lying to your note. If I
resolved to do so in a few words I should be obliged to say that seldom
indeed do I hear boy altos sing with sweet voices and true intonation,
either in my own country, or in those foreign countries in which I am in
the habit of taking my holidays.

"But I should like to be allowed to explain that, in my opinion, the
coarseness (at any rate) of boy-altos in English choirs is due to
mismanagement by the choirmaster. His usual plan is to turn over to the
alto part boys who are losing their upper notes by the natural failure
of their soprano voices. This saves trouble, for such boys probably
read music well enough, and they are simply told to 'sing alto,' and are
left to do so without further training, until they can croak out no more
ugly noises. Surely this is quite a mistake. Am I not right in
maintaining that a perfect choir should consist of

FIRST TREBLES TENORS

SECOND TREBLES BASSES

well balanced as to numbers, and all singing with pure natural quality?
If I am, then it follows that the second trebles should be precisely
equal to the firsts in number and strength, and should include boys of
various ages, as carefully selected and as assiduously trained as the
others. I cannot but think--and, indeed, I perfectly well know--that
where this has been done by a skilful teacher, whose heart is in his
work, boy altos have been made to sing with sweetness and accuracy.

"You will probably agree with me--though this is quite by the way--that
secular music should be largely used by such a teacher. The part-songs
of Mendelssohn, for instance, should be trolled out by the two sets of
boys, who may even interchange their parts at practice with the best
results. But of course this is said only in reference to choirs of a
high class.

"I do not deny that even the best teaching and the best management will
not secure quite the same _timbre_ which you get in choirs with falsetti
in the alto part. A certain silvery sweetness is obtained from these
voices to which our English ears have become accustomed, and which we
should miss if boys, however well-trained, took their places. In the
Preces, Versicles, Litany, &c., of the English Choral Service, we should
be conscious of a loss. In cathedrals, too, the complete shelving of
some or even many compositions, favourites by long association, if not
by intrinsic merit, would be inevitable. But I am unable to doubt for a
moment that when the change h