Boys Choir Festival - Nuremberg - 18 June 2022

[Celtic]

If I get to hear boy trebles sing, and ideally one sing a great solo, I'm happy. Frankly it could be a choir of boys and humpback whales, I'd still count it.

Sounds fishy. But I suppose we must be whale-coming of all singers...

How can there not be a face palm emoji on here...



Did you know that the blue whale is so big, that if you laid it end to end in the quire of Westminster Abbey…

...evensong would be cancelled.

[Surpinto]

That would really blow!

[filiarheni]

A - Z

I agree with you completely.

Did you know that the blue whale is so big, that if you laid it end to end in the quire of Westminster Abbey…

...evensong would be cancelled.

Ok, the world obviously is not a wishing whale.

Sounds fishy. But I suppose we must be whale-coming of all singers...

Seems we're drowning in puns.

[Celtic]

Seems we're drowning in puns.

These puns are krilling me...

...but I think we better stop before someone orca-nizes a protest.

Anyway, back to my original point, you could argue semantics and say cathedral choirs are choirs of men and boys, and not boys' choirs. But personally I would call any choir where the top line is exclusively sung by boy trebles, a boys' choir.

[Luckdragon]

Boys' choir
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A boys' choir is a choir primarily made up of choirboys who have yet to begin puberty or are in the early to middle stages of puberty and so retain their more highly pitched childhood voice type. Members of a boys' choir are technically known as trebles and often termed boy sopranos, although occasionally some boys sing in the alto range. Some boys' choirs of churches or cathedrals are further supported by older male voices singing tenor and bass; these singers are sometimes former choirboys. The world's oldest active boys' choir is the Regensburger Domspatzen at Regensburg and was founded in 975.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys%27_choir

[Yorkie]

I've always thought of a boys choir as any choir that has boy trebles as its top line. So for me I would include cathedral choirs, etc. in that list even if they include men. E.g. the Choir of Westminster Abbey.

I guess interpretations vary then so all I can say is "you're wrong"

Most cathedral choirs in Germany fall into this category, as do many of the other big name choirs like the Tölzer Knabenchor. In fact all the German knabenchors I can currently recollect have men in them. As do Austrian choirs like the Wiltener Sängerknaben and the St. Florianer Sängerknaben. Even if they do often offer concerts with only boys voices, the wider choir structure includes men. The Wiener Sängerknaben are the exception there with boys only staying until 14yo.

Your knowledge of continental choirs is much better than mine. But to me it sounds like these are choirs (aprt from WSK) are the equivalent of our Cathedral choirs and I don't think we would generally refer to them a 'boys choirs' (or 'girls' choirs depending on the lineup). So I suspect this is a language and translation issue.

You could certainly argue that a boys choir should only be choir which includes under 18's with the older boys singing the lower parts. Although they are functionally the same as the cathedral choirs in that they offer the same sound profile. They only differ in experience levels.

I can and I do

This then would be choirs like the Cardinal Vaughan Schola Cantorum, the Trinity Boys Choir and the Bromley Boy Singers. Many of these choirs are often heard as trebles only, such as Trinity NINE which recently toured Germany, but changed voices do sing alongside them at other times.

In France the Petit Chanteurs or Maitrise choirs tend to fall into this category with singers typically staying until 18yo.

Yes, exactly. If a boys choir contains adult men, what would you describe a choir made up of under 18's (although I suppose that technically CVSM would have some 18 year olds depending on when their birthday fell in the school year)

However, you could also argue that it is only truly a boys choir if it includes just unchanged voices. So you couldn't include Libera then.

I didn't fall in to that trap. Phew!

In the UK there are plenty of these but they tend to be school choirs, so the quality can vary greatly. They are also overwhelmingly mixed as they are drawn from the school populations, although there are good mixed independent ones like the Welsh Cor Heol Y March. But then it isn't a boys choir but a childrens choir. But it is a Treble Choir. (because the term treble can apply to boys and girls and I was under the impression the term treble applied only to unchanged voices.)

Agreed, and I'm not arguing that case. I have the same understanding as yourself that the Term 'Treble' applies to the Soprano line and because mostly it was in churches and sung by boys they became the 'Trebles' rather than the perhaps more common term on the continent of 'boy Soprano'. The term does now encompass girls of course and I think it now serves to distinguish on whether the singer is a child (Treble) or adult (Soprano).

To find only unchanged boys voices you would have to look to Prep Schools. For instance the Westminster Cathedral Choir School does actually have a separate choir from the one it provides for the Cathedral, and that is unchanged boys voices only, but it is a school choir not one involved in the daily services and so the quality is that of a school choir. I heard them for Christmas once... still, at least there were mince pies. There are some half decent independent ones outside of schools like the London Youth Boys Choir.

Yes, not my cup of tea either but we can agree at last - mince pies are excellent

[Luckdragon]

Escolania de Montserrat performing "El cant dels ocells" at St. Bonifaz in Nuremberg on June 19, 2022.

It must have been divine to have them enveloping the listeners like that.

[Celtic]

Escolania de Montserrat performing "El cant dels ocells" at St. Bonifaz in Nuremberg on June 19, 2022.

It must have been divine to have them enveloping the listeners like that.

It was a wonderful little mini-concert, and the music during the mass was fantastic too. The sound that you are getting in the video is actually from a sound recorder on a tripod directly in the centre of the room, so you are getting the same sound as if you were sat there yourself!

[Yorkie]

Escolania de Montserrat performing "El cant dels ocells" at St. Bonifaz in Nuremberg on June 19, 2022.

It must have been divine to have them enveloping the listeners like that.

That was sublime. At least there was one actual boys choir at the event & I don't think anybody could say that they were the worse for having no adults.

[Luckdragon]

"This performance took place in the St.Sebaldus Church in Nürnberg (18.06.2022), during the Boys' Choir Festival organized by the Windsbacher Knabenchor in connection with the choir's 75th anniversary celebrations."