A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Capella

CAPELLA (Ital. a chapel). Di capella, or à capella, mean in a church-like fashion, as distinguished from Di camera, or Di teatro, in the fashion of the chamber or the theatre. [Chapelle.] The same word in German, Capelle, means the private band of a court or church, or even a dance-orchestra, and Capellmeister the conductor of the same. [ Kapelle.]

[ G. ]