Tuesday 29 May 2012

If You Pray, Pray Now

In 1565 the organ in the Basilica Ducale di Santa Barbara was commissioned from Graziadio Antegnati by the Gonzaga. 

The instrument was used by Claudio Monteverdi, Luca Marenzio,  Gastoldi....

Universally renowned for the perfection of his instruments, the beauty of their sound, only one other complete instrument, in the church of San Giuseppe at Brescia, built in 1581, had survived.

The earthquake at 1pm today has brought down the cupola of Santa Barbara in the palazzo Ducale in Mantova.  There is no news yet of the fate of the organ.

5 comments:

Nick Drew said...

heartfelt best wishes to those, & all affected treasures

a musician said...

If you can bear to watch:
http://gazzettadimantova.gelocal.it/foto-e-video/il-crollo-del-cupolino-di-santa-barbara-1.5174468

No news of the Antegnati is good news... I hope; they would say if anything had happened to it

hatfield girl said...

Europe is the less, with every tremor that shakes Italy from the Alps to Arezzo; every flake of paint, every treasure buried, every lost pillar, arch, carving...

The list of damage and destruction appals - and only the most famous are yet mentioned as the tremors continue one after the other interspersed with convulsions on 5 and 6 of the Richter.

a musician said...

Written for the Palazzo Ducale - actually written for its rooms:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjpFi9bn1do

with special mention of where to use the lovely organ in the 1608 print of the score...

speriamo bene

hatfield girl said...

Instead of settling into the ecohouse I have spent far too long listening to Marenzio's Solo e pensoso, Musician.

They may be very English but http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0PPZSqvC9E

out sings, out interprets, seizes the essence, beyond all (including the Italian) others. So high, and with every nuance wrung from what I expect would be a very under-determined score.