A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Venice
VENICE. The frequent and laudatory references made by foreigners to the Conservatories of Venice abundantly prove the reputation which they enjoyed during the 17th and 18th centuries. The President de Brosses, in his 'Lettres Historiques' (Tom. i.), speaks in the highest terms of the pleasure he received from Venetian music generally. 'The passion of the nation for this art is,' he says, 'inconceivable'; but 'the music par excellence is the music of the Hospitals; … the girls sing like angels; they play the violin, the flute, the organ, the hautboy, the violoncello, the bassoon, in short no instrument is large enough to frighten them.… Nothing can be more delightful than to see a young and pretty novice dressed in white with a bunch of pomegranate flowers behind her ear, conducting an orchestra and beating the time.' Casotti (Lettere, July 29, 1713), assures us that at Vespers in the Incurabili they do not chant they enchant (non cantano ma incantano). Rousseau (Confessions, vii.) bears similar testimony to the charm of the singing in the Venetian Conservatoires; and readers of Dr. Burney's letters will not have forgotten his extreme delight at the music which he heard at the Incurabili under Galuppi's direction; 'I ran away,' he says, 'from the music at Santa Maria Maggiore, to the Incurabili, where Buranello and his nightingales … poured balm into my wounded ears.' Finally, at the close of the last century, Mancini wrote thus, 'I am of opinion that in all Italy there are no schools of music worthy the name, save the Conservatoires of Venice and Naples and the school conducted by Bartolommeo Nucci of Pescia.'
The Venetians were always a music-loving race. Not only did the people display a natural ability for the art in the popular music of the streets and the songs of the gondoliers, but the city long possessed schools of cultivated music in the choir of St. Mark's, in the theatres, and above all in the four great Scuole or Conservatoires, which were attached to the pious foundations of the Pietà, the Mendicanti, the Ospedaletto, and the Incurabili. So famous did these schools become that the greatest masters of Italy, and even of Europe, applied for the post of director, and were proud to write oratorios, motets, and cantatas for the pupils. The names of Lotti, Galuppi, Scarlatti, Hasse, Porpora, Jomelli, Cimarosa, to take a few only, must always shed a lustre upon the Conservatoires over which they presided; and there is a tradition that Mozart, when under contract to produce an opera for the Fenice, promised an oratorio for the Incurabili choir.
The four hospitals were not, in their origin, designed as schools of music. They were built and endowed by the munificence of private citizens, to receive the poor and infirm: their position as Conservatoires was only gradually developed. The Pietà at San Giovanni in Bragola, was founded in the year 1348, by Fra Pierazzo d'Assissi as a succursal to the Foundling Hospital at San Francesco della Vigna. After the death of Pierazzo both hospitals were united at San Giovanni, and placed under the Ducal supervision. The institution was supplied with wood and corn free of charge, and enjoyed a rental of nearly three hundred thousand ducats. The children of the hospital were taught singing, among other accomplishments, and the school of music gradually developed until it came to enjoy the highest reputation in Venice. At the time of de Brosses' visit the Pietà possessed the finest orchestra in the city. The Hospital of the Pieta was the only one of the Conservatoires which survived the downfall of the Republic and escaped the financial collapse which overtook so many pious foundations of Venice.
The Hospital of the Mendicanti was first founded in the 13th century, for the reception of lepers. In the year 1225 these unfortunates were all collected at SS. Gervasio e Protasio; and in 1262 they were removed to the island of San Lazaro in the lagoon. As the leprosy gradually disappeared from Venice, the institution and its funds were devoted to the assistance of mendicants and impotent persons. In the 17th century Bartolommeo Bontempelli and Domenico Biava, two wealthy citizens, built and endowed the Hospital at SS. Giovanni e Paolo.—The School of Music at the Mendicanti sprang up in the same way as the school at the Pietà had grown; and, towards the close of the 18th century, it had acquired a high repute. In the year 1775, on May 28, the Emperor Joseph II. was entertained at the Mendicanti, and a new oratorio was performed in his honour. The contemporary account of the visit describes how 'the whole party betook themselves to hear the new oratorio sung by the girls of the Mendicanti orphanage. The Emperor's suite occupied places reserved for them in the tribune opposite the grille which enclosed the choir where the girls sang. But the Emperor and his brother, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, attempted to enter the choir. They were not recognized at first by the lady guardians of that door, forbidden to all men without distinction of person, and admittance was refused. The Emperor, however, was presently recognized and admitted. He amused himself by turning over the leaves of the music, and by taking part in a full chorus with his own well modulated voice.' In the year 1777, owing to financial difficulties and mismanagement, the hospital of the Mendicanti was closed, though the choir continued to take part in concerts and oratorios for some time longer. The buildings of the Mendicanti now form part of the great Civic Hospital of Venice.
The Ospedaletto was founded in 1527, at SS. Giovanni e Paolo, as a poorhouse and orphanage. S. Girolamo Miani was among its early benefactors, and so too, by report, was Ignatius Loyola. The Conservatoire of the Ospedaletto seems to have been the least renowned of the four Venetian Schools, though Dr. Burney expresses himself much satisfied with the singing which he heard there, ranking it after the Incurabili.
The Incurabili, on the Zattere, an hospital for incurables, was founded in 1522, by two noble ladies, Maria Malipiero and Maria Grimani, under the inspiration of San Gaetano Thiene. The first building was of wood; but the new church was begun in 1566 and finished in 1600. The education of the girls who were admitted to the hospital was supervised by a committee of twelve noble ladies. Dr. Burney gives the palm to the orchestra and choir of the Incurabili. This Conservatoire was raised to its high position by the labours of the two famous masters Lotti and Galuppi. Galuppi, called Il Buranello, was the last maestro of the Incurabili choir, and wrote for it the last oratorio performed before the closing of the institution in 1776, the 'Moyses de Sinai revertens.' Six years later the concertroom of the Incurabili was opened once more for a performance of Galuppi's 'Tobias,' in honour of Pope Pius IV. The Procurator Manin, at his own charges, caused the hall to be painted with scenes from the life of Tobias, and decorated with mirrors. The oratorio was given by a picked choir and orchestra chosen from the four Conservatoires; and the performers were all dressed in black silk.
The girls who were admitted to the four great Conservatorios of Venice, were by rule required to prove poverty, ill-health, and Venetian birth. This rule was sometimes relaxed in favour of exceptionally promising voices. The state dowered the girls either for marriage or for the convent. The pupils were divided into two classes, the novices and the provette or pupil teachers, whose duty it was to instruct the novices in the rudiments of music under the guidance of the maestro. The number of scholars in each Conservatoire varied from sixty to eighty. Every Saturday and Sunday evening the choirs performed full musical Vespers or a motet, usually written by their own maestro. The churches were crowded, and the town divided into factions which discussed, criticized, and supported this or that favourite singer. The opera-singers attended in large numbers to study the method of the more famous voices. On great festivals an oratorio was usually given. The words of the libretto were originally written in Italian; but for greater decorum Latin was subsequently adopted. The libretto was divided into two parts, and printed with a fancy border surrounding the title-page, which contained the names of the singers and sometimes a sonnet in their praise. The libretto was distributed gratis at the door of the church; and each of the audience was supplied with a wooden stool or chair. The choir sang behind a screen, and was invisible. Admission to the choir was forbidden to all men except the maestro; but Eousseau, by the help of M. le Blond, French Consul, succeeded in evading this rule, and was enabled to visit the choir of the Mendicanti and to make the acquaintance of the young singers whose voices had so delighted him. Special tribunes, called Coretti, were reserved for ambassadors and high state officials. Inside the church applause was forbidden, but the audience marked their approval by drawing in the breath and by shuffling their chairs on the ground.
Authorities.
P. Canal. 'Della Musica in Venezia.' Printed in 'Venezia e le sue Lagune,' vol. i. part 2, p. 471.
Francesco Caffi. Letter to E. Cicogna. Printed in Cicogna, 'Iscrizioni Veneziane,' vol. v. p. 326.
E. Cicogna. 'Iscrizioni Veneziane,' vol. v. p. 297, where a full list of all the Oratorios performed at the Incurabili will be found.
Dr. Burney. 'The Present State of Music in France and Italy.'
Dr. Burney. 'History of Music.'
De Brosses. 'Lettres historiques/ Tom. i.
Rousseau. 'Confessions,' Lib. vii.
Fétis. 'Biographie Universelle des Musiciens.'
Bournet. 'Venise, Notes prises dans la Bibliothèque d'un vieux Vénitien,' p. 275.
Molmenti. 'La Storia di Venezia nella vita privata,' cap. x.
Taasini. 'Curiosità Veneziane.' s.v. Pietà, Mendicanti, Ospedaletto, Incurabili.