26 July

Constantino Brumidi - painter

Rome-born artist responsible for murals in US Capitol Building

Constantino Brumidi, an artist whose work provides the backcloth to the daily business of government in the United States Capitol Building in Washington, was born on this day in 1805 in Rome.  Brumidi’s major work is the allegorical fresco The Apotheosis of Washington, painted in 1865, which covers the interior of the dome in the Rotunda.  Encircling the base of the dome, below the windows, is the Frieze of American History, in which Brumidi painted scenes depicting significant events of American history, although the second half of the work had to be completed by another painter, Filippo Costaggini, after Brumidi died in 1880.  Previously, between 1855 and about 1870, Brumidi had decorated the walls of eight important rooms in the Capitol Building, including the Hall of the House of Representatives, the Senate Library and the President’s Room.  Read more… 

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Francesco Cossiga - Italy's 8th President

Political career overshadowed by Moro murder

Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga was born on this day in 1928 in the Sardinian city of Sassari.  Cossiga, a Christian Democrat who had briefly served as Prime Minister under his predecessor, Sandro Pertini, held the office for seven years from 1985 to 1992. His presidency was unexceptional, although it was during his time that another heavyweight of the Italian political scene, Giulio Andreotti, revealed the existence during the Cold War years of Gladio, a clandestine network sponsored by the American secret services and NATO that was set up amid fears that Italy would fall into the hands of Communists, either through military invasion or via the ballot box.  Cossiga, said to have been obsessed with espionage, admitted to having been involved with the creation of Gladio in the years immediately following the end of the Second World War.  Read more…

Pope Paul II

Flamboyant pope who helped make books available to ordinary people

Pietro Barbo, who became Pope Paul II, died on this day in 1471 in Rome at the age of 54.  He is remembered for dressing up in sumptuous, ecclesiastical finery and having a papal tiara made for himself, which was studded with diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, topaz, large pearls and many other precious gems.  Barbo was born in Venice and was a nephew of Pope Eugenius IV through his mother and a member of the noble Barbo family through his father.  He adopted a spiritual career after his uncle was elected as pope and made rapid progress. He became a cardinal in 1440 and promised that if he was elected pope one day he would buy each cardinal a villa to escape the summer heat. It was reported that Pope Pius II suggested he should have been called Maria Pietissima (Our Lady of Pity) as he would use tears to help him obtain things he wanted.  Read more…

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Book of the Day:  Constantino Brumidi, Michelangelo of the United States Capitol, by Myrtle Cheney Murdock

Constantino Brumidi, Michelangelo of the United States Capitol by Myrtle Cheney Murdock is a captivating biography that brings to life the acclaimed artist Constantino Brumidi, who is often referred to as the “Michelangelo of the Capitol.” Murdock masterfully chronicles Brumidi’s journey from his early years in Italy to his monumental works in the United States Capitol, highlighting the challenges he faced as an immigrant artist in the 19th century. The book delves into Brumidi’s intricate frescoes and murals, showcasing not only his artistic genius but also his patriotism and dedication to the American ideals. Murdock’s vivid prose and thorough research illuminate the cultural and historical context of Brumidi’s work, making it accessible to both art enthusiasts and general readers. This homage to a lesser-known yet profoundly impactful artist serves as an inspiring reminder of the contributions immigrants have made to American art and history, enriching the nation’s cultural heritage.

The late Myrtle Cheney Murdock served as a capitol docent, and taught classes at George Washington University. 

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25 July

Mussolini removed from power

Dictator ousted and placed under arrest

The Fascist regime that had ruled Italy for 21 years was ousted on this day in 1943 when Benito Mussolini was arrested by King Victor Emmanuel III, hours after a meeting of the Grand Council of Fascism at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome had passed a vote of no confidence in their leader.  With most Italians desperate to see an end to their country’s participation in a world war in which defeat now looked certain, the Grand Council had been asked to vote on a motion proposed by Count Dino Grandi, a former Blackshirt who had become increasingly disillusioned with the self-styled Duce’s decision-making.  The motion, which Grandi prefaced by launching a scathing attack on his former ally’s leadership, was that the king would be asked to resume his full constitutional authority, effectively removing Mussolini from office.  Read more…

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Alfredo Casella – composer

Musician credited with reviving popularity of Vivaldi

Pianist and conductor Alfredo Casella, a prolific composer of early 20th century neoclassical music, was born on this day in 1883 in Turin.  Casella is credited as being the person responsible for the resurrection of Antonio Vivaldi’s work, following a 'Vivaldi Week' that he organised in 1939.  Casella was born into a musical family. His grandfather had been first cello in the San Carlo Theatre in Lisbon and he later became a soloist at the Royal Chapel in Turin.  His father, Carlo, and his brothers, Cesare and Gioacchino, were professional cellists. His mother, Maria, was a pianist and she gave the young Alfredo his first piano lessons. Their home was in Via Cavour, where it is marked with a plaque.  Casella entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1896 to study piano under Louis Diemer and to study composition under Gabriel Fauré.  Read more…

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Battle of Molinella

First time artillery played a major part in warfare

An important battle in Italy’s history was fought on this day in 1467 at Molinella, near Bologna.  On one side were infantry and cavalry representing Venice and on the other side there was an army serving Florence.  It was the first battle in Italy in which artillery and firearms were used extensively, the main weapons being cannons fired by gunpowder that could launch heavy stone or metal balls.  The barrels were 10 to 12 feet in length and had to be cleaned following each discharge, a process that took up to two hours.  Leading the 14,000 soldiers fighting for Venice was the Bergamo condottiero Bartolomeo Colleoni. He was working jointly with Ercole I d’Este from Ferrara and noblemen from Pesaro and Forlì. Another condottiero, Federico da Montefeltro, led the army of 13,000 soldiers serving Florence in an alliance with Milan and Bologna. Read more…

Carlo Bergonzi – operatic tenor

Singer whose style was called the epitome of Italian vocal art

Carlo Bergonzi, one of the great Italian opera singers of the 20th century, died on this day in 2014 in Milan.  He specialised in singing roles from the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, helping to revive some of the composer’s lesser-known works.  Between the 1950s and 1980s he sang more than 300 times with the Metropolitan Opera of New York and the New York Times, in its obituary, described his voice as ‘an instrument of velvety beauty and nearly unrivalled subtlety’.  Bergonzi was born in Polesine Parmense near Parma in Emilia-Romagna in 1924. He claimed to have seen his first opera, Verdi’s Il trovatore, at the age of six.  He sang in his local church and soon began to appear in children’s roles in operas in Busseto, a town near where he lived.  He left school at the age of 11 and started to work in the same cheese factory as his father in Parma.  Read more…

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Agostino Steffani – composer

Baroque musician and cleric who features in modern literature

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.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Mussolini's War: Fascist Italy from Triumph to Collapse, 1935-1943, by John Gooch

While staying closely aligned with Hitler, Mussolini remained carefully neutral until the summer of 1940. Then, with the wholly unexpected and sudden collapse of the French and British armies, Mussolini declared war on the Allies in the hope of making territorial gains in southern France and Africa. This decision proved a dreadful miscalculation, dooming Italy to its own prolonged and unwinnable war, immense casualties and an Allied invasion in 1943 which ushered in a terrible new era for the country.  John Gooch's book is the definitive account of Italy's war experience. Beginning with the invasion of Abyssinia and ending with Mussolini's arrest, Gooch brilliantly portrays the nightmare of a country with too small an industrial sector, too incompetent a leadership and too many fronts on which to fight.  Everywhere - whether in the USSR, the Western Desert or the Balkans - Italian troops found themselves against either better-equipped or more motivated enemies. The result was a war entirely at odds with the dreams of pre-war Italian planners. Mussolini's War shows the centrality of Italy to the war, outlining the brief rise and disastrous fall of the Italian military campaign.

John Gooch is one of the world's leading writers on Italy and the two world wars. His books include Mussolini and His Generals and The Italian Army and the First World War. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Leeds. 

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24 July

NEW - Benedetto Marcello – writer and musician

Controversial composer had little time for opera

Aristocratic poet and musician Benedetto Marcello, the author of a satirical and witty pamphlet that was reprinted many times and became an important source about the early history of opera, died on this day in 1739 in Brescia, then in the Republic of Venice.  Marcello is mainly remembered for his composition Estro poeticoarmonico, a setting for voices and instruments of the first 50 Psalms in the Bible. An edition with words in English was brought out in 1757, after his death.  In his amusing pamphlet Il teatro alla moda, which was written in 1720, Marcello expressed strong opinions about the state of musical drama at the time.  Born into a noble family in 1686 in Venice, he was intended by his father for the law.  Marcello became a member of the Venetian Council of Forty in 1711 and in 1730 he went to Pola in Istria as Governor, but he managed to combine his work with writing and composing music.  Read more…

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Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia

The first king to be called Victor Emmanuel

The King of Sardinia between 1802 and 1821, Victor Emmanuel I was born on this day in 1759 in the Royal Palace in Turin.  He was the second son of King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia and was known from birth as the Duke of Aosta.  When the King died in 1796, Victor Emmanuel’s older brother succeeded as King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia.  Within two years the royal family was forced to leave Turin because their territory in the north was occupied by French troops.  After his wife died, Charles Emmanuel abdicated the throne in favour of his brother, Victor Emmanuel, because he had no heir.  The Duke of Aosta became Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia in June 1802 and ruled from Cagliari for the next 12 years until he was able to return to Turin.  During his reign he formed the Carabinieri, which is still one of the primary forces of law and order in Italy.  Read more…

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Eugene de Blaas - painter

Austro-Italian famous for Venetian beauties

Eugene de Blaas, a painter whose animated depictions of day-to-day life among ordinary Venetians - especially young Venetian women - were his most popular works, was born on this day in 1843 in Albano Laziale, just outside Rome.  Sometimes known as Eugenio Blaas, or Eugene von Blaas, he was of Austrian parentage. His father, Karl, also a painter, was a teacher at the Accademia di Belle Arti (Academy of Fine Arts) in Rome. His brother, Julius, likewise born in Albano, was also a painter.  In 1856, the family moved to Venice after his father was offered a similar position at the Venetian Academy. At that time, Venice attracted artists from all over Europe and the young De Blaas grew up in a social circle that was largely populated by painters and poets.  Like his father, he became interested in the school known as Academic Classicism, a style which seeks to adhere to the principles of Romanticism and Neoclassicism.  Read more…

Ermanno Olmi - film director

Won most prestigious awards at Cannes and Venice festivals

The film director Ermanno Olmi, who won both the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Venice Film Festival’s equivalent Golden Lion with two of his most memorable films, was born on this day in 1931 in the Lombardy city of Bergamo.  His 1978 film L'albero degli zoccoli - The Tree of Wooden Clogs - a story about Lombard peasant life in the 19th century that had echoes of postwar neorealism in the way it was shot, won the Palme d’Or - one of the most prestigious of film awards - at the Cannes Film Festival of the same year.  A decade later, Olmi won the Golden Lion, the top award at the Venice Film Festival, with La leggenda del santo bevitore - The Legend of the Holy Drinker - a story adapted from a novella by the Austrian author Joseph Roth about a homeless drunk in Paris, who is handed a 200-francs lifeline by a complete stranger and vows to find a way to pay it back.  Read more…

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Giuseppe Di Stefano – tenor

Singer from Sicily who made sweet music with Callas

The opera singer Giuseppe Di Stefano, whose beautiful voice led people to refer to him as ‘the true successor to Beniamino Gigli’, was born on this day in 1921 in Motta Sant’Anastasia, a town near Catania in Sicily.  Di Stefano also became known for his many performances and recordings with the soprano, Maria Callas, with whom he had a brief romance.  The only son of a Carabinieri officer, who later became a cobbler, and his dressmaker wife, Di Stefano was educated at a Jesuit seminary and for a short while contemplated becoming a priest.  But after serving in the Italian army he took singing lessons from the Swiss tenor, Hugues Cuenod. Di Stefano made his operatic debut in Reggio Emilia in 1946 when he was in his mid-20s, singing the role of Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon. The following year he made his debut at La Scala in Milan in the same role.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Essays on Italian and Spanish Music of the Baroque, by David Whitwell

With the exception of the new form, Opera, the previous two centuries of musicology have tended to present the Baroque Period, 1600-1750, as a period of functional, even mechanical, music. The contemporary discussion in Essays on Italian and Spanish Music of the Baroque will help the reader understand that nothing could be further from the truth. The great interest of most musicians living in the Baroque Period was the role of emotion in music both in composition and in performance. The role of all idioms of performance, including especially improvisation, were directly associated with the goal of increased communication of emotion. We believe these pages will suggest to the reader that no player of the Baroque Period ever just played what he saw on paper, and we don't believe anyone should do so today.

David Whitwell has been a guest professor in one hundred different universities and conservatories throughout the United States and in 23 other countries. 

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Benedetto Marcello – writer and musician

Controversial composer had little time for opera

A 19th century bust of Marcello, 
housed in Palazzo Loredan in Venice

Aristocratic poet and musician Benedetto Marcello, the author of a satirical and witty pamphlet that was reprinted many times and became an important source about the early history of opera, died on this day in 1739 in Brescia, then in the Republic of Venice.

Marcello is mainly remembered for his composition Estro poeticoarmonico, a setting for voices and instruments of the first 50 Psalms in the Bible. An edition with words in English was brought out in 1757, after his death.

In his amusing pamphlet Il teatro alla moda, which was written in 1720, Marcello expressed strong opinions about the state of musical drama at the time.

Born into a noble family in 1686 in Venice, he was intended by his father for the law.  Marcello became a member of the Venetian Council of Forty in 1711 and in 1730 he went to Pola in Istria as Governor, but he managed to combine his work with writing and composing music. 

Eight years later, Marcello retired to Brescia as papal chamberlain. During his life he composed many operas, oratorios, cantatas, concertos and sonatas.

He was also a poet, translated John Dryden’s Timotheus as a text for one of his own cantatas, and wrote a libretto for the 1709 opera, Arata in Sparta, by Guido Ruggeri.

As a young man Marcello was a contemporary of Antonio Vivaldi in Venice and it is thought that his music has a flavour of Vivaldi’s work.

Although Marcello wrote an opera, La fede riconosciuta, which was produced in Vicenza in 1702, he had little sympathy with this form of music, as he showed when writing his pamphlet Il teatro alla moda.

The cover of Marcello's satirical
pamphlet, Il teatro alla moda

In 1728, Marcello married his singing student, Rosanna Scalfi, in a secret ceremony. As a nobleman, his marriage to a commoner was unlawful and after his death it was declared null by the state. Marcello died of tuberculosis while living in Brescia in 1739.  Rosanna was unable to inherit his estate and filed a suit in 1742 against Marcello’s brother Alessandro, asking for financial support.

The library of the Brussels Conservatoire possesses some interesting volumes of chamber cantatas composed by Marcello for his mistress.

The composer Joachim Raff wrote an opera entitled Benedetto Marcello, based loosely on the lives of Marcello and Rosanna Scalfi. 

The Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia - also known as the Venice Conservatory - was named after him. The conservatory is housed in Palazzo Pisani a San Stefano, which faces Campo Santo Stefano in the San Marco sestiere.

A street in Rome, Largo Benedetto Marcello, is also named in his memory. 

Marcello's birthplace in Venice, in the Palazzo Marcello on the Grand Canal in the Cannaregio sestiere, is marked with a plaque.

The Palazzo Marcello on the Grand Canal
in Venice, Benedetto's birthplace

Travel tip:

Visitors to Venice who arrive by train at Santa Lucia railway station are greeted by the magnificent sight of the Grand Canal when they come out of the station. They can choose to sail down to Piazza San Marco in style on a vaporetto, or to walk down Lista di Spagna and through fascinating back streets in the direction of the Rialto bridge and Piazza San Marco. Walking through the Santa Croce area in the direction of the Rialto will bring you to the Campo della Pescheria and Venice’s famous fish market, which has been developed into a vibrant area with bars and restaurants where you can eat outside looking out over the Grand Canal. Venice’s most famous opera house is Teatro La Fenice in Campo San Fantin, inaugurated in 1792, but it is predated by the Teatro Goldoni, which originated as Teatro di San Luca, founded in 1622. La Fenice’s heyday was during the 19th century when the premieres of Rossini’s Tancredi and Semiramide and Verdi’s La traviata were held there. During the Austrian occupation of Venice,  the audience threw red, white and green flowers on the stage to represent the Italian flag and shouted ‘Viva Verdi’. They weren’t just praising the composer, Giuseppe Verdi, but using the letters of his last name as code for ‘Vittorio Emanuele Re d’Italia’, expressing support for the first King of Italy.  

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Brescia's 11th century Duomo Vecchio, also known
as La Rotonda because of its cylindrical shape

Travel tip:

Brescia, where Benedetto Marcello was residing when he died,  is a town of great artistic and architectural importance. Although it is the second city in Lombardy after the capoluogo, Milano, and has Roman remains and well-preserved Renaissance buildings, it is not as well-known to tourists as other historic Italian cities. Brescia became a Roman colony before the birth of Christ and remains from the forum, theatre and a temple can still be seen. The town was fought over by different rulers in the Middle Ages, but came under the protection of Venice in the 15th century. There is a distinct Venetian influence in the architecture of the Piazza della Loggia, an elegant square in the centre of the town, which has a clock tower similar to the one in Saint Mark’s square in Venice. Next to the 17th century Duomo is an older cathedral, the unusually shaped Duomo Vecchio, also known as la Rotonda, which is open to the public. The Santa Giulia Museo della Cittá covers more than 3000 years of Brescia’s history, housed within the Benedictine Nunnery of San Salvatore and Santa Giulia in Via Musei. The nunnery was built over a Roman residential quarter, but some of the houses, with their original mosaics and frescoes, have now been excavated and can be seen while you are looking round the museum.

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More reading:

Antonio Vivaldi, the musical priest who died impoverished

Tomaso Albinoni, the Vivaldi contemporary who became a prolific composer

Bartolomeo Cristofori, the 17th century musician credited with inventing the piano

Also on this day:

1759: The birth of Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia

1843: The birth of painter Eugene de Blaas

1921: The birth of tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano

1931: The birth of film director Ermanno Olmi

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