Renowned as perhaps the foremost American choral ensemble during the middle decades of the twentieth century, the Robert Shaw Chorale earned widespread acclaim and broad popularity. From the final years of the 78 rpm format in 1948 until the peak of the stereo LP period in 1965, the ensemble delivered numerous acclaimed performances and produced an extensive series of recordings under the RCA banner. Among these efforts was the inaugural classical album to exceed one million in sales, accompanied by multiple honors that encompassed several Grammy recognitions. Over the course of his professional life, Shaw accumulated fourteen Grammy awards through work with the Chorale and additional vocal ensembles.
Born in 1916 and passing in 1999, Robert Shaw had already secured standing among the leading choral directors in America by the 1930s and 1940s. His direction of the Pomona College Glee Club so favorably impressed Fred Waring that Shaw assumed leadership of the Fred Waring Glee Club in 1938. He departed that position in 1945 to pursue varied responsibilities, among them preparation of the NBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus under Toscanini.
In 1948, Shaw established the Robert Shaw Chorale within New York City. Approximately forty professional vocalists made up the ensemble, though the exact count fluctuated according to requirements. Their earliest RCA Victor sessions occurred that same year, beginning with a collaboration alongside Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra on Brahms's Gesang der Parzen, followed by excerpts from Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah featuring Stokowski and the same orchestra. Subsequent projects from 1950 encompassed the Mozart Requiem along with Verdi's Rigoletto and Falstaff, the last again under Toscanini. The group also ventured into lighter material, recording Gershwin's Porgy and Bess in 1950 and issuing A Treasury of Easter Songs together with Joy to the World the following year. Additional popular-oriented releases arrived with My True Love Sings in 1956 and The Stephen Foster Songbook in 1958.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the Chorale maintained an active schedule of tours, the most extensive being a 1960 journey across thirty-six American cities that involved thirty-three singers supported by twenty-nine instrumentalists. One highlight from that itinerary was their interpretation of Bach's Mass in B minor presented at the Manhattan Center. The ensemble reached its zenith of influence during the late 1950s and early 1960s, extending its appeal across diverse domains. This reach manifested, for instance, in 1959 collaborations with the prominent vocalist and television personality Perry Como on recordings of The Lord's Prayer and Ave Maria.
Despite the heights attained, the Robert Shaw Chorale concluded its activities in 1965 as Shaw transitioned to fresh endeavors, chief among them his appointment as music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra commencing in 1967. Fresh recordings from the ensemble continued to reach the market through 1967, after which reissues appeared with regularity before diminishing in frequency during the 1990s. As of 2002 roughly forty of the Chorale's recordings remained in wide circulation, predominantly on the RCA label.
