Halifax Choral Society (HCS) is a choir based in the town of Halifax in the English county of

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

. It is notable for being the oldest amateur

choral A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

society in Britain (and possibly in the world) with an unbroken record of performance.

History

The idea for the Halifax Choral Society (initially called Halifax Quarterly Choral Society) emerged from a discussion in late 1817 at a dinner party hosted at his home, Crow Trees in

Lightcliffe Lightcliffe is a village in the Calderdale district in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated approximately three miles east of Halifax and two miles north west of Brighouse. Lightcliffe was a ...

, Halifax, for his musical friends by William Priestley, an eminent local musician, antiquary and literary gentleman. Late in 1817, at a dinner party Priestley discussed the possibility of a permanent choir rather than the gatherings of singers that had presented concerts in the district for many years previously. The choir has played an important role in the social and musical life of Halifax throughout its life, especially during the many civic and national celebrations which typified Imperial Britain in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century the choir was able to keep going through the two world wars, and exploited the technology of radio, TV, and the gramophone and its descendants, to reach new audiences. As well as performing with professional orchestras and top-ranking soloists, it performs with the highest ranking brass bands such as the

Black Dyke Band Black Dyke Band, formerly John Foster & Son Black Dyke Mills Band, is one of the oldest and most well-known brass bands in the world. It originated as multiple community bands founded by John Foster at his family's textile mill in Queensbury ...

from nearby Queensbury. The choir maintains a friendly rivalry with neighbouring Huddersfield Choral Society. This may be due in part to the Halifax Choral Society interviewing and turning down the young

Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

for the post of conductor, and then later seeing Sargent's success as conductor in Huddersfield. Halifax Choral Society has pioneered music by such composers as Mendelssohn and Haydn. Works have also been commissioned especially for the HCS.

Mozart manuscript

The Choir made headlines when it presented, for the first time in modern history, a fascinating orchestration of Handel's oratorio ''Judas Maccabaeus''. The score, which is attributed to Mozart, was found in the HCS archives where it had been preserved since the early 1850s, having been presented to HCS by the Choir's founder. The find inspired a TV recording of the first performance, broadcast in the UK and on Trio Arts (part of the Trio TV network) in the USA.

Bicentenary

The Society held its bicentenary season in 2017–18 with a programme which included a new oratorio commission from

Philip Wilby Philip Wilby (born Pontefract, 1949) is a British composer, organist and choir director. Education Educated at Leeds Grammar School and Keble College, Oxford, he joined the staff at the University of Leeds as a Lecturer in the Department of Music ...

. The work is called ''The Holy Face'', and features the story of the life and dramatic death of Halifax's patron saint –

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

, whose head is pictured on the Halifax coat of arms. The final concert of the season was a reprise of the first of the first: on 9 February 1818, in the Halifax Court House, this was Haydn's '' The Creation''.

References

External links

* {{authority control Yorkshire choirs Musical groups from West Yorkshire Choral societies Musical groups established in the 1810s Culture in Halifax, West Yorkshire 1818 establishments in England Arts organizations established in 1818