Côr
Choir
Wrth ymweld â'r Eglwys Gadeiriol yng nghanol y bedwaredd ganrif ar ddeg, arsylwodd y bardd Dafydd ap Gwilym:
fel ar gyfer y côr,
nid oes unrhyw un y gellir ei gymharu â nhw
Yn anffodus, dyna'r cyfan rydyn ni'n ei wybod am y côr tan ddau gan mlynedd yn ddiweddarach pan sefydlwyd Ysgol Ramadeg Bangor, a elwir yn gyffredin yn Friars, ym 1557. Darparodd sylfaenydd yr ysgol, Geoffrey Glyn, yn ei ewyllys i ddeg ysgolhaig tlawd dderbyn y swm o £ 2 yn flynyddol, a chyfarwyddodd statudau'r ysgol y dylent fynychu'r Eglwys Gadeiriol yn gwisgo surplices ar ddydd Sul a dyddiau sanctaidd. Nid oedd yn glir a oeddent i fod i weithredu fel cantorion, ond gan eu bod yn eu surplices roedd yn naturiol gwneud iddynt ganu!
Penodwyd y dyn canu cyntaf (fel y'u gelwid bryd hynny) ym 1689. O 1691 roedd dau gyda chyflog blynyddol o £ 6, ac yn 1698 codwyd y nifer i bedwar a'r cyflog i £ 8.
Yn 1691 penderfynwyd y dylid galw’r ysgolheigion Friars a oedd yn canu yn yr eglwys gadeiriol yn ‘ganu bechgyn’ a’u talu o gronfeydd yr Eglwys Gadeiriol. Roedd ymarfer ddwywaith yr wythnos, ar ddydd Iau a dydd Sadwrn. Gweddill eu haddysg a gawsant yn Ysgol Friars lle byddent yn dilyn eu cwrs mewn Lladin a Groeg fel y nodwyd gan statudau Elisabethaidd.
Erbyn hyn mae yna ugain o gantorion ar gyfartaledd wedi'u dewis o ysgolion cynradd lleol sy'n gallu teithio milltiroedd lawer i fynychu sesiynau ymarfer a gwasanaethau. Mae'r dynion - a elwir bellach yn glercod lleyg - yn dod o sawl cefndir ac mae eu nifer yn cael ei ychwanegu yn ystod y tymor gan fyfyrwyr o'r Brifysgol.
Visiting the Cathedral in the mid fourteenth century, the poet Dafydd ap Gwilym observed:
as for the choir,
there is no one who can be compared to them
Unfortunately, that is all we know about the choir until two hundred years later when, in 1557, the Bangor Grammar School, commonly known as Friars, was established. The school’s founder, Geoffrey Glyn, provided in his will for ten poor scholars to receive the sum of £2 annually, and the school statutes directed that they should attend the Cathedral wearing surplices on Sundays and holy days. Whether they were meant to act as choristers was not clear, but as they were in their surplices it was natural to make them sing!
The first singing man (as they were then called) was appointed in 1689. From 1691 there were two with an annual salary of £6, and in 1698 the number was raised to four and the stipend to £8.
In 1691 it was decided that the Friars scholars who sang in the cathedral should be called ‘singing boys’ and paid from Cathedral funds. Practice was twice a week, on Thursdays and Saturdays. The rest of their education they received in Friars School where they would pursue their course in Latin and Greek as laid down by Elizabethan statutes.
There are now on average twenty choristers chosen from local primary schools who can travel many miles to attend practice sessions and services. The men – now called lay clerks – come from many walks of life and their number is augmented in term time by students from the University.