Venice and North-East Italy

Highlights from the music history of La Serenissima :

- Ottaviano Petrucci's numerous printed editions of mostly Franco-Flemish polyphony (1501-09) and tablatures (from 1509).

- The church music at St. Marks:  Willaert 1527-62, his pupil Zarlino 1564-†1590, Merulo and the Gabrielis as organists, Monteverdi 1613-†1643.

- The start of public opera performances in 1637 (Teatro S. Cassiano); at the end of the century eight public theatres were active - composers: Monteverdi, Cavalli; later Legrenzi, Galuppi a.o.

- The Ospedali, charitable institutions for orphans and bastards, with ample music training; the most renowned was the Pietà, where Vivaldi was teaching from1704 until 1738.

The loss of independence (1797) went together with a decline of the unique music culture, although Venice continues to be one of Italy's leading music centres. Five Verdi premières, including Rigoletto and La Traviata.

20^th century composers born here include Luigi Nono and  Bruno Maderna.

The composers Willaert, Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Cavalli ane many others have worked here. Claudio Merulo was organist from 1557 to1584. Note the two organ lofts left and right of the altar, cut out for polychordal music.

Established in the 16th century -  prints by Petrucci, other prints by Venetian composers, autographs a.o.

Old meeting place of artists, actors and musicians - painted portrait of Benedetto Marcello

Memorial tablet of Wagner (inside)

The presbytery of S. Marco - Monteverdi (from 1623) and Cavalli lived here - plaque of  Lorenzo Perosi

House of the Vivaldi family between 1711 and 1722.

Former prison (Casanova!) - now Sala Concerti del Circolo Artistico

Proserpina rapita by Monteverdi was performed here in 1630 - sojourns of Wagner and of George Sand with de Musset 

Tchaikovsky stayed here 2-16 XII 1877 (Fourth Symphony)

Original location Vivaldi's Pietà church, demolished ca. 1760.

New Pietà church with Vivaldi plaque. The musical tradtion is continued: concerts.

Piccolo Museo della Pietà 'Antonio Vivaldi' ; documents, instruments

In this area Vivaldi was born in 1678 - memorial tablet on the church, possibly his baptismal church

Church of the musicians' guild 'Sovvegno di musicisti di Santa Cecilia'

Graves of the composer Francesco Cavalli (1602-1670) and possibly of the music theorist Gioseffo Zarlino (1517-1590).

FP in 1984 of Luigi Nono’s Prometeo. Tragedia dell’ascolto [tragedy of listening], especially composed for this secularized church.

The composer Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801) worked here. The composer Tommaso Traetta (1727-1779) has been buried nearby.

The composer Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-1690) worked in this Ospedale

The composer, violinist and singer Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen (1745-1818) was educated here and made a glorious carreer all over Europe.

Former Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo (1678), rebuilt as cinema in 1919; sometimes musical performances.

Three addresses near the Ponte del Paradiso; in one of these houses Vivaldi lived between 1722 and 1730; nr 5879 is considered the most probable.

On this campo, Legrenzi and some pupils, such as Gasparini, lived; the house was a meeting place of musicians

Grave of Giovanni Legrenzi, †1690; no grave stone.

Spoken drama theatre from 1979 on the location of the opera theatre of San Salvador from 1622.

At the corner of Riva del Carbon and Calle Bembo is the last Venetian house of Vivaldi, 1730-40; he would die in Vienna in 1741.

Cimarosa died in the former Albergo Tre Stelle in 1801 - nearby was an important Vivaldi and Albinoni theatre: Teatro Sant' Angelo (demolished)

Grave of the great composer Giovanni Gabrieli (1557-1612)

Music shops Wolf and Nalessi

Shop with Vivaldi materials  (cd's, books, various merchandising stuff), Still existing?

Wagner stayed here in 1880 - first meeting with count Gobineau, notorious for his racist theories.

Last house of the composer Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948)  -  also plaque of Casanova  -  family Malipiero ?

Fondazione Levi - promotion and edition of music;  large archive 

Grave of The composer Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785); no grave stone

Museo della Musica di Venezia in the former church of San Mauricio; large collection of mainly string instruments.

Performances of chamber music and operas in reduced form (e.g. La Traviata by three singers and piano trio) in different rooms. A special experience!

Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello  with archive and concert hall

Venice's main opera house, built in 1792, burnt down in 1996 by arson and reopened in 2003 - archive    > www.teatrolafenice.it

Mozart stayed here 11.II - 12.III.1771 (memorial tablet visible from Ponte dei Barcaroli)

Former Teatro San Moisè, active from 1620 to 1818. Memorial tablet for Rossini's opera debut La cambiale di matrimonio,1810. Also Monteverdi composed for San Moisè.

In the former Ospedale degli Incurabili, Galuppi, Hasse, Jommelli and Porpora have worked.

Leoš Janáček stayed here in september 1925 on occasion of the ISCM festival (concerts in La Fenice).

Birthplace of 'maestro di suoni e silenzi' Luigi Nono, °1924;  he died in the same house in 1990.

Possible location of the grave of Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1750).  Albinoni lived in this area but his house is not known.

Birthplace of the composer Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948) 

Wagner lived here in 1858-59 (composition of part of Tristan);  only visible from the canal.

Birthplace of Gian-Francesco Malipiero (1882-1973); he lived here until 1904 (Balbi was his mother's family) 

House of the writer Gasparo Gozzi, the creator of the Turandot story which inspired Weber, Busoni and Puccini.

House of the writer Carlo Goldoni - museum, collection of opera libretti

The very first public opera theatre, San Cassiano from 1637, was built in the garden of this palace; no traces left.

Upstairs a historic concert hall where magnificent sacred music sounded by Gabrieli and contemporaries. - now museum

Grave and bust of Monteverdi (Cappella di S. Ambrogio); grave of the composer Giovanni Picchi (early 17^th century)

Centre of French romantic music from 1780 to 1920. Research, publications, CD's (www.bruzanemediabase.com), broadcasting (www.classicalradio.bruzane.com), concert hall.

The composer Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785) lived In this street

Birthplace of the composing brothers Alessandro and Benedetto Marcello (1684-1750 resp. 1686-1739). Plaques on canal side and on Sottego Vendramin; family arms in courtyard.

Last residence of Wagner 1882-†1883. Visits by Liszt, Levi, Humperdinck a.o.  -  now a casino. The plaque is on canal side.

grave (1820) of the German composer J. Adolf Hasse (1699-1783) and his wife, singer Faustina Bordoni; the couple had lived at this campo

Grave of the prolific composer Carlo Francesco Pollarolo (1653-1723). His son Antonio (1676-1746) was a composer too.

Monuments of Verdi and Wagner - also a part of the grounds of the famous art exhibition Bienale di Venezia.

Established in 1993 in former Convento Ss. Cosma e Damiano. Nono's legacy: documentation, MSs, correspondence, pictures, recordings; his entire library - www.luiginono.it

Archive with works by Malipiero, Casella, Respighi a.o.

Graves of Igor & Vera Strawinsky, Dyagilev, Wolf-Ferrari, Nono

Birthplace of Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785)  -  on the square Galuppi monument

At the inside are memorial tablets for the music theorist Giuseppe Zarlino (1517-1590) and the composer Giovanni Croce (c1557-1609), both born in Chioggia

A medieval composer was Marchetto da Padova (early 14^th c.). In the university library are five codices with Trecento music.  The famous Johannes Ciconia (c 1335-1411) lived here from 1400 as magister at the university and canon of the cathedral; no traces left. Presumably Padova  gave its name to the Pavane or Paduana.

Odeon in the Garden, a historical concert hall from 1534 - here sounded the first Villote alla Padovana, the origin of the Paduana or Pavane.

The violin virtuoso, composer and music theorist Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770) lived here. He was born in Piran (>  Slovenia) and lived there until 1708.

Grave of Tartini, with plaque outside.

Tartini monument.

The music theorist and composer Francesco Antonio Vallotti (1697-1780) was a Franciscan monk. He developed an early well-tempered tuning.

Tartini worked here from 1721 to '65 as  primo violino e capo di concerto, Vallotti as organist. In the  cloister are monuments for Tartini and Vallotti.

Mozart played the organs here on 13.III.1771; there were organs by Gasperini 1683 and Načić 1737, of which only the cases and some stops are extant.

Birthplace of the composer Arrigo Boito (1842-1918). He also was the librettist of Verdi's Otello and Falstaff,.

Boito monument (bust).

Large opera house and concert hall, first opened in 1761 and reopened, following renovations, in 1847, 1884 and the 20^th century.

This theatre was opened in 1819 as Tetro della Società. After a fire, it was reopened in 1904 with Mascagni, conducting his Iris.  635 seats; all genres.

Organ by Gaetano Callido 1780, 20 stops, in practically original state and a favourite among organists.

Birthplace of the composer Antonio Salieri (1750-1825), the rival of Mozart.  Memorial tablet at nr 4  (no agreement about the right place)

 Museo della Fondazione Fioroni with exhibits on Salieri.

Famous opera performances since 1913 - 25.000 seats.

Mozart appeared here on 5.I.1770. The building was destroyed in 1945 and has been partly rebuilt - concert hall 'Sala Mozart'.

Mozart stayed in the Due Torri inn from 27.XII.1769 to 10.I.1770  -  the hotel still exists in a new building from 1954.

Church devoted to St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury. Mozart, played on 7.I.1770 two organs; the left one survived (Giuseppe Bonatti 1716, II/p/22; free pedal since 1786). The young Wolfgang engraved his initials!

Collection of instruments and theatre costumes;  library.

Supposed house of Romeo Montecchi. Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet had inspired numerous composers, incl. Berlioz, Gounod, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev an Bernstein.

Supposed house of Giulietta Capuleti, Juliet; with the famous balcony.

Supposed grave of Juliet (a vaulted cell with a marble sarcophagus)

The singer Maria Callas was married with G.B. Meneghini from 1949 to 1959 and lived here between 1950 and 1955. 

Birthplace of the composer Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709)  -  the decorations refer to music. Torelli was active in Verona until the 1680s.

In this street was the birthplace of the composer Evaristo Dall' Abaco (1675-1742).

Here was the villa of Evaristo's son, the cellist and composer Joseph-Marie-Clément Dall' Abaco (1710-1805). Today the property of a winegrower.

Birthplace and last house of the composer Italo Montemezzi (1875-1952). His opera L'amore dei tre re (1913) was very popular, especially in the USA, where he lived and worked between 1919 and 1939.

Grave of Italo Montemezzi.

Famous theatre, built in 1579 by Palladio; Andrea Gabrieli participated in 1585 in a reconstruction of antique tragedy, Mozart paid a visit in 1770  -  small-scale opera and chamber music 

Modern theatre. Its large forerunner, the Teatro Eretenio from 1884, was destroyd by bombing in april 1944. Some remains can be seen nearby Viale Roma.

Originally Teatro Onigo from 1691; altered in 1765, from 1844 Teatro Sociale, rebuilt in 1869 (opened with Gounod's Faust!) - opera, ballet, concert

 Conservatorio, named after Agostino Steffani (1654-1728), who was born in Castelfranco. He worked in Germany and taught Handel. - at nr 15 a fine 18th century Teatro Accademico.

Country house of the composer Gian-Francesco Malipiero (1882-1973) from 1922;  he was buried in the garden.

Recently restored organ by Gaetano Callido from 1767, II/p/26.

Birthplace of the futurist painter and musician Luigi Russolo (1885-1947). His cacophonous Intonarumori were notorious.

Lorenzo da Ponte, the librettist of Mozarts, was a priest (ordained in 1773) and 'vicerettore' of the then episcopal seminario; still an educational institute.

Grave of the composer Vincenzo Ruffo (c1508-1587), from 1580 maestro di cappella of this church.

Factory of Fazioli grand pianos, established in 1981 - Fazioli concert hall.

New theatre for opera and concerts.

Triest belonged from 1382 to 1919 to Austria, until 1945 to Italy and, after a period as neutral buffer zone, in 1954 again to Italy. Hence an Austrian stamp on its culture. There is a Slovenian minority too, with own theatre.

Theatre built in 1801 with 1300 seats. Verdi premières: Il Corsaro 1848, Stiffelio 1850  

Verdi monument from 1906 (marble), destroyed during the first world war and remade (bronze) in 1926.

Verdi stayed in November 1850 in the former Hôtel de la Ville, working at Stiffelio.

The collection, since 2006 on three floors of this palazzo, was established by Carlo Schmidl in 1872 and constantly increased. It includes instruments, other objects, images, documents etc. on Triest's scenic and musical history.

The first music academy was founded in 1822. In the 20^th century, the Liceo Musicale 'G. Tartini' fused with the Instuto Musicale Triestino into the present institute in the Palazzo Rittmeyer.

Birthplace of the great violinist and composer Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770). The permanent exhibition includes his violin by Amati (c 1720), his death mask, pictures and some material which refers to his mathematical and acoustical research.

Baptismal church and family grave of Tartini.

Country-house of the Tartini family;  not accessible, in use by government