2014

From Willaert to
Monteverdi:
Choral Music in Venice during the
Renaissance

Prof. Andrea Angelini

Musicaficta
20/11/2014

Abstract
From Willaert to Monteverdi:
Choral Music in Venice during the Renaissance.
The peak of development of the polychoral style (cori spezzati) was in the
late 1580s and 1590s, while Giovanni Gabrieli was organist and principal
composer at St Marks and while Gioseffo Zarlino was still maestro di cappella.
Gabrieli was the first to specify instruments specifically, including large choirs
of brass; he also began to specify dynamics, and to develop the "echo" effects
for which he became famous. The fame of the spectacular, sonorous music
of San Marco at this time spread across Europe, and numerous musicians
came to Venice to hear, to study, to absorb and bring back what they learned
to their countries of origin.

From Willaert to Monteverdi:

Choral Music in Venice during the Renaissance
By Andrea Angelini, Artistic Director of MusicaFicta, Choral Conductor and Teacher

Introduction
In 1500, Venice has already had a glorious history. Its political power is large, the trade is flourishing;
Venice may be considered one of the richest place in Europe. The Renaissance, however, comes there a
little late, and music really starts to have a connotation linked to the place only at the beginning of the
sixteenth century. Since that time, however, there is an explosion of activity concerning music in all
areas: composition, performing and editorial. To
characterize the musical life of Venice during the
sixteenth century is the remarkable expansion of the
of St. Mark music chapel. The Basilica, enriched by
famous names, becomes more attractive for players
and composers: many foreigners want to study or
work there. St. Mark's remains the undisputed hub
of Venetian music throughout the century. But we
must not think that his musicians devote themselves
only to liturgical music. Quite the contrary: every
important city event is set to music. St. Mark's, as
state music chapel, contributes to celebrate with
music not only the religious holidays, but also the
political, military and social aspects of the Serenissima.

Historical General Perspectives

The richness of the musical life of the Republic of
Venice had overtaken, in the first decades of the
sixteenth century, each level achieved in previous
years. The sumptuous banquets that were held in
the Palazzo Ducale (Duke Palace) and in the houses
of the aristocracy were often embellished "with
clowns and all the music [...] one could find.". In the
Figure 2: a detail from the Tenor voice from Adieu mes amours by J.
Desprez taken out from the first printed edition of the Odhecaton by
Ottaviano Petrucci (1501)

Scuole Grandi (Great Schools), where professional singers were employed since the middle of the
fifteenth century, now (or shortly before) the instrumentalists make their appearance for the first time;
they were required to participating in the performance of the music in churches associated with the
Schools. Other churches were used as the arrival places of some of the annual processions developed
over the previous centuries, which included, in addition to the officers of the Church and State, the
choir of the St. Mark Basilica. In the same church the first ducal choirmaster in charge of that office
had been hired only in 1491; he directed a choir made up of fifteen paid singers, and he was assisted by
two organists (the second of which was introduced in 1490), each of them equipped with his own
instrument. As for the music printing, the publication (dated 1501) by Ottaviano de 'Petrucci of the
first collections of polyphonic music (Figure 2) gave to Venice a leading role in this field, which will
remain unchallenged until the second half of the seventeenth century.
As we shall see, even centuries to come will be characterized by a continuous growth, both numerical
and qualitative, in the area of choir music, which lost part of its hegemony only when the melodrama
played a role of great importance in the development of the Venetian musical culture. At St. Mark's, in
particular, musicians, actually unknown, who for various reasons were attending the basilica at the
beginning of the sixteenth century gave rise to a succession of composers, organists and theorists of
international renown. This new phase was opened by the appointment in 1527 of the famous Flemish
Adrian Willaert as choirmaster, a position he occupied until his death in 1563. His salary fixed, at the
beginning, in seventy ducats, was increased to thirty in 1529 and, not long after, for another hundred
ducats that, along with his many teaching and composing activities, qualified his position among the
most prestigious in Europe. Other well-known people - including most of his students - lured by the
possibility of a Marcian employment during his long position and in the years immediately following were
the Flemish Jacques Buus (first organist 1541-50) and Cipriano de Rore (choirmaster 1563- 64), which
were succeeded, as in other peninsular centres of music production, the Italians (including several
Venetian) Girolamo Parabosco (first organist, 1551-57), Annibale Padovano (second organist, 1552-65),
Gioseffo Zarlino (choirmaster, 1565-90), Claudio Merulo (first organist, 1557-84), and Andrea Gabrieli
(second organist, 1566-84, first organist 1584-86). The golden book of the Basilica of St. Mark
continues with Giovanni Gabrieli (second organist, 1584-1612), Giovanni Croce (choirmaster, 160309), the great Claudio Monteverdi (choirmaster, 1613-43), Francesco Cavalli (second organist, 1639-65,
first organist, 1665-68, choirmaster 1668-76) and Giovanni Legrenzi (vice-choirmaster, 1681-85,
choirmaster, 1685-90). These composers are considered among the most advanced of the time, not
only in the field of church music (motets, psalms, and so on by Willaert, Merulo, Andrea Giovanni
Gabrieli, Monteverdi), but also in the field of organ music (toccate, ricercare and canzoni by Willaert, Buus,
Parabosco, Annibale, Merulo, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli), of vocal chamber music (madrigals by
Willaert, Andrea Gabrieli, Croce and Monteverdi) and instrumental music (ricercare, canzoni and sonatas

by Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, the compositions in the so-called "excited style" introduced by
Monteverdi; concerts and church and chamber sonatas by Legrenzi). Between 1500 and the early Monteverdi
time the St. Mark Chapel sees expanded its workforce of more than twice: in 1616, when it increased
the instrumental section (the first musicians were accepted inside the chapel in 1568), it included a
choir master, an assistant choir master, twenty-four singers, two organists, two masters of the concerts
(who conducted instrumental music), and sixteen players. At the same time, the list of duties of the
musicians (who, as employees of the Doge and not of the Church, were to take part in the musical life
not only of the Basilica of St. Mark, but also of the Palazzo Ducale) does not change; these obligations
only grow with the institution, following the plague of 1630-31, of new liturgical ceremonies, including
some weekly processions. During the sixteenth century, however, further increasing the already high
salaries of the musicians, the list of occasions on which they are invited to sing in other churches of the
city and in the Great Schools is extended considerably. The register of payments to musicians of St.
Mark in March-April 1643 mentions thirty-five singers, two organists, a master of the concerts, and
fourteen other instrumentalists. To this development is followed, after the death of Monteverdi, a long
period of stagnation motivated in large part by the strong increase of the obligations of the singers, and
the fact that they could enjoy significantly higher salaries at choirs of several foreign princes, and at the
service of the Venice Opera House itself. In 1686, however, after the reorganization of the St. Mark
chapel under the master Giovanni Legrenzi, there was a further increase in the number: thirty-six
singers and thirty-four instrumentalists, all over seventy salaried musicians.

Music in the State Ceremonies: the St. Mark Chapel

Despite this significant expansion, it is noteworthy that the immutability of the traditions in Venice
associate playing of music - especially the largest one - to specific contexts and liturgical, political and

social events. At St. Mark these traditions affected only marginally the influence of even of the most
powerful currents of reformation, which at the time of the Council of Trent affirmed elsewhere in the
Catholic world. Also in the stylistic field the simplicity of a chordal music, favoured by the Tridentine
trends and practiced in Milan and Pistoia by the composer Vincenzo Ruffo, can not find any grip at the
ducal basilica. Only the meaning of the title "large dimension" will suffer, over the years, of some
alterations. In the fourteenth century a composition for three voices was still enough to communicate
to the listener the idea of the significance of the occasion; in the sixteenth century this had increased to
eight. A large part of polyphonic music - both sacred and secular - of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries had a celebratory openly function. So, among other things, in 1423 a para-liturgical formula,
which was part of the ceremonies for the election of a doge was set to music. The visit made annually
by the doge on the Christmas Eve and the following day to the church of San Giorgio Maggiore is
mentioned, a century earlier, in the text of a motet for four voices. Another motet, originally from
Padua, seems to be composed to celebrate the opening of the chapel, in 1305, by Enrico Scrovegni.
Still in Padua, dates back to the same age, a madrigal whose the text seems to suggest a visit to Padua
by Massimo II della Scala. The text of the early fifteenth century Venetian motet refers to Giovanni
Francesco Gonzaga, a noble who often enjoyed the hospitality of Venice. The conquest of Padua from
Venice in 1405 is celebrated in the text of a motet for three voices.

The other musical chapels: the Great Schools, parish and religious orders churches
The various religious and secular institutions, in particular the Great Schools, contributed actively with
singers and instrumentalists to the music performed in public ceremonies, especially during the
procession of St. Mark's Square at major events for the Church and the State and on the feast days of
Corpus Christi, St. Isidoro, St. Vito, and of the
same patron saint of the city. Judging from
existing documents, the repertoire of the
Schools consisted mainly in lauds. The same
documents, however, do not provide any
specific data concerning the style in which they
were composed; We can only speculate a
stylistic similarity to the hymns printed by
Petrucci in 1508, some of which are probably
connected with the monastery of San Salvatore
(later associated with the Scuola Grande di San Teodoro, founded in 1542). Moreover, a music sung or
played by several people that proceed to a measured pace can not exceed certain limits of complexity.

Of greater interest were to be the musical compositions performed on allegorical chariots which
accompanied some extraordinary processions.

A State Music Chapel: St. Mark Basilica

Differently from the state of research of few years ago, the current knowledge of the musical chapel of
St. Mark's takes advantage of a series of investigations increasingly fed on detailed aspects of the life of
the ducal basilica and, more generally, of Venice. In recent years a number of studies have appeared on
the structure of the music chapel, biographies and the system of patronage and financial support of its
members, on its own church liturgy and on the ducal ceremonial, on the relationship between these
aspects and the repertoires of liturgical and figured singing used at that time by the basilica. I present
here, for points, the data which characterize the St. Mark chapel at the time of the Counter
Reformation, adding some observations and speculations of a more general nature.
1 - Being the basilica of San Marco, until the fall of the Republic, the Doge's private chapel, belonged
to the latter - at least formally - the magisterium on it. The Doge Andrea Gritti intervened directly to
ensure the election of Adrian Willaert as choirmaster; he and some of his successors, intruded from
time to time in the affairs of the church to change the rules of the chapel. But, in general, the effective
powers over the government of the church - including the hiring and firing of the musicians - was in
charge of three members, elected for life, belonging to the Procuratia de Supra, some of them known for
the strong cultural commitment also exhibited also in private life. To look for new members of the
musical chapel it was requested the help of some other St. Mark singers traveling out of town, but most
importantly - given the church "political" orientation and the "political" media at its disposal - to the
diplomatic channels represented by government authorities of the land cities, by the ambassadors and
by other Venetians resident abroad; the latter, especially, for the election of choirmaster (a choice, this
made always after great reflection) and, in some cases, of soprano castrato. For example, after the death
of Willaert in 1562 it is invoked the help, by letter of the Venetian ambassadors at the Council of Trent,
of the Milanese, French and Imperial court, as well as that of residents in Naples and Genoa. The main
protagonists of music in the liturgical ceremonies were: the choirmaster, the two organists, the chapel
singers, the so-called "youth choir" (which was required for most of the performances of liturgical
song), the group of musicians (four cornet and trombone players are recruited in 1568, another cornet
in 1576), the "pipes of the Doge", accompanying the Doge in procession during the important
occasions of state, and that, sometimes, played in church.

2 - When, in November 1562, the core of the choir of St. Mark was divided into two parts - large
chapel, small chapel - it possessed as many as 29 units: 6 sopranos, 9 altos, 6 tenors, 3 basses, 5 putti
sopranos. Not everyone had to sing every day. Those of the great chapel (the most numerous, which
included most of the better and most reliable singers) were tasked to sing "all days of the week except on
Thursday and Friday" These, again in November 1562, were 20 (4 sopranos, 5 altos, 3 tenors, 3 basses, 5
putti sopranos). The small chapel, which included 2 sopranos, 4 altos, 3 tenors, no basses and the same
5 putti sopranos, sang in Thursday and Friday feast days. In addition, it had to be present at the
disposal of the choirmaster in "all the days that the Doge of Venice will go to the church and also the days et the
eves of all the solemn feasts when the gold altar piece will be opened" but without singing unless specifically
requested by the master. Only at the Saturday Mass the two chapels were singing together. The lists of
singers compiled in 1556 and in 1565, when they definitely merged in one chapel, show totals only
slightly lower; other lists dated 1589 and 1595, however, revealed a significant decrease in the number
of salaried singers, which drops to just thirteen units.
3 - The salaries of the singers are highly variable; they should be in the 60s, from a minimum of thirty
ducats to a maximum, reasonably high, of eighty (the reward of a hundred ducats a year, granted to
some singers hired at the end of the sixteenth century, is not exceeded throughout the next century).
The conditions of employment - those, for instance, unwritten, but sanctioned by the practice - which
provided an assignment "for life", or at least for long-term (there are few layoffs throughout the
sixteenth century), the ability to increase its own gain with extraordinary performances in other
churches, schools and private buildings, the provision, for the old age, of a pension or other grant
derived from prebends or sinecures administered by the Procuratia. These benefices and sinecures were
also used - and in a systematic way - to increase the salaries of those singers (of which most were
priests, at least nominally) in the full swing of their careers. Some members of the musical chapel were
active in the music press as well as in other areas of commercial life.

The Sound of St. Mark and the Cori Spezzati: Myth and Reality
It is widely recognized that the typical "score" of the sixteenth century - if you can call it what ever
improperly the set of each booklet (one for each "part") that make up the music printed at the time - is
nothing more than a basis structure for the musical performance, to be sung even in simple form (as it
is presented to the eye), but without excluding the possibility of an instrumental participation, partial or
sometimes complete (see the case of vocal music tablatures for keyboard or lute) - as can be well seen
in many "concerts of ladies" or "musical angels" painted by Tintoretto, Veronese and other
contemporary artists - enriched with embellishments (of one or more parties with vocal or instrumental

diminutions) and, especially in the case of church music, set to different locations or dislocation of the
performers inside the architectural space, for reasons related to the structure of the building both in
accordance with the specific liturgical and ceremonial requirements of a particular church structure
(monastic, episcopal, parish, etc.), and on occasions of exceptional events. Only in this way, in the
context of a musical culture not so much concert-oriented, but rather based on the idea of a specific
function and purpose for each "compositional act" one could ensure a "multi-contextual" utility of
musical creation, in a span of experience and technical skills (of the performers) that went from the
artistic life of the most humble parish chapel to that of the most beautiful of the court chapels (the
latter equipped with considerable financial resources and, consequently, also musical resources); from
the more "ordinary" daily liturgy to the biggest ceremonies in occasion of exceptional events, of the
Church and of the State. The "Sound of St. Mark" was definitely the result of a cross of "uniqueness"
that arose from a series of very special events of all the above factors: it is the "sound" of one of the
main and the richest court chapels of the sixteenth century in Europe (in fact, the singers of St. Mark,
the Doge's employees, and not of the Church, were to serve not only the musical life of the Basilica,
but also that of the Palace); it is also the "sound" of some of the most and renowned virtuoso
instrumentalists of the time; it is also the "sound" of a performance practice and of an executive style,
created and perfected in the context, unique and singular, of the Marcian ducal rite (only celebrated in
the Venetian State chapel). The Marcian "sound" is the sound of some of the particular needing of the
ducal rite as well as of the architecture setting, which together were resolved in an identical spatial
division of the performers groups and that sometimes led to results of considerable originality.

The technique of the cori spezzati

The polychoral technique has its origins in the ancient Christian use to tune the psalms in the
antiphonal way, which is alternating the singing of the individual verses between two choral groups, and
the late medieval practice of the alternatim, in which the pitch of the Gregorian monody is alternating
with polyphonic parts performed by a choir or by the organ. In both of these repertoires the
composition writing proceeds for musical closed phrases. The new element that characterizes the
renaissance coro spezzato is that the two semi-choruses not only alternate, but in different ways and
different sizes, depending on the style of the composers, intersect and overlap each other, creating a
continuous and organic musical dialogue. The resultant compositions have a wide variety in terms of
dynamism, because there are many possible combinations of the two vocal quartets that alternate, as a
rule, on the flexa, mediatio and finale of the text - which does not exclude the presence of melodic and
textual shorter units - with simultaneous chords of all the voices or with the imitative or for pairs entry

of the second chorus. In the conducting of the voices the canonical proceedings, more or less closed,
alternate with homorhythmic steps, which emphasize the textual content.
The peak of development of the polychoral style (cori spezzati) in St Marks was in the late 1580s and
1590s, while Giovanni Gabrieli was organist and principal composer and while Gioseffo Zarlino was still
maestro di cappella. Gabrieli was the first to specify instruments specifically, including large choirs of
brass; he also began to specify dynamics, and to develop the "echo" effects for which he became
famous. The fame of the spectacular, sonorous music of the basilica at this time spread across Europe,
and numerous musicians came to Venice to hear, to study, to absorb and bring back what they learned
to their countries of origin. Germany, in particular, was a region where composers began to work in a
locally-modified form of the Venetian style, though polychoral works were also composed elsewhere,
such as the many masses written in Spain by Toms Luis de Victoria.

The Basilica of St. Mark

The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark is the most famous of the city's churches and one of
the best known examples of Byzantine architecture. The first St. Mark's was a temporary building in the

Doge's Palace, constructed in 828, when Venetian merchants took the supposed relics of Mark the
Evangelist from Alexandria. This was replaced by a new church on its present site in 832; from the
same century dates the first St Mark's Campanile (bell tower). The new church was burned in a
rebellion in 976, rebuilt in 978 and again to form the basis of the present basilica since 1063. The

basilica was consecrated in 1094. The interior

shares many similarities with the surviving
Justinian Church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, an
analogy that underlines the overt debt to
Byzantium in the form and decoration of the
Venetian church. At the end of the central nave
we find a chancel with five steps. At the right
and at the left of the chancel there are two
pulpits called pulpito magnum cantorum or bigonzo
(right) and pulpito novo lectionum (left). They were
originally used to intoning the Epistle and the Gospel. But they were occupied by singers too.
It is not sure where the split-choir (cori spezzati)
music was performed in San Marco. Though at
one point the entire choir certainly performed in
a single location, there are other recorded
remarks about the split choirs being placed far
apart. One theory holds that the architect Jacopo
Sansovino placed raised galleries (called pergoli)
on both sides of the chancel, in the front of the
church, to enhance the stereo effect for the
Doges throne in the center. It stands to reason
that the architects and composers working in
San Marco had more incentive to please the
Doge (their employer and ruler of the Venetian
Republic) than the rest of their audience.

Acoustic experiments in St. Marks

Aware of the sound delay caused by the distance between opposing choir lofts, composers began to
take advantage of that as a useful special effect. Since it was difficult to get widely separated choirs to
sing the same music simultaneously (especially before modern techniques of conducting were

developed), composers such as Adrian Willaert, solved the problem by writing antiphonal music where
opposing choirs would sing successive, often contrasting phrases of the music; the stereo effect proved
to be popular, and soon other composers were imitating the idea, and not only in St. Mark's but in
other large cathedrals in Italy.

One way to bring two spatially separated groups of performers into synchrony is to have them take
their cue from a conductor placed midway between them. To the conductor and to listeners midway
between the groups, the performers will be synchronized. To each of groups A and B, however, the
other group appears to lag.

Andrea Angelini
Viale Pascoli 23.g - 47923 Rimini
Italy
thechoralconductor@gmail.com
www.andrea-angelini.eu

Born in Bologna, Italy, Andrea Angelini began his piano studies as a child, at the Rimini
Lettimi School. He later earned a Doctorate of Music (Piano) at Ferrara's Frescobaldi
Conservatory. After earning a Master in Choral Conducting he studied music therapy with
Professor Cremaschi of Milan University. His interests led him to the choral field, and he earned
a Bachelor studying at the International Art Academy in Rome with Fulvio Angius. He also
studied organ at Pesaro's Conservatory of Music. Finally he got his PHD in Choral Music at the
Cesena Conservatoire of Music. He is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the professional
group Musica Ficta Vocal Ensemble that frequently performs in important Festivals in Italy and
abroad. For many years, Andrea Angelini has conducted concerts with the choir Carla Amori, in
Italy and abroad. Named Director of the Rimini Community Choir, Alessandro Grandi, he led this
choir in several performances, including in important venues such as St. Peters Basilica in Rome
- where he was able to personally meet Pope John Paul II - and in Milans Cathedral. He has also conducted the Belarusian National
Capella Choir, the Lithuanian Jauna Muzika Choir, the Latvian Ave Sol, the Ukrainian Ave Musica and the Tudor Consort from New Zealand.
Dr. Angelini is the Artistic Director of the Choral Festival Voci nei Chiostri held annually in Rimini each spring. He has been member of
the Jury at many International Choirs Competitions in Italy, Europe and Asia. He frequently leads choral workshops in Italy and abroad.
Recently his Masterclass about the Venetian Renaissance choral music has been presented to the students of the prestigious Liszt Music
Academy of Budapest and in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) for the Young Choral Academy. He has led similar workshops in Romania, Russia,
Belarus and China too. He is the artistic director and one of the tutors at the Rimini International Choral Workshop, where he teaches with
Peter Phillips, director of the Tallis Scholars. Mr. Angelini is also the artistic director of the Rimini International Choral Competition, of the
Queen of the Adriatic Sea Choral Festival and Competition and of the Liviu Borlan Choral Festival. He is the Editor of the International Choral
Bulletin (ICB), the membership magazine of the IFCM (International Federation for Choral Music). He has written numerous
transcriptions and arrangements for choirs and chamber ensembles. His transcription of Faure's Requiem is published by Gelber Hund
Verlag of Berlin. For the American CanticaNOVA Publication, he has prepared transcriptions of important Renaissance Motets. He has
published his composition with Eurarte and Ferrimontana.