Honoring God and the City Music at the Venetian Confraternities, 1260-1806 [Hardcover]

This is the first detailed history of musical activities at Venetian lay confraternities. Based on over two decades of research in Venetian archives, the book traces musical practices from the origins of the earliest confraternities in the mid-thirteenth century through their suppression under the French and Austrian governments of Venice in the early nineteenth century. The first section of the book treats the scuole grandi, the largest and most important of the Venetian confraternities, and the only ones to maintain musical establishments for long periods. The second portion of the book is concerned with the scuole piccole, the numerous less-important confraternities, sometimes as many as 300 of which were active simultaneously, located in churches throughout Venice. Appendices include an attempt to reconstruct a calendar of musical events at all Venetian confraternities in the early eighteenth century, demonstrating the vital role they played in the cultural and ceremonial life of this great city.

Glixon has completed an heroic task in admirable fashion, not only by locating and transcribing a vast body of documents, but also by weaving a rich and fascinating tapestry of a fundamental aspect of Venetian musical life. This book is a major achievement and indispensable to anyone interested in Venetian music in the 550-year period it covers, as well as to anyone wishing to understand the role of confraternities in the musical culture of the Italian peninsula. It is and will remain a classic. --Journal of Musicological Research

Glixon's careful work contributes significantly to our understanding of the roles of musical performance in the urban life of early modern Europe, and it should prove a valuable basis for further research. --Europe: Early Modern and Modern

This is the most comprehensive study of confraternal music yet produced...an indispensible reference work that is full of detailed information. --The Cathols*