“And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men.” This choir of angels (for can we conceive of a multitude of angels announcing this message otherwise than in well-ordered song?) typifies the mission of choral singing. Whenever human beings unite in expressing noble thoughts in noble music, their message also is one of good will. Their speech is rendered in rhythmic cadence, intoned in harmonious concord and made expressive by melody; they are bound together in amicable union for a common purpose; they willingly submit to the discipline of a controlling mind; their object is to put beauty into the world and the peace and harmony which are required to make their work effective are communicated to those who hear them and whose souls they cause to vibrate in unison with their music. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the practice of choral singing dates back to very early times. Not, of course, in the way in which we understand the term to-day, as an art-form, but in cruder forms of singing or chanting in unison such as may still be heard among uncivilized or half-civilized tribes. The desire to unite in the performance of religious rites, in prayers for rain or in praise of the deity; in the mutual encouragement to do battle against a common foe; in the celebration of seasonal changes, in rejoicing over the gifts of nature or the fruits of their toil at harvest time--all these common feelings induce a common expression and stimulate choral singing. The development from these crude forms to the art-forms of the present has not only extended over a long period, but has been affected and influenced by many and various factors. For purposes of discussion we may divide these into two main classes: the Church and the Folk-song. These two factors have brought to the evolution of choral singing certain elements which, though diametrically opposed, yet most happily complement each other, namely, obedience to law and freedom of expression.