This study describes how the English cathedral tradition of chorister training is maintained within the American Episcopal church, focusing specifically on the spiritual, academic, and musical training of the boy choir at the Washington National Cathedral. As such, it 1) documents academic requirements for choristers enrolled at St. Albans (the school they must attend); 2) provides a detailed review of the choristers' musical training and their subsequent responsibilities to Cathedral service, both musical and spiritual, especially since ratification of The Book of Common Prayer in 1979; and 3) reviews other components of the Cathedral's music program that relate to the Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, especially in Douglas Major's tenure as organist and choirmaster.Literature reviewed for this study examines the role of the organist-choirmaster as choral conductor, the qualifications and demands made on boy choristers, current thoughts regarding the all-male choral tradition, and the research directly related to the English model of chorister training, especially in the United States.The academic, musical, and spiritual training of the boy choristers at the Washington National Cathedral are addressed in this study through interviews with 1) Cathedral staff, present and past, responsible for the maintenance of the Cathedral's music program and mission, and for the musical training of the choristers; 2) a Cathedral clergyperson directly responsible for spiritual aspects of the choristers' education and service to the Cathedral; 3) the St. Albans School staff person in charge of the choristers' academic program and schedule; and 4) two choristers in the music program, specifically one boy chorister and one girl chorister. / School of Music

Washington National Cathedral sits atop Mt. St. Alban’s hill in Washington, D.C. declaring itself the nation’s cathedral and spiritual home for the nation. The idea of a national church serving national purposes was first envisioned by L’Enfant in the District’s original plan. Left aside in the times of nation building, the idea of a national church slumbered until 1893 when a group of Episcopalians petitioned and received a Congressional charter to begin a church and school in Washington, D.C. The first bishop of Washington, Henry Y. Satterlee, began his bishopric with the understanding that this cathedral being built by the Protestant Episcopal Church Foundation was to be a house of prayer for all people. Using Jasinksi’s constructivist orientation to reveal the one hundred year rhetorical history defining what constitutes a “national cathedral” within the narrative paradigm first established by Walter Fisher, this work utilizes a rhetorical biographical approach to uncover the various discourses of those speaking of and about the Cathedral. This biographical approach claims that Washington National Cathedral possesses an ethos that differentiates the national cathedral from the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul even though the two names refer to the same building. The WNC ethos is one that allows a constant “becoming” of a national cathedral, and this ability to “become” allows for a rhetorical voice of the entity we call Washington National Cathedral. Four loci of rhetorical construction weave through this dissertation in the guiding question of how the Cathedral rhetorically created and how it sustains itself as Washington National Cathedral: rhetoric about the Cathedral, the Cathedral as rhetoric, the Cathedral as context, and Cathedral Dean Francis Sayre, Jr. as synecdoche with the Cathedral. This dissertation is divided into eight rhetorical moments of change that take the idea of a national church from L’Enfant’s 1791 plan of the City through the January 2013 announcement allowing same-sex weddings at the Cathedral and Obama’s second inaugural prayer service. The result of this rhetorical exploration is a more nuanced understanding of the place and how it functions in an otherwise secular society for which there is no precedent for the establishment of a national cathedral completely separated from the national government. The narrative strains that wind through Cathedral discourse create a braid of text, context, and moral imperative that ultimately allows for the unique construction of Washington National Cathedral, a construction of what defines “national” created entirely by the Cathedral.