St. Paul's Cathedral Choir School, London, Anglophile Friday

St. Paul's Cathedral Choir singing 'Once in Royal David's City,' one of my very favorite Christmas carols.

Here's a bit about the boy choristers, whom I've mentioned in other posts. I found this article in the UK Telegraph and thought it was interesting.

From the UK Telegraph: 

"For the few boys who make the grade, the choir of St Paul's Cathedral School represents the opportunity of a lifetime. Rupert Christiansen sees how this disciplined institution continues to flourish in the age of the iPod. 

 St. Paul's Cathedral, London

St. Paul's Cathedral Choir School, R.

 

"Although it is now housed in modern glass and concrete premises under the shadow of Sir Christopher Wren's great dome, St Paul's Cathedral School ranks as one of the oldest educational institutions in the Western world, tracing its existence back to 1127. Its history has been somewhat chequered - in the late 16th century, the school ran a sensational juvenile theatrical company that rivalled Shakespeare's Globe, just a stone's throw over the river; 200 years later it had sunk into a disrepute from which it was rescued by a redoubtable Victorian reformer called Maria Hackett.

St. Augustine Tower

St. Paul's Cathedral Choir School

See the following Wikipedia article

 From Wikipedia:

“St Augustine, Watling Street was an Anglican church which stood just to the east of St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London . First recorded in the 12th century, it was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666 and rebuilt to the designs of Christopher Wren. This building was destroyed by bombing during the Second World War, and its remains now form part of St Paul's Cathedral Choir School…

“The church stood on the north side of Watling Street, at the corner with Old Change. According to Richard Newcourt, the dedication was to St. Augustine of Canterbury, rather than St Augustine of Hippo. The earliest recorded mentioned of the church is from 1148…The medieval building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666… 

“After the fire the parish was united with that of St. Faith's, whose congregation had previously worshipped in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral. St. Augustine's was rebuilt to a design by Christopher Wren; the foundations, revealed by the excavations of 1965, were mostly of re-used stones set in mortar. The new church opened in September, 1683, but the steeple was not finished until 1695… 

“The church was destroyed by bombing in 1941. It was not rebuilt, but the tower was restored in 1954.^] and later incorporated into a new choir school for St Paul's Cathedral, completed in 1967.”

 

(Back to the UK Telegraph, keeping in mind that the new girl choristers might have an opinion different from that of Mr. Christiansen):  "In some respects, the school is no longer as exceptional as it once was. Until 1989 its sole pupils were between 30 and 40 boy choristers (Westminster Abbey is the last all-boy choir school), but now it has opened up and become co-educational, accommodating 240 children from the ages of four to 13 and functioning as a rumbustious and friendly prep school, with a strong musical bent - almost everyone sings and learns an instrument.

"But those boy choristers remain at the heart of the school's identity - an elite, if you like, though everyone is at pains to deny this or play it down. They are the only boarders, leading a life of almost monastic routine and rigour, with an hour's practice before the ordinary school day starts and a further hour after it ends.

 St. Paul's Cathedral Courtyard

"In their traditional vestments - they dislike their white ruffs, which chafe their throats and impede their singing - they then proceed via a connecting door and winding stairwell into the cathedral for evensong. Thursday is their day off, a chance for afternoon sport, but on Sundays they don't finish until 5pm and from Advent until Christmas, they are busy with carol services and midnight mass." (Read the remainder of the article HERE.)

For all you cat lovers out there, I thought I'd add this last paragraph from the Wikipedia entry:

"The church cat, named Faith, became quite well known after the air raid which destroyed St Augustine's. Days before she was seen moving her kitten, Panda, to a basement area. Despite being brought back several times, Faith insisted on returning Panda to her refuge. On the morning after the air raid the rector searched through the dangerous ruins for the missing animals, and eventually found Faith, surrounded by smouldering rubble and debris but still guarding the kitten in the spot she had selected three days earlier. The story of her premonition and rescue eventually reached Maria Dickin, founder of the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals, and for her courage and devotion Faith was awarded a specially-made silver medal. Her death in 1948 was reported on four continents."

 Faith
( a.k.a. Tuppence)


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