Incoronazione a Venetia

Venice, 1615… Claudio Monteverdi had only taken possession of the musical capella of San Marco for two years… His music had already echoed on many occasions, yet the Venetians were nostalgic for the sumptuous motets and canzoni of his predecessor Giovanni Gabrieli, who had died only three years earlier… Until the posthumous publication of his Sacrae Symphoniae,

previously jealously guarded in manuscript form at the music library (the renowned Marciana…).

Monteverdi did not hesitate to conduct, as Kapellmeister, the 8 or 10-voice music of the late Giovanni Gabrieli – illustrious organist of his time and nephew of Andrea – alongside his own sacred music, including the 6-voice mass still recently published in Venice (1610).

To Venetians’ delight, the old and the new – l’antico & il moderno – blended on the occasion the lacustrine city’s major event: L’incoronazione del Doge. Like the coronation of kings in neighbouring kingdoms, this incoronazione aims to tell Venice and the world that the city-republic has not lost its glory, and that their doge (Venetian dialect for duce, the one who guides the city) is indeed the master of the land and waters of the Veneto!

Works

Bendinelli, Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Riccio, Usper

Distribution

4 singers and the La Fenice Ensemble: 8 instrumentalists including harpsichord/positive organ