Figure 1.--

A HBC who was a chorister as a boy and has some background in theatricals has provided us some insights about boys' voices and how they change. He is also particularly interested in the Elizabethan Theater.

Choral Experience

The page about the boy soprano was fascinating. I have a certain empathy because I was a choir boy myself in the Episcopal (Anglican) Church until my voice changed at about 14 at which point I became an altar boy (acolyte).

Ages

Your assessment of the boy's age is 14, which seems just about right to me. But the age of a boy soprano is somewhat tricky, because boys' voices change during their adolescence. I know a bit about this because I have several friends who are church musicians and choir-music directors in the Church. One of the problems experienced by modern boy choirs is that boys' voices change earlier now than they used to--for all sorts of complicated reasons (including diet, light, climate, etc.)

Elizabethan Era

In Elizabethan times, boy actors (who also had to have the ability to sing complicated 16th-century music such as liturgical music by Tallis and Byrd) and who played women's roles on the stage, seem to have retained their soprano voices until about age 16--or maybe, in some cases, even 17.

Late 19th Century

I found the page about the American chorister, Blatchford Kavanagh, in the late 19th century fascinating. If this boy was a boy soprano at 14 at the turn of the 20th century, he was probably in his last years as a soprano.

Mid-20th Century

When I was a boy soprano, my voice changed at about 14, I think.

Current Situation

Nowadays, boys' voices change as early as 12 (or even 11), so that it is difficult to maintain boys' choirs in churches and cathedrals. There are of course sociological reasons for this in our own time, but earlier puberty is one of the increasingly difficult issues.

Castrati

Up until the 18th century (especially in Italy), the Roman Catholic Church had "castrati" (boys who had been castrated so that their beautiful soprano voices would stay high). The adults had voice power that actual boys could not produce. This practice of course died out because of the cruelty involved.

Counter Tenors

So-called counter tenors exist today for the performance of Renaissance and baroque music. Counter tenors are adult men who sing in the soprano range by a falsetto technique which has to be learned and cultivated. Counter tenors, of course, were men who performed women's roles in opera and even certain male roles, and they exist today.

Tonal Quality

Boy sopranos have a special tonal quality that cannot be duplicated by women's voices, which is why the great cathedrals in England still maintain highly trained choirs consisting only of males (men and boys). One of the important differences between boy sopranos and women is the absence of vibrato in boys' voices--a greater purity and openness of sound.

Created: February 21, 2003
Last updated: 6:31 AM 8/7/2006