Choirboy

[kwahy^uhr-boi]

A choirboy is a boy member of a choir, also known as a treble.

As a slang term, it refers to a do-gooder or someone who is morally upright, in the same sense that "Boy Scout" refers to someone who is considered honorable or conscientious.

History

The use of choirboys in Christian liturgical music can be traced back to pre-Christian times. Boys were called upon to sing chants at Jewish religious services. Saint Paul's dictum that "women should be silent in churches" (mulieres in ecclesiis taceant) resonated with this largely patriarchal tradition; the development of vocal polyphony from the middle ages through the Renaissance and Baroque thus took place largely, though not exclusively, in the context of the all-male choir, in which all voice parts were sung by men and boys.

The term "choirboy" (replacing in popular use the earlier "singing boy") seems to have been coined by the Victorian novelist William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) in chapter vii of his story The Ravenswing, published in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country (London, Sept. 1843, XXVIII/165, p. 321): "He had been a choir-boy at Windsor".

In more recent years as girls have begun joining formerly all-male choirs, the gender-neutral term chorister is more often being used instead.

Of Choristers

Becoming a Chorister

Boys are generally elegible to join a choir at the age of seven. Voice trials are part of the selection process for larger choirs and tend to measure the quality of voice and pitch recognition rather than singing experience. Boys that are accepted into a choir begin as probationers.

Extensive musical training is provided, in particular for cathedral choristers. A number of famous composers and musicians began their careers as choristers. In 1740, Franz Josef Haydn was sent at the age of eight to Vienna to become a choirboy at Saint Stephen's Cathedral. Franz Schubert was accepted into the choir of the Imperial Court Chapel in 1808 when he was 11. Dudley Moore became a choirboy at six.

Boys sing treble up to about 14 years of age, often moving to Alto, Tenor or Bass after that. A small bursary is paid to the boys each term, and opportunities arise for other bonuses during the year.

Wells Cathedral Rules for Choristers, 1460

Choristers of the Year

The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) organized the first national competition for Choirboy of the Year in 1975. It was sponsored by Rediffusion and received more than 2,500 entries. The final, which took place in St. George's Church, Hanover Square, London, was won by Matthew Billsborough. He sang the St. Matthew Passion by Bach.

The competition was open only to boy choristers up until 1986 when the BBC first organized an additional separate competition for girl choristers through the age of 16. The two competitions ran side-by-side for three years before the RSCM competition began including girls in its own competitions, naming both a choirboy and choirgirl of the year. From 1989 to 1992, both the BBC and RSCM named a different girl as Choirgirl of the Year.

In 1998, BBC Radio 2 began hosting a combined boys and girls competition, without any other simultaneous competitions. James Fox, from St. Mary's Warwick, was named Choirboy of the Year and Eloise Irving, from West Sussex, was named Choirgirl of the Year. The format has remained the same through the most recent competition.

The 2007 winners of the BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year competition were twelve-year-old Joel Whitewood of Canterbury Cathedral and 15-year-old Charlotte Louise McKechnie of Giffnock South Church in Scotland. The finals were held at St Paul's Cathedral in London and hosted by Aled Jones.