Vienna Boys Choir

Vienna Boys Choir
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The Vienna Boys' Choir

The Vienna Boys' Choir (German: Wiener Sängerknaben) is a choir of trebles and altos based in Vienna. It is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countries around the world, and individually interviewed.

Known for its exceedingly high vocal standard, the choir has worked with musicians including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Caldara, Antonio Salieri, Heinrich Isaac, Paul Hofhaimer, Heinrich Ignaz Biber, Johann Fux, Christoph Willibald Gluck, and Anton Bruckner.¹

Since 1948, the Palais Augarten has served as a boarding school for the Vienna Boys' Choir.

1 History
- 1.1 Vienna Mozart Boys Choir
2 Selected discography
- 2.1 Christmas
- 2.2 Pop music
3 Featured composers
- 3.1 Smaller works based on anthologies
4 References
5 External links

History

The choir is the modern-day descendant of the boys' choirs of the Viennese Court, dating back to the late Middle Ages. The choir was, for practical purposes, established by a letter written by Maximilian I of Habsburg on 7 July 1498. In the letter the Emperor instructed court officials to employ a singing master, two basses and six boys. A Slovene, Jurij Slatkonja, became the director of the ensemble.

The role of the choir (numbering between fourteen and twenty) was to provide musical accompaniment to the church mass. The boys received a solid musical education, which in most cases had a significant impact on the rest of their lives, as many went on to become professional musicians. The composers Jacobus Gallus, Franz Schubert, and the conductors Hans Richter, Felix Mottl and Clemens Krauss were members of the choir.¹

In 1920 the Hofkapelle (court musicians) was disbanded. However, the rector at the time, Josef Schnitt, sought a continuation of the tradition. In 1924 the "Vienna Boys' Choir" was officially founded and has evolved into a professional music group. Since 1948 the Palais Augarten has served as their rehearsal venue and boarding school which goes from kindergarten level up to middle school level.

The choir is a private, not-for-profit organization. There are approximately 100 choristers between the ages of ten and fourteen. The boys are divided into four touring choirs, which perform about 300 concerts each year in front of almost 500,000 people. Each group tours for about nine to eleven weeks.¹

Dr. Eugen Jesser became the choir's president in 2001 and its director in 2003. Gerald Wirth became the choir's artistic director in 2001.¹

Vienna Mozart Boys Choir

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A former leader of the choir created a separate "Vienna Mozart Boys Choir" in 1936. It consisted of 20 boys. They went on tour, and in early September 1939 found themselves stranded in Australia at the outbreak of World War II. Unable to return home for an indefinite time, the boys were fostered out to families, and most decided to stay permanently. The Vienna Mozart Boys Choir ceased to exist, but some of the boys created the original boys choir for St Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Melbourne. One of the boys was Stefan Haag, who later became a renowned opera and theatre director, producer and arts administrator in Australia.²