User:Davidjuliefletcher/sandbox

Birmingham Festival Choral Society

Birmingham Festival Choral Society (BFCS) is the city’s longest established SATB chorus, giving its first concert in 1845. The choir currently has approximately 100 members, and gives four concerts a year in and around Birmingham. In addition, a tour to Europe is organised every three years, with recent destinations including France, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, and Estonia. The current BFCS Music Director, David Wynne, took over the role in January 2017.

History 1.	Birmingham Triennial Musical Festival

The Birmingham Triennial Musical Festival, from which BFCS grew, first took place in 1784 as a means of raising money for the General Hospital. In 1845 the Musical Festival Orchestral Committee announced ‘two concerts by the Festival Choral Society, which, they stated, had existed under the sanction of the Directors since the last festival’. (Yardley 1995, 6).

2.	Elijah

BFCS was formed with the intention of providing a core of singers for the Triennial Festival. The first festival following its formation was particularly notable, as Felix Mendelssohn himself came to conduct the première of Elijah. Mendelssohn returned to the city the following year to conduct BFCS in the revised version of Elijah in Birmingham Town Hall on 27 April 1847, just six months before his death. He conducted without a fee in a benefit concert for the choir’s chorus master, James Stimpson, who he recognised had contributed greatly to the success of the première (Duggan 2011, 63).

3.	Stockley

In 1855 Stimpson resigned his post. It was at this time that the Society, having ‘achieved a towering reputation’ (Pieper 2008, 22), became independent of the Festival Committee. The newly formed committee of BFCS approached William Stockley to take over as Chorus Master (Stockley 1913, 3), a post he held for forty years until his retirement in 1895, making him the longest-serving Music Director in the choir’s history.

4.	Twentieth Century

The early twentieth century saw the demise of the Triennial Musical Festivals; the last one took place in 1912. Local composer Sir Edward Elgar had dominated the final festivals with first performances of his major choral works including The Dream of Gerontius in 1900 (Elliott 2000, 19-24), which also featured frequently in BFCS programmes. Although membership rose to 443 in 1912 (Yardley 1995, 41) and Music Directors included the likes of Sir Adrian Boult (1918-19) and Sir Henry Wood (1919-23) (Handford 2006, 226), the middle of the century was a period of struggle, recognised by Smith in 1945 who reflected that its ‘decline cannot fail to arouse sympathy mixed with a proud recollection that this society is perhaps the oldest of its kind in the country’ (Smith 1945, 58). His hope that ‘in its ashes may yet remain some of its ancient fire’ was fulfilled in the final decades of the century, when Jeremy Patterson took over the helm in 1969 (Yardley 1995, 89). Membership built up, reaching 123 by the year 2000, with the introduction of regular auditions (Handford 2006, 289).

5.	The New Millenium

Jeremy Patterson guided the choir into the new millennium, building a reputation for performing new works, just as the Triennial Musical Festival had sought to do. Since 1975 the choir has premièred seventeen new choral works (eleven commissioned by BFCS). Other notable performances have included a centenary performance of The Dream of Gerontius at Birmingham Oratory, where the manuscript of Cardinal Newman’s poem is kept, in 2000 ; the first performance of Elijah in the newly restored Birmingham Town Hall in 2008; and a performance of Haydn’s Creation at the English Haydn Festival in Bridgnorth in June 2009, marking the bicentenary of the composer’s death.

In 2004 Patterson’s tenure as Music Director came to an end after 35 years. Patrick Larley took on the role between 2005 and 2016, the most recent commission by the choir being his Birmingham Spirituals, first performed in July 2014. When Larley retired in 2016, David Wynne was appointed as his successor, with effect from January 2017.

Tours The choir has made regular tours abroad since 1992. It has performed in Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Slovenia, Estonia, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, and France. The choir has often made charitable donations to local organisations on these visits.

Current activities Information regarding performances and membership can be found on the choir website https://bfcs.org.uk/.

References

1.	Duggan, A. 2011. A Sense of Occasion: Mendelssohn in Birmingham 1846 & 1847. Studley: Brewin Books. 2.	Elliot, A. 2000. Music Makers: A brief history of the Birmingham Triennial Festivals, 1782 – 1912. Birmingham: Birmingham Library Services. 3.	Handford, M. 2006. Sounds Unlikely: Music in Birmingham. Studley: Brewin Books. 4.	Pieper, A. 2008. Music and the Making of Middle-Class Culture: A Comparative History of Nineteenth Century Leipzig and Birmingham. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. 5.	Smith, J.S. 1945. The Story of Music in Birmingham. Birmingham: Cornish Brothers. 6.	Stockley, W.C. 1913. Fifty years of music in Birmingham. Birmingham: Hudson & Son. 7.	Yardley, J. 1995. Birmingham Festival Choral Society: The first one hundred and fifty years. Birmingham: BFCS.

External Links

https://bfcs.org.uk/

Birmingham Festival Choral Society
Birmingham Festival Choral Society (BFCS) is the city’s longest established SATB chorus, giving its first concert in 1845. The choir currently has approximately 100 members, and gives four concerts a year in and around Birmingham. In addition, a tour to Europe is organised every three years, with recent destinations including France, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, and Estonia. The current BFCS Music Director, David Wynne, took over the role in January 2017.

History 1.	Birmingham Triennial Musical Festival

The Birmingham Triennial Musical Festival, from which BFCS grew, first took place in 1784 as a means of raising money for the General Hospital. In 1845 the Musical Festival Orchestral Committee announced ‘two concerts by the Festival Choral Society, which, they stated, had existed under the sanction of the Directors since the last festival’. (Yardley 1995, 6).

2.	Elijah

BFCS was formed with the intention of providing a core of singers for the Triennial Festival. The first festival following its formation was particularly notable, as Felix Mendelssohn himself came to conduct the première of Elijah. Mendelssohn returned to the city the following year to conduct BFCS in the revised version of Elijah in Birmingham Town Hall on 27 April 1847, just six months before his death. He conducted without a fee in a benefit concert for the choir’s chorus master, James Stimpson, who he recognised had contributed greatly to the success of the première (Duggan 2011, 63).

3.	Stockley

In 1855 Stimpson resigned his post. It was at this time that the Society, having ‘achieved a towering reputation’ (Pieper 2008, 22), became independent of the Festival Committee. The newly formed committee of BFCS approached William Stockley to take over as Chorus Master (Stockley 1913, 3), a post he held for forty years until his retirement in 1895, making him the longest-serving Music Director in the choir’s history.

4.	Twentieth Century

The early twentieth century saw the demise of the Triennial Musical Festivals; the last one took place in 1912. Local composer Sir Edward Elgar had dominated the final festivals with first performances of his major choral works including The Dream of Gerontius in 1900 (Elliott 2000, 19-24), which also featured frequently in BFCS programmes. Although membership rose to 443 in 1912 (Yardley 1995, 41) and Music Directors included the likes of Sir Adrian Boult (1918-19) and Sir Henry Wood (1919-23) (Handford 2006, 226), the middle of the century was a period of struggle, recognised by Smith in 1945 who reflected that its ‘decline cannot fail to arouse sympathy mixed with a proud recollection that this society is perhaps the oldest of its kind in the country’ (Smith 1945, 58). His hope that ‘in its ashes may yet remain some of its ancient fire’ was fulfilled in the final decades of the century, when Jeremy Patterson took over the helm in 1969 (Yardley 1995, 89). Membership built up, reaching 123 by the year 2000, with the introduction of regular auditions (Handford 2006, 289).

5.	The New Millenium

Jeremy Patterson guided the choir into the new millennium, building a reputation for performing new works, just as the Triennial Musical Festival had sought to do. Since 1975 the choir has premièred seventeen new choral works (eleven commissioned by BFCS). Other notable performances have included a centenary performance of The Dream of Gerontius at Birmingham Oratory, where the manuscript of Cardinal Newman’s poem is kept, in 2000 ; the first performance of Elijah in the newly restored Birmingham Town Hall in 2008; and a performance of Haydn’s Creation at the English Haydn Festival in Bridgnorth in June 2009, marking the bicentenary of the composer’s death.

In 2004 Patterson’s tenure as Music Director came to an end after 35 years. Patrick Larley took on the role between 2005 and 2016, the most recent commission by the choir being his Birmingham Spirituals, first performed in July 2014. When Larley retired in 2016, David Wynne was appointed as his successor, with effect from January 2017.

Tours The choir has made regular tours abroad since 1992. It has performed in Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Slovenia, Estonia, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, and France. The choir has often made charitable donations to local organisations on these visits.

Current activities Information regarding performances and membership can be found on the choir website https://bfcs.org.uk/.

References

1.	Duggan, A. 2011. A Sense of Occasion: Mendelssohn in Birmingham 1846 & 1847. Studley: Brewin Books. 2.	Elliot, A. 2000. Music Makers: A brief history of the Birmingham Triennial Festivals, 1782 – 1912. Birmingham: Birmingham Library Services. 3.	Handford, M. 2006. Sounds Unlikely: Music in Birmingham. Studley: Brewin Books. 4.	Pieper, A. 2008. Music and the Making of Middle-Class Culture: A Comparative History of Nineteenth Century Leipzig and Birmingham. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. 5.	Smith, J.S. 1945. The Story of Music in Birmingham. Birmingham: Cornish Brothers. 6.	Stockley, W.C. 1913. Fifty years of music in Birmingham. Birmingham: Hudson & Son. 7.	Yardley, J. 1995. Birmingham Festival Choral Society: The first one hundred and fifty years. Birmingham: BFCS.

External Links

https://bfcs.org.uk/