HCS, the First World War, and parallels with the new Alan Bennett film, The Choral

Huddersfield Choral Society (affectionately known as The Choral) and the First World War

There are just so many parallels between the fictitious choral society in the film and HCS: The Choral is set in a mill town called Ramsden; and the choir is set to perform Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius. Well, we thought, we’re known as The Choral by those who love us; Huddersfield was owned by the Ramsden estate until the 1920s; and we’re the choral society that made the first recording of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius. And we’ve just made another!

Choir member and social history enthusiast, Gaynor Haliday, decided to delve deeper into the archives and uncover the experiences of HCS during the First World War. And with the season of Remembrance upon us we’d like to share this with you. It’s longer than our usual posts, so you might want to settle down with a cuppa . . .

When ‘The Choral’ held its AGM on 1 May 1914 there may have been little perception of what was to follow in the ensuing months, and the impact it would have locally, nationally and globally. With great aplomb and expectation, the Society announced its subscriber programme for the coming season: Verdi’s Requiem on 6 November; Handel’s Messiah on 18 December; and Handel’s Israel in Egypt on 5 March 1915. The highlight was undoubtedly to be the first performance by The Choral of Verdi’s Requiem ‘on a Festival Scale’, with the committee warning that the cost of producing new works, as well as maintaining the efficiency of the Society, ‘results in a balance against the Treasurer’. It trusted ‘the excellence of this programme will so appeal to all our Subscribers and musical friends as to ensure even larger and – if possible – more enthusiastic audiences than on any previous occasion.’

Just over three months later, the United Kingdom and the British Empire entered the First World War.

Read the full story here: Huddersfield Choral Society in the First World War

Gaynor Haliday 2025