The early years, 1868–73

The first concert of 1868, held on 28 April, had as the main work Mozart's ‘Twelfth Mass’. A mass seems a strange choice of music in Bedford with its strong nonconformist tradition. However, the English words are not really a translation of the Latin, but take the form of prayers and praises with only marginal reference to the original. Perhaps this wording allowed English choirs to think that they were singing an oratorio, rather than a mass. There is a vivid description of the performance in the Bedford Times and Bedfordshire Independent:

The soloists, too, were praised. They were all members of the chorus, and the solo passages for each voice were shared between several singers so that they each had a few extracts to sing. The soloists included Miss Brereton, two Mr Breretons, Miss Sirett, Mr Piper, Mr Day and Mr Harrison. The band, which did not include any professional instrumentalists and was similar in size to that of the Musical Society's first concert a year earlier, elicited the only adverse criticism in the review – of being too small.