Boy soprano

A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range.

Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the colloquial term "boy soprano" is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily be choristers who sing in a boys' choir. Usage of the term "boy soprano" is more prevalent in North America, and "treble" is used in the UK.

Origins

In the liturgical Anglican and English Catholic traditions, young choristers are normally referred to as "trebles", rather than boy sopranos.^[1] The term "treble" derives from the Latin triplum, used in 13th and 14th century motets to indicate the third and highest range which was sung above the tenor part (which carried the tune) and the alto part. Another term for that range is superius. The term "treble" itself was first used in the 15th century.^[2][3] Trebles have an average range of A3 to F5.^[4]

The use of trebles (and falsettos) in Christian liturgical music can be traced back to pre-Christian times. Saint Paul's dictum that "women should be silent in churches" resonated with this 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 "boy soprano" originated with Dr Henry Stephen Cutler (1825–1902), Choirmaster of the Cecilian Choir, New York, who used the term for both the choir members and soloists, who were church choristers, when giving concerts in public halls. The earliest use is traced to a Choral Festival at Irving Hall, New York, in May 1866.^[5]

Short-lived range

The general vocal range of an adult female soprano is C₄–C₆ (highlighted), with notes unreachable by an average Treble marked in red (B₅–C₆).

Most trebles have a comfortable range from the A below "middle C" (A₃) to the F one and a half octaves above "middle C" (F₅).^[6] This ability may be comparatively rare, but the Anglican church repertory, which many trained trebles to sing, frequently demands G₅ and A₅.^[7] Some trebles, however, can extend their voices higher in the modal register to "high C" (C₆). The high C is considered the defining note of the soprano voice type. For high notes see, for example, the treble solo at the beginning of Stanford's Magnificat in G, David Willcocks' descant to Mendelssohn's tune for the carol Hark, the Herald Angels Sing, the even higher treble solo from Gregorio Allegri's Miserere, and the treble part in the Nunc Dimittis from Tippett's Evening Canticles written for St John's College, Cambridge. Many trebles are also able to reach higher notes by use of the whistle register but this practice is rarely called for in performance.^[8]

As a boy approaches and begins to undergo puberty, the quality of his voice increasingly distinguishes itself from that typical of girls.^[9] Before and as the voice drops, a uniquely rich tone develops. This brief period of high vocal range and unique color forms much of the ground for the use of the boy soprano in both liturgical and secular music in the Western world and elsewhere. Occasionally boys whose voices have changed can continue to sing in the soprano range for a period of time. This stage ends as the boy's larynx continues to grow and, with the breaking of his voice, he becomes unable to sing the highest notes required by the pieces of music involved.^[10]

The voice of the boy is subject to the effects of the dropping of the larynx, also known as the breaking of the voice.^[11] The ultimate result of this profound change is that a new set of vocal ranges become available, for example bass, baritone, tenor, countertenor and sopranist.

It has been observed that boy sopranos in earlier times were, on average, somewhat older than in modern times.^[12] For example, Franz Joseph Haydn was considered to be an excellent boy soprano well into his teens^[13] and Ernest Lough was 15 when he first recorded his famous "Hear My Prayer" (on April 5, 1927), with his voice not getting deeper until 1929 (at age 17 or 18).^[14] However, for a male to sing soprano with an unchanged voice in his mid-to-late teens is currently fairly uncommon.^[15] In the developed world, puberty tends to begin at younger ages (most likely due to differences in diet, including greater availability of proteins and vitamins).^[16] It is also becoming more widely known that the style of singing and voice training within cathedrals has changed significantly in the past century, making it more difficult for boys to continue singing soprano much beyond the age of 13 or 14.^[17]

Early breaking of boys' voices due to puberty becoming earlier in recent times, is causing a serious problem for choirmasters.^[18]

On the other hand, some musicologists dispute that earlier onset of puberty occurs. They contend that there is no reliable evidence of any significant change in the age of boys' maturity over the past 500 years or even beyond that.^[19][20]

Famous boy sopranos

• Peter Auty actually sang the original version of the Howard Blake song "Walking in the Air" for the 1982 animated film The Snowman.^[21][22]
• Justin Bieber first became popular as a boy soprano with a "female" sounding voice^[23]. In early 2011, his voice deepened from the high-pitched treble he had as a child star^[24] to the tenor voice that he currently has as an adult pop megastar.^[25]
• Roy Goodman became world famous as the 12-year old Treble soloist in the March 1963^[26] recording of Allegri's Miserere with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, under the direction of David Willcocks.^[27]
• David Hemmings started his career as a boy soprano for Benjamin Britten and is best known for originating the role of Miles in Britten's Opera The Turn of the Screw.^[28][29]
• Andrew Johnston became famous while singing on season 2 of Britain's Got Talent and afterwards releasing an album called One Voice. He is now a tenor / high baritone opera singer as a result of his voice getting deeper.^[29][30]
• Aled Jones, a world famous Welsh boy soprano, sang a cover version of "Walking in the Air" in 1985 for a Toys "R" Us commercial in spite of being mistaken for the original singer heard on the animated movie The Snowman^[22][29]. He now sings in the baritone vocal range.^[21]
• Frankie Lymon became a famous singer with raw talent when he recorded "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" with 1950s boy band The Teenagers^[23][31] and remained popular after 1957 as a solo artist. As he matured into adulthood by the 1960s, his voice changed to a deep tenor.^[32][33]
• Jean-Baptiste Maunier starred as Pierre Morhange and sang in the 2004 French film Les Choristes, which is also known as The Chorus.^[34][35]
• Joseph McManners first became known when he played in a local production of the Lionel Bart musical Oliver! as the title character. He then won the BBC competition to portray the title character in Rachel Portman's The Little Prince. He is also known for his renditions of Mike Batt's "Bright Eyes", "Circle of Life" from The Lion King and Howard Shore's "In Dreams".^[36]
• Liam McNally became famous when he made it to the Top 10 on season 4 of Britain's Got Talent after he wowed audiences and impressed strict judge Simon Cowell.^[37] He is now a baritone singer who, as of 2015, is studying at the Royal Northern College of Music.^[38]
• Paul Miles-Kingston's claim to fame was when he sang as one of the soloists in Andrew Lloyd Webber's choral work Requiem with female soprano Sarah Brightman and tenor Plácido Domingo. As of 2010, Miles-Kingston worked as a music teacher.^[23][39][40]
• Paul Phoenix sang the theme song to the BBC Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as a St. Paul's Cathedral chorister and is now a tenor singer who was in the a cappella group The King's Singers for 17 years.^[29][41]
• Keith Richards (of The Rolling Stones) sang as a choirboy in a trio of boy sopranos for Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in the 1950s.^[23][42][43]
• Andrew Swait has done touring, live performances and studio recordings both as a chorister for The Choirboys and as a solo artist. He now sings in the bass vocal range.^[43]
• Anthony Way starred as Henry and sang in the miniseries The Choir, which is based on the novel of the same name by Joanna Trollope.^[22]
• James Westman is known as being the first boy to ever perform the song "Child’s View of Heaven" from Gustav Mahler's 4th Symphony. He had also toured as a boy soprano with Three Boys Choirs (Paris, American, and Vienna). He is now a successful baritone opera singer.^[44][45]

References

External links

• The Boy Choir & Soloist Directory
• Boychoirs – Past, Present and Future