Has anyone else noticed that there are an abundance of performances of Poulenc's Gloria at the moment. I sung it in my choir recently, I have also seen posters for several amateur choirs performing it in London this month. Then I went to see Rachmaninoff's - The Bells, last saturday at the Birmingham Symphony Hall and lo and behold - Gloria was on the bill??!!

Is it some kind of anniversary that I've completely missed? or is it just a really popular piece to perform?

Hi Amy

It's a funny thing, but there does seem to be a bit of a herd mentality when choirs choose repertoire.

A couple of years ago you couldn't go anywhere without having the Mozart Requiem sung at you....

The following Christmas the Vivaldi Gloria was all around....

Last year Haydn's Creation was favourite...

This year (so far) I've been invited to two Brahms Requiems, and to FOUR Faure Requiems! And no, I don't just go to Requiems

I don't know of a Poulenc anniversary, but someone may prove me wrong.

Cheers

Katyjay

Thanks Katyjay!

It's funny that you mentioned the Faure requiem as we did it on the same bill as the Poulenc Gloria!!

So, it's a bit like "keeping up with the Jones's" as far as choir repertoire goes then... strange you would have thought that each choir wanted to have its own identity and strong programme....

Poulenc's dates are 1899-1963, so it doesn't feel like an anniversary year this year!

my choir are doing that piece at the minuter is brilliant! :-D

QUOTE (AmyB @ May 20 2005, 11:50 AM)

So, it's a bit like "keeping up with the Jones's" as far as choir repertoire goes then... strange you would have thought that each choir wanted to have its own identity and strong programme....

Actually I think what happens is the repertoire choosers (a committee in my own choir's case) sit down and say something like

"Choir xxxx did the Creation last year and so did we. We must choose something completely different so we don't clash again....how about the Faure Requiem?"

And bingo! Everyone who did Creation comes up with the same one or two works to be completely different from the Creation.... and the cycle continues.

Cheers

Katyjay

katyjay, you're right up to a point. We try to do something a bit different to other local choirs to avoid repertoire clashes, and most local choirs circulate concert dates and programmes to other choirs to ensure that people don't get bogged down hearing the same piece all year! That said, one local choir who shall remain nameless went through a phase recently of performing exactly the same repertoire as us, but the absolute nadir was a performance of the Nelson Mass on the same day in the same town Don't they realise the effect this would have had on both their audience and ours?

They performed The Armed Man this season in the same town as well, but at least had the decency to pick a different date.

Hi Deborah

Apart from your doppelganger choir, which must be intensely annoying, there's a problem of how far out your "local" circulation goes.

While the choir in the next town to you may not be doing the same stuff as you, the choir in the next town the other side of them may be doing it on the grounds that their "local" area isn't doing it. Result - an accidental duplication. And with the best will in the world, choirs like yours and mine can't circulate the whole of Surrey, let alone the nearby bits of Berkshire, Hampshire, Sussex etc.

I guess the solution is to sing more new music and unusual repertoire - but then, for a social choir at any rate, you have the challenge that people would rather sing Mozart than Tippett (shame) and are more likely to come out on Saturday night for it! So instead, everyone plays it safe with the same, well known and loved repertoire - and we get overlaps.

By the way, what did the other choir say when you contacted them about duplicating repertoire? Were they in any way constructive?

Cheers

Katyjay

QUOTE (katyjay @ May 23 2005, 09:56 AM)

what did the other choir say when you contacted them about duplicating repertoire? Were they in any way constructive?

Nothing at all - they just ignored us! If it had only happened once we might have dismissed it as coincidence, but it happened alot! We sent them details of repertoire and date well in advance, but we heard nothing until we saw their season details on their website. We were getting to the stage where we were planning to feed them duff information, with a programme to bankrupt anyone if they tried to put it on (I think it went something along the lines of Mahler 8 at Christmas, Gurrelieder in the spring and Belshazzar's Feast in the summer )

They seem to have realised that this wasn't doing anyone any favours, so sent us details of next year's programme in plenty of time for us to avoid any clashes.

QUOTE (Deborah @ May 23 2005, 11:21 AM)

Mahler 8 at Christmas, Gurrelieder in the spring and Belshazzar's Feast in the summer .

WoooHoooo! If you do that lot, I'll commute down from the far side of Surrey for it!

Good that you didn't have to go to that extreme, though.

Cheers

Katyjay

Poulenc Gloria was on the radio this evening - wonderful piece! I last sang it five years ago, after not having sung for years, and was amazed by just how much of it I could remember.