Hofkapelle

A court chapel (German: Hofkapelle) 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.

In German Hofkapelle (literally: court chapel) is both the word for a royal chapel and any other court chapel.

As a musical venture court chapels emerged in 16th century Europe, largely due to the consolidation of more itinerant musical groups initiated by the dukes of Burgundy and their Imperial successors in the 15th century. There was a double objective: continuity and stability of religious ceremony, and showcasing splendour and artistic taste of the court. The chapels and palaces that were built at the time exhibited the same splendour, and served the same goals.

A court chapel was established in Moscow in 1479 for singing at church services and court ceremonies. Under Peter the Great the choir was a part of the court clergy. The choir moved to Saint Petersburg when the new capital was founded in 1703. In 1741 the choristers moved from Posadskaya Street to the Old Winter Palace. They were known as the Court Choral Capella from 1763, and extended to 72 singers in 1764. From 1765 the Russian court was successful in attracting several famous Italian composers to Saint Petersburg, among them Baldassare Galuppi, Giovanni Paisiello, Vicente Martín y Soler and Domenico Cimarosa. Foreign instrumentalists employed at the court included the violinist Anton Ferdinand Titz. Besides continuing their church duties, choristers sang at secular ceremonies and in the opera. They moved to the Moika River Embankment, next to the Novy Bridge, in a house that was built in 1773-77. The house was rebuilt in 1810, and a modest concert hall was added in 1830. Throughout the 19th century the chapel included instrumentalists. Russian composers involved with the Imperial Chapel in the 19th century included Mikhail Glinka, Mily Balakirev and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. In the late 1880s the house and concert hall at the Moika River Embankement were rebuilt and enlarged to what in the 20th century became known as the Leningrad Academic Glinka Capella. The choir became secularized and mixed in 1920, after losing its court epithet shortly after the Russian revolution (1917).

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