This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
Venice is a unique city, which is the dream of romantics all over the world. This locality, built on the water, where the streets are canals and where you can travel by gondola or boat, has for centuries captured the imagination of travelers and aesthetes from all continents.
It’s not surprising that 28 to 30 million visitors flock there annually to admire its splendor and succumb to its timeless charm. And although the labyrinthine little streets of the city-museum become at times extremely crowded with foreigners – there are only a little more than 50,000 Venetians who live in the historic center – everyone leaves dazzled by having contemplated so much concentrated beauty.
The former city-state is so rich, culturally and historically, that it is possible to visit it from different angles, each more spectacular than the next. Its architecture is the result of centuries of know-how and various influences. Its gastronomy is creative, fresh and delicious. Its museums are full of masterpieces by Venetian Renaissance painters — Bellini, Carpaccio, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto… — who are magicians of color and light.
You can also walk around and observe the fascinating history of the Serenissima embodied in each church, each palace, each school or each basilica, the most imposing of which were built when Venice was a powerful republic (particularly from the 13the in the 15the century) and that it had a commercial empire which extended to the four corners of the Mediterranean: from northern Italy to Cyprus, via Montenegro, Albania, Greece and Crete.
But one of the most original and enjoyable ways to explore this Italian city is to do so through the music it inspired and that can still be heard there today.
A myriad of melodies
For music lovers, Venice is considered one of the historic musical capitals of Europe. His contribution was particularly important for opera. Although this form of art combining theater and music was born in Florence in 1600, it was in Venice that it really defined and popularized. It was in the city of the Doges that the first public opera theater was inaugurated in 1637, the Teatro San Cassiano, which democratized this lyrical art, which was no longer presented only to Italian nobles. This was a huge success among the Venetians, who would become true fans of this musical genre. From then on, the floating city will become the Mecca of opera.
The most famous lyric theater in the city is certainly La Fenice, which opened in 1792, and which still offers shows. Attending a concert there is a real experience that is certainly worth the trip. The hall, in the shape of a horseshoe, is superb, with its gilding, its paintings, its chandeliers, its rows of boxes which are superimposed up to the ceiling, its red felt benches, its exceptional acoustics and its imperial box, which was built especially for Napoleon. The Emperor attended a performance there on 1er December 1807 when he ruled over much of Europe and Italy.
Several operas that have marked the history of music have been created and presented there for the first time, including I Capuleti and Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues) as well as Beatrice di Tenda (Beatrice de Tende), by Bellini; three operas by Rossini: Tancredi (Tancred), Sigismondo (Sigismund) and Semiramide (Semiramis); five works by Verdi: Ernani (Hernani), attila, Rigoletto, La Traviata and Simon Boccanegra ; in addition to The Rake’s Progress (The career of the libertine), by Igor Stravinsky, in 1951.
The child prodigy
But the composer who most marked the inhabitants of the lagoon of Venice is certainly Vivaldi, the virtuoso violinist, who was born there in 1678. The one who was nicknamed “the red priest” was one of the most influential musical creators of the Baroque period and one of the most celebrated artists of his time, all over Europe.
The four concertos that form The four Seasons are among the best-known pieces in the world repertoire. You will hear them almost everywhere in Venice, where they are played as much inside churches, theaters as in Saint Mark’s Square, where many tourists are concentrated.
As you walk through this magical city where there are many small bridges, arcades and boats, you may wonder why Venice has inspired musicians of all eras so much. Is it the reflections of the inverted buildings in the waters of the canals that allowed them to better extricate themselves from reality? Or the feeling of living on a magnificent island that seems to have escaped time?