English Chamber Choir - Music between the Wars

The English Chamber Choir return to the Temple Church with a programme featuring music written between the wars, the 20-year period from the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 to the outbreak of war in 1939. The central work is Frank Martin’s glorious Mass for Double Choir, completed in 1926 and one of the finest settings of the 20th century. Also written around the same time and for double choir is Sir William Harris’ popular Faire is the Heaven. The concert also features Francis Poulenc’s Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence written in 1938–39 along with works by  Igor Stravinsky, Maximilan Steinberg, Jehan Alain, Jean Langlais, Olivier Messiaen, Samuel Barber and Edgar Bainton. George Thalben Ball became organist of the Temple Church in 1923 and remained in post for nearly 60 years. He was, therefore, a prominent figure in the life of the Temple during the inter-war years so will be remembered in this programme with his popular Elegy.