The Bach Choir was founded in 1876 with the aim of giving the first complete performance of the B Minor Mass in Britain. Two performances were held at St James’s Hall on 26 April and 8 May that  year, under the baton of Otto Goldschmidt.

Soon a regular choir was formed, smaller than its Royal Albert Hall equivalent, with a wealthy upper-crust membership and a commitment to lesser-known earlier music. Programmes extended back beyond Bach to Renaissance masters, yet Brahms was already favoured; and when Stanford took over in 1885 he extended the repertoire to music by Verdi and Wagner, as well as Parry and himself.

There were typically two or three concerts each season – in 1895 and 1897 Bach festivals at Queen’s Hall – but by this time the spirit had gone out of the venture, and the choir was plagued with public criticism of falling standards as well as internal disputes about rehearsal times and financial stress.

No concerts were given in 1901 or 1902, but following the recommendations of a Reorganisation Committee the choir emerged from the crisis with a determination to broaden the membership, to institute regular auditions and to set the concerts on a firmer financial footing.

Under the new conductor Henry Walford Davies, succeeded in 1907 by the resourceful Hugh Allen, the choir was revitalised. New venues were tried, including the People’s Palace in the East End and Westminster Abbey, while the association with Vaughan Williams (a singing member) led to first London performances, such as A Sea Symphony in 1913.

The choir’s archive, currently held by the Royal College of Music, includes a complete set of programmes, as well as minute books and printed accounts for each season of the period. These provide an income-and-expenditure analysis of the General Account, accompanied by details of individual concerts.

The two aspects are intertwined in various ways, but broadly speaking losses on concerts were offset by members’ subscriptions and sometimes by a call on a guarantee fund. Once the finances were securely established, the foundations were laid for the choir’s continuing success (see the official website, which includes a brief history) .

For programmes of the concerts 1892–1914, download the Calendar of London Concerts 1893–1914, press the Search Series tab at the bottom of the page, and select Bach Choir.

Further reading

Basil Keen, The Bach Choir: the First Hundred Years (Aldershot, 2008)