Myths of Venice

Abstract

The 'myth of Venice' refers to the elaborate civic and corporate images created by the Venetian republic from the 15th century on for its self-articulation in changing worlds. As Venice lost economic and political power during the Renaissance-and became instead the pleasuregarden of Europe-its apologists turned to the one thing that undoubtedly set the city apart from much of the rest of Italy, the fact that it was a functioning republic with an 'elected' head of state (the doge). As Venetian writers were eager to point out, this made the city the only legitimate successor to the great republics of Classical Antiquity. As they further noted, Venice was also under the special protection of the Blessed Virgin and of the city's patron saint, St Mark. The result was a potent mix of the secular and the sacred-and of politics and religion-that served as a bulwark for the state at least until its fall to Napoleon. The messages were clear in Venice's elaborate political ceremonies in which, as is well known, music played a full part. The Basilica of St Mark, situated at the geographical and spiritual heart of the city, was the focus of civic and religious festivities according to elaborate protocols that then radiated outwards through Venice's other institutional and ceremonial spaces. The musical fortunes of St Mark's were established by its first important maestro di cappella, Adriano Willaert; were consolidated by the organists Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli; and continued to flourish under a series of distinguished maestri and associated musicians during the 17th century, including Claudio Monteverdi, Giovanni Rovetta and Francesco Cavalli. Or so the myth goes. But of course, there is always some distance between myth and reality. St Mark's may have been central to the musical myth of Venice, but we now know that other Venetian institutions such as the scuole