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27-453: A glee club is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs by trios or quartets. In the late 19th century it was very popular in most schools and was made a tradition to have in American high schools from then on. Glee clubs were named after a form of English part song , called

54-525: A Znamenny chant . About half a century before the advent of a party part song, the old hook notation began to be replaced by a non-linear one, close to the modern one. Orthodox fraternities initiated the introduction of party singing. They opened schools at monasteries and introduced the study of part song in fraternal and church choirs. The first mention of such a study is associated with the Lviv Stauropean Brotherhood and dates back to

81-620: A glee , which they typically sang. The first named Glee Club held its initial meeting in the Newcastle Coffee House in London in 1787. Glee clubs were very popular in Britain from then until the mid-1850s but by then they were gradually being superseded by larger choral societies. By the mid-20th century, proper glee clubs were no longer common. Testifying to the importance of glee clubs in 19th Century America, Henry Stone,

108-405: A Bantock Society was established. Its first president was Jean Sibelius , whose music Bantock championed during the early years of the century. Sibelius dedicated his Third Symphony to Bantock. Edward Elgar dedicated the second of his Pomp and Circumstance Marches to Bantock. In 1898 he married Helena von Schweitzer (1868–1961) who acted as a librettist for him. Granville Bantock was also

135-655: A Union veteran of the American Civil War , recalled that "A glee club came down from Chicago, bringing with them the new song, "We'll rally 'round the flag, boys" ( Battle Cry of Freedom ), and it ran through the camp like wildfire. The effect was little short of miraculous. It put as much spirit and cheer into the army as a victory." The term remains in contemporary use, for show choirs established in North American colleges , universities , and high schools, although most American glee clubs are choruses in

162-508: A couple of music hall songs which met with some success. He founded a music magazine, The New Quarterly Music Review , but this lasted only a few years. In 1897, he became conductor at the New Brighton Tower concerts, where he promoted the works of Joseph Holbrooke , Frederic Hymen Cowen , Charles Steggall , Edward German , Hubert Parry , Charles Villiers Stanford , Corder and others, frequently devoting whole concerts to

189-570: A portrait) by King Palmer , part of the Paxton Miniature Biographies series, appeared in 1947. A 'personal portrait' of Bantock by his daughter was published by Dent in 1972. It is an engaging read and contains a number of photographs. An Introduction to the Life and Work of Sir Granville Bantock by Vincent Budd, was published in 2000 by Gnosis Press. It is also illustrated and contains a discographical guide. A larger volume

216-644: A single composer. He was also conductor of the Liverpool Orchestral Society with which he premiered Delius 's Brigg Fair on 18 January 1908. He became the principal of the Birmingham and Midland Institute school of music in 1900. He was a close friend of fellow composer Havergal Brian . He was Peyton Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham from 1908 to 1934 (in which post he succeeded Sir Edward Elgar ). In 1934, he

243-593: Is Samuel Webbe 's Glorious Apollo , composed in 1790. The part song was soon established as more suitable for mixed-voice choirs, its development marked by increasing complexity of form and contrapuntal content. It gradually attracted the attention of a wider range of composers. One of these was Felix Mendelssohn , already influential in the English choral tradition through his oratorios. Translated into English, his part songs became very popular in England. Mendelssohn

270-580: Is in progress. In addition to these there is a doctoral thesis by Trevor Bray - Granville Bantock: his life and music - submitted in 1972 to Cambridge University. An extract was published by Triad Press the following year as Bantock: Music in the Midlands before the First World War . In 2020 J.C. Dressler published Granville Bantock (1868–1946): a Guide to Research (Clemson University Press/Liverpool University Press). This collects together all

297-932: The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus on the Chandos label. However, the only complete recording is available on the Lyrita Recorded Edition label. An alternative recording of the Hebridean Symphony (together with the Old English Suite and Russian Scenes ) is available on the Naxos label, with the Czechoslovak Philharmonic Orchestra (Košice) conducted by Adrian Leaper . Historic recordings of miniatures and songs have appeared on

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324-591: The Dutton label. The Cameo Classics label has re-issued its Granville Bantock recordings made with conductor Geoffrey Heald-Smith from 1978 to 1982 on a double CD set, which includes the Hebridean Symphony (in the presence of Raymond Bantock), the Pagan Symphony and Witch of Atlas (the first digital recordings), and the Sapphic Poem (solo cello, Gillian Thoday). A selective list of his compositions

351-532: The overture The Pierrot of the Minute (1908) and the Pagan Symphony (1928). Many of his works have been commercially recorded since the early 1990s. From 1926 to 1933 his Birmingham home was Metchley Lodge (now Metchley Abbey; despite the name, the building has no religious connection), which a Birmingham Civic Society blue plaque on the building records. Shortly after the composer's death in London, in 1946,

378-686: The 1590s. The theoretical foundations of part song have been set out in a number of treatises. The most famous of them and the only surviving (in several editions) - "Musical Grammar" by Mykola Diletsky . According to the number of voices and the nature of polyphony, Ukrainian part songs are divided into three groups: party concerts, party motets and party works with constant polyphony. Party concerts include all works with 8 or more voices, and motets include party works of variable polyphony with 6 or less voices. Seven-part works have not yet been found, so they are not included in this classification, but most likely they must also be included in concerts. According to

405-465: The 18th century Glee . Paul Hillier describes the Glee as "a uniquely English creation...the convivial music of all-male musical societies". The classic Glee is "essentially a work for unaccompanied men's voices, in not less than three parts...simpler [than the madrigal] in texture, less sophisticated in design, and generally based on the simplest kind of diatonic harmony". One of the most famous examples

432-526: The father-in-law of the composer Margaret More (1903-1966) via her marriage to Granville's son, Raymond Bantock. Their son, Granville Bantock's grandson, is Gavin Bantock , a poet. Four biographies have been published on Granville Bantock. The first was authored by his long-time friend and 'secretary', 'Colonel' H. O. Anderton for the Living Masters of Music series in 1915. A brief pamphlet (with

459-782: The genre include Ralph Vaughan Williams , Granville Bantock , Arnold Bax , Peter Warlock , Gustav Holst and Benjamin Britten (his Five Flower Songs of 1950). Interest declined rapidly from the 1950s as more specialist choirs began to champion the madrigal tradition. Composers have also successfully used the part song medium to make contemporary arrangements of traditional folk songs , including those of Scotland , England , Wales and Ireland . Part songs can sometimes be sacred as well as secular. The unaccompanied liturgical anthem can be closely related in form and texture. Sullivan 's Five Sacred Partsongs were published in 1871. The first German Liedertafel male-voice music society,

486-555: The primary and secondary sources, including an extensive worklist and discography. A broad selection of Bantock's orchestral output, including all the symphonies, has been recorded in an edition by the Hyperion label in performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley , now available also as a box set. Handley also recorded a largely complete performance of Omar Khayyám with

513-532: The sake of the music. Early British composers of part songs include John Liptrot Hatton , R. J. S. Stevens , Henry Smart and George Alexander Macfarren , who was renowned for his Shakespearean settings. Around the turn of the 20th century in the heyday of the part song, Hubert Parry , Charles Villiers Stanford and Edward Elgar were the principal exponents, often bringing a high-minded seriousness to their settings of great English poetry both contemporary and from earlier epochs. More recent major contributors to

540-649: The standard sense, and rarely perform glees . The oldest collegiate glee clubs in the United States are, by year of foundation: The oldest non-collegiate glee club in the United States is the Mendelssohn Glee Club , founded in 1866. Part song The part song was created in Great Britain, growing out of the madrigal tradition (though initially with more emphasis on homophonic harmony and less on polyphonic part writing) and

567-810: The themes of the texts and the predominant musical means, the part songs are divided into two large groups: vivatno-panegyric (glorious) and lyrical-dramatic (repentant). The Mendelssohn Glee Club was founded in New York in 1866. Its second musical director was Edward MacDowell . Part songs flourished in the USA from 1860 well into the 1930s. Examples were composed by Amy Beach , Dudley Buck , George Whitefield Chadwick , Arthur Foote , Henry Hadley , Margaret Ruthven Lang , Edward MacDowell and Horatio Parker , and more recently by Randall Thompson and Elliott Carter . Granville Bantock Sir Granville Ransome Bantock (7 August 1868 – 16 October 1946)

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594-545: Was a British composer of classical music . Granville Ransome Bantock was born in London . His father was an eminent Scottish surgeon. His younger brother was the dramatist and film director Leedham Bantock . Granville Bantock was intended by his parents for the Indian Civil Service but he suffered poor health and initially turned to chemical engineering . At the age of 20, when he began studying composers' manuscripts, at South Kensington Museum Library , he

621-545: Was drawn into the musical world. His first teacher was Gordon Saunders at Trinity College of Music . In 1888, he entered the Royal Academy of Music where he studied harmony and composition with Frederick Corder winning the Macfarren Prize in the first year it was awarded. Early conducting engagements took him around the world with a musical comedy troupe. With his brother Leedham Bantock he wrote

648-647: Was elected Chairman of the Corporation of Trinity College of Music in London. He was knighted in 1930. His students included Anthony Bernard , Lilian Elkington , Eric Fogg and Dorothy Howell . He was influential in the founding of the City of Birmingham orchestra (later the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra ), whose first performance in September 1920 was of his overture Saul . Bantock's Hebridean Symphony

675-639: Was familiar with Glees, his teacher Carl Friedrich Zelter founded the Berliner Liedertafel in 1808, the German equivalent of the Glee club . Part songs were quickly seen as a commercial opportunity by music publishers. From the early 1840s Novello and Co 's Musical Times and Singing Class Circular included a simple piece of choral music (alternating secular and sacred) inside every issue, which choral society members subscribed to collectively for

702-626: Was founded in Berlin by Carl Friedrich Zelter in 1808. Heinrich Marschner and Carl Weber wrote examples for male voices only. These were followed by mixed-voiced pieces setting German romantic poetry by Schubert , Schumann , Mendelssohn, Peter Cornelius and Brahms . Similarly in France, the first Orphéons choral societies for men were established in the mid-19th century. Gounod , Saint-Saëns , Delibes , Debussy and Ravel all wrote examples for mixed-voice choirs. In Ukraine part song replaced

729-535: Was recorded by the CBO on 28 January 1925 at Riley Hall, Constitution Hill, Birmingham. This acoustic version, conducted by Adrian Boult , was never released. His music was influenced by folk song of the Hebrides (as in his 1915 Hebridean Symphony ) and the works of Richard Wagner . Many of his works have an "exotic" element, including the choral epic Omar Khayyám (1906–09). Among his other better-known works are

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