Telluride’s Palm Theatre presents Vienna Boys Choir, 3/27
More than half a millennium ago, in 1498, Emperor Maximilian I moved his court – and his court musicians – from Innsbruck to Vienna, giving specific instructions there were to be six boys among the musicians. For want of a foundation charter, historians have settled on 1498 as the official foundation date of the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle and - in consequence - the Vienna Boys' Choir. Until 1918, the choir sang exclusively for the court, at mass, at private concerts and functions and on state occasions.
Musicians such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Caldara, Antonio Salieri and Anton Bruckner worked with the choir. Composers Jacobus Gallus, Franz Schubert, and conductors Hans Richter, Felix Mottl and Clemens Krauss were themselves choristers. Brothers Joseph and Michael Haydn were members of the choir of St. Stephen's Cathedral, and sang frequently with the imperial boys' choir.