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On Saturday 5 June 1948, the opening concert of the first ever Aldeburgh Festival took place in the parish church of Aldeburgh in Suffolk.

The main item on the programme was the world premiere of festival founder Benjamin Britten鈥檚 new cantata, St Nicolas, telling the story of the life of the saint. It was written for small orchestra, with a tenor soloist (Britten's partner Peter Pears) singing the title role, and multiple choirs of all ages and degrees of experience joining in.

In the audience that afternoon was EM Forster, at that time arguably the country's most celebrated living writer. Forster had been persuaded by Britten to give a lecture later in the festival . He was bowled over by St Nicolas: thrilled by the way in which Britten threw the music around the church between choirs in the nave, in the gallery and up in the tower. "It was one of those triumphs outside the rules of art which only a great artist can achieve", he said. Forster was particularly struck by the section "Nicolas and the Pickled Boys", which tells the story of how the saint restored to life three slaughtered boys who are just about to be eaten when they are saved by the saint.

The audience for this cantata are not mere spectators: they're part of the action. In the middle and at the end of the cantata, the barrier between audience and performers is broken as the audience became the congregation, singing the "Old Hundredth" and "God Moves in a Mysterious Way, His Wonders to Perform".

This is one of 100 significant musical moments explored by 麻豆社 Radio 3鈥檚 Essential Classics as part of Our Classical Century, a 麻豆社 season celebrating a momentous 100 years in music from 1918 to 2018. Visit bbc.co.uk/ourclassicalcentury to watch and listen to all programmes in the season.

This is an excerpt from a recording by the choir of King's College, Cambridge, with Sawstone Village College Choir, CUMS chorus, Britten Sinfonia and conductor Stephen Cleobury.

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