Figure 1 LBC Programmes featuring “Gloria” and “Benedicite”
LBC Archivist: Dr Jennifer Wilkinson
© Dr Jennifer Wilkinson
And… the answer is – we haven’t – well – not much! Our 2025 Spring Concert, “Gloria!” features four works:
- Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata BWV 170, ‘Vergnügte Ruh’
- Ralph Vaughan Williams Benedicite
- George Dyson Hierusalem
- Antonio Vivaldi Gloria in D, RV 589
As usual I have been through the LBC Archive to discover if and when we last performed these works and source anything I can of interest from the records. Sadly – I have pretty much drawn a blank!
Johann Sebastian Bach Cantata BWV 170, ‘Vergnügte Ruh’
Last performed in 2019 at our beautiful Fruits of Silence concert this is only the second time this work has been included in an LBC concert.
Ralph Vaughan Williams Benedicite
Benedicite has been performed by the LBC on five previous occasions. More popular in the earlier years with George Gray conducting 4 times, it’s over 20 years since we last sang this and it is clearly time for a new outing. Here’s a summary of the performances showing both the conductor and soloists:
| 11 December 1932 | George Gray | Lucy Goodwin |
| 10 December 1933 | George Gray | Mary Worth |
| 18 May 1947 | George Gray | Ena Mitchell |
| 13 December 1953 | George Gray | Jean Mitchell |
| 03 November 2001 | Giles Turner | Maggie Bateman |
Newspaper reports are sparce – here’s short review of the 1947 performance from the Leicester Evening Mail:
“A very fine performance was given by the Leicester Back Choir at Leicester Cathedral yesterday afternoon. They rendered the Sinfonias and Schemelli Hymns by Bach while the soloist in Dies Natalis by Gerald Finzi and Benedicite by Vaughan Williams was Miss Ena Mitchell.” Leicester Evening Mail(1)
George Dyson Hierusalem
I’ve written separately about our relationship with the composer George Dyson in my previous blog. This is the first time we have sung Hierusalem (although it was performed in De Montfort Hall on 29th October 2011 by the Leicester Philharmonic Choir)(2)
Antonio Vivaldi Gloria in D, RV 589
I was rather surprised to discover that this famous Vivaldi piece has only been performed three times by the LBC, although a newspaper report from 1963 (summarised below) would seem to suggest that Vivaldi is rarely heard in Leicester!
“UNFAMILIAR WORKS AT CATHEDRAL: Neither Boyce nor Vivaldi is heard frequently in Leicester. They have curiosity value and it is left to bodies like the Leicester Bach Choir to champion their causes… George Gray, taking it at a lively pace, gave a pretty good idea of its [Gloria’s] strong point, above all the melodic qualities of the solo numbers. Jean Hammond (soprano), an Ashby girl, not long finished at the Royal Academy of Music London, was in fine voice… The chorus who had the bulk of the work were seldom less than vigorous and controlled.”(3)
It’s good to see that, like our forthcoming concert, the programme featured a recently graduated soloist. Previous performances of Gloria were on
| 11 December 1932 | George Gray |
| 10 December 1933 | George Gray |
| 18 May 1947 | George Gray |
One of our current choir members, Geoffrey Carter, played the organ in the 1977 concert!
Join us on the 29th March for our Spring Concert to hear works new and old by the Leicester Bach Choir.
…
- (1947) British Newspaper Archive, Leicester Evening Mail. Available from https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003330/19470519/064/0007 [Last accessed 13/3/2025]
- Music Wise Classical. Available from https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/performances/search/work/9515/ [Last accessed 13/3/2025]
- (1963) British Newspaper Archive, Leicester Evening Mail, Available from https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003330/19631111/079/0005 [Last accessed 13/3/2025]