Music in Venice: A HistoriogrApHicAl oVerViewJonathan glixonthe great italian musicologist nino pirrotta wrote that renaissance Ven-
ice “was perhaps the most musical of cities in the most musical period
of our history.” the way in which scholars have approached renaissance
music in Venice until the second half of the 20th century, however, has
been quite limited, conditioned by the models established by the first two
monumental works of research in the field: carl von winterfeld’s Johannes
Gabrieli und sein Zeitalter (Berlin, 1834) and Francesco caffi’s Storia della
Musica Sacra nella già cappella ducale di San Marco in Venezia dal 1318 al
1797 (Venice, 1854). in this long-lasting picture, music and musicians wor-
thy of study first appear in Venice in the 16th century, particularly with
the arrival of Adrian willaert as maestro di cappella in 1527. the ducal
chapel (in the sense of a musical establishment) of san Marco was the
central (and almost exclusive) location for sacred music, and renaissance
Venice’s major contribution to european musical culture as a whole can
be found in a particularly Venetian style of church music cultivated at
san Marco at the end of the 16th century, most especially in the works of
giovanni gabrieli, organist at san Marco and prolific composer of both
instrumental and vocal works for the church.
Music at San Marcothe works by caffi and von winterfeld established two overlapping paths
of scholarship: historical and biographical studies of the musical establish-
ment of san Marco and its maestri and organists, on the one hand, and the
development of the Venetian style of church music on the other. while
von winterfeld does present a brief history of the cappella and discusses
the life and times of giovanni gabrieli, his attention is clearly on the rise
of a musical style that he views as one of the principal foundations for
the development of later (particularly german) styles. gabrieli’s works,
drawing from the models of willaert and of composers such as orlando di
lasso, break away, in this picture, from the prevailing contrapuntal style of
renaissance sacred music and employ, instead, a technique relying more
on chordal harmony, with careful attention to the rhythm of the text, very