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A Case-Study in the Power of the Purse: The Management of the Ducal Cappella in Modena in the Reign of Francesco II d'Este

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Victor Crowther
Victor Crowther*
Affiliation:
Loughborough University
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Extract

The precious collection of manuscript scores and printed libretti dating from the late seventeenth century and housed today in the Biblioteca Estense at Modena is ample proof that Duke Francesco II d'Este (1660–94) was one of Italy's most generous patrons of music. Indeed his library, which good fortune has preserved almost intact, is an indispensable resource for the study of oratorio, opera and instrumental music in northern Italy in the last quarter of the century. Its contents show him to have been a man of catholic and modern taste, acquiring and promoting works by living composers active in Rome, Florence, Bologna, Ferrara, Venice and, of course, Modena. On the evidence of the Este music collection, historians have been consistent in applauding the cultural achievements of Francesco II's reign and yet, surprisingly, there have been no detailed studies of the way in which the duke exercised his patronage.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Musical Association , Volume 115 , Issue 2 , 1990 , pp. 207 - 219
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 Royal Musical Association

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References

1 For the contents of the library see Elizabeth J Luin, ‘Repertorio dei libri musicali di S.A.S. Francesco Il d'Este nell’ Archivio di Stato di Modena', Bibliografia, 38 (1936), 418–45, and Alessandra Chiarelli, I codici di musica della Raccolta Estense (Florence, 1987).Google Scholar

2 See Roncaglia, Gino, La cappella musicale del duomo di Modena (Florence, 1957); Schnoebelen, Anne, ‘The Concerted Mass at San Petronio in Bologna, ca. 1660–1730: A Documentary and Analytical Study’ (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, 1966), Graziella Martinelli Braglia, ‘Il Teatro Fontanelli Note sù impresari e artisti nella Modena di Francesco II e Rinaldo I’, Alessandro Stradella e Modena, ed Carolyn Gianturco (Modena, 1985), 139–59, and Paolo Fabbri, ‘Il municipio e la corte: Il teatro per musica tra Reggio e Modena nel secondo seicento’, ibid., 160–86.Google Scholar

3 See Chiappini, Luciano, Gli Estensi (Milan, 1967), chap. XVIGoogle Scholar

4 Ibid., chaps XI and XVGoogle Scholar

5 A contemporary account of the founding of the convent, Vive Jesus, was printed by Charles David at Aix-en-Provence in 1670 A copy survives in London, British Library (shelfmark 1484ee4)Google Scholar

6 See Sossaj, Francesco, Descrizione della città di Modena (repr. Bologna, 1972), 173–6Google Scholar

7 See Chiappini, , Gli Estensi, 428Google Scholar

8 Many letters from Maria Beatrice and Laura to Duke Francesco have been published in Marquise Campana de Cavelli, Les derniers Stuarts à St Germain en Laye, 2 vols (Paris 1871) The Cesare Ignazio affair surfaces in Documents CXX, CCCVII, CCCXCV, CCCCXVIII, CCCCXXIX, CCCCXXXII, DXV, DXXX and DXLII The extract quoted in translation from Document DXLII (in Italian) reads ‘Il Principe Cesare è assai felice, a mio giuditio, essendo da vol amato della mia protettione non ne ha bisogno; io l'ho sempre trattato civilmente e continuerò a farlo di più io credo vol non nchiediate da me, perche per l'amicitia ci vuole il genio‘Google Scholar

9 A fact revealed in the dedicatory address of Colombi's Chamber Sonatas, op 5, published in Bologna in 1689.Google Scholar

10 The payments appear in Court Register 178 (modern numbering) for the year 1673 The salary registers of the Modenese court are located at Modena, Archivio di Stato, Camera Ducale, Bolletta dei Salariati (hereafter Court Registers). Before 1683 each register, with separate index, covered payments in a single year; thereafter payments over a two-year period. Court Registers 171–95 contain Financial details of the management of the cappella from 1659 to 1702 The loss of some registers in the series (e.g. those covering the years 1665–72, 1679–82, 1685–6 and 1689–90) means that the arrival and departure dates of some court employees cannot be verified from this source alone.Google Scholar

11 The monthly expenditure on the cappella in 1673 was 212 lire. By the end of 1674 it had risen to 979 lire See Court Registers 178 and 179 The value of money in the reign of Francesco II is a complex matter Within the duchy the Modenese lira was the staple coin, the scudo was worth L 5 and the soldo L 0 05. The currency used to pay the fees and expenses of visiting musicians was the Italian gold doubloon. In 1677 the exchange rate of the doubloon was L.32 10s., in 1688 L.33 and in 1694 L 38. One can see here the erosion in value of the Modenese lira towards the end of Francesco's reign. The lira in neighbouring Bologna (revalued by 15% in 1682) was exchanged in Modena in 1687 at the rate of L.2 4s. Using these figures as a rough guide, one can compare the salaries of maestri in the region, at Modena cathedral Colombi was paid L 10 per month, at San Petronio in Bologna Colonna received the equivalent of L 140 per month, together with free accommodation, whilst at the court in Modena Gianettini earned a handsome salary of L.396 and was granted an annual allowance of L.575 to cover the lease on a house on Canal GrandeGoogle Scholar

12 The dates in Table 1 from 1659 to 1702 correspond to Court Registers 171, 173, 178, 179, 183, 185 (plus supplementary information from Modena, Archivio di Stato, Archivio per Materie, Musici, Busta 1B), 189, 193 and 195. The information for 1629 and 1638 is derived from documents in Archivio per Materie, Musica e Musicisti, Busta 3Google Scholar

13 The principal sources are the Court Registers (see n 10 above) and the large folders of letters, documents, bills and receipts in the Archivio per Materie, Musica e Musicisti The contents of the five folders are roughly categorized Busta 1A contains information about compositori and scrittori, Busta 1B about maestri di cappella and musici, Busta 2 about cantori and suonatori, Busta 3 about the cappella ducale and strumenti musicale, and Busta 4 about bibliografia, componimenti and trattatiGoogle Scholar

14 Documents about Romanino and Giaida are in Archivio per Materie, Musica e Musicisti, Busta 2Google Scholar

15 Maestro Gianettini's letters from Venice were a rich source of information They are in Archivio per Materie, Musica e Musicisti, Busta 1B. In Busta 2 of the same archive are letters from Livorno and Florence written by Antonio Allemani, a highly paid court violinist. They contain interesting descriptions of musicians and other celebrities he met while on tourGoogle Scholar

16 The violinist Ignazio Frangiolli was being discussed in 1689 as a desirable recruit for the orchestra but had to wait until 1695 for ratification of his appointmentGoogle Scholar

17 See Roncaglia, Gino, La cappella musicale, 124Google Scholar

18 See Paolo Fabbri. ‘Il municipio e la corte’, 169Google Scholar

19 Documents about Giovanni Francesco Grossi detto Siface are in Archivio per Materie, Musica e Musicisti, Busta 2Google Scholar

20 For a list of Modenese publishers and their output see Roncaglia, Gino, ‘Giuseppe Colombi e la vita musicale modenese’, Atti dell' Accademia Modenese, V/10 (1952), 47–52.Google Scholar

21 Ferrari's letters are in Archivio per Materie, Musica e Musicisti, Busta 1A.Google Scholar

22 The sole survivor of the cuts was Don Marzio Erculei, a soprano, whose strategy of bombarding the duchess with begging letters secured a partial reprieve he remained in service for the next 12 years as a musico ecclesiastico at a much-reduced salary. Erculei's letters to the duchess are extant in Archivio per Materie, Musica e Musicisti, Busta 1B.Google Scholar

23 All the documents and letters cited here are filed under Ferrari See above, n. 21Google Scholar

24 The extract (in Italian) reads: ‘La grat sua coll’ inchiusa al S. Nardi O che pretiosa letteral Oh che divina spiegatura! Quanto devo al mio caro S. Gio Batta. ch' impugna con si vivo affetto gl'interessi d' un suo vero Amico, e partiale ser.e Iddio lo guiderdoni.'Google Scholar

25 The letters and minutes pertaining to Bononcini's various appointments in Modena are quoted in Gino Roncaglia, La cappella musicale, 137–54Google Scholar

26 The Chiesa del Voto belonged to the Commune. It had been built in 1634 in thanksgiving for the cessation of the great plague of 1630Google Scholar

27 See Court Register 181Google Scholar

28 Bononcini's eldest son, Giovanni, wrote to his teacher Colonna in 1683, ‘From my parents I had that much of life which sufficed to make me known to misery, while they dying, abandoned me, yet a babe in arms, to poverty ’ See Klenz, William, Giovanni Maria Bononcini (Durham, North Carolina, 1962), 13Google Scholar

29 The minute, probably drafted by Giardini, is in Archivio per Materie, Musica e Musicisti, Busta 2Google Scholar

30 The minute (in Italian) reads ‘Havendo risoluto il Ser. S. Duce Pron di riformare il Choro de suoi instrumenti e fare levare dalla Bolletta gl’ infrasti sonatori, che alla prudenza dell' A S sono pariti superflui, e non punto necessai per lo servigio della sua Capella, mi commanda di scrivere à V. S. che faccia sapere à eraschedun di loro la risolutione presa dall' A S, e sono cioè Casanova, Capilupi, Barb., Ciocchi, P Asc, P Seven, Ipp Bellini, D. G Baldrini, gli quell a l'A S. data commissione in Camera di levarli dalla Bolletta di Salariati'Google Scholar

31 The business was conducted by post because the court had retired to Sassuolo for the summer, while Gianettini and some of the other musicians remained in Modena.Google Scholar

32 The extract (in Italian) reads ‘Adesso siamo in stato di rimetter bene la Capella, et renderla perfetionata dov’ ella era mancante s'havasse di use qualche diligenza per scieglere gente atti, et di tutta suficienza, perche il servitio di questa Capella hà bisogno di gente che sappi far bene il suo mestiere, perche habbiamo un Pronc, che hà troppo buon gusto, e per ben servirlo, vi vuol buon gente'Google Scholar

33 Jander, Owen, ‘The Cantata in Accademia Music for the Accademia de’ Dissonanti and their Duke, Francesco II d'Este', Rivista italiana di musicologia, 10 (1975), 519–44.Google Scholar

34 A brief history of the oratorio in Modena and a list of oratorios performed there in the seventeenth century can be found in Victor Crowther, ‘Alessandro Stradella and the Oratorio Tradition in Modena’, Alessandro Stradella e Modena, 51–64.Google Scholar

35 For an account of the building of San Carlo Rotondo see Soli, Gusmano, Chiese di Modena (Modena, 1974), i, 223–32Google Scholar

36 The dispatch is Document CCCCXLVIII in Cavelli, Les derniers Stuarts, ii. The extract quoted reads ‘scrisse lo stesso giorno del martedi alla Regina Regnante per pregarla di ottenergli la vita; ma Sua Maestà gli fece rispondere, che se ella sola fosse stata offesa, volentieri gli havrebbe perdonato; ma che trattandosi di offese contro il Rè e contro lo stato, non poteva, nè doveva ingerirsene punto.‘Google Scholar

37 Chiappini, ee, Gli Estensi, 369–70.Google Scholar

38 De Grandis's numerous letters to the court at Modena, some addressed to the duke, some to Giardini, are in Archivio per Materie, Musica e Musicisti, Busta 1A. The extract (in Italian) reads ‘Son’ pregati dà qti SS. Canonici se dà Modena si potesse havere una plena relatione delle gran disgrazia occorse alle Maestà d' Inghilterra, ma ora con il Divino Aiuto miracolosissmo si sentono l' assicurande di queste, e le magnificenze che usa verso qti il Rè Xmo, mà perche chi le racconta in un' modo, e chi in altro, per tanto se io potesse restare honorato dal mio riven Ill Sige Giardini'Google Scholar