50 Fun Facts About Choir

Which Queen hit builds its mock-opera choir from about 180 overdubs of just three band members' voices?

Bohemian Rhapsody took three weeks to record. Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor sang their parts again and again to build the sound of a full opera chorus.

Which choir voice part is named from the Latin for 'high', although sopranos now sing above it?

Alto comes from the Latin altus, meaning high. In early choral writing it was the line set above the tenor, whose own name comes from the Latin for to hold.

Which actress plays the lounge singer who hides in a convent and transforms its choir in Sister Act?

Whoopi Goldberg took the role after Bette Midler turned it down, fearing her fans would not want to see her play a nun.

Which hymn was published in 1779 by John Newton, an English clergyman who had been a slave trader?

Amazing Grace was written in late 1772 and was probably used for the first time at a meeting on 1 January 1773.

Which city is home to the sailor-suited boys' choir that traces its history to Emperor Maximilian I in 1498?

Vienna owes the choir to a 1498 letter telling court officials to hire a singing master, two basses and six boys. The sailor suits replaced a cadet uniform that included a dagger.

What is the name of the William McKinley High School show choir at the centre of the TV series Glee?

New Directions spends the first season on the competition circuit, winning at Sectionals before losing at Regionals.

Which Handel oratorio, first performed in Dublin in 1742, gave choirs the famous Hallelujah chorus?

Messiah had its premiere at the Great Music Hall in Fishamble Street, and London had to wait a further year to hear it.

Which future opera star sang beside his father in the Modena choir that won a 1955 international festival?

Luciano Pavarotti called the Corale Rossini's first prize at Llangollen his first singing success. He had sung with his father in a local church choir from about the age of nine.

Which Pink Floyd hit features a choir of pupils from Islington Green School, near the band's studio?

Another Brick in the Wall got its children's voices when an engineer recorded pupils singing the verse. The school's singers were rewarded with concert tickets, an album and a single.

Which Beethoven symphony adds a choir and solo singers in its finale to sing Schiller's Ode to Joy?

The Ninth was the first example of a major composer scoring vocal parts in a symphony. An instrumental version of its chorus was later adopted as the Anthem of Europe.

Which composer died in 1791 leaving a Requiem unfinished, later completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr?

Mozart left the score incomplete, so Joseph Eybler and then Süssmayr filled in the rest, even imitating his musical handwriting on the copy that was delivered.

Which carol was first sung on Christmas Eve 1818 in Oberndorf, Austria, to a guitar accompaniment?

Silent Night set words by Father Joseph Mohr to a melody by Franz Xaver Gruber. Mohr asked for the guitar part after river flooding had possibly damaged the church organ.

Which country, traditionally called the 'land of song', is famous worldwide for its male voice choirs?

Wales saw its male voice choirs grow out of the tenor and bass sections of chapel choirs, singing outside church for recreation and fellowship.

Which US state is home to the Tabernacle Choir, whose weekly radio broadcast has aired since 1929?

Utah has been its home since 1847, when the choir was founded shortly after Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. In 2018 it dropped Mormon from its name.

Which rapper founded the Sunday Service Choir, which released the gospel album Jesus Is Born in 2019?

Kanye West began the weekly gatherings in January 2019, with choir director Jason White conducting. The debut album arrived on Christmas Day.

Which band had the London Bach Choir open the 1969 track You Can't Always Get What You Want?

The Rolling Stones used the choir to open the song, colour it throughout and bring it to its conclusion. The choral opening is heard only on the album version.

Which Madonna single of 1989 features gospel backing vocals from Andraé Crouch and his choir?

Like a Prayer was recorded with the choir around September 1988, after Crouch studied the words to make sure they did not go against the singers' religious beliefs.

Which 2012 film follows the Barden Bellas, an all-female college singing group chasing a championship?

Pitch Perfect is loosely based on a non-fiction book by Mickey Rapkin, a GQ editor who spent a season following competitive college vocal groups.

Which Journey rock anthem does Glee's show choir perform on stage in the 2009 pilot episode?

Don't Stop Believin' was recorded by the Glee cast in 2009, and their cover went on to outperform the original internationally.

Which Handel anthem, sung at every British coronation since 1727, inspired the UEFA Champions League theme?

Zadok the Priest was reworked in 1992 by the English composer Tony Britten, who said he pinched a rising string phrase from Handel and then wrote his own tune.

Which German composer wrote Carmina Burana, the cantata that opens and closes with the chorus O Fortuna?

Carl Orff based the cantata on 24 poems from a medieval collection, and it was first performed by the Oper Frankfurt in June 1937.

Which composer wrote the Bridal Chorus for his 1850 opera Lohengrin, now heard at countless weddings?

Richard Wagner also wrote the libretto. In the opera the women of the wedding party sing it after the ceremony, while most weddings now play it on the organ with no singing.

Which Latin plainsong of monastic choirs is named for a pope credited by legend with inventing it?

Gregorian chant is linked by legend to Pope Gregory I, but scholars believe he only ordered a compilation of melodies from across the Christian world.

Which Reformation leader wrote both words and tune of the hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God in the 1520s?

Martin Luther was a prolific hymnwriter, and this one has been called the Battle Hymn of the Reformation for the support it rallied to the Reformers' cause.

Which Old Testament book of 150 sacred songs has supplied church choirs with texts for centuries?

Psalms is known in Hebrew as Tehillim, meaning praises, because it contains so many praises and supplications to God.

Which sight-singing system of do, re and mi grew from syllables Guido of Arezzo took from a Latin hymn?

Solfège began in eleventh-century Italy with only six notes, each named after the first syllable of a line of a hymn to St John the Baptist. A seventh, si, was added later.

Which actress played Sue Sylvester, the tracksuit-wearing cheerleading coach in the show choir series Glee?

Jane Lynch won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the role, which she played from the pilot in 2009 through to the final episode in 2015.

Which unaccompanied American harmony style names its four voice parts tenor, lead, baritone and bass?

Barbershop gives the melody to the lead, while the tenor harmonises above it, the bass sings the lowest notes and the baritone completes the chord.

Which country's New Year song Shchedryk, by Mykola Leontovych, became the choir favourite Carol of the Bells?

Ukraine's song gained its English words in 1936 from the American composer Peter Wilhousky, years after Leontovych wrote the music between 1901 and 1916.

Show choirs, which blend choral singing with choreographed dance, were previously known by which other name?

Swing choir was the earlier label for these ensembles, whose routines are often built into a narrative story or an overarching theme.

Which subject does Will Schuester teach at McKinley High when he takes over the show choir in Glee?

Spanish teacher Will Schuester, played by Matthew Morrison, steps in after the club's former director, Sandy Ryerson, is fired for inappropriate conduct.

Which future Grammy winner had her breakout film role as the gifted choir student Rita in Sister Act 2?

Lauryn Hill's character forges her mother's signature to reach the final competition, where her solo opens the choir's gospel version of Joyful, Joyful.

Which South African township is named in the title of a Grammy-winning gospel choir formed there in 2002?

Soweto Gospel Choir sang at the first of the 46664 concerts for Nelson Mandela, and its album Blessed went on to win a Grammy.

The South African choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo won worldwide fame on which Paul Simon album?

Graceland introduced many listeners to isicathamiya, the local vocal style of the group that Joseph Shabalala had formed in 1960.

Which hymn, written by Henry Francis Lyte as he was dying, has been sung before FA Cup finals since 1927?

Abide with Me was written in 1847 while Lyte was dying of tuberculosis. At the final its first and last verses are traditionally sung about 15 minutes before kick-off.

Which Methodist leader wrote over 6,500 hymns, including the Easter hymn Christ the Lord Is Risen Today?

Charles Wesley also wrote the Christmas carol Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, as well as Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.

Which carol, begun by a solo boy treble, has opened King's College's Christmas Eve service since 1919?

Once in Royal David's City became the opener when Milner-White revised the format a year after the college's first Nine Lessons and Carols in 1918.

In which US state is Lima, where the show choir drama Glee is set at the fictional McKinley High?

Ohio provides the setting, but co-creator Ian Brennan based the series on his own time in the show choir at Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, Illinois.

Which tool, invented in 1711 by court trumpeter John Shore, can give a choir its starting note?

The tuning fork came from a royal musician: Shore was sergeant trumpeter and lutenist to the court, and Purcell wrote parts for him.

Which Tudor composer wrote Spem in alium, a motet for forty voices arranged as eight choirs of five?

Thomas Tallis served four monarchs, from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I, and the Latin title of the piece means hope in any other.

Which California group, founded in 1962 by Milton C. Anderson, is credited as the very first show choir?

The Young Americans starred in a 1967 film that was awarded the Oscar for best documentary feature, then disqualified in 1969 because it had premiered too early.

Which movement of the Latin Mass, a staple of the choir repertoire, is actually sung in Greek?

Kyrie eleison is a plea to the Lord for mercy, a litany response shared with the Eastern churches that stayed in Greek while the rest of the Mass was sung in Latin.

Which Anglican service centres on the canticles Magnificat and Nunc dimittis and is a showcase for cathedral choirs?

Evensong is traditionally held near twilight, and choirs sing its canticles in elaborate settings by composers from William Byrd to Arvo Pärt.

Which American composer's Virtual Choir merged videos of 185 singers from 12 countries into one piece?

Eric Whitacre was inspired by a video a fan sent of herself singing one of his choral pieces, and the 185 voices performed his work Lux Aurumque.

Which English composer founded the Cambridge Singers and wrote the anthem For the Beauty of the Earth?

John Rutter's group premiered and recorded many of his works for his own label, Collegium Records.

Which Nashville university sent its Jubilee Singers on tour in 1871 to raise funds by singing spirituals?

Fisk was only five years old and in serious financial difficulty when two quartets and a pianist set off, and an early profit went to victims of the Great Chicago Fire.

What name is given to the stepped stage platforms on which a show choir usually stands to perform?

Risers are a series of platforms set up on a stage, and larger show choirs add extra stairs, boxes and backdrops to complement their show.

Which Renaissance composer's Pope Marcellus Mass is said in legend to have saved polyphony from a ban?

Palestrina wrote it in honour of Pope Marcellus II, who reigned for only three weeks in 1555. The rescue story did not begin to circulate until the late 16th century.

Allegri's Miserere was composed around 1638 for the exclusive Holy Week use of which papal landmark in Rome?

Sistine Chapel singers added unwritten ornaments that were virtually unknown outside the Vatican, which fed the myths that later grew up around the piece.

Which composer wrote his best-known Gloria while working at Venice's Ospedale della Pietà, famed for its choir?

Vivaldi left two surviving Glorias from his years there, and modern performances sometimes use an all-female choir to recreate the sound of the Pietà.