CHORAL MAGNIFICENCE:
The 18th century was a turning point in how choral music was written and performed and the Nelson Civic Choir in their concert programme Choral Magnificence shares with us some of history’s most magnificent and exciting examples of choral music by some of the greatest choral music geniuses of all time. The exuberance and vitality of choral music is on full display in a programme of music by JS Bach and his son CPE Bach as well as choral excerpts by Vivaldi, Pachelbel and others.

Opera and oratorio both went through a huge transformation as composers used existing genres of the Mass setting as well as Passions and sacred texts such as Magnificat and Te Deum to push out the boundaries of choral music and open up magnificent and thrilling opportunities which were to unfold over the next 200 years.

The 18th century witnessed an exciting development in both choral and orchestral music. Composers were intent on getting more sound out of orchestral instruments both in range and timbre and this was accompanied by a development in homophonic choral sounds as well as more complex polyphonic choral writing to match the exuberance and complexities of orchestral music.