A men's chorus or male voice choir (MVC) (German: ''Männerchor''), is a
choir
A choir ( ; 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. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...
consisting of men who sing with either a tenor or bass voice, and whose music is typically arranged into high and low tenors (1st and 2nd tenor), and high and low basses (1st and 2nd bass; or baritone and bass)—and shortened to the letters ''TTBB''. The term can also refer to a piece of music which is performed by such a choir.
Overview
Male voice choirs are commonly found in the United Kingdom,
particularly in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...
, and
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
. The names of male voice choirs sometimes use the abbreviation MVC, for example
Castleford MVC.
Men have sung together throughout history. In the West, most music lovers will be familiar with monastic chanting such as the
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe dur ...
.
In addition, men have come together to make music and enjoy the fellowship of others with a similar passion. Glee clubs became popular in the United States where men would sing in harmony, usually ''
a cappella''. Russia has a long tradition of men singing in the
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
. Elsewhere in the world, such as in Wales, parts of the US and Europe, male choirs arose from the late 19th century through to present times.
Male choirs (1st tenor, 2nd tenor, baritone and bass) even without trebles or boy sopranos have a slight advantage over women's choirs in that 1st tenors singing in the falsetto range of their voice can extend the range to encompass most of the range available to a female choir. However, even the lowest female voices cannot extend into the bass range of a men's choir or chorus. Arguably the most well-known male choruses are those in Wales, but there are highly skilled choirs around the world. Most male choruses today sing a wide range of music, including the traditional Welsh hymns but also choruses from opera, musical comedy and the popular genre.
An unusual offshoot of the male chorus is the
barbershop genre. Barbershop singing uses unique and specialised arrangements and is nearly always unaccompanied.
Many of the modern Germany male choruses owe their origins to the groups which were very popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with some groups still singing.
"Männerchor" male voice choirs in Germany
Male voice choirs were an innovation of the 19th century. Traditional values, with an increasingly patriotic stance and coupled with the social pleasures of a circle of friends stood at the centre of the movement. Older folk songs found new popularity in the first half of the 19th century (
Romantic Age). ''A capella'' four-voice male voice choirs supplemented the established choral forms of a mix of male, female and children's voices. National musical education was supposed to be promoted along with the political and social Enlightenment.
Carl Friedrich Zelter (1758–1832) and above all
Friedrich Silcher (1789–1860) were instrumental in influencing the development of a choral life, where choirs took root with a constitution, committee and – in the full flush of enthusiasm – showed all the "bells and whistles" of an organisation. In Switzerland,
Hans Georg Nägeli continued this movement.
The choirs often gave themselves evocative names. If an enthusiast had spent a few days at the "golden Rhine", he would feel called on to found a choir on the River Weser with a name such as "Lorelei" or "Stolzenfels". Hoarse male voices called themselves "Harmony" or named their organisation "Concordia", or "The Warbling Nightingale". Such vocal enthusiasm was often bound with patriotism and love of nature. The life of such a club and the joy of singing in harmony was supposed to be especially helpful in diverting attention from a hard day's work.
The musical content, after the initially more political forays, was accordingly: homeland, German forests, songs about the fruit of the grape, and of course – love. Areas which overflow with tourists today were once serenaded as quiet, romantic spots, in songs such as : ("In der Drosselgass“), "Zu
Rüdesheim" and "Vater
Rhein". In such songs, one would roam as a musician ("
Spielmann") or hunter ("
Jäger") through the country, and one felt oneself to be as free as a gypsy.
After the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the survivors found themselves back in their choirs, at first with new members, but the more the dreams of travel and romantic interludes could be actually realised with increasing wealth, the less the members had to seek the experiences about which they sang in thoughts alone. Thus began a gradual decline as the members of the great choirs aged and died and no new members replaced them. Despite this decline, there were still about 9641 male voice choirs in Germany around the year 2002 – about 15.9% of all choral forms.
List of male voice choirs
Notable male voice choirs include:
*
The Academic Male Voice Choir of Helsinki
*
Australian Welsh Male Choir
The Australian Welsh Male Choir is a Welsh male voice choir from Frankston in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
History
Originally known as the Frankston Welsh Male Choir its first performance was the dedication of the chapel at the Victoria Poli ...
*
BYU Men's Chorus
*
Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir
*
Castleford Male Voice Choir
*
Choir of the French Army
*
Chor Leoni Men's Choir
*
City of Bath Male Choir
*
Côr Godre'r Aran
*
Cornell University Glee Club
*
Felling Male Voice Choir
*
Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir The Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir ( cy, Côr Meibion Froncysyllte), also known as the Fron Choir ( cy, Côr Fron), is an amateur male voice choir based in the village of Froncysyllte (pronounced roughly ''vron-cuss-ulth/ tay''), Wrexham County B ...
*
Gwalia Male Choir
'Gwalia Male Choir'' (''Welsh: Côr Meibion Gwalia'') is a male voice choir based in London. Founded in 1967, it is one of London's oldest male choirs. Gwalia is an archaic Welsh name for Wales.
It meets and rehearses every week in the London Wel ...
*
Holman Climax Male Voice Choir
*
Hombourg-Haut Male Voice Choir
*
Kenyan Boys Choir
The Kenyan Boys Choir is an African traditional and contemporary male voice choir based in the city of Nairobi, Kenya.
Background
The Kenyan Boys Choir consists of 25 boys, aged between 13 and 24, from various Kenyan backgrounds and tribes, ...
*
Leeds Male Voice Choir
*
Linköping University Male Voice Choir
*
Lund University Male Voice Choir
Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish province of Scania, across the Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipality, Scania County. The Öresu ...
*
Morriston Orpheus Choir
*
Orphei Drängar
*
Orpheus Male Voice Choir, Grimsby & Cleethorpes
*
The Polytech Choir
The Polytech Choir ( fi, Polyteknikkojen Kuoro; PK) is an academic male choir established in 1900. The majority of the choir's members are engineering students and graduate engineers from Aalto University. The activities of the choir include trad ...
*
Pontarddulais Male Choir
The Pontarddulais Male Choir ( cy, Côr Meibion Pontarddulais) is a Welsh male voice choir from Pontarddulais near Swansea, Wales.
It is the most successful choir in Wales and is internationally renowned having performed in many parts of Europ ...
*
Svanholm Singers
*
Treorchy Male Choir
Treorchy Male Choir, also known as Treorchy Male Voice Choir, is a choir based in Treorchy in the Rhondda, Rhondda Valley, Wales, United Kingdom.
History
Choirs have existed in the Rhondda Valley for more than a 150 years and Treorchy is one of ...
*
Warrington Male Voice Choir
*
Wessex Male Choir
*
Wiener Schubertbund
The Wiener Schubertbund ("Vienna Schubert Society") is a men's choir in Vienna, Austria, founded in 1863.
History
The choir's founder in 1863, and its first musical director, was Franz Mair. It was originally affiliated to a teachers' association ...
*
YL Male Voice Choir
See also
*
Music of Wales
References
Directory of Choirs / Uniting English Male Voice Choirslist of English male voice choirs, cotswoldmvc.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Men's Chorus
German music
German music history
Choirs
Types of musical groups