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| The Choir of Exeter Cathedral : 1968 |
CATHEDRAL AND 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 currently contains 2,105 recordings from 100
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
attemd New College School
- Magdalen College : Choristers attend Magdalen College School
- Christ Church : Choristers board at the Cathedral Scool
- 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 1966 when the boys' choir was
disbanded
The collection currently contains 672 recordings from all the Oxbridge Collegiate
Chapel Choirs
ROYAL PECULIARS
A Royal Peculair 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
- Choir of the 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
- Choir of the 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 choirs was re-established in 1868. Choristers
attend various local schools, with scholarships being available to Hampton School for Boys
- The Temple Church,
London : Choristers attend the City of London School for Boys
The collection contains 312 recordings from all
the Royal Peculiar Choirs
CHURCH CHOIRS
A vitally mportant 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 choir 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 only 50 remain, some being in
a perilous position.
Many recordings of Church choirs were undertaken by small
independent or private labels or by enthusiastic amatures armed with a tape recorder and are amongst the most difficult recordings
to track down.
The collection currently contains 495 recordings
from 169 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 is 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.
A small number of boys' Prep Schools also had outstanding
Chapel choirs and a few fine examples still remain.
The collection currently contains 310
recordings from 93 School Chapel choirs, of which 20 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 currently contains 95 recodings
from 64 Boys' School choirs.
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 currently contains 125
recodings from 20 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 currently contains 86
recordings from 42 Treble Voice choirs.
SOLO CHORISTERS
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 Solo Index which catalogues every solo, of whatever length, to have been recorded by a chorister.
You can read more about this in the 'Features
of the Collection' section.
The collection currently contains 162
recordings from 110 choristers singing a Solo Recital Album.
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| The Choir of Canturbury Cathedral : 1974 |
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