Acapella Hymns: History
The term acapella is of fairly recent origin. It first began to be used around 1875, and it is an Italian term meaning “in the manner of a chapel.” It referred to singing without instrumental accompaniment, the normal practice in the Middles Ages. So acapella hymns are hymns sung without musical accompaniment. Actually, the preferred spelling of the term is a cappella, but both acappella and acapella are common variations. From all of the evidence we have, it appears that the early Christians sang hymns in their congregational meetings without musical accompaniment. (See the quotations under...
