Thursday 15th October 2020
The piece was occasioned by the departure of the choir’s second full-time conductor, Harold Dexter, to take up the post of of organist at Southwark Cathedral, and the arrival of Peter Hurford. Like his predecessors, Peter held the triple responsibilities of organist at Holy Trinity Church, conductor of the Leamington Bach Choir (as we were known then), and conductor of the Warwickshire Orchestral Society (which later became the Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra).
The author of the article reflects both on the history of the choir, in particular its wartime beginnings under the direction of Dr Stanley Vann, and on its past successes. These included a performance of Handel’s
As well as the major choral masterpieces by Bach, Handel and Mozart, the article also comments on our performances of many works by “modern composers”, including Vaughan Williams (who was still our President at the time), Arthur Bliss, Hubert Parry and John Ireland. Apparently we also gave the première of a work called
It is interesting to learn that in the 1950s, the advent of “canned music”, and the growing popularity and availability of television, were seen as the main potential threats to the English choral tradition. We face different challenges today, particularly in the current crisis, but we shall continue to do our very best to keep the tradition of choral singing alive!
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