BFCS returns to its Spiritual Home
Sunday 13 April 2008 was the day when Birmingham Festival Choral Society returned to its Spiritual Home, the refurbished Town Hall in Birmingham, to give the first performance of Elijah there since it was closed so long ago for renovation. It is appropriate that this honour should belong to BFCS for in 1843 the Society was established to provide the majority of the chorus not only for the première of Mendelssohn’s Oratorio Elijah, conducted by the composer, at the 1846 Triennial Musical Festival in Birmingham Town Hall but also at all future Triennial Musical Festivals.

The Triennial Musical Festivals.
It was in 1765 that Dr John Ash, the eminent Birmingham physician, together with many well-known figures in the town, including Matthew Boulton and members of the Lunar Society, became concerned at the increasing number of industrial accidents taking place as Birmingham entered the Industrial Revolution. They decided that the artisans of Birmingham needed a General Hospital because the existing hospital was only for those residing in the parish of Birmingham (St Martins), a small part of the rapidly growing town.
To help with the fund-raising it was decided to organise a Musical Festival over several days, which was held in September 1768, and the profit of £299. 7s. 4d (£45,000.00 in 2008 money) was added to the existing funds for building the new Hospital. By 1778, the year before the Hospital was opened, money was running out and so another Festival was held to raise more valuable funds. It was also realised that apart from building the hospital it was necessary to have an income for the day-to-day running expenses and so the first of the Birmingham Triennial Musical Festivals was held in 1784 to raise the necessary funds.
The Triennial Festivals took place over four days with morning and evening concerts (plus a Dress Ball one of the evenings) and continued until 1912 raising large sums of money for the Hospital. The first General Hospital was built in Summer Lane and was in use until the Hospital was moved to new premises in Steelhouse Lane in 1897. The Summer Lane buildings were demolished in 1901 and the Steelhouse Lane premises now house the Princess Dianna Children’s Hospital

Creation of BFCS in 1843.
Birmingham Festival Choral Society has been established longer than any other chorus in Birmingham. The Society was formed in 1843 to supply the majority of singers for the Musical Festivals by the Directors of the Birmingham Triennial Musical Festivals who 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
Birmingham Town Hall was the venue on 19th June 1845 for the first concert given by BFCS that was not part of a Triennial Musical Festival.

Modern Music and Premières.
Birmingham Festival Choral Society was formed to sing "Modern Music” (Elijah in 1846) and in the Triennial Musical Festivals gave many premières 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 and Dr Charles Swinnerton Heap) were also Chorus Masters of the Triennial Musical Festivals and so BFCS concerts often-included second performances of works that had been premièred at the Musical Festivals. The Chorus, therefore, has a long history in promoting and performing new choral music.
BFCS also premièred several choral works in its own concerts, the first one being Captivity by Francis Howell in 1862. Since 1975

BFCS has premièred eighteen 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).

The Society 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, Birmingham-based John Joubert was commissioned 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 generously gave the chorus two delightful miniatures Harvest of the Sea (1992) and Balulalow (1998).

BFCS in the early 1900’s
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), Sir Henry Wood (1919-23) and Sir Adrian Boult (1923-30) who became President of BFCS until his death in 1983.
In his autobiography ‘My own Trumpet’ Sir Adrian 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 by Joseph H Adams (a former member of BFCS) The Hound of Heaven by Dr William H Harris, Blake by Graham Godfrey (the BFCS Chorus Master) and I vow to Thee my Country by Victor Hely-Hutchinson which he conducted when it was premièred by BFCS with The City of Birmingham Choir at the 1937 Coronation Concert for George VI in Birmingham Town Hall.

After World War II
The end of World War II saw BFCS struggling to attract singers and survive. In 1962 Madam Aird-Briscoe, the only woman to be Conductor/Music Director of BFCS, a highly experienced choral director and singing teacher, took over a chorus of less than 30 members with low morale and very few men. She began recruiting singers and, 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 chorus, which was now about 80 strong, 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’ chorus encouraged more musically experienced recruits who wanted to be challenged in their music making.

More recent years.
While BFCS was rehearsing John Joubert’s 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 FRCO, a versatile freelance musician who is an experienced choral conductor and composer, was selected and appointed Music Director of Birmingham Festival Choral Society 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 during that year. These combined with the overseas tours and the creation of the BFCS website (www.bfcs.org.uk) helped to stimulate enthusiasm and recruitment so that the chorus now has over 130 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
More details of tour venues

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.

BFCS has a proud history, a vibrant present and an exciting future.
Gordon C Allen
(1920 words, inc. title) BFCS Archivist & Historian
03.04.2008