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Choral music, music sung by a choir with two or more voices assigned to each part. Choral music is necessarily polyphonal—i.e., consisting of two or more autonomous vocal lines. It has a long history in European church music.
Choral music - Sacred, Polyphonic, A cappella: The ordinary of the mass (consisting of the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Benedictus, Agnus Dei, and in some medieval masses also the “Ite, missa est”) has been a focal point of choral music for more than 600 years.
choir, body of singers with more than one voice to a part. A mixed choir is normally composed of women and men, whereas a male choir consists either of boys and men or entirely of men. In the United States the term boys’ choir is often applied to a choir in which the treble parts are sung by boys instead of women.
Choral music - A Capella, Polyphonic, Renaissance: Since the vast majority of secular vocal works of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance were written with soloists in mind rather than a chorus, this repertory will be dealt with in a later section of this article.
Chorale, metrical hymn tune associated in common English usage with the Lutheran church in Germany. From early in the Reformation, chorales were to be sung by the congregation during the Protestant liturgy. Unison singing was the rule of the reformed churches, both in Germany and in other.
Choral music - Madrigals, Motets, Cantatas: A considerable amount of music sung by choirs in the 20th century is not really choral music at all, since it was conceived for performance by small groups of soloists and attains its fullest expression only through the individually projected personality of the solo voice.
A cappella, (Italian: “in the church style”), performance of a polyphonic (multipart) musical work by unaccompanied voices. Originally referring to sacred choral music, the term now refers to secular music as well.
Western music, music produced in Europe as well as those musics derived from the European from ancient times to the present day. All ancient civilizations entered historical times with a flourishing musical culture.
Choral music - Italian Madrigal, Polyphonic, Renaissance: The early development of the Italian madrigal was fostered as much by foreigners as by natives, and the considerable contributions made by the 16th-century Flemish composers Jacques Arcadelt, Philippe Verdelot, and Adriaan Willaert should not be underestimated.
Choral music - Motets, Polyphony, Renaissance: Choral music has been enriched for centuries by the composition of motets, which were originally settings of liturgical or biblical texts.
