Chapel Choir of the Royal Wanstead School Directed by Mr. Escombe
I waited for the Lord : Mendelssohn Solo trebles, John Benwell and Douglas Campbell
A John King privately pressed 78rpm record, c1950
CATHEDRAL CHOIRS 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 109 different Cathedral and Choral Foundation Choirs
COLLEGIATE CHAPEL CHOIRS These are the Collegiate Chapel choirs of Oxford and Cambridge, which are amongst some
of the finest choirs in the world. From Cambridge, the collection has recordings from King's College, St John's
College and Jesus College and from Oxford, Christ Church Cathedral, which is unique in being both a cathedral and collegiate
chapel, together with Magdalen College, New College, Worcester College and Exeter College.
The great tradition
of the all male choir continues to thrive at these Colleges, except for Exeter College who disbanded their boys choir in 1996.
The collection all known recordings from
all the Oxbridge Collegiate Chapel Choirs
ROYAL PECULIAR CHOIRS
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. The collection contains
recordings from the choirs of Westminster Abbey, St Margaret's Church Westminster, the Temple Church, the Chapel Royal
at St James's Palace and Hampton Court, the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy and St George's Chapel Windsor Castle. The collection contains all known recordings from all the Royal Peculiar Choirs
CHURCH CHOIRS A vitally important part
of this collection are the recordings of Church choirs, past and present. 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 194 different 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 117 different 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 different
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 18 different 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 different 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 over 130 individual choristers singing a Solo Recital Album
Choirs in
the Discography A complete list of
all choirs in the Discography, showing their original and current voice status, together with other information Full screen - end button on right of toolbar
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Listening Post
Choristers of St Nicolas College Chislehurst Directed by Sydney Nicholson
Brother James' Air Solo trebles, verse 1, Michael Lumb verse
2, John Evans-Pughe
School of English Church Music 78rpm record : 1939
I am particulary keen to trace 78 rpm
records, together with Private Recordings on any format. These are the most difficult recordings to track down and the
ones in most danger of being lost or discarded.
Whether for donation or briefly loaned for archiving onto CD, please do get in touch
if you have any recordings which you think may be of interest. Click here for Contact form
PLEASE
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funded entirely by myself. If every web visitor donated £2.00, the cost of a coffee, they would
be contributing to keeping this vital work moving forward. You can of course donate more if you wish!
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