160 years of Worcester Festival Choral Society marked with new book

 At the same time, 250 miles south in the cathedral city of Worcester, it was a different story. Here the Honourable Mrs Dudley Ward and Lord Ward, who lived in glittering splendour at Witley Court, Lieutenant Colonel Bell and the Honourable Mrs Talbot were taking part in an amateur concert which featured “several Italian songs and a grand instrumental selection from Verdi’s new opera La Traviata”.

There was a considerable cultural as well as geographical divide, because at that time the music halls had not really got going in Worcester and concerts were very much a “society” thing.

However, both occasions had legs. For while The Blaydon Races has become a popular standard on the folk club circuit, the singing ensemble with which the Hon Mrs DW performed has grown into Worcester Festival Choral Society, one of the most richly talented assemblies of singers in the country.

In 2011 it celebrated its 150th anniversary and now a very smart new book authored by society member and soprano Michelle Whitefoot has been published to mark its 160th.

Michelle Whitefoot’s new book about the history of Worcester Festival Choral Society

A Choral Chronicle – the history of Worcester Festival Choral Society, packed with information and lots of full colour and black and white photographs, costs £25 in bookstores (£20 if bought online from www.wfcs.online/book).

WFCS has its roots in a glee club formed in Worcester in 1810, which met at the Crown Hotel in Broad Street, then a busy coaching inn. Among its members were the highest echelons of  local society, who were regular attendees at the already well-established Three Choirs Festival, an event that even in those days was more than a century old.

Worcester Cathedral hosts the Three Choirs Festival in 1866. Image from Illustrated London News

In 1861 the idea came, probably at the instigation of Worcester Cathedral organist William Done, to form a Festival Choral Society from the membership of the Crown Hotel Glee Club in order to create a pool of quality singers from which members could be drawn for the Three Choirs Festival chorus that was needed each year in turn at Worcester, Hereford and Gloucester.

A 1902 Three Choirs Festival in Worcester’s Public Hall. Image TCF archive

The first rule book of the WFCS underlined the state of play: “The object of the society shall be the cultivation of choral music and the formation of a chorus fitted to take part in the triennial festivals”. And it’s been pretty much the same ever since.

So far, so good, but throughout its history the society has faced a battle familiar to most minority interests – finance and audience attendance. By 1866, after only five years, it was more than £18 in debt “despite stringent economies having been made.”

Ticket prices were increased but the following year there was a reported fall in subscribers from 100 to 60, presumably because of the more expensive tickets. It also didn’t help that many members had a rather cavalier attitude to paying their subscriptions on time, if at all.

Edward Elgar, Ivor Atkins and violinist WH Reed at the 1920 Three Choirs. TCF archive

There was another fly in the ointment, ironically born of the fledgling society’s success. As its reputation spread, more knowledgeable audiences turned up and to satisfy them members wanted to perform more challenging pieces. Unfortunately the orchestra couldn’t quite cope.

At this point the whole show could have stopped not long after it started and because of these problems, following the 1868 concert no more were held for about 20 years.

Soon to be famous faces at the 1966 Worcester Three Choirs, including Stephen and Nicholas Cleobury, John Pryce-Jones and Guy Protheroe. Image courtesy of Gabrielle Bullock, who is waving in the centre

The society was then reconstituted in 1888 with a new rule book that required, among other things, members paid their subs on time. There was also a 2d fine for the late return of music borrowed.

By then a chap by the name of Edward Elgar was a member of the band – he later became its leader – and his brother Frank and father William also performed occasionally.

At the Society’s 150th Gala Dinning, four living WFCS conductors: Dr Christopher Robinson, Adrian Lucas, Sir David Willcocks and Dr Donald Hunt. Image Mark Elliston and Patrick Aydon

So things began to look up, but not before some of the snootier members of the society had railed against singing music by “Mr Elgar, who was, after all, only the son of a local tradesman, who had even been known to tune their pianos”.

It possibly didn’t help that Elgar was an enthusiastic supporter of the society’s  charismatic new conductor Hugh Blair, who had succeeded the stoical William Done.

Conductor Adrian Lucas leads a rehearsal in 1997. Image Conrad S Rowberry

However, before the end of the century Blair, who had a weakness for alcohol, had been compelled to resign and his departure heralded the arrival in 1897 of Ivor Atkins, born in Llandaff, Wales, who was to become a legend in choral music circles.

Atkins was organist and choirmaster at Worcester Cathedral for more than half a century – 53 years in fact, from 1897 to 1950 – and his association, both with Elgar the man and his music, cemented the place of Worcester Festival Choral Society in music circles.

Worcester Festival Choral Society in full voice in 2013. Image WFCS archive

From there it’s been onwards and upwards and on Saturday, March 19, the society and a line-up of distinguished guest singers will be performing Bach’s St John’s Passion in Worcester Cathedral.

Call 0333 666 3366 for tickets costing £15-£25. It might be fitting if a full choral and orchestral version of The Blaydon Races was slipped in, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen.