Antonio Cesti was hailed as the finest
musician of his generation
Composer Pietro Marc’Antonio Cesti was baptised on this day in 1623 in Arezzo in Tuscany. It was also probably the date of his birth.
One of the leading composers of the 17th century, Cesti is said to have written about 100 operas, although only 15 are known of today.
He joined the order of Friars Minor, or Franciscans, a Catholic religious group founded by St Francis of Assisi in 1637.
Cesti studied first in Rome and then moved to Venice, where his first known opera, Orontea, was produced in 1649.
In 1652 he became chapel master to Archduke Ferdinand of Austria at Innsbruck and from 1669 he was vice chapel master to the imperial court in Vienna.
Throughout the 17th century his operas were widely performed in Italy. His most famous operas, Il pomo d’oro, Dori, and Orontea, have survived to this day.
An illustration of the stage set, meant to represent the
underworld, for a production of Il pomo d'oro in Vienna
Il pomo d’oro was a lavish production, written for the wedding of Emperor Leopold I in 1666 in Vienna.
An important manuscript collection of 18 secular and three sacred cantatas by Cesti are preserved in Oxford.
His cantatas and religious works show Roman influences, whereas his operas demonstrate the influence of the Venetian school and foreshadow the operatic developments that were to come in the 18th century.
Cesti was also an acclaimed tenor and an organist and has been described as the most celebrated Italian musician of his generation. He died in Venice in 1669.
The Basilica of San Francesco
in Arezzo
Travel tip:
Arezzo, where Cesti was born, is an interesting old town in eastern Tuscany. The 13th century Basilica of San Francesco in the centre of the town is famous for containing Piero della Francesco’s cycle of frescoes, The Legend of the True Cross, painted between 1452 and 1466.
The Basilica of St Mark in Venice
Travel tip:
One of the focal points for music in Venice during the 17th century was St Mark’s Basilica in the square of the same name. St Mark’s is the cathedral church of Venice and one of the best examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture in existence. Because of its opulent design and gold ground mosaics it became a symbol of Venetian wealth and power and has been nicknamed Chiesa d’Oro (Church of Gold).
A bust of Andrea Dandolo, sculpted by Lorenzo Larese Moretti in 1861
Andrea Dandolo, the fourth member of a Patrician Venetian family to serve as Doge of the historic Republic, was born on this day in 1306.
A notably erudite scholar, Dandolo wrote two chronicles of the history of Venice in Latin and reformed the Venetian legal code by bringing together all of the diverse laws applicable to the Venetian Republic within one legal framework.
He achieved these things despite his reign being marked by a devastating earthquake, a catastrophic outbreak of the Black Death plague and two expensive wars, against Hungary and then Genoa.
Dandolo studied at the University of Padua, where he became a professor of law, a position he maintained until he was elected Doge. He quickly rose to a position of prominence in Venetian life, being appointed Procurator of St Mark’s Basilica, the second most prestigious position in the Venetian hierarchy after the Doge, at the age of just 25.
He was elected Doge in 1343, aged 37. It was a particularly young age at which to be given the leadership of the Republic, but his family history and the manner in which had conducted himself as Procurator gained the respect of the republic’s aristocratic elders.
Dandolo was a benefactor of the arts. He added the Chapel of San Isidoro to the Basilica of St Mark and oversaw improvements to the Pala d'Oro and the Baptistery.
Mosaics inside the Chapel of San Isidoro, which was Andrea Dandolo's addition to the Basilica of St Mark
He became a close friend of the poet Petrarch, who described him as a “just and incorruptible man”, although they would later fall out over the latter’s attempt to mediate between Venice and Genoa after the third Venetian-Genoese War of 1350-55.
The first conflict began in 1345 after a revolt against the rule of the Republic by the people of what is now Zadar, a coastal city in Croatia, sometimes known in Italian as Zara. The Venetian fleet laid siege to Zadar and eventually recaptured the city, but only after 16 months of fighting, during which between 2,000 and 3,000 Venetians died along with an unknown number of soldiers dispatched to support Zadar by the king of Hungary, Louis of Angevin.
Louis wished to gain control over the Kingdom of Croatia and in particular Dalmatia, the area controlled by Venice, and achieved his aim only a few years later, taking advantage of Venetian forced severely depleted by the third Venetian-Genoese War, in which a large Genoese fleet under the command of Paganino Doria devastated large areas of Venetian territory around the Adriatic and eventually captured the entire Venetian fleet. Peace was finally brokered by Dandolo’s successor as Doge, Marino Faliero.
The former Palazzo Dandolo, facing the lagoon on Riva degli Schiavoni, now houses the luxurious Hotel Danieli
In the meantime, Dandolo had needed to support the people of Venice in recovering first from a violent earthquake in 1348, which destroyed many buildings and killed hundreds of citizens.
This was followed swiftly by the arrival of the Black Death, the plague spread by fleas living off black rats that would arrive in Europe in the hold of merchant ships importing goods from central Asia via the Black Sea.
The plague is thought to have killed between 75 and 200 million people all told. The outbreak in Venice, which lasted from 1348 until 1350, claimed the lives of a third of the population.
Dandolo survived both events, yet died in 1354 at the age of 48. He was the last Doge from the Dandalo family and the last Doge to be interred in St Mark’s Basilica.
The Palazzo Dandolo, which was built towards the end of the 14th century as a grand family residence, today houses the exclusive Hotel Danieli.
The Basilica of St Mark is one of Venice's most popular tourist attractions
Travel tip:
The Basilica of St Mark dates from the 11th century, although it was not open to ordinary Venetians to venture inside until the early 19th century, its Byzantine grandeur having previously been off limits to all but the Doges and other senior figures in the Venetian government. The chief attraction for many visitors to St Mark’s today are the golden mosaics, which cover more than 8,000 square metres of the walls, vaults and cupolas.
The poet Petrarch's house in Arquà Petrarca
Travel tip:
Petrarch - whose given name was Francesco Petrarca - the poet and diplomat who was a contemporary of Dandolo and was for a long time his close friend, was born in Arezzo in Tuscany but travelled widely. He spent the last four years of his life in the small town of Arquà , about 25km (16 miles) southwest of Padua, in the Colli Euganei (Euganean Hills). The town added his name to its own to become Arquà Petrarca in 1870. The house where he lived (and died, in 1374) is now a museum dedicated to the poet.
Victorious naval commander briefly ruled La Serenissima
Jacopo Tintoretto's portrait of Sebastiano Venier at the Battle of Lepanto
Sebastiano Venier, who successfully commanded the Venetian
contingent at the Battle of Lepanto, died on this day in 1578 in Venice.
He had been Doge of Venice for less than a year when fire
badly damaged the Doge’s Palace. He died soon afterwards, supposedly as a
result of the distress it had caused him.
Venier was born in Venice around 1496, the son of Moisè
Venier and Elena Donà . He was descended from Pietro Venier, who governed
Cerigo, one of the main Ionian islands off the coast of Greece, which was also
known as Kythira.
Venier worked as a lawyer, although he had no formal
qualifications, and he went on to become an administrator for the Government of
the Republic of Venice. He was married to Cecilia Contarini, who bore him two
sons and a daughter.
Venier was listed as procurator of St Mark’s in 1570, but by
December of the same year, he was capitano generale da mar, the Admiral of the
Venetian fleet, in the new war against the Ottoman Turks.
As the commander of the Venetian contingent at the Battle of
Lepanto in 1571, he helped the Christian League decisively defeat the Turks.
The plaque to Sebastiano Venier at his house in Campo Santa Maria Formosa in Venice
The battle took place in the Gulf of Patras when Ottoman
forces sailing westwards from their naval station in Lepanto encountered the
fleet of the Holy League sailing east from Messina in Sicily. The Holy League
was a coalition of European Catholic maritime states, largely financed by
Phillip II of Spain.
The Battle of Lepanto was the last major naval engagement to
be fought almost entirely by rowing vessels and the victory of the Holy League
was of great importance in the future defence of Europe against Ottoman
military expansion.
Venier returned to Venice a hero and, as a popular figure,
was unanimously elected Doge in 1577 at the age of 81.
The Doge’s Palace was in the process of being refurbished in
the aftermath of a fire in 1547 when another fire broke out, damaging the Great
Council Chamber and many works of art.
A heartbroken Venier died a few weeks later on March 3, 1578
and was interred in the Basilica di Santi Giovanni e Paolo, a traditional burial
place of the doges.
There is a plaque commemorating his memory on the wall of
the Palazzetto Venier in Campo Santa Maria Formosa, not far from St Mark’s.
The monument to Sebastiano Venier outside the Basilica of SS Giovanni e Paolo in Venice
Travel tip:
The Doge’s Palace, where Sebastiano Venier lived during his
brief reign, was the seat of the Government of Venice and the home of the Doge
from the early days of the republic. For centuries this was the only building
in Venice entitled to the name palazzo. The others were merely called CÃ , short
for Casa. The current palazzo was built in the 12th century in Venetian Gothic
style, one side looking out over the lagoon, the other side looking out over
the piazzetta that links St Mark’s Square with the waterfront. It opened as a
museum in 1923 and is now run by Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.
Travel tip:
The Basilica di Santi Giovanni e Paolo, where Sebastiano
Venier is buried, is referred to by Venetians as San Zanipolo. The church, in
Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo in the Castello district, is one of the largest in
Venice. It has the status of a minor basilica and a total of 25 of Venice’s
Doges are buried there.
Andrea Gabrieli was the organist at the
Basilica di San Marco in Venice
The Venetian composer and organist Andrea Gabrieli, sometimes
known as Andrea di Cannaregio, notable for his madrigals and large-scale choral
works written for public ceremonies, died on this day in 1585.
His nephew, Giovanni Gabrieli, is more widely remembered yet
Andrea, who was organist of the Basilica di San Marco – St Mark’s – for the
last 19 years of his life, was a significant figure in his lifetime, the first
member of the Venetian School of composers to achieve international renown. He
was influential in spreading the Venetian style of music in Germany as well as
in Italy.
Little is known about Andrea’s early life aside from the
probability that he was born in the parish of San Geremia in Cannaregio and
that he may have been a pupil of the Franco-Flemish composer Adrian Willaert,
who was maestro di cappella at St Mark’s from 1527 until 1562.
In 1562 – the year of Willaert’s death – Andrea is on record as
having travelled to Munich in Germany, where he met and became friends with
Orlando di Lasso, who wrote secular songs in French, Italian, and German, as
well as Latin. There was evidence in the
later work of Di Lasso of a Venetian influence, while Gabrieli took back to
Venice numerous ideas he learned from Di Lasso.
In 1566 Gabrieli was chosen for the post of organist at St.
Mark's, one of the most prestigious musical posts in northern Europe, and he retained
this position for the rest of his life.
Giovanni Gabrieli published his uncle Andrea's
music after his death
The acoustics of St. Mark's helped him develop a grand
ceremonial style. In part, this was because his duties at St. Mark's included
composing music for ceremonial affairs.
These included the festivities accompanying the celebration
of the victory over the Turks in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 and the music
for the visit to Venice by a party of princes from Japan in 1585.
He was also renowned, towards the end of his career, as a
teacher. His nephew, Giovanni, was a pupil, along with the music theorist
Lodovico Zacconi and the German composer Hans Leo Hassler.
Andrea Gabrieli is reckoned to have written more than 100
motets and madrigals, which are pieces written for voices rather than musical
instruments, and a smaller number of orchestral or instrumental works.
The church of San Geremia sits by the junction of the
Grand Canal and the Cannaregio Canal
His music featured repetition of phrases with different
combinations of voices at different pitch levels. In many ways, his music defined
the Venetian style for future generation.
Little of his music was published during his own lifetime,
apparently through his own reluctance, but it was preserved largely thanks to
Giovanni, who recognised its importance and, after his uncle’s death at the age
of about 52, of unknown causes, he took it upon himself to publish it.
Among the works Giovanni published was his Magnificat for
three choirs and orchestra, almost certainly written to be performed in St.
Mark’s, which is regarded as one of Andrea Gabrieli’s finest compositions.
The Ormesina Canal in the Cannaregio district
Travel tip:
The church of San Geremia, where Andrea Gabrieli probably
played at some stage early in his career, is situated at the junction of the
Grand Canal with the Cannaregio Canal, which is one of the main waterways of
the city but which is often overlooked by tourists. The Ormesina and Sensa
Canals, which run parallel with the Cannaregio Canal, are lined with good cafes
and restaurants and interesting shops, but mostly they are the preserve of
people living in the area.
The Basilica di San Marco
Travel tip:
The original church on the site of the Basilica di San Marco
may have been built in the ninth century, although the earliest recorded
mention was dated 1084. It has been rebuilt several times, the present
neoclassical church dating from a rebuilding of 1795-1806, for patrician Pietro
Zaguri, by Giannantonio Selva.
Baroque musician and cleric who features in modern
literature
Agostino Steffani, depcited in a 1714
portrait by Gerhard Kappers
A priest and diplomat as well as a singer and composer,
Agostino Steffani was born on this day in 1654 in Castelfranco Veneto near
Venice.
Details of his life and works have recently been brought to
the attention of readers of contemporary crime novels because they were used by
the American novelist, Donna Leon, as background for her 2012 mystery The
Jewels of Paradise.
Steffani was admitted as a chorister at St Mark’s Basilica
in Venice while he was still young and in 1667 the beauty of his voice
attracted the attention of Count Georg Ignaz von Tattenbach, who took him to
Munich.
Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria, paid for Steffani’s
education and granted him a salary, in return for his singing.
In 1673 Steffani was sent to study in Rome, where he
composed six motets. The original manuscripts for these are now in a museum in
Cambridge.
On his return to Munich Steffani was appointed court organist.
He was also ordained a priest and given the title of Abbate of Lepsing. His
first opera, Marco Aurelia, was written for the carnival and produced at Munich
in 1681.
Part of the score of Duetto da Camera Pria ch'io faccia by
Agostino Steffani, which is in the British Library in London
The only manuscript score of it known to exist is in the
Royal Library at Buckingham Palace. He followed this with six more operas
written between 1685 and 1688.
Steffani then accepted the post of Kapellmeister at the
court of Hanover where he showed great kindness to the young Handel, who was
just beginning his career.
He composed an opera called Henrico Leone for the opening of
the new opera house, which enhanced his reputation. He composed several more
operas for the same theatre and the scores were brought to London by the
Elector of Hanover, George Louis, when he became King George I. They are now preserved
in Buckingham Palace.
Steffani went on diplomatic missions on behalf of George
Louis’s father, Ernest Augustus, when he became Elector of Hanover and this
work was recognised by Pope Innocent XI who granted him high honours.
George Louis, later King George I of England
By then a respected cleric, Steffani continued to write
operas using the name of his secretary, although one score that has been judged
to be his work bears no name.
In 1724 the Academy of Ancient Music in London elected him
as honorary president for life and in return he sent them a Stabat Mater and
three madrigals, which have been considered to be in advance of the age in
which they were written. Steffani also wrote many beautiful cantatas for two
voices, the scores for which are now in the British Museum.
The composer visited Italy for the last time in 1727, where
he met up with Handel again. Steffani died in 1728 while on diplomatic business
in Frankfurt.
In Donna Leon’s novel The Jewels of Paradise, a young
musicologist is hired in Venice to find the rightful heirs to fictional
treasure that Steffani left in trunks that had not been opened for centuries.
Donna Leon’s interest in Baroque opera inspired her to write this story,
weaving fact with fiction as she takes details from Steffani’s past and creates
a present-day mystery involving two avaricious Venetians who think they are
heirs to Steffani’s fortune.
The Cathedral at Castelfranco Veneto
Travel tip:
Castelfranco Veneto, where Steffani was born, is an ancient
walled town in the Veneto region of Italy. It is also famous for being the
birthplace of Renaissance artist, Giorgione. The Cathedral inside the walls
contains one of his finest works, Madonna with St Francis and Liberalis, which
was painted in 1504.
The Biblioteca Marciana in Venice
Travel tip:
In Donna Leon’s novel The Jewels of Paradise, the main
character, the musicologist Caterina Pellegrini, carries out a lot of her
research into the life of Agostino Steffani at the Biblioteca Marciana, which
is an elegant building opposite the Doge’s Palace in the Piazzetta, off St
Mark’s Square in Venice.
Puccini contemporary chose sacred music over opera
Lorenzo Perosi forsook opera in
favour of religious music
Don Lorenzo Perosi, a brilliant composer of sacred music who was musical director of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican for almost half a century, was born on this day in 1872 in the city of Tortona in Piedmont.
A devoutly religious man who was ordained as a priest at the age of 22, Perosi was a contemporary of Giacomo Puccini and Pietro Mascagni, both of whom he counted as close friends, but was the only member of the so-called Giovane Scuola of late 19th century and early 20th century composers who did not write opera.
Instead, he concentrated entirely on church music and was particularly noted for his large-scale oratorios, for which he enjoyed international fame.
Yet at his peak, which music scholars consider to be the period between his appointment as Maestro of the Choir of St Mark's in Venice in 1894 and a serious mental breakdown suffered in 1907, he was hugely admired by his fellows in the Giovane Scuola and beyond.
Perosi with Arturo Toscanini before the
premiere of his work Mosè in Milan
Arturo Toscaniniconducted his work Mosè on the occasion of its premiere at La Scala in Milan in November 1901, his French admirers included Claude Debussy and Jules Massenet and many of the great opera singers on his day were keen to perform in his works, includingEnrico Caruso, Mario Sammarco, Carlo Tagliabue and Beniamino Gigli.
Puccini is quoted as saying that "there is more music in Perosi's head than mine and Mascagni's put together".
Perosi is credited with reviving the oratorio as a musical genre. His grand productions for chorus, soloists, and orchestra based on Latin texts were noted for their bringing together of Renaissance harmony, Gregorian chant, and the flamboyant melodies and orchestrations characteristic of the Giovane Scuola.
Perosi was one of 12 children born into a pious Catholic family in Tortona, only half of whom survived infancy. His own birth was said to have been difficult and music historians believe it was probably the cause of the mental health problems he suffered in adulthood.
His father, Giuseppe, was choir director at the cathedral in Tortona and his talent for music was shared with his brothers Carlo, who also became a priest, and Marziano, who would later be musical director at the Duomo of Milan.
Listen to the choir of the church of the Beata Vergine in Mandria, near Padua
Lorenzo enrolled at Milan Conservatory, where he began his association with Puccini and Mascagni, after which he took his first professional post as organist at the Abbey of Montecassino. He spent a year studying in Germany under Franz Xaver Haberl, where he learnt Renaissance polyphony, but declined a permanent teaching position in Germany in favour of a position nearer home as director of sacred music at the Duomo in Imola.
The bust of Lorenzo Perosi in the
gardens at the Pincio in Rome
The appointment at St Mark's in Venice came in 1894 and brought Perosi under the influence of Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto, the Patriarch of Venice who would go on to be elected as Pope Pius X. It was Sarto who ordained Perosi to the priesthood but just as importantly encouraged his music and was influential in his appointment in Rome.
Perosi's mental health problems began to manifest themselves in 1906, when doctors felt he was suffering from nervous exhaustion as a consequence of the hours he spent writing music in addition to his duties as a priest.
They became so severe following the deaths of both his parents within the space of a few years that at one stage his brother, Carlo, was nominated legal guardian as some doctors deemed him incurable. In time, however, his condition improved and he returned to a normal life.
He added to an already enormous body of work and the popes Pius XI and Pius XIIwaived the rules regarding mandatory retirement and retained him as 'maestro perpetuo' into his 80s. By the time his health deteriorated irreversibly he had served under five popes. He died in Rome in October 1956.
The Duomo of Tortona, where Lorenzo Perosi is
buried along with his brother, Carlo
Travel tip:
Tortona is an elegant small city of around 27,000 inhabitants in the eastern part of Piedmont, roughly halfway between Milan and the Ligurian coast at Genoa. It sits on the right bank of the Scrivia river between the plain of Marengo and the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines. Lorenzo Perosi, along with his brother, Carlo, is buried at the Duomo, where his father was the choir director. The Duomo has a 19th century neoclassical facade but the building itself dates back to the 16th century.
Travel tip:
The Sistine Chapel choir is one of the oldest religious choirs in the world, consisting today of 20 adult professional singers and 30 unpaid boy choristers. Its reputation today owes much to Lorenzo Perosi, who raised its artistic level to a level as high as any it had known during his time as Maestro di Cappella and supported Pope Pius X in outlawing the use of boys whose voices were preserved by the barbaric practice of castration. Pius declared that only "whole men" should be allowed to be choristers or priests, and the last of the castrati were in time eased out of the choir. A bust of Perosi can be found in the gardens on Pincian Hill - the Pincio - in Rome.
A portrait of Sansovino by Tintoretto, currently
housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence
Jacopo d’Antonio Sansovino, the sculptor and architect renowned for his works around Piazza San Marco, died on this day in 1570 in Venice.
He designed the Libreria Sansoviniana in the Piazzetta, which was later praised by the architect Andrea Palladio as ‘the finest building erected since antiquity’.
Sansovino had been born Jacopo Tatti in 1486 in Florence and was apprenticed to the sculptor Andrea Sansovino, whose surname he subsequently adopted.
He was commissioned to make a marble sculpture of St James for the Duomo and a Bacchus, which is now in the Bargello in Florence.
However, his designs for sculptures to adorn the façade of the Church of San Lorenzo were rejected by Michelangelo, who was in charge of the scheme.
In 1529 Sansovino became chief architect to the Procurators of San Marco, making him one of the most influential artists in Venice.
The Palazzo Corner della Ca'Grande was the first
building in Venice designed by Sansovino
His first Venetian building was the Palazzo Corner della Ca’ Grande, a huge classical palace for one of the richest families in Venice.
Sansovino designed the Loggetta and its sculptures adjoining the Campanile and statues for the Basilica of San Marco. He also helped rebuild many of the churches and palaces in Venice.
His masterpiece is considered to be the library building in the Piazzetta, which houses the national library of San Marco, the Biblioteca Marciana.
Construction began in 1537 opposite the Doge’s palace and it became one of the most richly decorated Renaissance structures in Venice, surmounted by statues of mythological gods.
During the construction, the roof vaulting collapsed and at the time Sansovino was blamed and imprisoned. He was freed only after appeals from eminent people in Venice, including the artist Titian.
After Sansovino’s death in Venice in 1570 he was buried in St Mark’s Basilica.
The Libreria Sansoviniana, which houses the Biblioteca
Nazionale Marciana, is considered Sansovino's masterpiece
Travel tip:
The National Library of St Mark’s, the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, is housed in the Renaissance building designed by Sansovino opposite the Doge’s Palace in the Piazzetta. It is one of the earliest surviving public manuscript depositories in the country holding one of the greatest collections of classical texts in the world. The library is named after Saint Mark, the patron saint of Venice. One of the first librarians was poet and scholar Pietro Bembo, who had earlier written beautiful love letters to Lucrezia Borgia while they were having an affair.
Travel tip:
Sansovino was buried in the beautifully decorated Baptistery of Saint Mark’s near the altar. The Baptistery was built on to the southern end of the church in the first half of the 14th century. In the centre of the room stands a baptismal font in marble and bronze, which was designed by Sansovino.
Venetian musician inspired spread of the Baroque style
The tomb of Giovanni Gabrieli in the Church of
Santo Stefano in the San Marco district of Venice
Giovanni Gabrieli, composer and organist, died on this day in 1612 in Venice.
He had been a major influence behind the transition from Renaissance music to the Baroque style in Europe.
Born in Venice between 1554 and 1557, Giovanni grew up studying with his uncle, the composer Andrea Gabrieli, for whom he always had great respect.
He also went to Munich to study with the musicians at the court of Duke Albert V, which had a lasting influence on his composing style.
After his return to Venice he became principal organist at St Mark’s Basilica in 1585. Following the death of his uncle, he took the post of principal composer at St Mark’s as well and spent a lot of time editing his uncle’s music for publication, which would otherwise have been lost.
Listen to Gabrieli's Canzon XVI for 12 parts
He took the additional post of organist at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, which was second only to St Mark’s in prestige at the time.
The English writer Thomas Coryat wrote about musical performances there in his travel memoirs.
The Scuola Grande di San Rocco (left) adjoins the
Church of San Rocco in Venice in the San Polo district
Composers from all over Europe came to Venice to study after the publication of Giovanni’s Sacred Symphonies (Sacrae Symphoniae) in 1597.
Using the acoustics of St Mark’s to full advantage, he wrote music for separated choirs, but specified which instruments were to be used and which choirs were to use soloists as well as full choir, in order to distinguish between the musical style of each. This was a new approach to orchestration.
Giovanni made his pupils study Madrigals as well as the Venetian style of music and they took back the early Baroque style to their own countries, which profoundly affected the course of music history.
In Germany, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach was founded on the early Baroque tradition, which had its roots in Venice.
Giovanni Gabrieli died as a result of complications with a kidney stone in 1612 and he is buried in the Church of Santo Stefano in Campo Santo Stefano in Venice.
Easy to see why the Basilica of St Mark is sometimes
known as the Chiesa d'Oro - the Church of Gold
Travel tip:
St Mark’s Basilica is the Cathedral Church of Venice and one of the best examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture in existence. Because of its opulent design and gold ground mosaics it became a symbol of Venetian wealth and power and has been nicknamed Chiesa d’Oro (Church of Gold). The spacious interior with its multiple choir lofts inspired the development of the Venetian polychoral style used by the Gabrielis, uncle and nephew, and Claudio Monteverdi.
Travel tip:
The Scuola Grande di San Rocco was established in 1478 by a group of wealthy Venetians next to the Church of San Rocco as a charitable institution to give money to the sick and needy and their families. Tintoretto decorated the walls and ceilings of the Scuola with a remarkable cycle of paintings in 1564. The Scuola is a few minutes walk from the San Tomà vaporetto stop on the Grand Canal.
(Photo of the tomb by Giovanni Dall'Orto) (Photo of Scuola di San Rocco by MarkusMark CC BY-SA)
Dramatic fall of instantly recognisable symbol of Venice
An enormous pile of rubble was left after the collapse
of the Campanile in July 1902
The bell tower (Campanile) in St Mark’s Square in Venice collapsed on this day in 1902.
No one was killed but the Biblioteca Marciana nearby was partially damaged by its fall.
A crack had appeared in one of the walls of the bell tower a few days before and at approximately 9.45 am on Monday, 14 July, the entire structure collapsed into a heap of rubble.
Venetians regarded the event as a tragedy. The bell tower, just short of 100 metres tall, had stood for around 1,000 years and was seen as symbolic of the city. Built on foundations of wood and mud, however, there was always the danger it would become unstable over time.
On the evening of the day of the collapse, the Venice authorities approved funding for the reconstruction of the Campanile in exactly the same place in the piazza, to be built to resemble how it looked after 16th century improvements to the original ninth century design.
The rubble was painstakingly removed from the square, loaded on to barges and dumped in the sea about five miles offshore from Venice Lido.
The new tower was designed with internal reinforcement to prevent a future collapse, and a lift.
The rebuilding of the Campanile took nearly ten years and the new bell tower was finally inaugurated on 25 April, 1912 on St Mark’s feast day.
The Campanile today
Travel tip:
Magnificent panoramic views across Venice and the lagoon can be enjoyed from the top of the Campanile, which is open to the public every day from 09.30 to 19.00. Galileo would have seen these views when he demonstrated his telescope to the Doge of Venice from the top of the previous bell tower in 1609.
Travel tip:
St Mark’s Square (Piazza San Marco) has been the scene of countless pageants, processions, political activities and Carnival festivities during its long history. Thousands of tourists flock to it every day to visit the Basilica and the Doge’s Palace, or to listen to the musicians playing outside the elegant cafes on each side.
Situated close to the lagoon, the Piazza is usually one of the first points in the city to suffer from flooding when there is a high tide (aqua alta).
Pietro Orseolo, a former Venetian Doge who joined the Benedictine order, died on this day in 987.
Piazza della Libertà in Udine, birthplace of Pietro Orseolo.
He was canonised by Pope Clement XII in 1731 and his feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death on 10 January each year. Pietro Orseolo became Doge of Venice in 976 but after just two years in office he left his palace in the middle of the night to go to France to become a monk. Orseolo was originally from a powerful family in Udine and at the age of 20 became commander of the Venetian fleet waging successful campaigns against pirate ships. He was elected Doge after the previous ruler of Venice had been killed in a revolt. Orseolo restored order to the city, built much needed hospitals and cared for widows and orphans. He started to rebuild the Doge’s palace and St Mark’s Basilica using his own money. But he suddenly left Venice to travel to southern France with three other Venetians to join a Benedictine abbey. It is believed he told no one about his decision in advance, not even his wife and family. After some years living as a monk performing menial tasks at the abbey, Orseolo went to live in the surrounding forest as a hermit. He continued to live like this for seven years until he died in 987.
Orseolo funded a rebuilding project on St Mark's Basilica
in Venice before leaving for France.
Forty years after his death he was beatified and 700 years later he was made a saint.
Travel tip:
Udine, the birthplace of San Pietro Orseolo, is a city in the region of Friuli Venezia-Giulia not far from Italy’s border with Slovenia. In the principal square, Piazza della Libertà , there are beautiful 15th century Venetian-style buildings, such as the town hall, Loggia del Lionello, and clock tower, Torre dell’Orologio, which resembles the one in Piazza San Marco in Venice.
Travel tip:
Bacino Orseolo in Venice, a wide stretch of water where gondolas are moored near Piazza San Marco, is named after Doge Pietro I Orseolo, who established a hospice for pilgrims there in 977, one of the good works he accomplished before he left Venice to become a monk. Home
