Choirs in the Collection

CATHEDRAL & CHORAL FOUNDATIONS

This category contains recordings from Cathedral, Abbey, Priory and Minster choirs. As one would expect, recordings from these choirs form the largest part of the collection and there are very few choirs in this category which have not at one time or another made a recording.
The collection contains recordings from 90 British Cathedral and Choral Foundation Choirs

COLLEGIATE CHAPEL CHOIRS

Cambridge : King's College : Choristers board at King's College School
St John's College : Choristers board at St John's College School
Jesus College: Choristers attend local schools and sing two of the four Choral Evensongs per week, plus Eucharists
Oxford : New College : Choristers attend New College School
Magdalen College : Choristers attend Magdalen College School
Christ Church : Choristers board at the Cathedral School. Christ Church is unique in being both a Cathedral and Collegiate Chapel
Worcester College: Choristers attend the Cathedral School and sing two of the four Choral Evensongs per week
Exeter College : Choristers attended the Cathedral School until 1996 when the boys' choir was disbanded

The collection recordings from all the Oxbridge Collegiate Chapel Choirs

ROYAL PECULIARS

A Royal Peculiar is a church, chapel or place of worship that is not under the jurisdiction of the Church of England but is under the direct authority of the Crown.

Westminster Abbey : Chorister board at the Choir School, which together with that of St Thomas, Fifth Avenue, New York are the only two Anglican choir schools remaining worldwide for the exclusive education of their Choristers; no other pupils attend these two schools.
St Margaret's Church, Westminster : Choristers attend Westminster Under School
St. George's Chapel, Windsor : Choristers board at St. George's School
Chapel Royal, St James's Palace : The choir sings in either of the two chapels at St James's Palace and consists of six Gentlemen-in-Ordinary and ten Children of the Chapel. The distinctive State Livery worn by the Children dates from the reign of Charles II. They attend the City of London School for Boys
Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace : Founded in 1573 the choir continued at Hampton Court until it ceased to be a Royal Residence in 1737. A permanent choir was re-established in 1868. Choristers attend various local schools, with scholarships being available to Hampton School for Boys
The Temple Church : Choristers attend the City of London School for Boys
The Queen's Chapel of the Savoy, London : Choristers attend St Olave's Grammar School, Orpington. No recordings have yet been traced.

The collection contains recordings from all the Royal Peculiar Choirs

CHURCH CHOIRS
A vitally important part of this collection is to bring together as many recordings of Church choirs, past and present, as possible. The collection contains many recordings of choirs which have ceased to exist, choirs before they changed to mixed trebles or fully adult, together with current choirs.

At the turn of the 20th century it is estimated that in the UK there were a staggering 10,000 Church choirs of gentlemen and boys. Today, there are 43 church choirs which have an all boys treble line with the ATB parts being sung by men.

Many recordings of Church choirs were undertaken by small independent or private labels or by enthusiastic amateurs armed with a tape recorder and are amongst the most difficult recordings to track down.
The collection contains recordings from 162 British Church choirs.

SCHOOL CHAPEL CHOIRS
A robed choir singing daily or weekly services in the School Chapel, whether open to the public or not. These choirs tend to be a forgotten part of the English Cathedral tradition and the foundation of some School Chapel choirs are comparable in date with our ancient cathedrals.

All of the one time boys' Public and Independent schools had superlative Chapel choirs; many still do, although most are now co-ed.

Why are these Chapel choirs so outstanding? simply because most of the boys are ex-cathedral or collegiate choristers, going up at 13 years old to their senior schools. These fully trained and experienced Choristers, in many cases still at their peak, join the Chapel choir as a treble, eventually moving to the back row once their voice has broken.

Many Boys' Prep Schools also had outstanding Chapel choirs and a few fine examples still remain.
The collection contains recordings from 107 British School Chapel choirs, of which 29 are Prep Schools

BOYS' SCHOOL CHOIRS
A non-robed choir performing to a high standard from State, Independent or Public schools. The collection, with one or two exceptions, contains only recordings from choirs whose repertoire is predominantly sacred. Many of these choirs robe-up to participate in Cathedral holiday singing tours.
The collection contains recordings from 81 British Boys' School choirs, of which 21 are Prep Schools

MISCELLANEOUS CHOIRS
These consists of Independent boys' choirs, specialising in sacred music; Freelance robed church choirs; Festival choirs and the various choirs of the School of English Church Music, later to become the Royal School of Church Music.
The collection contains recordings from 17 Miscellaneous Choirs

TREBLE VOICE CHOIRS

A choir, robed or not, consisting of treble voices and whos repertoire is predominantly sacred. These choirs are either the treble section of a liturgical choir, a Prep school choir or a specially formed Treble Voice choir.
The collection contains recordings from 50 different Treble Voice choirs.

FOREIGN CHOIRS

A representative selection of foreign choirs singing in the English Cathedral tradition, particularly from the USA and Commonwealth countries are a part of the Collection
The collection contains recordings from 58 foreign choirs singing in the English Cathedral tradition.

SOLO CHORISTER ALBUMS

The collection seeks to preserve the unique sound of the English style solo chorister, singing both sacred and secular music. Recordings of boys singing in the 'pop' idiom are not included in the collection.

Many choristers over the years have recorded a Solo Recital Album, which the collection defines as singing solo in not less than 75% of the recording.

A unique feature of the Music Catalogue is the Chorister Index which catalogues every solo, of whatever length, to have been recorded by a chorister.

You can read more about the Chorister Index in the 'Discograpy' section.
The collection contains recordings from 130 individual choristers singing a Solo Recital Album.

Listening Post
Chapel Choir of the Royal Wanstead School I waited for the Lord : Mendelssohn Solo trebles, Douglas Campbell and John Besswell Privately issued 78rpm record, 1950