870 jonathan glixon
snaking along most of its circumference and the presence of two organ
galleries on either side of the choir, led to performances both there and
elsewhere with the multiple choirs spread around the church or other
performing space. in the years since world war ii, scholars have gradu-
ally dismantled various elements of this myth, although it remains part
of popular lore, and performers continue to put it into action. giovanni
d’Alessi, in an article of 1952, showed, first, that the practice of cori spezzati
was widespread in the Veneto before willaert’s publication, so that even
if the technique was specifically required by Venetian ceremonial at all
important events, it was not particular to Venice. As early as 1969, wilton
Mason explained that there was no evidence for any performances from
the transepts, and David Bryant, in 1981, demolished some other aspects of
the myth, separating, to some extent the two repertoires, the cori spezzati
psalms of willaert and the polychoral works of the gabrielis and others.
through careful examination of the documents, he was able to determine
that the psalms were never sung from the organ lofts and were, in fact,
often sung with no physical separation at all, with all the singers in one
of the large pulpits or together near the high altar. the polychoral works,
in contrast, which usually involved organ, and often other instruments,
did make use of the organ lofts, particularly for instrumentalists and per-
haps vocal soloists, while the choir remained below. Most recently, the
architectural historian laura Moretti, in a 2004 article (explored again in
Howard and Moretti 2009), showed that the psalms could also be sung
from the choir galleries newly built by Jacopo sansovino between 1536
and 1544.
Ceremonial Music and the Myth of VeniceQuite early on, the Venetian authorities recognized that elaborate music
on special occasions was an effective way to display the power and mag-
nificence of the city and its rulers. Dennis stevens described a series of
motets dedicated to doges in the 14th and 15th centuries, some of which
could be connected to specific occasions such as coronations. Julie cum-
ming demonstrated that those works formed part of a broader italian tra-
dition of occasional motets. she argued that most of the composers of
such motets for doges and other notable figures were not composed by
Venetians, or even composers residing in Venice, but were, rather, from
other cities ruled by the republic, most notably padua, which had an ear-
lier tradition of polyphony than Venice itself. As ellen rosand wrote in