Treble 

A treble voice is the same pitch as a soprano but is usually used to describe the voice of a singer aged between about 8 and 16. Although it is the same pitch as a soprano, the voice has a different timbre (quality of sound). 

Gregorio Allegri (1582 – February 7, 1652), was an Italian composter and a priest. His best known compositions is the Miserere mei Deus. 

Allegri wrote the Miserere to be sung in the Sistine Chapel during the Easter celebrations. During the service, which started at 3.00am, there would be 27 candles burning. The Pope would gradually extinguish the candles until there was only one left burning. The Miserere was performed as the pope prayed at the altar with the single candle. 

This piece of music became very popular, and the Vatican did not want anyone else to perform it. No one was allowed to take the music away from the chapel. Mozart visited the Chapel when he was 14 years old. He heard the piece and wrote all the music out from memory later the same day. 

It is often now sung in chapels and churches on Ash Wednesday. There are two choirs singing. Listen out for the solo voice of the treble. He sings a top C which is a really high note.  

Here is also a recording of a 12 year old treble called Cai Thomas singing a piece by Mozart called Laudate Dominum. He is now 16 years old and his voice has ‘broken’. This means he now has a deeper voice and sings baritone.