Book excerpt: This detailed account of the Kapella (Russian Court Chapel Choir) examines the influence it exerted on the development of Russian sacred music. The educational importance of the institution has always been overshadowed by the achievements of the St. Petersburg Conservatoire; Dr Dunlop investigates the consequences of the Kapella's monopoly on music publications. The wonderfully rich choral repertoire of the Russian Orthodox Church has, until now, been unavailable to most English-speaking choirs due to the problems of language and accessibility. Two volumes of Russian Court Chapel Choir music, Galuppi to Vorotnikov and Bakhmetev to Lyapunov , are available separately in performing editions. They are easily accessible sources of nineteenth-century Russian choral pieces by a range of composers, in a variety of styles. Carolyn Dunlop received a postgraduate degree in Russian language from the University of Strathclyde. She was awarded her doctorate in Russian Orthodox Church mu