Birmingham Festival Choral Society has been established longer than any other chorus in Birmingham. It was formed in 1843 by the Committee of the Birmingham Triennial Musical Festivals to supply the majority of singers for the Musical Festivals that were held to raise funds to build and then maintain Birmingham General Hospital.
The committee stated:
'The Festival Choral Society, existing under the sanction of the Directors, has, since the last Festival [1843], been in regular practice: the choruses, therefore, will be found more perfect and finished than they have ever been.'
BFCS was, therefore, formed specifically to sing at the 1846 Triennial Musical Festival (which included the première in Birmingham Town Hall of Mendelssohn's Elijah, conducted by the composer) and at all future Musical Festivals. The first concert given by BFCS that was not part of a Triennial Musical Festival was on 19th June 1845 in Birmingham Town Hall.

Modern Music and Premières.
Birmingham Festival Choral Society was formed to sing "Modern Music" (i.e. Elijah in 1846) and has taken part in many premières since including Dvorak's Requiem (1891) conducted by the composer, plus Sir Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius (1900) and The Music Makers (1912). The first three BFCS conductors (James Stimpson, William C Stockley, Dr Charles Swinnerton Heap) were also the Festival Chorus Masters and so BFCS concerts often included second performances of works that had been premièred at the Musical Festivals. BFCS, therefore, has a long history in promoting and performing new choral music.

Since 1975 the Chorus has premièred fifteen choral works, eleven of them commissioned by the Society and Jeremy Patterson (BFCS Music Director 1969-2004). It began with Malcolm Dedman's The word was made flesh (1975) and continued with John Paynter's Incarnatus (1976), Patrick Standford's Ancient Verses (1979) and Andrew Downes' The Temple of Solomon (1980). BFCS now had a regular commissioning policy and, after giving the second performance of Elis Pehkonen's Buccinate tuba in 1983, Elis accepted a commission from the Society for a 40-minute composition. He created Russian Requiem (1986), subsequently recorded by BFCS and performed by many choirs worldwide.

To celebrate the Centenary of Birmingham's elevation from town to city status in 1989, BFCS commissioned Birmingham-based John Joubert to compose his Choral Symphony For the Beauty of the Earth. The sequence was continued with Pehkonen's The First Coming (1994) and Laudate (1995) plus Antonin Tucapský's Te Deum laudamus (2000). This ongoing activity led to BFCS and CBSO's Birmingham Young Voices jointly commissioning Bob Chilcott to write a new choral work, Circlesong, which they premièred in the Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham in April 2004. Malvern Priory was the venue in June 2005 for the BFCS performance of The Kestrel Road, a brand new composition by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies that was commissioned by Making Music.

BFCS has given the second and third performances of many other works including compositions by our two Patron composers John Joubert and Elis Pehkonen. Elis Pehkonen also generously gave BFCS two delightful miniatures Harvest of the Sea (1992) and Balulalow (1998).

BFCS in the early 1900s
Elgar's friend Dr George R Sinclair, whose dog is featured in Elgar's Enigma Variations, became conductor of BFCS in 1900. At the invitation of Sir Henry Wood he took 300 members of BFCS to London in 1911 to perform Bach's B minor Mass with the London Symphony Orchestra in Queen's Hall. The performance was received enthusiastically with the press acknowledging that the Society now ranked with the finest choirs in the country.
Membership of the Society peaked at 443 singers in 1912, the year of the last Triennial Musical Festival as the 1915 Festival was cancelled because of the First World War. BFCS, however, continued its independent existence, with its conductors including Sir Thomas Beecham (1918-19), Henry Wood (1919-23) and Adrian Boult (1923-30). Sir Adrian became President of BFCS until his death in 1983. In his autobiography 'My own Trumpet' he wrote 'a magnificent choir with a splendid body of tenors (Wales wasn't far off)'! Dame Ethel Smyth's Mass in D was performed in 1924 and the Christmas performances of Handel's Messiah, which started in 1849, continued to be performed until December 1938.
During this period the premières performed were King Conor (1905) by Joseph H Adams, a former member of BFCS, The Hound of Heaven (1919) by Dr William H Harris, Blake (1925) by Graham Godfrey, the BFCS Chorus Master and I vow to Thee my Country (1937) by Victor Hely-Hutchinson which he conducted when it was premièred by BFCS with The City of Birmingham Choir at the Coronation Concert in Birmingham Town Hall.

After World War II
The end of World War II saw BFCS struggling to attract singers and by 1962 it had less than 30 members with very few men and morale was low. Madam Aird-Briscoe, a highly experienced choral director and singing teacher, took over the choir in 1962 and began recruiting singers. Aiming high, she combined BFCS with her other choirs to perform St Matthew Passion in Birmingham Town Hall with the CBSO in 1964. Due to increasing infirmity she decided to hand over the baton to Jeremy Patterson in 1969 but the choir he inherited was on the mature side (!) and it was essential to build with younger singers, especially tenors and basses. After having insisted on performing Brahms' Ein deutsches requiem in German and then amalgamated choirs for Elijah and Verdi's Requiem, he imposed:

(a) auditions once every three years for singer and
(b) a policy of programming contemporary works to balance the traditional repertoire.

The slimmed-down, 'new-look' choir encouraged more musically experienced recruits who wanted to be challenged in their music making.

More recent years.
While BFCS was rehearsing For the Beauty of the Earth a committee member said, "What is going to happen if, for any reason, Jeremy is unable to conduct this concert?" Thus in 1990 Anthony Bradbury, aged 21 and fresh from Oxford, joined BFCS as Assistant Conductor and, with his ever-increasing success, was appointed Associate Conductor in 1995.
Anthony and Jeremy worked very well as a team for they were both experienced orchestral players and conductors. After thirty-five years of inspirational musical making and leadership Jeremy decided to lay down the baton of Music Director and Anthony agreed to accept the post for the 2004/5 Concert Season to allow the Society time to find and appoint a successor. From nearly thirty applicants for the post Patrick Larley, a versatile freelance musician who is an experienced choral conductor and composer, was selected and appointed Music Director of BFCS with effect from September 2005.
Over the years BFCS has had a number of rehearsal workshops and a Lottery Grant for the Season 1997/98 enabled the choir to engage regular visiting tutors for five rehearsals each term. These combined with the overseas tours, stimulated enthusiasm and recruitment so that the chorus now has over 120 members.
BFCS continues to recruit singers who want to advance their musical knowledge and singing techniques and who enjoy the challenge of tackling exciting new choral music as well as attempting to shed new light on the classics.

Overseas Tours.
Overseas tours have not only encouraged recruitment but they have also helped to create stronger bonds of friendship between members of the Society.
The choir has visited:

1992 Bulgaria - Plovdiv and Varna
1994 Poland - Poznan and Gniezno
1998 The Czech Republic - Prague and Prachatice (Southern Bohemia)
2001 Germany - Leipzig, Erfurt and Thalbürgel
2003 Belgium and Holland - Bruges, Utrecht, Monnikendam and Amsterdam
2006 Slovenia - Ljubljana and Bled

BFCS is planning a tour to Estonia in 2008 giving concerts in Tallinn and Pärnu.
On tours to Eastern Europe BFCS has taken gifts and money to aid local hospitals and/or charities and has also hosted reciprocal visits to Birmingham from European choirs.

Concerts and Venues.
Birmingham Festival Choral Society gives at least three main concerts per season with music ranging from the Baroque period to exciting 21st Century pieces, plus a Christmas Charity Concert for a local charity proposed by members.
In recent years, besides giving concerts in The Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham, the Chorus has sung in:

BFCS has a proud history, a vibrant present and an exciting future.

Gordon C Allen
BFCS Archivist & Historian
25.09.2007

E-mail: Gordon Allen