Dora Robertson names quite a few in her Sarum Close - an account of the thousand year history of the choir school at Salisbury. This fascinating book is rich with anecdotal accounts of life in the cathedral close - mostly that of the choir school. One surprising matter is that the Latin high mass continued unchanged throughout Henry the Bad's reign, up to the accession of the unfortunate Edward VI.

Orlando di Lasso, who was kidnapped for his voice.
The Haydn brothers; Joseph was so good that it was proposed that the longevity of his treble voice be extended...his parents said absolutely not.

But it would be more interesting to compile a list of the unlikelies, particularly those who didn't act like proverbial choirboys when they grew up.

Farinelli ? before the deed of course.

William Walond
Jeremaih Clarke
William Croft
Orlando Gibbons,
Christopher Tye
Anthony de Countie
John Merbecke
John Sheppard
Richard Farrant
William Mundy
Robert Parsons
Robert White
Anthony Holborne
John Mundy
Thomas Morley
Peter Philips
John Bull
John Dowland
Thomas Campion
Tobias Hume
John Coprario
Thomas Tomkins
John Wilbye
John Bennet
Thomas Weelkes
Richard Dering
Thomas Ford
John Jenkins
Henry Lawes
John Hilton
William Lawes
Christopher Gibbons
Matthew Locke
John Blow
William Turner
John Eccles
Henry Eccles
John Weldon
George Frideric Handel
Thomas Roseingrave
Maurice Greene
Thomas Chilcot
Charles Avison
Thomas Arne
William Boyce
John Stanley
Charles Burney
Thomas Sanders Dupuis
Philip Hayes
William Herschel
Samuel Arnold
Samuel Webbe
John Stafford Smith
Thomas Attwood
Samuel Wesley
Samuel S. Wesley
John Rutter

Are they famous if I've never heard of them? (Sensible answer: yes.)

Most, by far, of these men are hardly obscure.
Some, though, may be found only in the scholarly annals of church music lore.

Pity that but for less than half a dozen choirs in the US, a few well-known European choirs, and the English cathedral choirs, the boy treble is a dying breed. Scant will be any list of boy singers added to such a list as this in the near future.

Imagine, England, the land of choral singing societies, and the land in which every CofE cathedral and many collegiate chapels support a full time boarding choir school. How much more blessed could one be? How much more civilised?

But wouldn't it be cool if we could get chant into "The Voice?" :)

In North America, with few exceptions, even the professional singers are the worst musicians by far.

I have to wonder what they spend their time doing. My lessons, and those I teach, spend a good portion of time developing flexible technique, perfect intonation, incisive rhythm, and good articulation—and there was still plenty of time to discuss matters of interpretation, which becomes much more natural with a solid technique.

Praytell, what do these singers spend their gratuitous practice time (I have heard of 6+ hours a day!) and lesson time improving, if not the basic musical qualities expected of every other musician?

Pedantic note re Dudley Moore:
Magdalene College = Cambridge
Magdalen College = Oxford (attended by D Moore)
both pronounced Maudlin

Thanks for catching that.

Unfortunately, autocorrect only recognizes one of those spellings: I assume, therefore, that the software developer went to Cambridge.

Schönbergian:

When I was in school here in the US, singers were encouraged to ignore the weird markings on the music, pay attention only to the words and to the piano, and basically not think about reading music until we were in junior high or high school. Occasionally we would get a brief talk about counting note lengths, but then the teacher would usually change his/her mind about what lengths were wanted. (To be fair, there are states and cities that require kids to learn solfa. But not mine.)

In junior high school, the choir teacher tried to get rid of everybody who didn't fit her idea of a show choir, which largely meant cheerleader type people who could dance. She never taught us anything about how to read music.

If you wanted to learn to read music, you were supposed to join band or take guitar class, and play a musical instrument. What I learned was that music told you where to put your fingers, and that was sight-reading.

There was never any instruction at any level of school about how to sight-sing. Possibly this was something you were supposed to learn in church, although the only person I knew who could sight-sing was in Latter Day Saints, wanted to join the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and was getting private voice lessons while in elementary school. My general impression was that sight-singing was something hard, like calculus, and that you had to be a musical genius with perfect pitch to be able to do it.

Until I attended CMAA, I had no idea that "Do Re Mi" was about sight-singing; I thought it was about singing scales. I think that's what most people in the US think it's about -- learning to reach the notes on the scale on key, not about reading music.

It is possible that our Catholic choir teachers in elementary school did not realize that none of us kids knew what the notes meant, because we were used to having to learn all those 1970's songs by ear, with just the words available.

For what it's worth, a lot of people still think (erroneously) that I can sight-sing, just because I have a fair amount of knowledge about how genre and historical tunes go, and I can recognize note patterns on the paper (as well as being quick to learn by ear). But I know I'm musically illiterate.

(Oh, and I think they taught sight-singing in college in Music Theory class. But that was a yearlong class at 8 AM, and it was meant for instrumentalists to take. I'm not sure how many singers from the Theater department took it. And I wasn't majoring in music or theater, so I don't really know.)

My first and principle reason for starting this, was to gather and establish a first draft of all the boy trebles I and others could find in books, articles, videos, recordings and internet, who were, at the very least, in some way mentioned. As to fame, I mentioned FAMOUS / INFAMOUS only within the context that they had some degree of publicity. At some later date, it is my hope that myself or some might take on the task of editing this list with dates and any other significant information. Bottom line, I meant it as a point of beginning. For example, years ago, while in a TOWER RECORDS classical music section, I discovered Bejun Mehta. I had never heard of him until then. With time, he became somewhat notable. My point is, just because you have never heard of someone, doesn't mean they are unworthy of some kind of fame or notice in music history.

As both a former cathedral chorister in my younger years and as a violinist and violist and in many situations, a choirmaster, organist, teacher and composer, performer, I have had the opportunity to study with, perform with, teach and observe many many singers and instrumentalists here in North America and in Europe; from amateur to professional groups. I can truthfully say, that the vast majority of singers in N. America are woefully lacking in sight-singing, solfege, performance practices and technique; even more so in any form of plainsong. Instrumentalists spend countless more hours in these areas especially as they progress towards any advanced degree. As a violist / violinist, I have spent countless hours in etude studies alone. Even as I write this, I spend a minimum of two hours daily on etudes and scales before I ever go on to any other work and that's just on viola not to mention organ / keyboard and voice. At 64 years of age, I am still a formidable musician as I use to be when a principle violist / violinist or at any one of my other church positions I once held.

So, my goal was to speak up for all the really good boy trebles of note, before them and the memory of their efforts are resigned to the ages of time. Eventually, my hope is that this list will include all the extra amazing things, gifts and contribution they have made to humanity; many of which benefited mankind. And to point out that some were composer, doctors, church musicians, lawyers, politicians, statemen, and so forth.

This is only a beginning to fill, what I perceive on the internet, as a serious and significant void in music history.

Robin Schlotz