Kings College Chapel, Cambridge.
When Henry VI founded King’s College in 1441, it was his intention that a choir would provide music for the daily offices and celebrations of the Mass. The College Statutes of 1453 stipulate that the College would consist of a Provost, seventy fellows and scholars, and a choir composed of ten secular chaplains, six stipendiary lay clerks (or ‘singing-men’) and sixteen choristers. Henry VI specified that the choristers were to be poor boys, of strong constitution and of ‘honest conversation’. They had to be under twelve years of age when admitted, and able to read and sing. In addition to their choral duties, singing daily Matins, Mass and Vespers, they were to wait at table in Hall. The boys were provided with meals and clothing, and eight pence a week for their board. They were not allowed to wander beyond the College grounds without permission from their Master or the Provost. The earliest record of a permanent schoolmaster dates from 1456, when Robert Brantham, a former Eton and King’s scholar, held the post of master over the choristers, as well as singing in the Choir. Except for a few years in the 1550s under Edward VI, and during the period of the Commonwealth in the 1650s, when choral services in the Chapel were suppressed, the Choir has been singing services continuously for over 500 years.
Size: 5373px × 3828px
Location: The Cloisters, Kings College Chapel, Cambridge, England.
Photo credit: © Jon Williamson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: &, adoration, architecture, black, books, brantham, british, cambridge, candles, catholic, ceiling, chapel, choir, choristers, church, college, east, english, eton, february, gothic, great, harrison, henry, jumper, kings, magi, mosaics, organ, paul, perpendicular, peter, player, portrait, rails, robert, roman, rubens, scarf, seat, sony, sonya7, stall, student, tiles, university, vault, vespers, vi, white, window, windows, wood
