The meaning of (choral) life

How do we prioritise our choral singing? What comes first? What is most important? Is anything more, or less important than anything else? When singing, or conducting a piece of choral music what do we have to consider? There are the notes; there is the text; there is the articulation and the expression and probably other things as well. Can we give them all equal weight or do we consider some more important than the others?

At the moment I am preparing quite a bit of Romantic music, especially German Romantic music and specifically Brahms and Bruckner. The texts are either German or Latin. Do I give those texts as much importance as I would English ones? Does it matter if the audience isn't going to understand anyway? The pitch and duration of the notes are quite difficult but meaningless if you ignore the expression and the articulation.

So, lots of questions. Are there any answers? When I stand in front of a choir I have to have the answers. I have only one answer. What comes first? The text and the meaning of the text (Whatever the language). The composer's notes are an interpretation of the text and singers have to interpret the interpretation. the text dictates the expression, the articulation and the mood of the notes. The pitch and duration are merely the vehicles for that communication.If, as singers, we don't make the text clear we do the composer and the audience a disservice. As I am finding with the Brahms Requiem concentrate on the expression and the notes are a lot easier.