«By dint of trivializing relationships and human relationships, the sense of respect is lost: mutual respect between men and women, between parents and children, between students and teachers, between rulers and citizens. The news is a merciless and faithful photograph of it.”
The Patriarch of Venice, Monsignor Francesco Moragliain the usual Christmas greeting, on 17 December, on the occasion of the concert in the Chapel of San Marco, did not choose tones of circumstance, but concentrated on the “word” and “language”, the most human forms of communication: “sophisticating them involves destroying the humanity that is in man and, therefore, man himself”.
«Ours is the time in which Nietzsche pronounced the death of God and it is also the time in which Pirandello proclaimed: “So it is, if you like!”». Then words lose the sense of God, of good, of truth, of justice, of their own limits: «everything is reduced to pure functionalism for which the other is only of interest if it is useful. This is how the society of indifference, individualism, denied respect and, finally, war chosen as an instrument for resolving disputes between states is built.».
«In the face of all this, it contrasts with the full and forever yes of Mary who, in her person, is the space of Christmas», the woman who makes the salvific event possible. Men and women should offer space in their lives to God who enters history.
In the final greetings, the first thought went to Alberto Trentini, Venetian aid worker detained in Venezuela for over a year without any charges, and to his family. He then extended his best wishes to everyone, “even to non-believers who, with intellectual honesty, are searching”.
Then, under the cross vaults of the main altar of the Basilica, the voices of the tenors, altos, basses and sopranos of the Cappella Musicale di San Marco spread, an institution that is almost a thousand years old, the oldest professional formation still active. The first certain news dates back to 1318, but there is even earlier book evidence. Among its directors it has included names such as Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli and Claudio Monteverdi.
The Christmas greeting concert is a tradition. This year Maestro Marco Gemmani directed his choristers in the Christmas Vespers, composed and conducted in the 1675 performance by Natale Monferrato. A singer since 1638, Monferrato also worked at the Mendicanti hospital in Venice until 1676, then dedicated himself entirely to the Ducal Chapel. He became deputy master in 1647 and director upon the death of master Francesco Cavalli.
Maestro Gemmani re-proposed his Christmas vespers, performing seven pieces and concluding with a powerful Magnificat. Musically interpreted as motets by soprano soloists, the prayers Ardet cor meum, Clamo a te and the psalm Beatus vir alternated with the psalms Dixit Dominus, Confiteor tibi, Domine, De profundis. The music of the psalms «draws heavily from the Short Psalms for Two Choirs, Opera 9 of Monferrato – commented maestro Marco Gemmani –in which the Venetian composer concentrates the polychoral style typical of the Basilica Marciana in fast and pressing alternations of interventions, with sudden but calibrated twists. His motets are very different, written in the purest concertato style, in which all the virtuosity of the talented singers of the Cappella Marciana is shown”.
Some verses in Latin, such as in Psalm 110, Opera manuum eius veritas et judicium: «The works of his hands are truth and justice», seemed worthy commentary on the Patriarch’s words.
The concert confirmed the value of Gemmani’s conducting. Moreover, the performances of the Marciana Chapel led by him, during the liturgical functions throughout the year, have now become a staple for those who want to listen to music of rare beauty in the splendid golden setting of the Basilica of San Marco. In addition to the intense liturgical and concert activity in the Basilica, Gemmani led the Cappella Marciana to perform in numerous European venues. At the helm of the Cappella Marciana he has recorded for numerous record companies and obtained first prize in the Early Music category of the prestigious International Classical Music Awards 2020 with the CD Willaert and the Flemish School in San Marco.
Also worth mentioning are the voices and instruments of the Cappella Marciana, the seventeen singers (sopranos: Maria Chiara Ardolino, Caterina Chiarcos, Maria Clara Maiztegui, Elena Modena, Maria Cristina Rinaldi; tall: Maria BaldoClaudia Graziadei, Liu Rundong, Monica Serretti; tenors: Jake DybleEnrico Imbalzano, Riccardo Martin, José Sanchez; bass: Giovanni BertoldiLuca Scapin, Samy Timin, Marcin Wyszkowski) and Stefano Pratissoli on violone and Alvise Mason on organ.
The evening was repeated on 18 December. Long queues outside the Basilica in the hope of being able to recover a reservation that was not respected. Not everyone was able to listen to this extraordinary concert, also due to the capacity and safety limits that the Basilica of San Marco must now respect in every event that takes place inside.
