Choral Heritage

The present members of Peterborough Cathedral Choir are today’s successors in a long line of singers who have maintained the daily sung services in the Cathedral over the past nine centuries.

As a Benedictine Abbey the building resounded to the chant of generations of monks singing the divine office: several of the seven daily services recited in Latin (Matins, Lauds, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline) were sung. In Peterborough, as in many other monastic foundations, a polyphonic choir with boy choristers was also formed in the Middle Ages to sing a daily Mass in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Lady Chapel (now lost).

In 1541 Henry VIII founded and endowed The King’s School, attached to his newly consecrated Cathedral. Because the choristers sang twice daily they were necessarily housed and educated in the Precincts. The lay clerks (adult alto, tenor and bass singers) enjoyed the use of former monastic buildings in the Precincts, a situation which may have preserved buildings such as The Singing Men’s Chambers and Table Hall from suffering the same fate as other parts of the former monastery.

Cathedral Choirs such as that at Peterborough continued to flourish, but nationally salaries failed to rise in line with inflation and standards and expectations often slipped. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that music in the Cathedral was important: a new organ was commissioned in 1735, and there is evidence in the Cathedral library of new music written by Organists and Masters of the Choristers from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries.

Peterborough was also among the first cathedrals to hold a Diocesan Choral Festival (termed a Grand Singing Party in one Parish source!) once the railways expanded in the nineteenth century.

A new, larger organ was built by Hill on the screen in 1868, and relatively soon afterwards in 1894 the same builder was commissioned to build a new instrument in the triforium.

The twentieth century saw many changes to the music in this and other cathedrals. An Old Choristers’ Association was founded in 1910, among the first in the country. Changes to the organ were made from around 1912, leading to an expansion of the Hill organ in 1930. The lay clerks were augmented by supernumerary singers at weekend from the 1930s.

In 1953 Stanley Vann took up the post of Organist and Master of the Choristers, founding a Philharmonic Society and improving the Choir. Recordings and Broadcasts of the period attest both to the high standards of singing and the emphasis on both early music and modern music (much of it composed by Vann himself). In 1977 Christopher Gower was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers, founding a summer Festival with an international reputation which ran from 1982 to 1996, and commissioning the restoration of the organ by Harrison and Harrison in 1981-1982. Commissioned works by Howells and Leighton were premiered by the Choir during his tenure.

By 1996 boarding for choristers was no longer financially feasible. Instead junior choristers were recruited with grants to attend Peterborough High School before moving on to King’s for their secondary education, and all choristers became day pupils living in the local area. Girl choristers were appointed in 1997, operating separately from the boys, so that the Cathedral could provide choral and educational opportunities for boys and girls.

The Hastings Music Endowment Fund was also established in 1996 to underpin the future of the music at Peterborough, and through some generous gifts to the 1996 Appeal music at the Cathedral has continued to thrive. If you would like to donate to the Hastings Music Endowment Fund please click here.

Peterborough Cathedral Old Choristers’ Association

Former choristers of Peterborough Cathedral are invited to become members of the Peterborough Cathedral Old Choristers’ Association.

The objects of the Association are:

a) To establish and maintain links between old choristers;
b) To encourage the members to continue to participate in the life of the Cathedral.

The Association is always glad to hear from members with whom it has lost touch over the years. Despite its historical title and existence from 1910, membership is not restricted to the ‘old’ and currently includes a good number of choristers who have recently finished in the Choir. Former choristers of all ages are welcome.

The Association currently boasts over 375 male and female members and continues to meet annually in September, for the Annual General Meeting, to join with the current choir to sing Choral Evensong and the annual reunion dinner, along with making new and reuniting old friendships.

The Association’s annual Christmas newsletter continues to provide news of the Cathedral, members and other announcements to members right across the world.

The Association is also a founder member of the Federation of Cathedral Old Choristers' Associations, more details of which can be found at http://onceachorister.org/

Membership of the Association costs £15 per annum, which includes membership of the Peterborough Cathedral Music Association. In this way former choristers can keep in touch with the Cathedral and its music today. Enquiries should be addressed to:

The Honorary Secretary
Simon Wilkinson
Glapthorn Manor
Glapthorn
Oundle
Peterborough
PE8 5BJ

Tel: 07946 224167

e-mail: wilk82@hotmail.com