A General Survey of Some Choir Architecture

Choirs are a beautiful thing. Now, I'm not speaking here about 'choirs' in the sense of members who are singing the chants and/or hymns of the liturgy -- though they are a beautiful thing in their own right when proper and noble liturgical music is executed of course -- I am rather speaking of the choir stalls that one can find in certain churches, typically larger churches or cathedrals (and, of course, monasteries). 

These choirs are typically located in one of two places; sometimes they are located immediately preceding the altar, sitting between the presbytery and the nave, these are typically manifest as two rows of parallel seating, one on each side facing one another; the other is manifest behind the high altar, often in a semi-circular form that matches the shape of the apse.

What is most impressive about many of these choirs is that they are not just simply a utilitarian row of stalls or pews, but they are rather manifest as beautiful, carved works of art in their own right, worthy of their liturgical purpose as a place where the Divine Office is sung, or, in the case of chancel choirs, as places for clerics to attend the liturgy more generally. 

These liturgical features seldom get much in the way of attention, however, which is entirely a shame since they can be one of the most impressive sights in any given piece of liturgical architecture, so today we are going to rectify that by taking a brief survey of a few different choirs.

I. SEMI-CIRCULAR, APSIDAL CHOIRS

Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice.

Bergamo. The carvings date to 1714.

Asti. Carvings dated to the year 1572.

Milan, 1578.

A good overhead view of a semi-circular choir in Ferrara-Comacchio.

Choir of the Upper Basilica of Assisi

II. COLLEGIATE, CHANCEL CHOIRS

Amiens Cathedral, France

Charterhouse of Buxheim

Choir of the Cathedral of Burgos, Spain

Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice

Cathedral of Auch, France

Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Rab, Croatia

Rossano-Cariati, dated to 1784

Bronnbach Monastery (Kloster Bronnbach), Germany

The lesson here is rather simple. When you go into one of these churches, don't sleep on stopping to take in some of the details of the choir. 

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