Wycombe Choral society celebrates 90th anniversary of first concert

Wycombe’s long choral history

South Buckinghamshire, and the area around High Wycombe in particular, has long been a centre of religious non-conformism. From the early years of the 19th century churches and chapels of many denominations flourished in the area. Most of these would go on to form their own choir, generally comprising male members only, and singing became an integral part of community life.

A High Wycombe Choral Association, made up of male and female singers was formed in the 1850s and remained in existence until c1930. For example, their performance in 1877, at the Town Hall, was of the first two parts of Haydn’s ‘Oratorio’. The principal soloists were Miss Rose Barnby as Gabriel, Mr T Hunt as Uriel, and Mr H Barnby from the Chapel Royal, Windsor in the part of Raphael and they were supported by a chorus and orchestra of sixty performers. Financial problems seem to have been responsible for the demise of the Association, which at times was referred to as a Choral Society.

A new choir for male and female voices

It was in 1934 that the foundations of the present High Wycombe Choral Society were laid, when an ambitious group of both male and female singers formed the Oratorio Choir. Their first President was Mr E R Tucker, Headmaster of the Royal Grammar School (RGS), and Mrs Constance Bailey was the Conductor. When asked by a Bucks Free Press (BFP) reporter how the choir came to be formed, Mrs Bailey explained that ‘several people who wanted to sing this type of music got together, formed a committee, got on with the job and with little preliminary blowing of trumpets, announced their first concert’.

Mrs Bailey had been the first woman to be awarded the degree of Bachelor of Music (B.Mus.) at Sheffield University. Her husband Frederick was Music Teacher at the RGS, Lansdowne School, and Sir William Borlase in Marlow. The couple had their own music studio at No.15 Priory Avenue and had formed the Bucks School of Music, which after the war occupied premises on the second floor of the building on the corner of the High St/Corporation St. At that time Imperial Stores was on the ground floor.

The first concert by the Oratorio Choir, ‘The Creation’ by Haydn, was held in the Town Hall, High Wycombe on Wednesday November 7, 1934. The BFP reported this under the heading ‘Oratorio Singers Make Their First Bow – New Wycombe Choir’s First Concert’. The report then continued “Mrs Constance Bailey, B.Mus. walked onto the stage of High Wycombe Town Hall on Wednesday evening, acknowledged the applause of a strikingly large audience and then turned with an uplifted arm. Her baton measured its opening downward beat, the organ sounded and was joined by the singers massed before her and High Wycombe Oratorio Choir was born.”

The BFP report gives a complete list of all the singers and includes the organist and the pianist. It concludes with “Finally, one can only say that if the choir becomes as popular as it deserves, people will be turned away from future concerts because of a full hall.”

(Image: SWOP)

Mrs Bailey received moral support in this venture from the famous British choirmaster Sir Henry Coward, under whom she had studied at Sheffield University, who had agreed to become the first Patron of the Choir. Before this first concert Sir Henry wrote to Mrs Bailey ‘Bear in mind it is how the works are performed that counts at the performance. The precision, tone, clear diction and well-graded expression are the things which please and attract audiences’.

World War 2 years

During WW2 many of its members and supporters were in the Forces or engaged with Civil Defence duties, but the choir kept going and continued to give concerts in difficult circumstances.. On one occasion the performance was interrupted to listen to a broadcast by Winston Churchill.

Just before the outbreak of war, on June 9, 1939, the report of the choir’s annual meeting, which was held in the Christ Church schoolroom, tells us about the concerts and social activities in the previous 12 months. Their first concert in that period had been ‘The Creation’ by Hadyn, when Mrs Bailey had been indisposed and her husband had to take the baton. The second concert was of a type which had never before attempted by the choir. The programme contained ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ by Parry and concerted items (in costume) by ‘The Old Tyme Singers’, which “proved to be a very pleasing and profitable departure”.

The social programme had included a party, and a visit to a promenade concert. The President of the Choir for the previous 12 months had been Cllr W S Toms, for the next year it was to be Dr S Bath, the organist of Marlow Parish Church. Membership was holding steady, but “it was the Conductor’s wish the choir should have at least 100 voices”.

WW2 began on Sept 1, and that appears to have resulted in a short interruption to the choir’s activities. The next concert was on March 3, 1940, being ‘The Messiah’, and held at the Town Hall, which raised over £100, the sum of £50 being sent to the British Red Cross, and the St John Ambulance Brigade.

This was quickly followed on Wednesday, April 10, by ‘An Evening with Handel’ at the Oxford Road Free Methodist Church. The evening began with the reading by the Rev J Couling of a “short comprehensive survey of Handel’s life’ which had been written by Mrs Bailey, then “illustrations of Handel’s work” were sung by members of the choir, the whole choir then singing six chorus from ‘The Messiah’. The evening concluded with a musical interlude.

The 1940 annual meeting was held on April 26, at which it was stated that by the Secretary that “the policy for the coming season should be one of optimism, as they could satisfy a need which was very real in the difficult and trying times”. Members were leaving the choir to take on military service, this included the choir’s treasurer Mr B Bocock. A performance of ‘Merrie England’ was planned for the autumn, with rehearsals to commence on May 20. Not surprisingly, with the start of the Blitz and the very real threat of a Nazi invasion, this did not take place.

Performances did resume in 1941, with “a spirited rendition of Mendelsson’s Elijah” at the Town Hall on March 30, when £50 7s.11d. was raised for the Mayor’s Disaster Fund. This was followed on May 7 by a particularly significant concert which took place in All Saints Parish Church. Despite one aisle being out of use, an audience of 1,600 filled “every usable part of the church” for an ‘Afternoon with Mendelson’. Such an audience could not have been accommodated in the Town Hall. Since then the choir have appeared regularly at the parish church, and it is currently their ‘home’.

Regular performances continued throughout the remainder of the war years. Several of these were to raise funds for organisations connected to Russia, such as the Red Cross, ‘High Wycombe Salutes Russia’, and an Anglo-Soviet Rally to celebrate the ‘3rd Anniversary Anglo-Soviet Alliance’. The Choir’s conductor throughout these years remained Mrs Constance Bailey.

The next eighty years

Building on the strong foundations resulting from the first ten years of its operations the Choir continued its highly successful programme, with two main concerts, Spring and Autumn, and occasional smaller concerts in the Summer and Christmas-themed performances in December.

In the late 1940s Mrs Bailey retired as Conductor and the role was taken on for the next 20 years or so by her husband Frederick. In the mid-1950s the name of the choir was changed to the High Wycombe Choral Society, as it was felt that the word ‘Oratorio’ was too limiting.

In 1968, James Dawes, Head of Music at RGS, became the third conductor. He was followed by another RGS man, Geoffrey Heath, who conducted the choir for ten years. This included the concert in 1984 which celebrated the choir’s 50th anniversary, when a very frail Mrs Constance Bailey was the guest of honour. The next conductor was RGS-educated Stephen Armstrong, who subsequently went on to achieve national and international recognition as a conductor. The Choir regularly participated in the Wycombe Arts Festival which was held over several decades, and sometimes performed the opening concert.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the choir faced significant challenges as in person rehearsals were cancelled. However, the choir was still able to meet remotely to rehearse over video links. When in-person rehearsals were permitted, the choir returned, but with a much reduced membership. Only 12 members returned for the first post-pandemic concert, but that number has grown over the last couple of years, now with a membership of around 40, and still growing.