The Cappella Marciana is the modern name for the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

and instrumentalists of

St Mark's Basilica The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark ( it, Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco), commonly known as St Mark's Basilica ( it, Basilica di San Marco; vec, Baxéłega de San Marco), is the cathedral church of the Catholic Chu ...

, Venice, Italy.

Overview

The masters of the ''cappella ducale'' in the 16th and 17th centuries included many of the most notable composers of the

Italian baroque Italian Baroque (or ''Barocco'') is a stylistic period in Italian history and art that spanned from the late 16th century to the early 18th century. History The early 17th century marked a time of change for those of the Roman Catholic religion ...

. In addition to providing music at the Basilica, the choir and instrumentalists of the ''cappella'' performed important functions in the Venetian calendar of feasts. Many of the works of the maestri di cappella are preserved in illuminated choir books at the Archivio di Stato di Venezia (ASV), the Biblioteca del Civico Museo Correr and the

Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana The Marciana Library or Library of Saint Mark ( it, italic=no, Biblioteca Marciana, but in historical documents commonly referred to as ) is a public library in Venice, Italy. It is one of the earliest surviving public libraries and repositori ...

History

Maestri di cappella

File:Adrian Willaert.jpg, Adrian Willaert File:Claudio Monteverdi.jpg, Claudio Monteverdi File:Baldassare Galuppi Memorial.jpeg, Baldassare Galuppi File:DonLorenzoPerosi.jpg, Don Lorenzo Perosi File:Venedig Basilika.jpg, Front of the basilica The list of ''maestri'', musical directors, and organists includes:F. Caffi, ''Storia della musica sacra nella già Cappella ducale di San Marco in Venezia dal 1318 al 1797''. *

Johannes de Quadris Johannes de Quadris (Quatris) (before 1410 – 1457?) was an Italian composer of the early Renaissance. He was one of the first composers of polyphony associated with the basilica of St. Mark's in Venice, and the earliest known composer to ...

(1463-1491) * Pietro de Fossis (1491-1527) *

Adrian Willaert Adrian Willaert ( – 7 December 1562) was a Flemish composer of High Renaissance music. Mainly active in Italy, he was the founder of the Venetian School. He was one of the most representative members of the generation of northern composers ...

(1527-1563) *

Cipriano de Rore Cipriano de Rore (occasionally Cypriano) (1515 or 1516 – between 11 and 20 September 1565) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance, active in Italy. Not only was he a central representative of the generation of Franco-Flemish compose ...

(1563-1565) *

Gioseffo Zarlino Gioseffo Zarlino (31 January or 22 March 1517 – 4 February 1590) was an Italian music theorist and composer of the Renaissance. He made a large contribution to the theory of counterpoint as well as to musical tuning. Life and career Zarlino w ...

(1565-1590) *

Baldassare Donato Baldassare Donato (also Donati) (1525-1530 – June 1603) was an Italian composer and singer of the Venetian school of the late Renaissance. He was ''maestro di cappella'' of the prestigious St. Mark's Basilica at the end of the 16th century ...

(1590-1605) *

Giovanni Croce Giovanni Croce (; also Ioanne a Cruce Clodiensis, Zuanne Chiozotto; 1557 – 15 May 1609) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance, of the Venetian School. He was particularly prominent as a madrigalist, one of the few among the Venetian ...

(1605-1609) *

Giulio Cesare Martinengo Giulio Cesare Martinengo (; – 10 July 1613) was an Italian composer and teacher of the late Renaissance and early Baroque Venetian School. He was the predecessor to Claudio Monteverdi at San Marco. He probably came from Verona, and was th ...

(1609-1613) *

Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered ...

(1613-1644) *

Giovanni Rovetta Giovanni Rovetta (c. 1595/97–1668) was an Italian Baroque composer and ''maestro di capella'' of the Capella Marciana at St Mark's Basilica, Venice between Monteverdi and Cavalli. He may have been a choirboy at St. Mark's, where his father p ...

(1644-1668) *

Francesco Cavalli Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque music, Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverd ...

(1668-1676) *

Natale Monferrato Natale Monferrato (1603–1685) was an Italian baroque composer. He was a pupil of Giovanni Rovetta, then was a singer at St Mark's Basilica in Venice, and then with the aid of Francesco Cavalli vicemaestro, or ''maestro di coro'' (1647–76). On ...

(1676-1685) *

Giovanni Legrenzi Giovanni Legrenzi (baptized August 12, 1626 – May 27, 1690) was an Italian composer of opera, vocal and instrumental music, and organist, of the Baroque era. He was one of the most prominent composers in Venice in the late 17th century, and ext ...

(1685-1690) *

Giovanni Battista Volpe Giovanni Battista Volpe (–1691) was a Venetian composer for operas during the Baroque period. He was also known as Rovetta and Rovettino. Volpe was an organist at St Mark's Basilica, and succeeded Giovanni Legrenzi as ''maestro di capella'' of ...

(1690-1692) *

Gian Domenico Partenio Gian Domenico Partenio () was a Venetian composer of operas during the Baroque period. He served as vice ''maestro'' of St Mark's Basilica's Cappella Marciana from 1685, before succeeding Giovanni Battista Volpe as from 1692 until 1701. In 167 ...

(1692-1702) * Antonio Biffi (1702-1736) *

Antonio Lotti Antonio Lotti (5 January 1667 – 5 January 1740) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. Biography Lotti was born in Venice, although his father Matteo was ''Kapellmeister'' at Hanover at the time. Oral tradition says that in 1682, Lotti be ...

(1736-1740) * Antonio Pollarolo (1740-1747) * Giacomo Giuseppe Saratelli (1747-1762) *

Baldassarre Galuppi Baldassare Galuppi (18 October 17063 January 1785) was an Italian composer, born on the island of Burano in the Venetian Republic. He belonged to a generation of composers, including Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, and C. ...

(1762-1785) *

Ferdinando Bertoni Ferdinando Bertoni (15 August 1725 – 1 December 1813) was an Italian composer and organist. Early years He was born in Salò, and began his music studies in Brescia, not far from his birthplace. Around 1740 he went to Bologna, where he studied ...

(1785-1808) * Bonaventura Furlanetto (1808-1811) * Giovanni Agostino Perotti (1811-1855) *

Antonio Buzzolla Antonio Buzzolla (2 March 1815 – 20 March 1871) was an Italian composer and conductor. A native of Adria, he studied in Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto ...

(1855-1871) * Nicolò Coccon (1871-1894) *

Lorenzo Perosi Monsignor Lorenzo Perosi (21 December 1872 – 12 October 1956) was an Italian composer of sacred music and the only member of the Giovane Scuola who did not write opera. In the late 1890s, while he was still only in his twenties, Perosi was a ...

(1894-1898) * Pietro Magri (1898-1899) *

Giulio Bas Giulio Bas (21 April 1874 – 27 August 1929) was an Italian Romantic composer and organist. Life Born in Venice, he studied with Giovanni Tebaldini at the Cappella Marciana and with Marco Enrico Bossi at the Liceo Musicale of Venice. He comple ...

(1899-1900) * Delfino Thermignon (1900-1921) * Umberto Ravetta (1921-1926) * Matteo Tosi (1926-1938) * Gastone De Zuccoli (1938-1939) * Luigi Vio (1939-1954) * Alfredo Bravi (1954-1981) * Roberto Micconi (1981-2000) * Marco Gemmani since 2000

First Organists

* Zucchetto (1316-1336) * Francesco da Pesaro (1336-1369) * Giandomenico Dattolo (1369-1375) * Andrea da San Silvestro (1375-1379) * Joannino Tagiapiera (1379-1389) * Antonio de' Servi (1389-1397) * Filippo (1397-1406) * Zuanne (1406-1414) * Antonio Romano (1414-1419) * Bernardino (1419-1445) * Bernardo di Stefano Murer (1445-1459) * Bartolomeo di Batista de Vielmis (1459-1504) * Zuan Maria di Marino (1504-1507) * Dionisio Memmo (1507-1516) * Giovanni Armonio (1516-1552) *

Annibale Padovano Annibale Padovano (1527 – March 15, 1575) was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance Venetian School. He was one of the earliest developers of the keyboard toccata. Life Padovano was born in Padua — hence his na ...

(1552-1566) *

Claudio Merulo Claudio Merulo (; 8 April 1533 – 4 May 1604) was an Italian composer, publisher and organist of the late Renaissance period, most famous for his innovative keyboard music and his ensemble music composed in the Venetian polychoral style. He wa ...

(1566-1584) *

Andrea Gabrieli Andrea Gabrieli (1532/1533Bryant, Grove online – August 30, 1585) was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance. The uncle of the somewhat more famous Giovanni Gabrieli, he was the first internationally renowned member of the Ven ...

(1584-1585) *

Giovanni Gabrieli Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1554/1557 – 12 August 1612) was an Italian composer and organist. He was one of the most influential musicians of his time, and represents the culmination of the style of the Venetian School, at the time of the shift f ...

(1585-1612) * Giampaolo Savi (1612-1619) * Giovanni Battista Grillo (1619-1621) * Francesco Usper (1621-1623) * Carlo Filago (1623-1644) * Massimiliano Neri (1644-1665) *

(1665-1668) * Giovanni Antonio Gianettini (1668-1669) *

Pietro Andrea Ziani Pietro Andrea Ziani (1616 in Venice 1684 in Naples) was an Italian organist and composer.Rappresentazione sacra: geistliches Musikdrama am Wiener Kaiserhof Richard Bletschacher - 1985 PIETRO ANDREA ZIANI Wurde am 21. 12. 1616 in Venedig getauft. ...

(1669-1670) *

(1678-1690) * Giacomo Filippo Spada (1690-1706) *

(1706-1736) * Giacomo Giuseppe Saratelli (1736) *

Agostino Bonaventura Coletti Agostino may refer to: *Agostino (name) * ''Agostino'' (film), an Italian film directed by Mauro Bolognini * ''Agostino'' (novel), a short novel by Alberto Moravia *, an Italian coaster See also *Agostini (disambiguation) *D'Agostino (disambiguati ...

(1736-1752) *

(1752-1785) * Giovanni Battista Grazioli (1785-1821) * Carlo Faggi (1821-1856) * Nicolò Coccon (1856-1873) * Giuseppe Manfrini (1873-1875) * Andrea Girardi (1875-1895) * Oreste Ravanello (1895-1904) * Giovanni Pittau (1904-1956) * Carmelo Pavan (1956-1975) * Roberto Micconi (1975-2016) * Pierpaolo Turetta (2016-2021) * Alvise Mason since 2021

The modern cappella

A boys choir was added 1890, disbanded 1960, and reformed 2006. In 2002, the Solisti della Cappella Marciana were formed as a concert giving orchestra. The current director from 2000 is Marco Gemmani, and organist from 2016 is Pierpaolo Turetta.

References

External links

Cappella Marciana website (Italian)
{{authority control Culture in Venice Italian classical music groups Italian choirs Boys' and men's choirs St Mark's Basilica