# Chorus



## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

What's your favorite opera chorus? I love the Summoning of the Vassels from Gotterdamerung


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

I love choruses! Two of my Verdi favourites are

Va pensiero from _Nabucco_ and the anvil chorus from _Il trovatore_.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

drpraetorus said:


> What's your favorite opera chorus? I love the Summoning of the Vassels from Gotterdamerung


That and the Pilgrims' Chorus from Tannhäuser. 
And "Wach auf" from die Meistersinger.
And the chorus from the 1 act of Lohengrin, celebrating the knight's victory.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Another vote for the Pilgrim's Chorus - and for contrast I also like the Chorus of Damned Souls & Demons from Berlioz's Faust (if this is allowed as it's not an opera in the strictest sense).


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

SiegendesLicht said:


> That and the Pilgrims' Chorus from Tannhäuser.
> And "Wach auf" from die Meistersinger.
> And the chorus from the 1 act of Lohengrin, celebrating the knight's victory.


Those are good as well. There is just something overwhelmingly primative and evil in the Summoning chorus. I gotta add, it needs to be done with real cowhorns rather than the usual trombones. The cowhorns have a sound you can't get from trombones.

Wagner uber alles


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

drpraetorus said:


> Wagner uber alles


Three cheers to that!


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

Honorable mentions to _Va piensero_ and the opening and closing acts of Turandot, but nothing beats the seven minute trip to heaven before the devil takes over for a while in Arrigo Boito's _Mefistofele_:


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

Of course, there's the Soldiers' Chorus from Gounod's _Faust_. And I love Mozart's choruses -- there are too many of them to list.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

I like the hymn the chorus sings when the French are about to attack, in the first scenes of Fille du Regiment. Real church music.


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## dionisio (Jul 30, 2012)

Normally i call operas like Lohengrin, Turandot or Boris Godunov "Chorus operas". Choruses have here a role not only as a mere ornament, relief from the dramatic tension or as spectator. These choruses have an important role in the plot as they had in greek tragedies. The chorus not only explains the actions and/or the inner psychological doubts/struggles of one or more characters, but also have a role in it!

If one enjoys choruses, he will definately enjoy these kind of operas.

Although i like also Götterdammerung's chorus i still haven't understood why did Wagner include this chorus in the Ring.


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

Just to cite two chorus pieces from Mascagni Opera I like:
- the introduction in Zanetto
- Inno del Sole from Iris


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## obwan (Oct 24, 2011)

Anvil Chorus.


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

dionisio said:


> Normally i call operas like Lohengrin, Turandot or Boris Godunov "Chorus operas". Choruses have here a role not only as a mere ornament, relief from the dramatic tension or as spectator. These choruses have an important role in the plot as they had in greek tragedies. The chorus not only explains the actions and/or the inner psychological doubts/struggles of one or more characters, but also have a role in it!
> 
> If one enjoys choruses, he will definately enjoy these kind of operas.
> 
> Although i like also Götterdammerung's chorus i still haven't understood why did Wagner include this chorus in the Ring.


I think the Chorus happens in Gotterdamerung because it is a logical place for it and because Wagner had changed his mind on things like that.

In the Ring there is no other place for a chorus to take place. There just are not that many places where there are large numbers of people on the stage. The closest would be the Ride of the Valkyries. That would have been a good place for a womens chorus but Wagner kept the ladies as distinct persons rather than as a group, so no chorus. There is a mens chorus in the first act of Tristan but oddly not one in the third when you would expect to see the soldiers who have taken the castle break into song.

Another thing that differentiats Tristan/Walkure and Gotterdammerung is about 20 years. In those 20 years Wagner wrote 2 acts of Siegfried and all of Meistersinger. His thinking on matters operatic seems to have changed in that time. Previously where he had been so intrent that the drama is primary and the music flows from the drama, later he seems to have allowed music and the other arts to have a more prominent role. Gesamptkunstwerk, where all the arts are working together for a complete artistic whole. Under this thinking, where the story logically allows it, a chorus is a good thing. This is even more prominent in Parsifal where the chorus is again a character in the action. He even throughs in a dance.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Darius Milhaud ~ Les Choéphores; Présages & Exhortation @21'28''





Stravinsky:
Oedipus Rex: "Gloria"
(Start @ 24'30'' chorus @25'06'')





The Rakes Progress: Act two, scene two, starting with Baba the Turk's ""My love, am I to remain in here for ever?" is a trio, with the full chorus coming in, "Baba the Turk is here" It is brief, and magnificent, the orchestra finishing it off sans voci.

Ravel ~ L'enfant et les sortileges: 
"Mon Dieu! C'est l'arithmetique! @ 3'40''





the animal chorus beginning the second half... just a brief but astonishing effect (in context of what has so far been heard), beginning of this link.





"Il est bon enfant" @ 3'17''





(O.k. o.k -- two of these are from cantatas


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

The very end of Corvo Branco (go to about 2 hrs 17 minutes)...






or the very beginning of Nixon in China which is better known.


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## SerbenthumInDerMusik (Nov 9, 2012)

From Parsifal act I


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

drpraetorus said:


> I think the Chorus happens in Gotterdamerung because it is a logical place for it and because Wagner had changed his mind on things like that.
> 
> In the Ring there is no other place for a chorus to take place. There just are not that many places where there are large numbers of people on the stage. The closest would be the Ride of the Valkyries. That would have been a good place for a womens chorus but Wagner kept the ladies as distinct persons rather than as a group, so no chorus. There is a mens chorus in the first act of Tristan but oddly not one in the third when you would expect to see the soldiers who have taken the castle break into song.
> 
> Another thing that differentiats Tristan/Walkure and Gotterdammerung is about 20 years. In those 20 years Wagner wrote 2 acts of Siegfried and all of Meistersinger. His thinking on matters operatic seems to have changed in that time. Previously where he had been so intrent that the drama is primary and the music flows from the drama, later he seems to have allowed music and the other arts to have a more prominent role. Gesamptkunstwerk, where all the arts are working together for a complete artistic whole. Under this thinking, where the story logically allows it, a chorus is a good thing. This is even more prominent in Parsifal where the chorus is again a character in the action. He even throughs in a dance.


I'm glad someone mentioned Turandot, Puccini is 'not on my personal list' but that first act scene is a choral work of tremendous power. // Boris Godunov - the choruses are truly magnificent!


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Absolutely agree with the L'enfant choruses. I'd also add the "Adieu Pastourelles" chorus with the wallpaper leaving each other.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Prokofiev* is the lone star in the heavens that I follow to find the choruses that touch my soul deeply. Especially in 'War and Peace', there are lots & lots of children's choruses, women's choruses, men's choruses & mixed choruses: :angel:*amazing!*:angel: Hear, how they are shocked; listen, how they are rejoicing!
After Prokofiev I have high esteem for Mussorgsky's choruses. These Russian composers let their choruses take part in their operas as acting characters in the centre of the stage, not as background-filling _entourage_ offering side-comments like in a Greek tragedy.


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## dionisio (Jul 30, 2012)

drpraetorus said:


> I think the Chorus happens in Gotterdamerung because it is a logical place for it and because Wagner had changed his mind on things like that.
> 
> In the Ring there is no other place for a chorus to take place. There just are not that many places where there are large numbers of people on the stage. The closest would be the Ride of the Valkyries. That would have been a good place for a womens chorus but Wagner kept the ladies as distinct persons rather than as a group, so no chorus. There is a mens chorus in the first act of Tristan but oddly not one in the third when you would expect to see the soldiers who have taken the castle break into song.
> 
> Another thing that differentiats Tristan/Walkure and Gotterdammerung is about 20 years. In those 20 years Wagner wrote 2 acts of Siegfried and all of Meistersinger. His thinking on matters operatic seems to have changed in that time. Previously where he had been so intrent that the drama is primary and the music flows from the drama, later he seems to have allowed music and the other arts to have a more prominent role. Gesamptkunstwerk, where all the arts are working together for a complete artistic whole. Under this thinking, where the story logically allows it, a chorus is a good thing. This is even more prominent in Parsifal where the chorus is again a character in the action. He even throughs in a dance.


I do not question the Master! Nevertheless the genius mind of his would find plenty room for more chorus if he wanted to. (I'd find interesting to hear the Nibelung little guys singing while forging the Ring, for example)

But you're right. We hear for four days what it was written for 25 years. The Ring, like a living creature, evolved naturally.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

Call me hopelessly sentimental, but I also love the Humming Chorus from _Madama Butterfly_.


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## Hesoos (Jun 9, 2012)

- Les troyens, all the choruses from act 1!!! The very best, the chorus when the wood horse enters the city.
- Aida's choruses (all of them!)
- The chorus of ghosts in l'Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck "Chi mai dall'Erebo, fra le caligini, s'inoltra il pie"
- 2 Rienzi's choruses: When the Rienzi's army goes out from the city "Santo spirito cavaliere!", and the women's laments during the battle.
- Lucia de Lammermoor, "fur le nozze a lei funeste" the chorus that explain that Lucia is dead.
- Turandot's choruses
- Parsifal
- Mahler's symphony 8:Veni creator
- Nabucco
- Trovatore: Miserere

and more, and much more.... La damnation de Faust, Ernani, Rigoletto, Mefistofele, ......


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## Hesoos (Jun 9, 2012)

- Mosè in Egitto "Dal tuo stellato soglio"
- I Lombardi. "O Signore, dal tetto natio"
- Iphigenie en Tauride by Gluck, The furies' chorus when Orestes is sleeping
- Don Giovanni: Ghost's chorus
- Il turco in Italia. The gypsy chorus "Nostra patria è il mondo intero"
- Norma. "Dell'aura tua profetica,Terribil Dio, l'informa!" the chorus by Oroveso and the druids (act 1), The chorus "Guerra, guerra! Le galliche selve!"
- The Macbeth's witches's choruses

.....


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## Hesoos (Jun 9, 2012)

I forgot!

The prisoners' chorus in Fidelio is very nice!


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## MattExcell (Jun 15, 2011)

Gloria all'Egitto from Aida gets my vote

Honourable mention for Tout change et grandit from Guillaume Tell. Beautiful finale.


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

*Cavalleria Rusticana: Inneggiamo al Signor*

I absolutely adore the Easter Chorus, "Regina coeli/Inneggiamo al Signor non é morto" from _Cavalleria Rusticana._ Five minutes of (literally) Heaven, and some of the most beautiful vocal writing for opera chorus and mezzo-soprano. I got to perform this many years ago with the Dallas Opera Chorus and the wonderful, underrated soprano Gilda Cruz-Romo (Hi Gilda! best wishes), fresh from her stunning performance in _Aida_ opposite James McCracken as Radames and the incomparable Marilyn Horne as Amneris, in the DCO Christmas concert in Dallas City Hall. I remember chorus master Maestro Roberto Benaglio playfully grabbing the baton from Maestro Nicola Rescigno to ensure that there was a sufficiently slow _ritardando_ on the organ at the dominant D major 4-3 suspension just before the soprano soloist enters. It was many years later that I realized Santuzza is actually a high mezzo-soprano role. That high B at the very end, of "al Signor ... Signor," certainly separates the women from the girls!

I also got to sing it years later with the Nashville Pro Musica in Downtown Presbyterian Church. Since I'm a barelytenor, I would sing the bass part but go up to the high G at the end!

Check it out and see if you don't love it! A piece everyone should know. The link below is with Aprile Millo but there are many others on youtube.






Best Regards, :tiphat:

George


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

Either Boris Godunov Coronation Scene or Aida Triumphal March (and Act II finale).


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