The archive of the musical chapel of Santa Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa nuova) in Rome in the first half of the 17th century. A reconstruction

Abstract

The idea of attempting a reconstruction of the musical archive of Santa Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova) in Rome in the first half of the 17th century arose from the publication of the Catalogo del fondo musicale della Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele II di Roma (Rome, 1989). On that occasion, a relevant number of manuscripts originally possessed by the Chiesa Nuova were brought to light. The greater part of these can be dated between the late 16th and the early 17th century.
Further discoveries of manuscripts and printed books pertaining to the Chiesa Nuova in various Roman libraries, together with two inventories dated 1608 and 1794, have unabled us to reconstruct the msucial archive as it appeared in the first part of the 17th century.
The inclusive examination of this material and of the archival documents (concerning the acquisition and restoration of books, payments to singers and choir masters, work on organs and organ galleries) has led us to outline the contemporary presence of different performance practices (the 'a cappella' polyphony without organ continuo, motets for few voices with organ continuo, and polychoral music), alternatively employed in accordance with the importance of the different liturgical feasts.