Only in Venice were the clergy enjoined from interrupting the improvisations of the organist. Flamboyant multi-movement concertos (such as the Concerto da Chiesa by Johann Georg Pisendel on this program) were played instead of the Gradual or Offertory during the Mass. The great churches of Venice resounded with operatic vocalism and instrumental virtuosity. Its international appeal is represented in this program by an opèra-ballet written for Paris in 1699 by André Campra, Le Carnaval de Venise, with characters drawn from Venetian commedia dell’arte.

Instead it was known as the pleasure capital of Europe, a magnet for luxury and indulgence, with seven opera houses in a city of 160,000. It no longer ruled the seas, having lost the Aegean to the Turks along with its corner on trade with the Far East, and its famed ship-building Arsenal had become obsolete. In some respects, the city was in decline. An obligatory stop on the Grand Tour, Venice was a city whose style and artisans were taken home by the gentry of Europe just as its music was taken to England and Saxony by the musicians represented on this program. The city known as “La Serenissima” was anything but serene during the three months of Carnival when residents and visitors alike took part in incognito revelry and licentiousness cloaked in the anonymity of mask and costume. But unlike Vegas, what happened in Venice most certainly did not stay in Venice. Venice in the eighteenth century was the Las Vegas of Europe.

NICHOLAS McGEGAN, MUSIC DIRECTOR LAUREATE.

VALÉRIE SAINTE-AGATHE, CHORALE DIRECTOR.

SPECIAL EVENT: Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula.

*NEW!* Coffee & Cake: Bach’s Brandenburgs.

Vivaldi a prince in venice