One of my favourite things to do when I travel is visit museums. This past weekend, I was in New York City celebrating my sister's birthday. As any tourist would, I did some sight-seeing as well. I spent the majority of my second day in the city at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For those of you who have been to this museum, you know very well just how overwhelming the experience can be - countless hallways, innumerable artworks, breathtaking antiques, and all in one building! Without much of a plan of what I wanted to see, I took out the museum map. The first thing that captures my attention was the label "Choir Screen" pointing to a center of a large exhibit room. I took off on a search to find this mysterious object when I reached a room sectioned off by a large, wrought-iron screen. Its inscription read:

"This wrought-iron screen, or reja, was once installed in the central nave of the Cathedral of Valladolid in Spain."

As it turns out, this choir screen was a gift from a certain Isidro Cosio y Bustamante, bishop of Valladolid. It was put into the cathedral in 1763. The plaque went on to explain that "screens of this kind were used to close the choir to the public. When the choir was relocated near the main altar in the 1920s, the screen was no longer needed."

Hmm, I thought. I have definitely never heard of such a tradition, sectioning the choir off from the public. One thing that struck me is that the screen was not solid, and so the barrier would only serve its purpose 'symbolically'. In reality, the sound of the ensemble wouldn't be covered, nor would the sight of people singing be hidden. So what is the point of this? I wondered.

So like all good music students, I logged into Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians to see if I can find anything on the topic. Sadly, nothing came up. So now I am wondering whether some of my humble readers could share any insight they may have about this tradition of putting up choir screens. I realize that to a conductor like myself, brought up admiring entertainment face to face, putting up choir screens may sound slightly bizarre. Yet I am sure that there is historic value to this tradition and although discontinued, it served a specific purpose at the time. Now, who can help me discover what that purpose may be?