Mort à Venise

Cosimo II de’ Medici died on 21 May 1621. The funeral was accompanied by music by Monteverdi which is now regrettably lost.

A contemporary speaks of ‘a sinfonia to bring tears to one’s eyes [and] a most suave De Profundis, a dialogue between souls in purgatory and the angels’.
No source allows us to reproduce this ceremony. However, the programme presented here reconstructs a funeral celebration with pieces by five composers who practised their art at St Mark’s Basilica in Venice.

Rovetta was engaged at the basilica at an early age as a treble and pursued his career there until he rose to the post of maestro di cappella in 1644, after the death of Monteverdi. His output consists entirely of sacred music.
The name of Cavalli is associated with Venetian opera in the period between 1639 and 1673; however, his art found equal expression at St Mark’s, where he succeeded Rovetta in 1668. His Mass for double choir was intended by the ageing composer to be sung at his own funeral.
Legrenzi was also a composer of operas, but focused on sacred music from 1685, the date when he joined the basilica’s cappella. His Prosa per mortuis is for eight voices accompanied by viols and organ.
A pupil of Legrenzi’s, Lotti was maestro di cappella at St Mark’s from 1736 onwards: his Miserere was sung there each Ash Wednesday throughout the eighteenth century.