Hi! what are your favorite choruses?

On my side, in no particuliar order:

Monteverdi: Nisi Dominus
J.S. Bach: Magnificat
J.S. Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
Handel: Hallelujah (from Messiah)
Handel: Worthy is the Lamb - Amen (from Messiah)
Handel: Serve the Lord with Gladness (from Utrecht Jubilate)
Mozart: Requiem Aeternum (from Requiem)

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"Handel understands effect better than any of us -- when he chooses, he strikes like a thunderbolt... though he often saunters, in the manner of his time, this is always something there."

Mozart

Palestrina: Missa papae Marcelli - Kyrie [Reminds me of a solitary summer afternoon]
Handel: Messiah - For unto us a child is born, All we like sheep, Worthy is the Lamb
Mozart: Requiem - Kyrie, Confutatis, Lacrimosa, Requiem aeternum
Mozart: Ave verum corpus
Liszt: Christus - The entry into Jerusalem, Stabat mater dolorosa, Resurrexit
Liszt: Faust Symphony - (the closing chorus)
Gounod: Faust - The chorus of soldiers
Beethoven: Symphony No.9 - Ode to Joy
Zajc: Nikola Subic Zrinski - U boj, u boj!

Yes!! Handel will always be the greatest master of choruses! Here are a few of my favourites, just off the top of my head :

By Handel:

(Messiah)
O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion
For unto us a child is born
The Lord gave the word (short and sweet!)
Hallelujah (obvious)
Worthy is the Lamb and Amen (Fabulous indeed )
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Gloria Patri et Filio (Dixit Dominus)
Zadok the Priest (Coronation anthem)
Kings shall be thy nursing father (idem)
See the conqu'ring hero come (Judas Maccabeus)

From Haydn's creation :

Stimmt an die Saiten
Die Himmel erzähle die Ehre Gottes (the single best chorus in the whole oratorio!!)
Der Herr ist groß in seiner Macht
Vollendet ist das große Werk


The final chorus from Beethoven's Fidelio and the whole last movement of the 9th symphony? That's pretty obvious though.

Can't agree more. All great choruses. Haydn's choruses are great but, even if he tries to emulate Handel's one, he is not totally on par.

Oh, I think Verdi could give Handel a run for his money.
Anvil chorus from Il trovatore, Dies Irae from Requiem. Overplayed? Yes, but no more so than Handel's "Hallelujah."

Handel - yes, no question about it! Anything by Rutter is interesting...

Rutter? Interesting? Those are two words I never thought I'd hear in the same sentence. You do mean John?

and the "Va Pensiero" chorus , from Verdi's opera Nabucco, sung by the Hebrew slaves as they awaited their fate at the hands of the Babylonian tyrants?

I don't know. I like the simple and beautiful efficiency of the Hebrew Slaves' chorus, but I still prefer good old baroque choruses.

I have to agree about the Dies Irae though ^^.

Handel's Israel in Egypt is great for that.

I've been the accompanist for two of [John] Rutter's works: Te Deum and Requiem. Both were absolutely thrilling works - the intricate choral parts were such a moving experience. So, yes, I would agree with Avrile that Rutter is interesting.

Well, to each his own. I've just always found Rutter a bit cheesy and over the top.

How could I have forgotten Bach's 'Sion hort der wachter singen' from his cantata BWV140! It's a refreshing and optimistic chorus in a beautiful morning mood!

And yes, to add something of Liszt's - the Magnificat chorus of his Dante Symphony.

No thread on choruses (particularly one that allows operatic choruses) is complete without the "Communion Chorus" from Act I of Parsifal. For those with insufficient patience to listen to Wagner in his entirety, please listen to this in excerpt.

Greatest... chorus... ever (with, of course, the obligatory "IMO" qualifier).