Visiting, Traditional Choirs in UK & Acknowledgements
Introduction
Categories of Choirs in the Collection
The Scope of the Collection
Discography
Visiting, Traditional Choirs in UK & Credits
Photos
Audio Visual
A Century of Recorded Church Music
Interesting Websites & Visitor Survey
Contact. Guestbook and FAQ

img819.jpg
1982

VISITING & RESEARCH

Currently standing at over 5000 recordings, together with the Library & Photographic Archive, the Collection is housed in a dedicated room at my home known as...what else...the Song School! 

The Photographic Archive page gives a tour of the Song School.

Visitors, by prior arrangement, are most welcome to come and browse all parts of the collection.  Please use the Contact form to arrange a visit and further information is given in the FAQ section.



SOURCES USED TO COMPILE THE DISCOGRAPHY

  • Directors of Music, current and retired, from all categories of choirs
  • Choir and Church Secretaries
  • Cathedral, Choral Foundation, Collegiate and Royal Peculiar archivists and administrators
  • School archivists, administrators and Old Boys' Associations
  • Old Choristers' Associations
  • Choir members, past and present, from all categories of choirs
  • Choir parents
  • Clergy, current and retired.
  • Record company catalogues from 1900 to the present day
  • Record companies, current and defunct
  • EMI Archives
  • National Sound Archives
  • King's College London  Sound Archives
  • British Library
  • Royal School of Church Music Archives
  • Gramophone Magazine
  • Radio Times
  • Choir and music websites
  • Other collectors and enthusiasts worldwide
Horizontal Divider 12

TRADITIONAL CHOIRS OF GENTLEMEN AND BOYS
IN THE UK and IRELAND

This is a complete list of all traditional choirs singing in Cathedrals, Choral Foundations, Churches, Chapels and Colleges in the UK today,  I hope it may be of interest.   

To open document for reading, click 'FULL SCREEN' on the top menu bar - third button from the left.  If the menu bar doesn't show, hovver mouse over the document.   For a less cluttered view, close the right menu.

Listening Post
webassets/Choiratcrib1960s.JPG

Choir of Peterborough Cathedral
directed by Stanley Vann
 
Behold how good and joyful  :  Stanley Vann
Solo treble, Keith Gibbs

Private reel-to-reel tape recording  :  1960

 


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & THANKS

So many people and organisations have helped with this collection, in donating recordings, supplying invaluable information and answering queries, it would be impossible to name them all; so I extended a heartfelt thank you to all those who have contributed to the collection in any way.

The collection has benefited greatly from some major donations of archives recordings and for those I would like to thank the following - apologies if anyone has been overlooked.

Campaign for the Traditional Cathedral Choir who gave a generous financial donation towards maintaining the collection.

Dr John Gregg of Magdalen College Oxford, who whilst an undergraduate recorded daily evensong's directed by Bernard Rose.  The entire collection of tapes has been transcribed to CD.

Dr Peter Giles for his large collection of reel-to-reel tape recordings of concerts, services and documentaries.

Rev. Jonathan Boston whilst a theological student at Ely recorded daily evensong's directed by Arthur Wills.  The entire collection of tapes has been transcibed to CD.

Donald Bunce for allowing unstinting access to his vast archive of privately recorded reel-to-reel tapes of various choirs. 

The Stanley Vann Collection
Donated by his son, Martyn, a vast collection of private 78rpm records, reel-to-reel tapes and LP's of Peterborough Cathedral choir, all of which have been transcribed to CD. 

The Laura Serena James Collection
This hugely important collection of over 2000 recordings, comprising of 78rpm records, reel-to-reel and cassette tapes, LP's, CD's and Videos, consisted of rare private recordings and many early commercial recordings.  So many treasures! Work continues on the cataloguing and archiving of this collection.

Laura Serena James was born in Baltimore, April 10th 1922.  Her father was a Bishop and her mother had trained to be an opera singer, so it is not surprising that Laura developed a taste for choral music at a very early age.

It was a lifelong passion that intensified when Laura moved to England in 1985.  Already possessing a modest collection of 78rpm records, she began augmenting her collection on a massive scale.  On her death in 2008, Laura's collection was bequeathed to my own collection and my grateful thanks go to her son for ensuring that his mothers wishes were carried out, together with the safe delivery from London of the recordings.

Join the mailing list to receive the Newsletter, which keeps you informed of new and interesting additions to the Website, updates to the Discography and news about the Collection. 

Join the Mailing List
Enter your name and email address below:
Name:
Email:
Subscribe  Unsubscribe 

The Discography and Recording Archive is funded entirely by myself and any donation towards this work, no matter how small, will be most gratefully received