It is up to choral music educators of all grade and age levels to teach these choral gems in order to keep them on our list of essential repertoire or they will be forgotten.
There are online lists of “essential repertoire” and books with “essential repertoire” in their titles, but most of these lists are heavily skewed toward music composed within the last 40 years. These are topics for a future article and are not presently under consideration for determining which old gems should be considered essential repertoire. Selected repertoire should fit our specific ensemble in terms of age, ability, and balance between parts. Of course,the overall concert program for our school choirs should include a variety of styles, historical periods, languages, and nationalities. This does not mean that newly-composed music should be exempt from a list of “essential” choral repertoire, but for the moment, the focus is on old gems that should remain part of the standard choral repertoire. Many will say that these essential gems of choral repertoire withstand the test of time because they have some historical, literary, or compositional significance. The melody, harmony, and lyrics complement each other in order to enhance the expression of the lyrics and the voice or intent of the composer. Lyrics are expressive, inspiring, inspired, or historically significant.
Well-crafted pieces generally have sensible voice leading, reasonable tonal progressions, and appropriate vocal ranges. The minimum criteria for these old gems to be considered “essential repertoire” should be that they are well-crafted, have educational value for our singers and/or audience, and have some historical significance. Why did our revered teachers (choral directors from high school and college) select these pieces to be part of our choral music education? Are these pieces truly “essential” and are they still relevant to our choral music curricula today? There are certain pieces in the choral repertoire which are considered by many experienced conductors to be gems, treasures, or chestnuts.