"A choir,
chorale, or chorus is a
musical ensemble
of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written
specifically for such an ensemble to perform.
A body of singers who perform together is called a choir or
chorus. The former term is very often applied to groups
affiliated with a church (whether or not they actually
occupy the
choir)
and the second to groups that perform in theatres or concert
halls, but this distinction is far from rigid. The term
"Choir" has the secondary definition of a subset of an
ensemble; thus one speaks of the "woodwind choir" of an
orchestra, or different "choirs" of voices and/or
instruments in a
polychoral
composition. In typical 18th to 21st century
oratorios
and
masses,
chorus or choir is usually understood to imply more than one
singer per part, in contrast to the quartet of soloists also
featured in these works" Source:
Wikipedia |
