Page 201 - 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. 201
from theatre to church: some remarks about censorship on operatic style ...
very often quite unnecessary”.7 Much of this music could indeed be per-
formed both at the organ and piano, the pedal part being not substantial
(where present).
With the advent of the Cecilian era, these collections began to be re-
ported by reformers, who no longer regarded such music as borrowed from
the theatre, but as an actual intrusion of the operatic genre into the church,
an abuse, a profanation, and – to quote one of the reformers – the “last de-
gree of discouragement”.
Entire masses were built upon opera transcriptions such as the Mes-
sa solenne per organo by Carlo Fumagalli8, adapted on Verdian masterpiec-
es. It wasn’t unusual at that time to go to church and hear the Versetti per
il Gloria from Traviata, or melodies from I Vespri Siciliani during the cele-
brant’s communion; or a version of the Aida march right after the end of the
mass, something resembling a kind of greatest hits, or the best of collection.9
If not entire masses, individual pieces in the symphony from opera
style were alternatively performed: symphonies from Nabucodonosor, or
from La battaglia di Legnano, or La forza del destino by Verdi could be
the position of maestro direttore e concertatore at La Scala Theatre and was appointed
director of the Conservatory of Milan in 1872.
7 “Lasciamo stare che vi sono dei pezzi intieri di opere teatrali col titolo di Suonate so-
pra motivi di Mercadante, io osservo che l’organo vi è trattato quasi sempre alla ma-
niera del pianoforte, se si eccettui una qualche piccola indicazione di pedale spar-
sa qua e là, molto spesso senza alcun bisogno.” Letter by Giovanni Battista Candotti
to Alberto Mazzucato, Cividale, 5. 3. 1846. Cividale, Archivio Musicale Capitolare,
Fondo Candotti.
8 Carlo Fumagalli (1822–1907) also adapted pieces from operas by other authors. He
wrote two solemn masses: one from Lauro Rossi’s opera I falsi monetari and the
other from Filippo Marchetti’s opera Ruy Blas. Moreover, a Sinfonia d’organo per
dopo la Messa dall’opera “Marco Visconti” by Nicola Vaccaj and three compositions
for organ from Rossini’s La donna del lago and Stabat Mater. All these pieces are
collected in Musica d’opera all’organo di illustri marchigiani, original adaptations by
Carlo Fumagalli, edited by Maurizio Machella (Padova: Armelin, 2006).
9 This practice is also witnessed by Tomasi di Lampedusa in his renowned romance
Il Gattopardo: “[…] quando il corteuccio entrò in chiesa, don Ciccio Turneo, giun-
to col fiato grosso ma in tempo, attaccò con impeto: Amami, Alfredo”; (“When the
small procession reached the church, father Ciccio Turneo, showing up short of bre-
ath but right in time, started energically playing: Amami, Alfredo”). Verdi’s Travia-
ta was once again been performed during a religious function. Cfr. Giuseppe Tomasi
di Lampedusa, Il Gattopardo, in Marco Vincenzi, “La musica per organo nell’archi-
vio parrocchiale di Pescantina,” in Contributi per la storia dell’arte organaria e or-
ganistica in Italia, edited by Paola Dessì (Venezia: Edizioni Fondazione Levi, 2012),
215.
199
very often quite unnecessary”.7 Much of this music could indeed be per-
formed both at the organ and piano, the pedal part being not substantial
(where present).
With the advent of the Cecilian era, these collections began to be re-
ported by reformers, who no longer regarded such music as borrowed from
the theatre, but as an actual intrusion of the operatic genre into the church,
an abuse, a profanation, and – to quote one of the reformers – the “last de-
gree of discouragement”.
Entire masses were built upon opera transcriptions such as the Mes-
sa solenne per organo by Carlo Fumagalli8, adapted on Verdian masterpiec-
es. It wasn’t unusual at that time to go to church and hear the Versetti per
il Gloria from Traviata, or melodies from I Vespri Siciliani during the cele-
brant’s communion; or a version of the Aida march right after the end of the
mass, something resembling a kind of greatest hits, or the best of collection.9
If not entire masses, individual pieces in the symphony from opera
style were alternatively performed: symphonies from Nabucodonosor, or
from La battaglia di Legnano, or La forza del destino by Verdi could be
the position of maestro direttore e concertatore at La Scala Theatre and was appointed
director of the Conservatory of Milan in 1872.
7 “Lasciamo stare che vi sono dei pezzi intieri di opere teatrali col titolo di Suonate so-
pra motivi di Mercadante, io osservo che l’organo vi è trattato quasi sempre alla ma-
niera del pianoforte, se si eccettui una qualche piccola indicazione di pedale spar-
sa qua e là, molto spesso senza alcun bisogno.” Letter by Giovanni Battista Candotti
to Alberto Mazzucato, Cividale, 5. 3. 1846. Cividale, Archivio Musicale Capitolare,
Fondo Candotti.
8 Carlo Fumagalli (1822–1907) also adapted pieces from operas by other authors. He
wrote two solemn masses: one from Lauro Rossi’s opera I falsi monetari and the
other from Filippo Marchetti’s opera Ruy Blas. Moreover, a Sinfonia d’organo per
dopo la Messa dall’opera “Marco Visconti” by Nicola Vaccaj and three compositions
for organ from Rossini’s La donna del lago and Stabat Mater. All these pieces are
collected in Musica d’opera all’organo di illustri marchigiani, original adaptations by
Carlo Fumagalli, edited by Maurizio Machella (Padova: Armelin, 2006).
9 This practice is also witnessed by Tomasi di Lampedusa in his renowned romance
Il Gattopardo: “[…] quando il corteuccio entrò in chiesa, don Ciccio Turneo, giun-
to col fiato grosso ma in tempo, attaccò con impeto: Amami, Alfredo”; (“When the
small procession reached the church, father Ciccio Turneo, showing up short of bre-
ath but right in time, started energically playing: Amami, Alfredo”). Verdi’s Travia-
ta was once again been performed during a religious function. Cfr. Giuseppe Tomasi
di Lampedusa, Il Gattopardo, in Marco Vincenzi, “La musica per organo nell’archi-
vio parrocchiale di Pescantina,” in Contributi per la storia dell’arte organaria e or-
ganistica in Italia, edited by Paola Dessì (Venezia: Edizioni Fondazione Levi, 2012),
215.
199
