo Carissimi, extended this concept into concert-length works, usually loosely based on Biblical stories.


Yesterday [Oct. 6] there was a Rehearsal of the Coronation Anthem in Wesminster-Abby, set to musick by the famous Mr Hendall: there being 40 voices, and about 160 violins, Trumpets, Hautboys, Kettle-Drums and Bass' proportionable..!

Norwich Gazette, October 14, 1727

Lutheran composers wrote instrumentally accompanied cantatas, often based on chorale tunes. While Dieterich Buxtehude was a significant composer of such works, it was largely up to the next generation to undertake cantata cycles on texts for the entire church year. Georg Philipp Telemann wrote choral cantatas for Frankfurt (later published in solo versions as the Harmonische Gottesdienst) and Graupner cycles for Darmstadt, but Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) made a truly monumental contribution: his obituary mentions five complete cycles of his cantatas, of which three, comprising some 200 works, are known today, in addition to motets. Bach himself rarely used the term cantata. Motet refers to his church music without orchestra accompaniment, but instruments playing colla parte with the voices. His works with accompaniment consists of his Passions, Masses, the Magnificat and the cantatas.

Baroque cantata with one voice per part


The Hallelujah Chorus, from George Frideric Handel's Messiah, is one of the most famous choruses of all time

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Classical and Romantic music[edit]

Composers of the late 18th century became fascinated with the new possibilities of the symphony and other instrumental music, and generally neglected choral music. Mozart's choral works, though not as numerous as his works for other media, stand out as some of his greatest (such as the "Great" Mass in C minor and Requiem in D minor, the latter of which is often considered the greatest Requiem Mass of all time). Haydn became more interested in choral music near the end of his life following his visits to England in the 1790s, when he heard various Handel oratorios performed by large forces; he wrote a series of masses beginning in 1797 and his two great oratorios The Creation and The Seasons. Beethoven wrote only two masses, both intended for liturgical use, although his Missa solemnis is suitable only for the grandest ceremonies. He also pioneered the use of chorus as part of symphonic texture with his Ninth Symphony and Choral Fantasia.


Oratorios also continued to be written, clearly influenced by Handel's models. Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ and Mendelssohn's Elijah and St Paul are in the category. Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Brahms also wrote secular cantatas, the best known of which are Brahms's Schicksalslied and Nänie.



(How lovely is thy dwelling place) from Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) by Johannes Brahms

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20th and 21st centuries[edit]

Chorus of the Symphonic Orchestra and Chorus of the Mexican Navy performing at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City.

As in other genres of music, choral music underwent a period of experimentation and development during the 20th century. While few well-known composers focused primarily on choral music, most significant composers of the early century produced some fine examples that have entered the repertoire.

The early modernist composers, such as Richard Strauss, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Max Reger contributed to the genre. Ralph Vaughan Williams's Mass in G minor harks back to the Renaissance style while exhibiting the vibrancy of new harmonic languages. Vaughan Williams also arranged English and Scottish folk songs. Arnold Schoenberg's Friede auf Erden is a tonal kaleidoscope, whose tonal centers are constantly shifting (his harmonically innovative Verklärte Nacht for strings dates from the same period). Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych also explored new ways of harmonizing and arranging Ukrainian folk songs, producing masterpieces such as Dudaryk and Shchedryk, the latter of which featured a four-note ostinato theme and became a popular Christmas carol known as Carol of the Bells after it was translated by Peter J. Wilhousky.

The advent of atonality and other non-traditional harmonic systems and techniques in the 20th century also affected choral music. Serial music is represented by choral works by Arnold Schoenberg, including the anthem "Dreimal Tausend Jahre," while the composer's signature use of sprechstimme is evident in his psalm "De Profundis." Paul Hindemith's distinctive modal language is represented by both his a cappella Mass and his Six Chansons on texts by Rilke, while a more contrapuntally dissonant style comes through in his secular requiem, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd. Olivier Messiaen also demonstrates dissonant counterpoint in his Cinq Rechants, which tell the Tristan and Isolde story. Charles Ives' psalm settings exemplify the composer's incomparably radical harmonic language. Tone clusters and aleatory elements play a prominent role in the choral music of Krzysztof Penderecki, who wrote the St. Luke Passio, and György Ligeti, who wrote both a Requiem and a separate Lux Aeterna. Milton Babbitt incorporated integral serialism into works for children's chorus, while Daniel Pinkham wrote for choir and electronic tape. Meredith Monk's Panda Chant and Astronaut Anthem explore overtones in an unconventional text setting. Though difficult and rarely performed by amateurs, pieces that demonstrate such unfamiliar idioms have found their way into the repertories of the finest semi-professional and professional choirs around the world.

More accessible styles of choral music include that by Benjamin Britten, including his War Requiem, Five Flower Songs, and Rejoice in the Lamb. Francis Poulenc's Motets pour le temps de noël, Gloria, and Mass in G are often performed. A primitivist approach is exemplified by Carl Orff's widely performed Carmina Burana. In the United States, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and Randall Thompson wrote signature American pieces. In Eastern Europe, Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály wrote a small amount of music for choirs. Frank Martin's Mass for double choir combines modality and allusion to Medieval and Renaissance forms with a distinctly modern harmonic language and has become the composer's most performed work.

The so-called holy minimalists are represented by Arvo Pärt, whose Johannespassion and Magnificat have received regular performances; John Tavener (Song for Athene) and Henryk Gorecki (Totus Tuus) share this label. American minimalism and post minimalism are represented by Steve Reich's Desert Music, choral excerpts from Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach and John Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer, and David Lang's Pulitzer Prize-winning Little Match Girl Passion.

A choir of more than 30,000 participants performing to an audience of 80,000 on the 25th Estonian Song Festival

At the turn of the 21st century, choral music has received a resurgence of interest partly due to a renewed interest in accessible choral idioms.[citation needed] Multi-cultural influences are found in Osvaldo Golijov's St. Mark Passion, which melds the Bach-style passion form with Latin American street music, and Chen Yi's Chinese Myths Cantata melds atonal idioms with traditional Chinese melodies played on traditional Chinese instruments. Some composers began to earn their reputation based foremost on their choral output, including the highly popular John Rutter and Eric Whitacre. The large scale dramatic works of Karl Jenkins seem to hearken back to the theatricality of Orff, and the music of James MacMillan continues the tradition of boundary-pushing choral works from the United Kingdom begun by Britten, Walton, and Leighton. Meanwhile, composers such as John Williams, known primarily for film scores, and prominent concert orchestral composers such as Augusta Read Thomas, Sofia Gubaidulina, Aaron Jay Kernis, and Thomas Ades also contribute vital additions to the choral repertoire.

A number of traditions originating outside of classical concert music have enriched the choral repertoire as well as provided new outlets to composers:

  • During the mid 20th century, barbershop quartets began experimenting with combining larger ensembles together into choruses which sing barbershop music in 4 parts, often with staging, choreography and costumes. The first international barbershop chorus contest was held in 1953 and continues to this day.
  • African and African American choirs have a distinct and passionate sound. They incorporate their culture into the music; have a more upbeat tempo and use traditional instruments. They are also very good at singing slow and soulful renditions.
  • MB Srinivasan a pioneer in Indian choral music fused the elements of western music in Indian music. The Madras Youth Choir, is the oldest Indian choral music group in India.
  • Contemporary choirs, such as Rock Choir and London Contemporary Voices in the United Kingdom, and Gotham Rock Choir in the United States of America, have become popular since the beginning of the 21st century. They usually perform rock, pop, soul and Motown songs in close-part vocal harmony, often incorporating dance moves.

See also[edit]

  • Come and sing


  1. ^ See "Choral Reviews Format" on
  2. ^ Daugherty, J. Spacing, Formation, and Choral Sound: Preferences and Perceptions of Auditors and Choristers. Journal of Research in Music Education. Vol. 47, Num. 3. 1999.
  3. ^ Joseph Jordania. 2011. Why do People Sing? Music in Human Evolution. Logos
  4. ^ Warren Anderson and Thomas J. Mathiesen. "Terence", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001), xxv, 296.
  5. ^ His Fifth Book includes a basso continuo "for harpsichord or lute".
  6. ^ Richard Wistreich: "La voce e grata assai, ma.." Monteverdi on Singing in Early Music, Feb. 1994-

External links[edit]


Professional Organizations