Westminster Cathedral Choir & David Hill

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Westminster Cathedral Choir & David Hill · The Westminster Cathedral Choir is the choir of Westminster Cathedral in London, the largest Catholic church in England and Wales and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The cathedral was built between 1895 and 1903 in a Neo-Byzantine style, almost entirely of brick. Its large, resonant space forms the choir's natural sounding board. David Hill is the conductor who led the choir in the twentieth century and with whom the recordings in School of Rock are associated.

Music and breakthrough

The choir is known for performing Renaissance polyphony in the liturgy, including that of the Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria. His motet O magnum mysterium from 1572 is one of the best-known examples. Several voices sing in and around one another, without instruments, in long, flowing lines.

Influence

For the history of pop, such choral music is both a source and a counterweight: it shows how singing can sound in a church space and how much power a voice has without accompaniment. Many later artists have used that sound to evoke atmosphere and awe.

Listening

• 
  O magnum mysterium (Victoria) · Westminster Cathedral Choir & David Hill, 1572

See also

• Palestrina and the Roman school