Page 199 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2017. Glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti - Musical Migrations: Crossroads of European Musical Diversity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 1
P. 199
From theatre to church:
some remarks about censorship
on operatic style at the time of the Cecilian
regimentation
Cristina Scuderi
Univerza v Gradcu
University of Graz
The migration discussed in this article does not regard any movement of
people but refers to the transfer of a musical genre, namely opera, from the
theatre to the ecclesiastical context and the consequences that such process
bore at the times of the Cecilian movement.
For centuries, music shifting from theatre to church was regarded as
absolutely normal.1 Among all examples, a case in point is represented by
the collection of contrafacta Arie selectissimae printed in Augsburg by Lot-
ter in 1798.2 The arias featured range from Mozart’s Per pietà non ricer-
cate, conceived for the repeat of Anfossi’s opera Il curioso indiscreto for
the Viennese Burgtheater in 1783 (adapted to the words of Omni die dic
Mariae), to the duet Decisa è la mia sorte by Gaetano Andreozzi, writ-
ten five years before Lotter’s publication, in 1793 (adapted to the words
of Jesu dulcis memoria). Being so popular, it is likely that the arias orig-
inally meant for the theatre were adapted to the liturgical context.
In general, the number of instruments required tends to be re-
duced: clarinets, flutes, bassoons and especially timpani are almost al-
1 Intermittently renewed rules during the time prohibited the performance of secu-
lar repertoire in the liturgy; nevertheless, the practice lasted for a long time. See To-
masz Jez, “Contrafacta of operatic arias among the dominicans of baroque Silesia,”
De musica disserenda, XI/1–2 (2015), 148.
2 Cristina Scuderi, ed., Ariae selectissimae. Dieci contrafacta spirituali di arie ope-
ristiche di Mozart, Cimarosa, Paisiello et al. (Augsburg 1798) (Zurich: Kunzelmann,
2012).
197
some remarks about censorship
on operatic style at the time of the Cecilian
regimentation
Cristina Scuderi
Univerza v Gradcu
University of Graz
The migration discussed in this article does not regard any movement of
people but refers to the transfer of a musical genre, namely opera, from the
theatre to the ecclesiastical context and the consequences that such process
bore at the times of the Cecilian movement.
For centuries, music shifting from theatre to church was regarded as
absolutely normal.1 Among all examples, a case in point is represented by
the collection of contrafacta Arie selectissimae printed in Augsburg by Lot-
ter in 1798.2 The arias featured range from Mozart’s Per pietà non ricer-
cate, conceived for the repeat of Anfossi’s opera Il curioso indiscreto for
the Viennese Burgtheater in 1783 (adapted to the words of Omni die dic
Mariae), to the duet Decisa è la mia sorte by Gaetano Andreozzi, writ-
ten five years before Lotter’s publication, in 1793 (adapted to the words
of Jesu dulcis memoria). Being so popular, it is likely that the arias orig-
inally meant for the theatre were adapted to the liturgical context.
In general, the number of instruments required tends to be re-
duced: clarinets, flutes, bassoons and especially timpani are almost al-
1 Intermittently renewed rules during the time prohibited the performance of secu-
lar repertoire in the liturgy; nevertheless, the practice lasted for a long time. See To-
masz Jez, “Contrafacta of operatic arias among the dominicans of baroque Silesia,”
De musica disserenda, XI/1–2 (2015), 148.
2 Cristina Scuderi, ed., Ariae selectissimae. Dieci contrafacta spirituali di arie ope-
ristiche di Mozart, Cimarosa, Paisiello et al. (Augsburg 1798) (Zurich: Kunzelmann,
2012).
197
