I was sorry to hear this week of the death of Lucian Nethsingha. One of the tributes I read mentioned that while director of music at Exeter Cathedral he had also conducted a choral society based there. And this set me thinking that such choral societies, attached to a Cathedral and conducted by its director of music, are becoming rather an endangered species.
The Exeter one appears no longer to exist, and I know two others which have disbanded this millennium: Manchester Cathedral Cantata Choir, and Bristol Cathedral Special/Concert Choir, which did not long survive its Diamond Jubilee in 2014. I had fond memories of singing in the Cantata Choir, so I was sorry to see it go. I’m happy to say though that Gloucester Choral Society is flourishing.
I imagine these choirs started springing up in the 19th century (Gloucester has just had its demisemiseptcentenary, that is its 175th anniversary). Manchester’s and Bristol’s were more recent. As for why some have been lost, I suspect the reasons are mostly a combination of a heavier workload for Cathedral directors of music and large choral societies being out of fashion. (I think that in recent years they may have started to come back into fashion again – certainly it looks like that in Bristol – but that is a topic for another post.)
It is a shame when they disappear. Being conducted by the Cathedral’s director of music ties the choir closely into the musical life of the Cathedral in a way that does not happen when a choir simply uses the building as a performing venue. And there are practical advantages to having the Cathedral at the choir’s disposal if it isn’t otherwise in use.