A Silent Choir

Ending a 480-year tradition

The holiday season will not be quite as joyful as usual in Vienna this year. For the first time in living memory, the voices of the city's world-renowned Choir Boys will not be heard in the Hofburg chapel this Christmas. Seven Masses, traditionally sung by the Saengerknaben, have been canceled; so has the State Opera's year-end performance of Puccini's Tosca. The reason: a 30-year-old federal law forbidding children under 14 to work for pay. The law was designed to prevent mine operators and the like from exploiting youngsters. But the city fathers were forced to rule that it also applies to the choir, a 480-year-old institution that remains one of the sturdiest pillars of Vienna's musical reputation.

The labor law was accidentally discovered by Brigitte Winkler, 28, a reporter for the Vienna daily Kurier and the sister of a former choirboy. She charged that the choir's paid performances were illegal, and her articles triggered a search by city officials for an exemption from the law for the choir.

To no avail. The ban does not affect all the SGngerknaben choirs. Three out of the four are usually touring abroad; one will be in New York City next month. But the silence will shatter a tradition that goes back to 1498, when Emperor Maximilian founded the group. Amending the legislation will take time. Says Choir Director Walter Tautschnig: "I have spent Christmas at the Hofburg chapel for almost 50 years, from choirboy to director. It almost breaks my heart to miss it."

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