Kapellmeister

• 1. Introduction

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  The word Kapellmeister earned the soprano Aloysia Weber an unusual compliment in the 18th century. The actor and musician Joachim Daniel Preisler heard her perform at her own home in the 18th century. He wrote in his diary that Mozart, her brother-in-law, taught her well, so that she 'accompanies from a score and plays interludes like a Kapellmeister.' For Preisler, invoking the term was the highest praise he could offer, a shorthand for total musical command. Yet the men who actually carried the title worked for princes, bishops, and emperors, not for concert audiences. Who were they, what did the job actually require, and why did it grow so rare by the end of the 18th century? The answers begin in the chapel choirs of German-speaking courts and end somewhere quite different, on the modern conducting podium.

• 2. Origins And Meaning

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  Kapelle means 'chapel' and Meister means 'master,' so the compound term translates literally to 'master of the chapel choir.' English-language writing about German composers sometimes uses the variant spellings 'capellmeister' and 'capelle' for the same role or its ensemble. A senior post attached directly to a nobleman's court, the Hof, carried the fuller title Hofkapellmeister, while a Konzertmeister ranked somewhat lower. Other European languages had their own version of the role. Mestre de capella, kapelmeester, chapel-master, maître de chapelle, maestro di cappella, kapelmistrz, maestro de capilla, and kapellmästare all named the same kind of musical director. In Finland, kapellimestari remains the primary word still used for conductors today.

• 3. A Court Appointment

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  Between roughly 1500 and 1800, the title Kapellmeister most often named the director of music for a monarch or nobleman in German-speaking lands. Johann Sebastian Bach held the post from 1717 to 1723, working for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen. Joseph Haydn spent decades as Kapellmeister for the Esterházy family, a high-ranking noble house within the Habsburg monarchy. George Frideric Handel served the same role for George, Elector of Hanover, who later became King George I of Great Britain. In Italy during the same period, maestro di cappella generally named directors of cathedral and church music rather than court musicians.

  At St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Georg Reutter held the position of Kapellmeister, and his young choristers included both Joseph and Michael Haydn. Reaching that title marked real success for a professional musician. Joseph Haydn once said he was glad his father, a wheelwright, had lived long enough to see his son become a Kapellmeister. That prestige, though, rested on aristocratic wealth that would not last through the century's final decades.

• 4. A Position In Decline

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  In 1790, Prince Anton Esterházy succeeded his father Nikolaus and dismissed almost all of the extensive musical staff Nikolaus had maintained. Prince Anton was far from alone in doing this. As one account of the period put it, 'the steady decline in the number of orchestras supported by aristocratic families represented a... change that affected all composers and their works.' Ludwig van Beethoven, who lived from 1770 to 1827, never held a Kapellmeister post at all. He instead relied on an unreliable mix of noble patronage, publication income, and concert earnings.

  Carl Maria von Weber served as Kapellmeister at the Bresault theater from 1804 to 1807. He then held the post in Dresden for Count Heinrich Vitzthum from 1816 to 1826. The title, in other words, did not disappear everywhere it had existed. Richard Wagner held the post in Dresden under Frederick Augustus II of Saxony from 1843 to 1849. Paul Wachs, who lived from 1851 to 1915, was Kapellmeister at the Church of Saint-Merri in Paris. Mozart himself never earned the title in this formal sense, though his case came remarkably close.

• 5. Mozart's Near Miss

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  In 1787, Mozart received a paid position at the court of the Austrian Emperor Joseph II as Kammercompositeur, or chamber composer. Real authority over the court's music, though, belonged to Antonio Salieri. In reviews, diaries, and advertisements, Mozart was nonetheless commonly called Herr Kapellmeister Mozart. His reputation, combined with how often he appeared in public directing other musicians, turned 'Kapellmeister' into an informal term of respect for him.

  In April 1791, Mozart applied to become Kapellmeister at St. Stephen's Cathedral. The City Council designated him to take over the post once the ailing incumbent, Leopold Hofmann, could no longer serve. That handover never happened. Mozart died in December 1791, while Hofmann did not die until 1793. Hofmann would go on to outlive Mozart by two years, holding the post that had briefly seemed within Mozart's reach.

• 6. Modern Usage

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  In contemporary German, Dirigent, meaning conductor, has become more common than Kapellmeister. When the older word is used today, it designates the director or chief conductor of an orchestra or choir. The role still implies input into policy, such as choosing repertoire, setting concert schedules, and picking guest conductors, alongside conducting itself. In military settings, the same word refers to a bandmaster.

  At the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the music director traditionally holds the old-fashioned title Gewandhauskapellmeister. In most other German opera houses, a Kapellmeister is typically a deputy conductor. That role reports to the Generalmusikdirektor, the general music director, who usually also serves as chief conductor. An opera company may employ several Kapellmeister at once, ranked as Erste Kapellmeister, the first, and Zweiter Kapellmeister, the second. Not every conductor, though, accepts that the older title has been demoted.

• 7. Reclaiming The Title

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  The conductor Christian Thielemann has argued that 'Kapellmeister' unfairly picked up a sense of routine. He describes modern usage as 'a pale, meek figure beating time,' or 'a policeman on duty at the podium directing the musical traffic, no more.' Thielemann, who knows the term's older history well, says he would actually prefer to be called a Kapellmeister himself. He explains that the word 'implies such virtues as knowledge of a work, great ability, and dedication to the cause of music.'

  Historians use the phrase 'Kapellmeister Tradition' to describe conductors who carry those same virtues. Otto Klemperer, Clemens Krauss, and Erich Kleiber are commonly cited as examples of conductors who 'paid their dues' on their way to international fame. For any conductor still climbing toward that kind of recognition, being called a Kapellmeister might be less an insult than a compliment in disguise.