Domine, salvum fac Regem. La cappella musicale di Corte di Milano nel ventennio napoleonico

The Milan Court Music Chapel also inevitably participated in the social, political and cultural upheavals that swept through the capital of the kingdom in the Napoleonic decade. A very old Milanese institution, the court music chapel dates back to the Sforza period; in both the Spanish era and the first Austrian rule, the best virtuosos available on the city square were enlisted as chapel masters, musicians or instrumentalists: only a few dozen metres separated the court chapel from the Cathedral. After a period of uncertainty during the Cisalpine years, the court chapel was fully reactivated with Napoleon's accession to the throne. Unlike the other city chapels, which were downsized in terms of personnel and services, in the Napoleonic decade the Court Chapel had a full orchestra - composed of the musicians of La Scala led by Alessandro Rolla - and the best voices in the pay of the Duomo Chapel. The Emperor personally appointed Bonifazio Asioli, a musician aligned with the new course, as the new chapel master, although de facto this post continued to be held by Ferdinando Bonazzi, Milan's most valuable church musician. Some Milanese music archives and libraries preserve scores composed for the services of the court chapel: among these are several intonations of the antiphon proper to the royal liturgy Domine, salvum fac Regem/Imperatorem.