A men's chorus or male voice choir (MVC) (German: ''Männerchor''), is a
choir
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 ...
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 ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, and
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
. 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 plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...
.
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
Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...
''. Russia has a long tradition of men singing in the
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
. 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 all 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
Carl Friedrich Zelter (11 December 1758 15 May 1832)Grove/Fuller-Datei:Carl-Friedrich-Zelter.jpegMaitland, 1910. The Zelter entry takes up parts of pages 593-595 of Volume V. was a German composer, conductor and teacher of music. Working in his ...
(1758–1832) and above all
Friedrich Silcher
Philipp Friedrich Silcher (27 June 1789 in Schnait (today part of Weinstadt) – 26 August 1860 in Tübingen), was a German composer, mainly known for his lieder (songs), and an important Volkslied collector.Luise Marretta-Schär, Silcher, (Ph ...
(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
Hans Georg Nägeli (26 May 1773 – 26 December 1836) was a composer and music publisher.
Nägeli was born in Wetzikon, Switzerland. He studied under his father as a child and then opened a private music shop and publishing firm in the 1790s. I ...
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
Rhein may refer to:
Places
* Rhine, a major river in Europe ()
* Rhein, a village in the municipality of Morsbach in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
* Rhein (Ostpreussen), a former name of the town Ryn in Poland
* Rhein, Saskatchewan, a village w ...
". In such songs, one would roam as a musician ("
Spielmann
Spielmann or Spielman is a German occupational surname, which means "jester", from the Middle High German ''spilære''.''Dictionary of American Family Names''"Spieler Family History" Oxford University Press, 2013. Retrieved on 16 January 2016. The ...
") 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, 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
*
Apollo Club of Minneapolis
*
Australian Welsh Male Choir
*
BYU Men's Chorus
*
Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir
Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir is a Welsh Male choir based at Cardiff Arms Park in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.
History
On 1 September 1966, following Cardiff RFC's 35–0 defeat of Cardiff & District, a group of supporters came up with idea ...
*
Castleford Male Voice Choir
The Castleford Male Voice Choir (CMVC) is a male voice choir based in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. The choir was established in 1926.
The choir has recorded LPs. It has appeared on the BBC television programme ''The One Show''. It has ...
*
Choir of the French Army
The Choir of the French Army (), commonly known as the Armed Forces Choir, is an official academic ensemble of the Republican Guard of France. Its current director is Major Aurore Tillac. This male-voice choir is composed of 46 professional singe ...
*
Chor Leoni Men's Choir
Chor Leoni is a low voice choir based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The group was founded as Chor Leoni Men's Choir in 1992 by Order of Canada recipient Diane Loomer, C.M. (1940 - 2012), and consists of up to 70 TTBB singers. In 2024, ...
*
City of Bath Male Choir
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
*
Côr Godre'r Aran
is a Welsh male-voice choir that from Llanuwchllyn, near Bala, North Wales. The choir has over forty members who are all natural Welsh speakers and represent a spectrum of rural occupations.
History
The choir was formed in 1949 to compete at ...
*
Cornell University Glee Club
The Cornell University Glee Club (CUGC), founded in 1868, is the oldest student organization at Cornell University. The CUGC is a thirty-nine member Choir, chorus for tenor and bass voices, with repertoire including european classical music, cla ...
*
Felling Male Voice Choir
History
Felling Male Voice Choir was established in 1920 and is based in Felling, Gateshead, in the North East of England. The choir performs throughout the region and also undertakes national and international tours, and has won several major a ...
*
Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir
*
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
*
Leeds Male Voice Choir
*
Linköping University Male Voice Choir
*
Lund University Male Voice Choir
*
Morriston Orpheus Choir
The Morriston Orpheus Choir (), based in Morriston, near Swansea, Wales, is a male voice choir, one of the best-known in the UK.
History
The choir was formed on April 23, 1935, by Ivor E. Sims and in its early days concentrated primarily on compet ...
*
Norwegian Student Choral Society
*
Orphei Drängar
*
Orpheus Male Voice Choir, Grimsby & Cleethorpes
*
The Polytech Choir
*
Pontarddulais Male Choir
*
Svanholm Singers
*
Treorchy Male Choir
*
Wessex Male Choir
*
Wiener Schubertbund
*
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
Music of Germany
German music history
Choirs
Types of musical groups