Three Choirs Festival is a music festival in England. It is organized around meetings of the three choirs of the cathedrals of Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester and a festival chorus from the three cities. The festival consists mainly of choral music. It is held every August in each of the three cities in rotation.
The Three Choirs Festival is one of the oldest music festivals still being held regularly in the United Kingdom. The first festival probably took place about 1715 as a means of raising money to support the widows and orphans of deceased clergymen in the three dioceses. During the early festivals, only church anthems and music from religious services were performed within the cathedrals. Secular music, including oratorios (dramatic vocal compositions usually based on a religious stories), could only be performed in other venues. In the 1700’s, the festivals often featured the works of the German composer George Frideric Handel. In the 1800’s, the works of the German composer Felix Mendelssohn came to prominence. Many notable solo singers of the day attracted large audiences to the festivals.
The term “Three Choirs Festival” did not come into use until the mid-1800’s. Before then, each festival was known individually as the Gloucester Meeting, the Hereford Meeting, or the Worcester Meeting. In the late 1800’s, the Three Choirs Festival was at the forefront of the revival of the English oratorio. Sir Arthur Sullivan and Sir Hubert Parry were among the composers who wrote works especially for it. The British composer Sir Edward Elgar was closely associated with the festival from 1902 to 1933.
In the 1900’s, the Three Choirs Festival broadened its scope and included first performances of works by leading European composers, including Zoltan Kodaly of Hungary and Jean Sibelius of Finland. Peter Maxwell Davies, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, and Malcolm Williamson are among the British composers who have produced works for it.
The Three Choirs Festival Association, set up in 1957 and based in Gloucester, has had overall responsibility for running the festival since 1973.
