Unger M.P. Historical Dictionary of Choral Music

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already fine reputation and repertoire he extended with international

tours and broadcasts. From 1960 to 1998 he was the conductor of the

Bach Choir in London, with whom he premiered works by contem-

porary British composers and toured abroad. He served as director

of the Royal College of Music from 1974 to 1984. In 1977 he was

knighted.

Willcocks’s choral arrangements of Christmas carols are widely

known. Most of them were conceived for the annual Festival of Nine

Lessons and Carols held on Christmas Eve at King’s College, heard

and seen around the world through television and radio broadcasts.

Many of the carols are published in anthologies entitled Carols for

Choirs (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968–80).

WILLIAMSON, JOHN FINLEY (23 JUNE 1887–28 MAY 1964).

Founder of Westminster Choir College.

WILLIAMSON, MALCOLM (21 NOVEMBER 1931–2 MARCH

2003). Australian composer, pianist, and organist, who settled in

London. After converting to Catholicism in 1952, he wrote many

works with religious or humanitarian themes. Examples from

among more than two dozen choral works include Symphony for

Voices, (1962), written in a modified serialist style; The Brilliant

and the Dark, a concert opera for female vv. and orch. (1966);

four masses: Mass of the Feast of Christ the King, for chorus and

orch. (1977), Mass of St. Margaret of Scotland, for SATB and org.

(1980), Mass of the People of God, for SATB and org. (1981), and

Mass of St. Etheldreda, for SATB and org. (1990); the psalm set-

ting Carols of King David, for unison chorus, congregation, and

org. (1970); Symphony no. 3 “The Icy Mirror,” a cantata for S,

Mez., 2 Bar., chorus, and orch. (1972); The Dawn Is at Hand, for

SATB and orchestra—a choral symphony resulting from a meet-

ing with Australian Aboriginal poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal (1989);

and the unaccompanied Requiem for a Tribe Brother, written in

honor of Noonuccal’s son (1992).

WILSON, HARRY ROBERT (18 MAY 1901–24 SEPTEMBER

1968). American choral composer and educator who published nu-

merous books on choral practice, including Artistic Choral Singing:

Practical Problems in Organization, Technique and Interpretation

(New York: G. Schirmer, 1959).

472 • WILLIAMSON, JOHN FINLEY

WISE, MICHAEL (C. 1647–24 AUGUST 1687). English composer.

He was recruited as a child chorister for the Chapel Royal by Cap-

tain Henry Cooke. After his voice changed, he worked at Salisbury

Cathedral (1668), then returned to the court in 1676 as a Gentleman

of the Chapel Royal while continuing his duties in Salisbury. In 1687,

after the Fire of London, he was also appointed Master of the Cho-

risters at St. Paul’s Cathedral. He wrote almost only sacred music;

in particular, a few services and about a dozen anthems. None of

the surviving anthems have orchestral accompaniment; most are for

three voices and organ.

WOLF, HUGO (13 MARCH 1860–22 FEBRUARY 1903). Austrian

composer known for his highly expressive art songs, in which a natu-

ral declamation of the text is clothed in chromatic harmonies. Not

counting arrangements of his songs, his surviving works for chorus

include five accompanied compositions (three with soloists and or-

chestra: Die Stunden verrauschen, for solo vv., mixed vv., and orch.

[1878, inc.]; Christnacht, for solo vv., mixed vv., and orch. [1889];

and Elfenlied, for S, female vv., and orch. [1891]); and some one

dozen partsongs, a handful of which are for male voices.

WOOD, CHARLES (15 JUNE 1866–12 JULY 1926). Irish com-

poser and teacher known for his Anglican church music. He studied

in London at the newly established Royal College of Music under

Hubert Parry, Charles Villiers Stanford, and Frank Bridge, and

later taught there. He was a founding member of the Irish Folk-song

Society (1904), and he collaborated with the Rev. G. R. Woodward

to publish The Cowley Carol Book, The Cambridge Carol Book,

An Italian Carol Book, and the hymn book Songs of Syon. His own

choral works include a mass, a Passion, a dozen cantatas (including

Dirge for Two Veterans on a text by Walt Whitman), at least two

dozen anthems (including Hail, Gladdening Light for double cho-

rus), and many settings of the evening canticles.

WORD-PAINTING. Musical depiction of the literal or figurative

meaning of the words in a vocal composition, especially in compo-

sitions of the Renaissance and Baroque eras. Similar terms include

tone-painting (which refers to capturing the mood of a text more gen-

erally) and madrigalism (which refers to obvious word-painting of the

type found in Renaissance chansons and madrigals). Word-painting

WORD-PAINTING • 473

can range from obvious onomatopoeic or literal representations (e.g.,

the battle sounds or street cries in Janequin’s chansons), to general

rhetorical gestures (e.g., ascending, descending, exclamatory, or cir-

culatory figures), to more obscure representations, including ones that

are visual rather than aural (such as Johann Sebastian Bach’s use of

sharps to represent ideas related to the Cross, and three-part structures

or textures to depict the Trinity, or some Renaissance composers’ use

of black notes to depict night, and white notes to depict eyes). In the

works of composers such as Josquin des Prez, Claudio Monteverdi,

and Bach, word-painting went beyond the facile representation of the

meanings of individual words to a true integration of musical lan-

guage and textual meaning.

– X –

XENAKIS, IANNIS (?29 MAY 1922–4 FEBRUARY 2001). French

composer and architect born of Greek parents. Because of his activi-

ties in the Greek resistance movement, after World War II he was

forced to flee to France, where he studied music with Arthur Honeg-

ger, Darius Milhaud, and Olivier Messiaen. The latter encouraged

him to apply his training in architecture and mathematics to musical

composition. Xenakis was a pioneer in computer and electronic mu-

sic, and he was influential among European composers in replacing

traditional concepts of sound with radical ones derived from math-

ematical and scientific concepts.

Xenakis’s choral compositions, many of which employ classical

Greek texts or phonemes, include Oresteïa, on a text by Aeschylus,

for children’s choir, mixed chorus with musical accessories, and

12 instrumentalists (1966); Medea, incidental music on a text by

Seneca, for male chorus playing cymbals, and five instrumentalists

(1967); Nuits, for unaccompanied voices, his first vocal work to

treat voices like instruments, calling for nonlyrical sounds on ab-

stract phonemes in extreme ranges and dynamics (1968); Cendrées,

on phonemes by the composer, for mixed choir and 73 instrumen-

talists (1974); Serment-Orkos, on a text by Hippocrates (1981);

Knephas, on phonemes by the composer (1990); and Sea-Nymphs,

on phonemes from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1994);

among a dozen others.

474 • XENAKIS, IANNIS

– Y –

YOUNG, ROBERT (20 APRIL 1923– ). American composer who

taught at Baylor University for more than 30 years until retiring in

1993. With Elwyn A. Weinandt he coauthored The Anthem in Eng-

land and America (New York: The Free Press, 1970). His 90-plus

published choral works are favored by North American choirs for

their accessibility and lyricism.

– Z –

ZACHOW, FRIEDRICH WILHELM (BAPTIZED 14 NOVEM-

BER 1663; DIED 7 AUGUST 1712). German organist and com-

poser in Halle (from 1684), whose town choir and orchestra served

three churches on alternating Sundays. He is known as the teacher

of George Frideric Handel, who incorporated some of Zachow’s

music in his own works. Zachow’s surviving vocal works include

29 cantatas (for one to six voices with instruments) and a few Latin

pieces. The cantatas cover a range of styles representing the transition

from the pre-operatic cantata to the reformed type (which allowed for

recitatives and arias in the Italian style). His chorale movements are

rarely of the simple type found Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas;

most of them embellish the hymn with obbligato accompaniment or

contrapuntal imitation.

ZAIMONT, JUDITH LANG (8 NOVEMBER 1945– ). American

composer and pianist. After studying piano at the Juilliard School

and composition at Queens College (New York), Columbia Univer-

sity, and independently in Paris, she held teaching posts at Queens

College, Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory of Music, Adelphi Uni-

versity, and the University of Minnesota (1992–2005). Her music is

essentially tonal (with frequent five- and six-note chords) and lyrical,

but has become more chromatic and angular over time. Choral works

include Man’s Image and His Cry, for A, Bar., SSATB, and orch.

(1968); The Chase, for solo piano and SSATB (1972); Sunny Airs

and Sober, a set of madrigals for SSATB (1974); Moses Supposes,

for SA youth chorus and perc. (1975); Sacred Service for the Sabbath

Evening, a large-scale work for Bar./A, SSATB, and orch./pf. (1976);

ZAIMONT, JUDITH LANG • 475

The Tragickal Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens, for solo vv., SSAATTBB,

and pf., (1980); Serenade: To Music, for SSATTB (1981); Lamenta-

tion, for Mez., Bar., SSAATTBB, pf., and perc. (1982); Parable: A

Tale of Abram and Isaac, for S, T, Bar., SSATTB, and org. (1986);

The Spirit of the Lord, for solo vv., SSAATTBB, opt. brass qnt., and

org. (1992); Miracle of Light, for SATB, fl., and hp. (1995); VOICES,

a cantata for solo vv., SATB, 2 hn., 3 tpt., 2 trbn., 2 tuba, 2 perc., and

synth. (1996); Meditations at the Time of the New Year, for solo vv.,

SATB/SSATB, glock., and tubular bells (1997); Remembrance, for

large chorus T, Mez., S, SSAATTBB, Eng. hn., vc., org., and perc.

(2007); and The Spirit Moves in Me, for solo vv., SATB, pf., perc.,

and str. qt. (2008).

ZARLINO, GIOSEFFO (?31 JANUARY 1517–4 FEBRUARY

1590). Leading music theorist of the 16th century, especially with

regard to counterpoint. His seminal work, Le istitutioni harmoniche

(1558), synthesized speculative theory and aurally guided practice,

and it established the contrapuntal style of his teacher, Adrian Wil-

laert, as the standard. From 1565 until his death Zarlino was maestro

di cappella of San Marco (St. Mark’s Basilica) in Venice, having

succeeded Cypriano de Rore (a fellow student under Willaert),

who resigned the position. Zarlino’s own students included Claudio

Merulo and Giovanni Artusi. His compositions are generally less

expressive or innovative than those of his teacher or his contempo-

raries—although they show great attention to the natural rhythms

and accents of their texts. Among his surviving works are some 40

motets (mostly for five or six voices, often canonic, with or without

cantus firmus), and 13 madrigals, which tend to be conservative in

style. See also MONTEVERDI, CLAUDIO.

ZEISL, ERIC [ERICH] (18 MAY 1905–18 FEBRUARY 1959).

American composer of Austrian birth. Born into a Jewish family, he

fled his homeland in 1938, eventually settling in Los Angeles. His

music is characterized by lyricism, vivid orchestration, and dramatic

expression. Choral works include Afrika singt (c. 1930); Requiem

concertante, for S, A, T, B, SATB, and orch. (1934); Spruchkantate

[Cantata of Verses], for SATB and orch. (1935); Requiem ebraico

(Psalm 92), for S, A, Bar., SATB, and org./orch. (1945)—composed

in response to the death of his father and other relatives in a Nazi con-

centration camp; Four Songs for Wordless Chorus, for SA, pf./str.,

476 • ZARLINO, GIOSEFFO

hp./pf., tpt., and timp. (1948); and From the Book of Psalms, for T,

TB, and orch. (1952).

ZELENKA, JAN DISMAS (BAPTIZED 16 OCTOBER 1679;

DIED 22/23 DECEMBER 1745). Czech composer and violone

player, who worked at the Catholic court church in Dresden. A public

institution, the church had been established in 1697 by the elector of

Saxony, Friedrich August I (“August the Strong”), upon converting

to Catholicism so that he could assume the Polish crown. Zelenka

served as Johann Heinichen’s assistant until the latter’s death in

1729, and hoped to succeed him as Kapellmeister. However, the

position went to Johann Hasse instead, due to the royal household’s

increasing desire to reestablish opera, which had ceased in 1720.

Zelenka wrote mostly sacred vocal music, which is usually accom-

panied by instruments and focuses on expression of the text. It was

much admired by his contemporaries, including Johann Sebastian

Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann. It demonstrates contrapuntal

mastery (Zelenka had studied with Johann Fux in Vienna) and is

highly original, with daring harmonic progressions, rhythmic in-

ventiveness, and imaginative orchestration. More than 150 of his

choral works survive, including 20 masses (plus additional Requiem

settings), individual mass movements, litanies, responses, hymns,

processionals, Magnificat and Te Deum settings, some 40 psalm

settings, motets, and other liturgical music.

ZELTER, CARL FRIEDRICH (11 DECEMBER 1758–15 MAY

1832). German composer, conductor, and teacher. In 1791 he joined

the Berlin Sing-Akademie, a singing society founded in that year by

Carl Friedrich Fasch. He succeeded Fasch as director in 1800, re-

maining at the helm of the organization for more than 30 years. In 1807

he formed the Ripienschule, which made possible the performance of

larger works with instrumental accompaniment. In the following year,

he established from the larger Sing-Akademie a Liedertafel—the first

convivial society for the performance of male-voice choral music,

whose inaugural meeting was held in January of 1809.

Zelter’s promotion of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music led to

the 1829 performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion under Felix

Mendelssohn (one of his students). This event is often regarded as

the beginning of the so-called Bach revival. His own choral composi-

tions consist of a dozen or more works for mixed chorus (both sacred

ZELTER, CARL FRIEDRICH • 477

and secular) and numerous works for male chorus, whose sturdy

character was praised by his close friend, the German writer Johann

Wolfgang von Goethe.

ZIMMERMANN, HEINZ WERNER (11 AUGUST 1930– ). Ger-

man composer. In 1963 he was appointed principal of the Spandau

Church Music School (Berlin). From 1975 to 1996 he taught com-

position at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in

Frankfurt. His works, which are almost entirely vocal, are (to use

his own words) “polystylistically polyphonic,” combining prosodic

text-setting, counterpoint, jazz elements, and montage procedures.

Characteristic features include the use of pizzicato double bass and a

cantus firmus in augmentation. Examples of his colorful choral out-

put include Psalmkonzert, a cantata for B-Bar., chorus, children’s

chorus, 3 tpt., vib., and db. (1957), which is stylistically reminiscent

of Hugo Distler; Magnificat, for chorus, vibraphone, db., and hpd.

(1970); Psalm 13, for chorus, org., and db. (1973); and Wachet auf,

ruft uns die Stimme, a motet for unaccompanied 12-part mixed cho-

rus (1979). Major works include the oratorio The Bible of Spiritu-

als (employing the texts of 16 American spirituals), for S, A, T, B,

chorus, children’s chorus, and orch. (1987); Missa profana for S, A,

T, B, chorus, jazz group, elec. noises, and orch. (1977); and the five-

movement Symphonia sacra (Symphonie des Lichtes), for S, T, B,

jazz combo, chorus, and orch. (1995).

478 • ZIMMERMANN, HEINZ WERNER

479

CONTENTS

General Music Reference Works 482

General Studies of Choral Music 487

Studies of Choral Practice 489

Studies of Church Music Traditions 491

Studies of Genres and Styles 496

Bibliographies, Indexes, Anthologies, and General Guides 501

to Choral Repertoire

Studies of Individual Composers, Conductors, Choirs, 504

and Choral Events

Famous Choral Composers 504

Other Composers, Conductors, Choirs, and Choral Events 522

INTRODUCTION

Since the dictionary can provide only basic information on the various

aspects of choral music, readers are directed to the bibliography, which

cites both comprehensive and detailed types of studies. It is extensive,

but by no means exhaustive, for while choral music is a relatively

specialized field, the literature devoted to it is vast, especially when

scholarly articles are considered in addition to books.

In compiling the bibliography, English sources were favored, although

a few in other languages, especially German, were included. Further-

more, precedence was given to more recently published works, and to

authors and publishers with widely established reputations. Not included

were most doctoral dissertations, since they are not easily accessed.

Nevertheless, dissertations comprise a large body of important research,

Bibliography

480 • BIBLIOGRAPHY

and enterprising readers can hunt them down at Doctoral Dissertations in

Musicology-Online (http://www.chmtl.indiana.edu/ddm/). Should read-

ers be interested in yet more titles, they might consult the bibliographies

provided in such authoritative sources as The New Grove Dictionary of

Music and Musicians, The Oxford Companion to Music, and Die Musik

in Geschichte und Gegenwart.

The bibliography begins with general reference works on music.

Most of these are studies of particular eras in the history of Western

music. Some focus on particular national or cultural groups. A few are

concerned with the contributions of women. Among all of them, the

most comprehensive and readily available is The New Grove Diction-

ary of Music and Musicians, an encyclopedia of 29 volumes, which is

updated online.

A list of general sources on choral music follows. Due to the relative

paucity of books on the history and literature of choral music, this list is

dominated by journal articles. As one might expect, these usually have a

narrower focus; most restrict themselves to a particular national or histor-

ical context. Nevertheless, the array of topics is exceedingly broad, while

emphasizing (as does the dictionary itself) choral music of the Western

world. Readers may wish to begin with historical surveys; important re-

cent publications of this type include Dennis Shrock’s Choral Repertoire

(2009), and two books by Nick Strimple: Choral Music in the Twentieth

Century (2002) and Choral Music in the Nineteenth Century (2008).

Studies related to choral practice are cited next. Most of these deal

with aspects of historical performance practice; others cover conduct-

ing and rehearsal techniques, or techniques related to specialized

repertoires (e.g., chant). A good starting point for readers interested

in historical performance practice is Bernard Sherman’s Inside Early

Music: Conversations with Performers (1997), while an enduring clas-

sic in the field is Robert Donington’s The Interpretation of Early Music

(1989). Readers interested in choral conducting might begin with the

well-rounded and thoughtful Choral Conducting: A Symposium, edited

by Harold Decker and Julius Herford (1988).

A list of sources dealing with various church music traditions should

prove useful for the study and performance of choral genres or of in-

dividual works whose identity is intimately related to their religious or

liturgical origins. There is some overlap between this category and ones

that follow, so that a few titles could also have been assigned there. This

situation is acknowledged in the instruction See also Bibliographies,

BIBLIOGRAPHY • 481

Indexes, Anthologies, and General Guides to Choral Repertoire; Stud-

ies of Genres and Styles. Readers’ individual interests will determine

which sources to pursue first.

A list of studies focusing on choral genres and styles comes next.

Here are included not only the familiar genres of anthem, mass, madri-

gal, motet, oratorio, and so forth, but also the polychoral style, the Afri-

can-American spiritual, the Lutheran chorale, the sacred harp tradition,

and the phenomenon of musica ficta (which obviously also impinges

upon choral practice), to name a few examples. Here too, readers’ indi-

vidual interests will determine where to begin.

Bibliographies, indexes, anthologies, and general guides to choral

repertoire are listed next. These should prove particularly useful to

the practicing choral musician. Some of the works cited focus on a

particular choral voicing (e.g., repertoire lists for male voices), others

on a particular genre or historical or geographical context. While some

include annotations and could therefore have been appropriately as-

signed elsewhere (e.g., to Studies of Church Music Traditions; Studies

of Choral Genres and Styles), they appear here because of their general

similarity to and affinity with bibliographies and catalogs. Especially

useful for scholars are the “Guides to Research” for individual compos-

ers, published by Garland Press or Routledge.

The section following cites studies of particular composers, conduc-

tors, or choirs. It is divided into two parts. Sources devoted to individual

major choral composers are listed first. Composers here include Johann

Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Hector Berlioz, Johannes

Brahms, Benjamin Britten, Anton Bruckner, William Byrd, Edward

Elgar, George Frederic Handel, Franz Joseph Haydn, Josquin des Prez,

Orlande de Lassus (Orlando di Lasso), Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn,

Claudio Monteverdi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giovanni Pierluigi

da Palestrina, Francis Poulenc, Henry Purcell, Franz Schubert, Hein-

rich Schütz, Igor Stravinsky, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Tomás

Luis de Victoria. Then comes an extensive list of sources dealing with

other composers, conductors, choirs, and music events. These are listed

alphabetically by author’s last name. Good starting points for read-

ing about individual composers are the books issued by the university

presses of Oxford and Cambridge.

Two short lists round out the bibliography. The first cites choral jour-

nals, the second a list of websites, whose titles adequately explain their

function and focus.