The collection of the 'Partituras Antiguas' from the Musical Archive of the Spanish National Church in Rome
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59530/ANTHANN.2024.71.9Keywords:
Spanish National Church, San Giacomo degli Spagnoli, sacred music, music archive, RomeAbstract
The present study aims to provide an initial survey of the contents of the «Partituras Antiguas» fund kept in the musical archive of Santa Maria in Monserrato in Rome. The fund, consisting of the liturgical production of the chapel of San Giacomo degli Spagnoli, unpublished to date, is in fact in the process of being catalogued and covers a period ranging from the late seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century. This production, exclusively in manuscript, reflects the main ordinary and extra-ordinary celebratory activities that took place both within the Church of San Giacomo and those involving Piazza Navona; it is the music written for the latter activities that makes the «Partituras Antiguas» collection peculiar and unique. The study also presents profiles of the main composers who served at San Giacomo degli Spagnoli as titular or coadjutor chapel masters and of whom more than 90 autographs have been catalogued to date. Throughout the 18th century, the chapel masters of San Giacomo attracted the best instrumentalists and singers active in the city and in Roman theatres for extra-ordinary services. Moreover, as many of them were active opera singers on the Roman stage, they introduced forms, languages and new types of instruments into their scores for these functions. The rediscovery of the «Partituras Antiguas» fund brings to light the musical workshop that was the Chapel of St. James of the Spaniards and whose music, produced in little more than a century, is still unpublished. It is hoped that the publication of the catalogue will serve as a stimulus for the study and recovery of compositions related to the great extra-ordinary events of the celebrations in Piazza Navona with a view to their future edition and performance. Moreover, this collection could be a valuable source of research on the evolution of the way sacred music was written during the eighteenth century because it offers material ranging from the beginning of the century to the dawn of the nineteenth.
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