A choral symphony is a long piece of music written for a choir and orchestra. Solo singers could also be used. In some or all movements of the symphony, the singers’ voices can be as important as the instruments. The text used the singers is frequently taken from drama, poetry, or other literature, and the symphonies are frequently dramatic or narrative in nature. They differ from other forms of music with prominent vocalists, such as operas and oratorios, in that their structure is similar to that of a traditional symphony, with the entire work divided into movements.
The choral finale of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which uses words from Friedrich Schiller’s poem “Ode to Joy,” is the first major example of choral symphonic music. This section is only a small part of the entire work, but it will serve as a model for future composers. Hector Berlioz, a French composer, was the first known person to use the term “choral symphony” to describe his composition “Roméo et Juliette” in 1858. In the 19th century, Felix Mendelssohn and Franz Liszt were important choral symphony composers, and in the 20th century, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Gustav Mahler, and Ralph Vaughan Williams were.
A choral symphony may be written with a specific text in mind, often using the emotions evoked the music to complement the words, or the music may be written first and the text added later. For choral symphonies, many works of literature have been used as texts. Walt Whitman’s poems appear in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “A Sea Symphony,” Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Bells” appears in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Symphony of Psalms,” and the Bible’s Book of Psalms appears in Igor Stravinsky’s “Symphony of Psalms.”
Choral symphonies that use text from a different source do not always follow the original’s form exactly. Parts of the original text may be sung out of order, repeated, omitted, or added to, depending on what is required to fit the music or the specific themes and ideas the composer wishes to emphasize. Some choral symphonies, such as Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Sinfonia Antartica,” are composed entirely without words and rely on wordless choral music to evoke specific emotions or atmospheres.