Page 209 - 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. 209
from theatre to church: some remarks about censorship on operatic style ...
[…]”.34 Unfortunately this was the same person putting his signature under
the expression “si approva per l’esecuzione” (“approved for performance”)
on scores. As a matter of fact, in this case the analysis was carried out by
the censor director Vittorio Franz. We should at least appreciate the hones-
ty of these words. Yet, the problem surfaces in all its gravity.
Several cases of censorship were applied on the territory. One case in
point: composer Carlo Rieppi submitted his orchestral masses to the lo-
cal commission of Udine.35 It was music written for strings, flutes, bassoon,
oboe, trumpet, etc. The outcome was that after 1905 he was forced to rewrite
several scores, leaving out wind instruments, for instance. We can read in-
scriptions of this kind on the cover of his scores: Mass in B, composed in
1898 – reedited in 1906 (after the local regulation signed by the archbishop,
1905). The before and the after are very clear - also graphically.
The progressive removal of instruments led to scores up to three voices
without organ, in a kind of process of score purification.36 Embellishments,
arpeggios, triplets were removed from the many scores presented by sev-
eral composers. The “approved for performance” note would be concise-
34 “Non m’intendo nulla affatto di suono, non son capace di leggere e giudicare uno
spartito, conosco solo praticamente un poco il canto gregoriano, onde non posso
mettermi a parlare di musica senza spropositare e far ridere”. Letter by Egiziano
Pugnetti to the Archbishop, s.d. Udine, Archivio Corrente of the Curia, section
Liturgy and Sacred Music, Sacred Music file.
35 Carlo Rieppi (1861–1947), Italian composer. His works have been catalogued by Lucia
Ludovica De Nardo, Carlo Rieppi. Catalogo delle opere (Udine: Pizzicato, 2011). On
the composer see also Cristina Scuderi, Il movimento ceciliano di area friulana nel
primo Novecento (Padova: CLEUP, 2011).
36 Rieppi was among the composers who did not take a stance against this practice:
on the contrary, he gladly accepted it. He made himself the bearer of reform instan-
ces denouncing to Pugnetti (the president of the Udinese commission) that despite
the well-known rules, the local choir of San Daniele “performed music that had all
been prohibited by the Pope, by the Archbishop, by the Commission with a Decree”;
“Ricci’s Mass, which you saw and said was absolutely forbidden […]; the Gloria by
Candotti, which goes against the liturgy in the words accompanied by the organ’s
triumphal march; a syncopated Hail Mary, surely lacking approval. At the Vesper
the choir performed the Dixit from Candotti’s Salmi brevi, never mind! But four
Psalms by Marzona!” (“eseguì tutta musica proibita dal Papa, dall’Arcivescovo, dalla
Commissione con Decreto. La Messa è del Ricci, che Lei, vedutala, disse recisamente
che è assolutamente proibita […]; il Gloria di Candotti che nelle parole a marcia tri-
onfale dell’organo è contro la liturgia; un’Ave Maria sincopata, certo senz’approva-
zione. Al Vespero la Cantoria eseguì il Dixit dei Salmi brevi di Candotti, pazienza!
Ma quattro Salmi del Marzona!”), Letter by Carlo Rieppi to Egiziano Pugnetti, 9. 9.
1907, Udine, Archivio Corrente della Curia, Atti della Commissione Diocesana per
la Musica Sacra dal 1905, c. 4.
207
[…]”.34 Unfortunately this was the same person putting his signature under
the expression “si approva per l’esecuzione” (“approved for performance”)
on scores. As a matter of fact, in this case the analysis was carried out by
the censor director Vittorio Franz. We should at least appreciate the hones-
ty of these words. Yet, the problem surfaces in all its gravity.
Several cases of censorship were applied on the territory. One case in
point: composer Carlo Rieppi submitted his orchestral masses to the lo-
cal commission of Udine.35 It was music written for strings, flutes, bassoon,
oboe, trumpet, etc. The outcome was that after 1905 he was forced to rewrite
several scores, leaving out wind instruments, for instance. We can read in-
scriptions of this kind on the cover of his scores: Mass in B, composed in
1898 – reedited in 1906 (after the local regulation signed by the archbishop,
1905). The before and the after are very clear - also graphically.
The progressive removal of instruments led to scores up to three voices
without organ, in a kind of process of score purification.36 Embellishments,
arpeggios, triplets were removed from the many scores presented by sev-
eral composers. The “approved for performance” note would be concise-
34 “Non m’intendo nulla affatto di suono, non son capace di leggere e giudicare uno
spartito, conosco solo praticamente un poco il canto gregoriano, onde non posso
mettermi a parlare di musica senza spropositare e far ridere”. Letter by Egiziano
Pugnetti to the Archbishop, s.d. Udine, Archivio Corrente of the Curia, section
Liturgy and Sacred Music, Sacred Music file.
35 Carlo Rieppi (1861–1947), Italian composer. His works have been catalogued by Lucia
Ludovica De Nardo, Carlo Rieppi. Catalogo delle opere (Udine: Pizzicato, 2011). On
the composer see also Cristina Scuderi, Il movimento ceciliano di area friulana nel
primo Novecento (Padova: CLEUP, 2011).
36 Rieppi was among the composers who did not take a stance against this practice:
on the contrary, he gladly accepted it. He made himself the bearer of reform instan-
ces denouncing to Pugnetti (the president of the Udinese commission) that despite
the well-known rules, the local choir of San Daniele “performed music that had all
been prohibited by the Pope, by the Archbishop, by the Commission with a Decree”;
“Ricci’s Mass, which you saw and said was absolutely forbidden […]; the Gloria by
Candotti, which goes against the liturgy in the words accompanied by the organ’s
triumphal march; a syncopated Hail Mary, surely lacking approval. At the Vesper
the choir performed the Dixit from Candotti’s Salmi brevi, never mind! But four
Psalms by Marzona!” (“eseguì tutta musica proibita dal Papa, dall’Arcivescovo, dalla
Commissione con Decreto. La Messa è del Ricci, che Lei, vedutala, disse recisamente
che è assolutamente proibita […]; il Gloria di Candotti che nelle parole a marcia tri-
onfale dell’organo è contro la liturgia; un’Ave Maria sincopata, certo senz’approva-
zione. Al Vespero la Cantoria eseguì il Dixit dei Salmi brevi di Candotti, pazienza!
Ma quattro Salmi del Marzona!”), Letter by Carlo Rieppi to Egiziano Pugnetti, 9. 9.
1907, Udine, Archivio Corrente della Curia, Atti della Commissione Diocesana per
la Musica Sacra dal 1905, c. 4.
207
