Supplied photo
When I asked my special lady if she wanted to go see the Vienna Boys Choir (actual name: Wiener Sängerknaben), she didn’t hesitate to tell me it couldn’t be lower on the list of things she’d like to do. I wanted to be sure, since we could catch them here in Charlottesville and in the Austrian capital where we’ll be on vacation in a few weeks.
As much as I enjoy most forms of classical music, I have to admit choral isn’t my favorite either. And when it comes to musicians of any genre, I generally try to avoid listening to children. That’s not a knock on youth culture, but rather the belief that even prodigies could probably use a few more years to develop ability and style.
I’m sure the guidance of Artistic Director Erasmus Baumgartner keeps the kids in line with the choir’s very, very long tradition.
It’s estimated that little dudes, who, like Monticello and the University of Virginia, are designated as a cultural UNESCO institution, have been piping up at Vienna’s Imperial Chapel since at least 1296, and following the establishment of a Court Chapel in 1498 by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, the groundwork was set to have the choir become a permanent fixture.
Now operating as a private, nonprofit organization, there are actually four boys choirs touring around the world. The kids coming here as part of the choir’s 137th U.S. tour will recognize the 200th birthday of Johann Strauss and his own stateside swing in 1872 with works by the composer, along with pieces by Haydn, Mozart, Brahms, Bruckner, Offenbach, Berlin, and Bernstein.
It’s undeniable that people enjoy hearing these boys who dress not unlike mini 19th-century sailors. To think that in the last 101 years, the choirs have toured literally 1,000 times, racking up roughly 29,000 concerts, is astounding. To put that in perspective, Bruce Springsteen, who people also buy lots of tickets to hear, has been good for 3,579 shows since he started in the mid-1960s—but, of course, there’s only one Boss, not four.
