Ipswich Bach Choir - History

 

The choir was founded in 1929 by George Gray, the organist and choirmaster of St Mary-le-Tower Church. Their first concert was a performance of the St Matthew Passion, which the choir has performed on numerous subsequent occasions, most recently at Snape Maltings at Easter 2002 with Witham Choral Society. The choir developed from a specially augmented choir of St Mary-le-Tower, which performed the St Matthew Passion and Brahms' Requiem in 1928.

For most of the 1930's, 40's and 50's the choir performed jointly with the Bury Bach Choir, under the baton of Percy Hallam, who was cathedral organist at Bury St Edmunds. They usually gave pairs of concerts, at St Mary-le-Tower and at St Mary's Church or the Cathedral at Bury. This arrangement was discontinued on the death of Mr Hallam in 1957. The two choirs also performed several times at Ely Cathedral and at the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields in London in 1935, where, as a result of their growing reputation, they were invited to perform as part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Bach. Yet again on that occasion they performed the St Matthew Passion, which was said at the time to be "the first appearance of this kind of any East Anglian choir in London". Newspaper reports of this concert described the women vocalists as being "dressed in white" and wearing "veils of the canonical Lenten colour"! The performance was deemed by the press to be "entirely worthy of what Sir Edward Elgar called the noblest sacred work in existence." They also performed the St John Passion at St Martin-in-the-Fields in 1938.

During the early years, the Ipswich Bach Choir also performed several times with and without the assistance of their colleagues from Bury, at St Mary-le-Tower Church, the Public Hall, the Corn Exchange (1948), St Augustine's Church, Ipswich (1952), All Saint's Church, Ipswich (1953), the Church of the Holy Trinity, Blythburgh (1954), St Bartholomew's Church, Ipswich (1955), St Matthew's Church, Ipswich (1957 and 1959).

In 1950, the two choirs gave a concert in the church of St Bartholomew the Great in London, although no programme of this event appears to have been kept for posterity. The Ipswich Choral society joined the two Bach choirs for some concerts in the early 1950's. All three choirs sang the Messiah at the Spa Pavilion in Felixstowe in 1952, along with Felixstowe Musical Society.

Sir Peter Pears, renowned tenor and longtime friend and colleague of Benjamin Britten, first sang with the two choirs in a performance of Britten's St Nicholas and other music in the cathedral at Bury in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain Cathedral Week. Peter Pears subsequently sang several times with the choirs and became a Vice-President of the Ipswich Bach Choir in 1959, and President in 1979.

In 1957, Merlin Channon took over as conductor of the Ipswich Bach Choir for 5 years, until he moved away from the area. He subsequently returned to Suffolk and was unanimously re-elected as conductor in 1975. He finally retired in 1987 and now continues to this day as Conductor Emeritus of the Eye Bach Choir, with whom the Ipswich Bach Choir have often performed jointly.

The last joint performance of the St Edmundsbury and Ipswich Bach Choirs was a memorial concert for Mr Hallam at Bury St Edmunds Cathedral in March 1958. Brahms' Requiem was the main item on the programme.

There was an interesting article in the Ipswich Star in May 1959. Their music critic, who bore the charming pseudonym of Diapason, had given a lukewarm review, which attracted the ire of some luminaries in the audience. Imogen Holst and Benjamin Britten jointly signed a letter to the editor, in which they felt that the critic "did not sufficiently convey to your readers the real importance of the Ipswich Bach Choir's performance of the B Minor Mass" and stated that in their opinion "this occasion was an important one and worthy of this greatest of all choral works." The critic, in a subsequent article, published the letter in full, and went on at length about the interpretation of Bach and other composers, and the problem of finding singers for choirs. Having said "I am sure the choir must be delighted to find in this letter confirmation of the ample praise given by me on their performance when I mentioned the satisfactory performance of Bach's monumental and highly exacting work", the critic finished by saying "meanwhile, if a few Huddersfield tenors apply for inclusion in the choir, I am quite sure they will be heartily welcomed."

Meanwhile, the choir continued to perform, usually twice a year, as remains their custom. They sang at the Parish Church, East Bergholt in aid of the World Refugee Year Fund in 1960, and sang at various churches in Ipswich, mostly St Mary-le-Tower. Michael Hamm took over as conductor in 1962 and was replaced by Audrey Hill in 1974, who went abroad and was replaced by Merlin Channon.

Most of the choir's programmes through the 1960's and early 1970's stated that the concert was being performed by the Ipswich Bach Choir and (or with) Orchestra. However, from December 1975, the orchestra on the programme has been the Ipswich Chamber Orchestra. Jessie Ridley has been leader of the orchestra ever since. She first played with the Bach choir in 1963 or earlier (singers and orchestral players were not always mentioned by name in programmes back then) and was first mentioned as leader in 1970, when she replaced Paul Hardman.

The choir sang at the Ipswich Corn Exchange's Inaugural Concert on September 22nd 1975, with the Ipswich Choral Society and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Walter Susskind, Principal Conductor of the St Louis Symphony Orchestra at the time. The concert was attended by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. Among the works performed were Britten's "The Building of the House" overture, written for the opening of Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Mozart's Flute Concerto, Poulenc's Concerto for Organ, Strings and Tympani, Beethoven's Choral Fantasia, and Walton's Crown Imperial, written for the coronation of King George VI.

The Corn Exchange took over from St Mary-le-Tower Church as the Bach Choir's main "home" from then on. Originally opened as a venue for the corn market in 1882, and from 1888 also used as the fruit and vegetable market, the building had been used sporadically for meetings and concerts, particularly after the destruction by fire of the Public Hall in 1948. The last Fruit and Vegetable Market was held in the market hall in 1970 and the last Corn Market in 1972. It was then converted into the Arts and Entertainment Centre it is today. In recent debates about the future of the Corn Exchange, much mention has been made of its excellent acoustics and its organ, and it is hoped that these will ensure its survival as a concert hall.

The first concert given by the Bach Choir and Ipswich Chamber Orchestra at the new Corn Exchange was of the B Minor Mass, in December 1975. The choir sang with the Eye Bach Choir at the Eye Silver Jubilee Arts Festival in 1977, performing Haydn's The Seasons, and the two choirs continued to collaborate occasionally thereafter, performing two concerts together in Eye the following year, including Verdi's Requiem, which both choirs performed again in May 2005 at Eye Church, conducted by Merlin Channon.

For their 50th anniversary concert in 1979, the choir returned to their roots at St Mary-le-Tower, where they sang the St Matthew Passion once again.
This coincided with the 250th anniversary of its first performance at Leipzig, and to mark the occasion, the work was sung in its entirety, which is a rare event. The concert began at 3pm and finished at about 8pm, with a ninety- minute interval. The church was packed, and the reviews were enthusiastic. Jack Hawes, in the Evening Star, described it as "a most moving experience, both musical and devotional, that will long be remembered as a highlight in the history of the Ipswich Bach Choir."

The choir hosted a Golden Jubilee Celebration at the Grand Hall in the Corn Exchange 3 weeks later, attended by the Mayor and Mayoress, and 23 guests including representatives of the Bury and Eye Bach Choirs and Ipswich Choral Society, Radio Orwell and the Eastern Arts Association. Three of the choir's founding members were also present. Choir members and friends provided entertainment after a buffet supper. Around this time, the choir acquired a logo, consisting of a profile of Bach surrounded by a laurel wreath, which is still used.

In 1986, the choir sang works by Vivaldi at the 21st Wangford Festival. In 1987, Paul Trepte, Director of Music at Ely cathedral, succeeded Merlin Channon as Musical Director, and in December 1988, the choir gave two gala performances of the Messiah, at the Corn Exchange and St Edmundsbury Cathedral, in aid of the Cathedral appeal. In March 1989, the choir sang Mendelssohn's St Paul for their Diamond Jubilee Concert at the Corn Exchange.

In December 1989, the choir joined the Amberfield School Choir in a Carols for All concert at East Bergholt Church. A number of further Carol concerts have been held since then. In recent years, members of the choir have participated in the Carol Service at the world famous Willis Building in Ipswich, and have also sung carols regularly at a residential home in Ipswich.

In 1991, the choir organised a workshop at Ipswich School on Mozart's Requiem to celebrate the composer's bicentenary. A further workshop on Brahms' Requiem was held the following year.

Andrew Fardell became Musical Director in 1995. The following year, the choir performed Dvorak's Stabat Mater with the Waltham Singers at two prestigious venues, Chelmsford Cathedral and Snape Maltings Concert Hall. The two choirs also performed Elgar's Dream of Gerontius at Snape in 1998, along with the Pegasus Singers. In August 1998, members of the choir, along with those of 14 other choirs from around the country, performed Carmina Burana at the Royal Albert Hall, as part of the BBC Proms season.

Steuart Bedford, the distinguished conductor, pianist and former artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival, has been the choir's President since 1996. He played Mozart's 17th Piano Concerto at one of the choir's concerts in 1999.

Patrick McCarthy became Musical Director of the choir in 1999. Patrick's first involvement with the choir was as the tenor soloist in a performance of Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Handel's Dixit Dominus in 1982, and he also sang tenor solo more recently, at the choir's performance of the Messiah in December 2004. The Ipswich Bach Choir celebrated its 75th Anniversary in 2004.

Under Patrick's baton, the choir has performed Bach's Mass in B Minor, Christmas Oratorio and St Matthew Passion (the latter at Snape with the Witham Choral Society), Mozart's Requiem, Handel's Messiah (twice) and Israel in Egypt, Beethoven's Mass in C and Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Britten's Cantata Misericordium, Berlioz's Childhood of Christ, Vivaldi's Credo, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, Haydn's The Seasons, Mendelssohn's Elijah (also with the Witham Choral Society at Snape, where the two choirs performed the Dream of Gerontius) and several shorter pieces including Bryan Barnes' Miserere, Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus, Handel's Nisi Dominus, Zadok the Priest and Fauré's Cantique de Jean Racine.

In 2005 the choir held two singing days, one being a Verdi Requiem workshop, and the other involving a variety of music, including pop, folk and negro spiritual music and some choruses from Haydn's Creation, which the choir performed that December. A small number of singers from the choir also sang at the wedding of a fellow choir member in June 2005.

In 2007 the Choir did two performances of The Verdi Reqium.

The first at the Ipswich Corn exchange on 17 March,
and then at The Church of St Peter ad Vincula Coggeshall on 24 March

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