The Wiener Hofmusikkapelle is the group of musicians serving at the court chapel in Vienna. It was founded in 1498 under Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. [1] It was disbanded in 1922 and was the forerunner of the Vienna Boys' Choir.
Prior to Maximillian I taking control of Tyrol, there was already a choir, with the organist Paul Hofhaimer and the composer and singer Pierre de la Rue at the Grande chapelle in Vienna, the musical establishment of the Burgundian-Habsburg court. Maximilian conquered the territory in 1490 and entered Vienna but he did not set up his court there until 1498. This was the year the Hofmusikkapelle was founded; George Slatkonia was a chaplain and cantor at the court in Vienna and also the canon and provost of the Diocese of Ljubljana. In 1498, he was appointed the singing master of and two years later became the chapel master of the Vienna Court Chapel. Besides the singing master, two bass players and six boys were employed. [2] [3] [4]
Under Emperor Ferdinand I most of the musicians of the Hofmusikkapelle were Flemish and under Ferdinand II most came from Italy. The court band flourished under the subsequent emperors until about 1740, after which Maria Theresa and Joseph II restricted its use to church music, and Antonio Salieri, who taught Beethoven, was the last Italian court conductor. [2]
After World War I and the fall of the monarchy, the court music band was placed under the Ministry of Education. Boys were no longer hired and ladies of the Vienna State Opera sang the upper parts, and the choir was disbanded in 1922. [2] However it was formed again in 1924 as the Vienna Boys' Choir, and this has since become a professional music group. [5]
A chapel was built in Vienna in around 1287 by Albert I in the late Romanesque style. It was expanded under Albert II between 1423 and 1426, and rebuilt in Gothic style by Frederick III from 1447 to 1449. Later Maria Theresa arranged for it to be rebuilt in late Baroque style. It was in this building that the Hofkapelle performed, a tradition that has been continued. [6] Today's Wiener Hofmusikkapelle consists of the Vienna Boys' Choir, male singers from the choir of the Vienna State Opera, and members of the Vienna Philharmonic. They regularly perform in church services at the Hofburgkapelle. [2]
The House of Habsburg, also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most prominent and important dynasties in European history.
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Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Austria-Este was a son of Holy Roman Emperor Franz I and Maria Theresa of Austria. He was the founder of the House of Austria-Este and Governor of the Duchy of Milan between 1765 and 1796. He was also designated as the heir to the Duchy of Modena and Reggio, but he never reigned, owing to the Napoleonic Wars.
The Vienna Boys' Choir is a choir of boy sopranos and altos based in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countries.
The Augustinian Church in Vienna is a parish church located on Josefsplatz, next to the Hofburg, the winter palace of the Habsburg dynasty in Vienna. Originally built in the 14th century as the parish church of the imperial court of the Habsburgs, the harmonious Gothic interior was added in the 18th century. The official name of church and parish is St. Augustin, but it is locally called Augustinerkirche.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the 1490s.
Jacob Regnart was a Flemish Renaissance composer. He spent most of his career in Austria and Bohemia, where he wrote both sacred and secular music.
A boys' choir is a one made up of boys who have yet to begin puberty and so retain their high-pitched childhood voice. Members are known as trebles or meanes, depending on their range. Boys' choirs of churches or cathedrals on both sides of the Atlantic may sing alongside and train with men, who provide the tenor and bass parts, in a tradition that dates back traceably to the 7th century, in the case of York Minster, and probably much further.
Vinzenz Eduard Milde was Prince-Archbishop of Vienna. He was the first Prince-Archbishop and commoner: the see had always hitherto been occupied by a nobleman.
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George Slatkonia was a Carniolan choirmaster and the first residential Bishop of Vienna. He was also the first owner of an ex libris among the Slovenes. His coat of arms contained a golden horse, based on a false etymology of his surname.
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria was by birth an Archduchess of Austria and a member of the House of Habsburg. She was the fourth child and only daughter to Archduke Franz Karl of Austria and Princess Sophie of Bavaria. Maria Anna died in childhood due to epilepsy.
Hofkapelle Stuttgart, historically the Württemberg Hofkapelle is a German orchestra based in Stuttgart which has existed since the 16th century. It was the band of the House of Württemberg. Since 2002, it is an orchestra founded by Frieder Bernius to play Baroque music in historically informed performance.
The Hofburg is a former Habsburg palace in Innsbruck, Austria, and considered one of the three most significant cultural buildings in the country, along with the Hofburg Palace and Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. The Hofburg is the main building of a large residential complex once used by the Habsburgs that still includes the Noblewomen's Collegiate Foundation, the Silver Chapel, the Hofkirche containing Emperor Maximilian's cenotaph and the Schwarzen Mandern, the Theological University, the Tyrolean Folk Art Museum, Innsbruck Cathedral, the Congress, and the Hofgarten.
A royal chapel is a chapel associated with a monarch, a royal court, or in a royal palace.
A court chapel is a chapel (building) and/or a chapel as a musical ensemble associated with a royal or noble court. Most of these are royal (court) chapels, but when the ruler of the court is not a king, the more generic "court chapel" is used, for instance for an imperial court.
Archduke Leopold Johann of Austria, was the last-born male descendant from the House of Habsburg. The only son and long-hoped heir of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, with his and his father's death in 1740, the Habsburg male line died out completely, being succeeded by the House of Habsburg-Lorraine who ruled the Habsburg domains until their dethronement following World War I in 1918.