Project History

Marchio Angeli's Inventory (1720). The Music Books of the Ducal Chapel of St Mark's, Venice is the result of an international research project promoted by the Swiss National Science Foundation in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the Archivio di Stato of Venice.

In 2013, Dr Luigi Collarile obtained a Swiss National Science Foundation award (Advanced Post.Mobility) for research on the choirbooks with polyphonic music of the Venetian Ducal Chapel of St Mark's. This repertoire, performed ‘a cappella’ without instruments, represented the principal ‘soundscape’ of the most important church in Venice. The project aimed to understand the chronological context of this music, its role in the liturgical ceremonial of the Ducal Basilica, and its aesthetic implications with a view to defining the sound of a specific ritual space.

This project resulted in the creation of the present digital edition of the oldest inventory of music books in the Ducal Chapel (1720) and preparatory research for a digital catalogue the choirbooks with polyphonic music of the Venetian Ducal Chapel and the monographic volume Il suono dell’eterno. I libri corali marciani con musica polifonica della Cappella Ducale di Venezia (in preparation). During the research project, Dr Collarile was visiting researcher at the Ca’ Foscari University and research fellow at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice.

An Italian version of the present digital edition will be available in: Luigi Collarile, Il suono dell’eterno. I libri corali con musica polifonica della Cappella Ducale di Venezia (in preparation).

Acknowledgements

The author sincerely thanks:

Prof. David Bryant (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)
Dr Rafael Brundo Uriarte (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)

Swiss National Science Foundation
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Archivio di Stato, Venice