Vienna Hofmusikkapelle 10 April 2022 - Vienna Boys Choir at Hofmusikkapelle | GoComGo.com

Vienna Boys Choir at Hofmusikkapelle

Vienna Hofmusikkapelle, Vienna, Austria
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9:15 AM
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Important Info
Type: Classical Concert
City: Vienna, Austria
Starts at: 09:15

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Programme
Vienna Boys Choir at Hofmusikkapelle
Overview

The musicians of the Vienna Court Music Ensemble perform church music in unmatched quality, for which the appropriate performance type at the Imperial Chapel is the celebration of a Roman Catholic mass. Performed by Vienna Boys Choir, Vienna State Opera men's choir, Choralschola of the Imperial Court Chapel, Members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

The history of the Wiener Sängerknaben / Vienna Boys Choir dates back to the 15th century when Emperor Maximilian I. moved his court to Vienna including his court musicians and chapel boys. Until 1918, the Boys Choir sang exclusively for the Habsburgian court, in Holy Masses and imperial festivities like weddings or funerals. After the end of the monarchy, in the 1920s, the choir was re-established as a private organisation. The idea was to keep alive the long tradition of highly qualified musical education and intensive training at children’s age in order to prepare a professional career as a musician or singer. Today, there are 100 choristers between the ages of nine and fourteen, divided into four touring choirs. Each choir spends nine to eleven weeks of the academic year on tour. Together, the choirs give around 300 concerts each year, attended by almost half a million spectators around the world. On Sundays, the boys perform with members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and of the Vienna State Opera men's choir in the Imperial Court Chapel. Gerald Wirth, former member of the Boys Choir himself, is the Artistic Director and president of the Wiener Sängerknaben.

Venue Info

Vienna Hofmusikkapelle - Vienna
Location   Hofburg-Schweizerhof

The Wiener Hofmusikkapelle is a group of musicians serving at the court chapel in Vienna. It was founded in 1498 under Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. 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; Jurij Slatkonja 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.

Under Emperor Ferdinand I most of the musicians of the Hofmusikkapelle was 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.

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 upperparts, and the choir was disbanded in 1922. However it was formed again in 1924 as the Vienna Boys' Choir, and this has since become a professional music group.

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. 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.

Important Info
Type: Classical Concert
City: Vienna, Austria
Starts at: 09:15
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