Bizet Choruses Virtually Unknown

June 21, 2026 (updated version)

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the availability – hot off the press – of ten virtually unknown choruses by Georges Bizet (1838-1875) edited from original sources by Hugh Macdonald. Hugh is the author of Bizet (2014), general editor of the New Berlioz Edition (1969-2006), author of Berlioz’s Orchestration Treatise: A Translation and Commentary (1969) and Music in 1853: the Biography of a Year (2019), among others. 

Hugh, now living in England, asked that I spread the word to friends and colleagues in the USA, and it’s an honor to do so. His Bizet project began by preparing full scores and performance materials of the five lesser-known operas, all of which preceded Carmen. See his Fishergate Music website (based in the UK) devoted exclusively to those and the new chorus editions: https://fishergatemusic.co.uk/choral/. Voicing, instrumentation and succinct descriptions accompany each chorus title. 

For us in the USA, the following piano-vocal and full scores may be obtained from Ficks Music (https://www.ficksmusic.com/): Te Deum, Vasco da Gama, La Mort s’avance, La chanson du Rouet and Saint-Jean de Pathmos. Enter only ‘Fishergate’ in the search bar at the top of the page and those five titles will appear. The following will be added soon: Valse avec chœur, Le Golfe de Baïa, and Chœur d’étudiants. 

The August 2026 ACDA Choral Journal will have Hugh’s article on each of these works, please have a look! To gain perspective on Bizet’s life and complete works, go to https://talus.artsci.wustl.edu/bizet/ref/.

Conductors today are exploring more 19^th-century offerings, yet French vocal repertoire is overlooked in the States. For those of us not comfortable singing in French, fortunately pronunciation guides are easily accessible when reliable French-speakers are not. And while voicing is often SSTB or SSTTBB when listed for mixed choruses, I’ve discovered second soprano lines are more easily in reach for altos than expected. The divisi lower parts are not difficult nor do they require extra voices. 

I very much hope Bizet’s choruses and his operas capture your attention and imagination.

Sincerely, Melinda O’Neal, DMus, Professor of Music, Emerita, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH