Publisher's Synopsis
This thematic catalogue of nearly 1300 music manuscripts of Venetian ospedali composers is a vital resource for scholars of Venetian choral music. It is the first to include almost seven hundred manuscripts from the archives of St. Mark's basilica. The catalogue contains entries of music that was performed not only by the four famous girl choirs in Venice at the Pieta, Mendicanti, Ospedaletto, and Incurabili, but music of the ospedali maestri that was performed in St. Mark's, other Venetian churches, and in churches outside Venice. Further, the catalogue contains the repertoire that was written initially for one of the ospedali then revised for St. Mark's or another church and vice versa. There are cross references of the duplicate and revised manuscripts with the specific entry and a complete listing of them in a separate section of the catalogue as well.
The catalogue also includes a table of the maestri at St. Mark's and the ospedali, as well as a list of the castrati and other soloists who performed there, and nearly four hundred of the figlie di coro(girl singers at the ospedali). Finally, in an appendix, other manuscripts from St. Mark's archives of music of non-ospedali composers are included. The following are just a few of the 63 composers whose works are contained in the thematic catalogue: Anfossi, Bertoni, Biffi,Furlanetto, Galuppi, Casparini, Hasse, Jommelli, Latilla, Legrenzi, Lotti, Lucchesi, Monferrato,Perotti, Porpora, Sarti, Traetta, Vivaldi.
