New on our bookshelves: Three composing Franciscan monks
Monday, March 4, 2019
Three Franciscan monks from the 17th and early 18th centuries who were composers have piqued the interest of Ivano Bettin. Francesco Antonio Vannarelli (1615-1679), Francesco Antonio Urio (ca. 1631 - ca. 1719), and Francesco Maria Benedetti (1683-1746) were the focus of three smaller studies and some modern editions. At the end of last year, Ivano Bettin made his publications available to us. We are especially grateful for the three catalogs of works (RISM short titles: BetB, BetU, and BetV), which have now been added to the RISM records.
The three composers were Minorites and worked as music directors in different cities.
Francesco Antonio Urio was born in Milan and worked in Spello, Spoleto, Rome, Venice, Turin, and Assisi. He composed exclusively sacred works. His Te Deum (RISM ID no. 806045448) is especially well known. Georg Friedrich Händel owned a copy of it and incorporated some parts into his Dettingen Te Deum.
Francesco Antonio Vannarelli was from Rome and also worked in Assisi, Spello, and Spoleto, and finally in Padua. Sacred compositions by him are known as well as the opera Fedra ed Ippolito (RISM ID no. 850009213).
Francesco Maria Benedetti was born in Assisi and worked there, in Turin, and in Aosta as a music director. Among his approximately 270 compositions are instrumental works (organ sonatas) as well as the obligatory sacred genres. His settings of the requiem were performed in Assisi well into the 19th century. Most of his compositions are also preserved there (Biblioteca comunale, I-Af).
While Benedetti’s works have only been preserved in handwritten music sources, the works of Urio and Vannarelli were also printed during their lifetimes. Two printed editions by Urio from 1690 (RISM ID no. 990065010) and 1697 (RISM ID no. 990065011) are known. Vannarellli’s works were often included in printed anthologies (for example, RISM B/I 1653|2).
BetB: Ivano Bettin, “Francesco Maria Benedetti: Catalogo tematico delle opere.” Fonti Musicali Italiane: periodico di ricerca musicologica 21 (2017): 101-164.
BetU: Ivano Bettin, “Francesco Antonio Urio: Catalogo tematico delle opere,” in Barocco Padano 8: Barocco padano e musici francescani. L’apporto dei maestri conventuali. Atti del XVI Convegno Internazionale sul Barocco Padano (Secoli XVII - XVIII), Padova, 1 - 3 luglio 2013, ed. Alberto Colzani, Andrea Luppi, and Maurizio Padoan (Como: AMIS, 2014), 465-497.
BetV: Ivano Bettin, “Francesco Antonio Vannarelli: La vita e il catalogo tematico delle opere,” in Barocco Padano 9: Barocco padano e musici francescani, II. L’apporto dei maestri conventuali. Atti del XVII Convegno Internazionale sul Barocco Padano (Secoli XVII - XVIII), Padova, 1 - 3 luglio 2016, ed. Alberto Colzani, Andrea Luppi, and Maurizio Padoan (Como: AMIS, 2018), 437-484.
Image: Poesie heroiche morali e sacre (s.l., 1646). Museo internazionale e biblioteca della musica di Bologna (I-Bc Z.52; RISM ID no. 992002440).
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