Boys' choirs: a cultural treasure with a past and a future
The boys' choir is a very old cultural asset with a tradition dating back over 2000 years, depending on how you interpret it, but one that always remains young. Unfortunately, this has only been researched and documented in a few isolated cases. The majority is not documented, or important documents have been destroyed, mainly as a result of acts of war, e.g. the First and Second World Wars.
Even today, there is often a lack of willingness to preserve important information about such choirs, especially if they are less well known, regarding their activities and work for posterity. With this website, I want to provide scientific access to relevant information, research it historically and process it in order to preserve it for the future.
Culture is not something to be forgotten!
boys' choir definition:
All members are male in genotype. At least 8 members have not yet reached puberty or undergone voice change and are therefore able to sing soprano and alto. It performs as an independent ensemble.
There are exceptions to the size requirement for historical choirs, as the number of singers cannot always be determined with certainty.
Boys' choir in the broader sense or actually mixed choir:
In most cases, a choir in which the soprano and alto parts are sung by boys and the tenor and bass parts by adult men (after their voices have broken) is still referred to as a boys' choir.
It is often not possible to clearly assign a choir to one of the two definitions. In particular, choirs that supposedly correspond to the first definition offer places for boys who have gone through puberty. This is so that tenor and bass voices are available for performances when needed.
We are primarily concerned here with permanent boys' choirs, as other forms are usually not satisfactorily documented.
The operators would like to point out that this archive also contains choirs and sources from the Nazi era and expressly distance themselves from all racist, violence-glorifying and Nazi content.
Literature
Grundsätzlich beschäftigen wir uns hier mit Stehenden Knabenchören da andere Formen meist nicht zufriedenstellend dokumentierbar sind.
The operators wish to point out that this archive also contains chants and sources from the Nazi era and expressly distance themselves from all racist, violence-glorifying and Nazi content.
Literatur
The literature on the subject of boys' choirs is very limited. There are several monographs on some choirs. Under the menu item Blog / Collections / Literature, we have our own list of literature on this subject.
A directory of press articles, posters and postcards has now been added.
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