City in Italy, capital of the province of Lucca in Tuscany. There was a school in the cathedral of S Martino by the middle of the 8th century, and music undoubtedly formed part of the curriculum. Subsequent documents preserve the names of teachers at a singing school, Tempertus in 809 and Gausperto in 823. After that date any liturgical musical manuscripts were compiled in Lucca in a type of central Italian notation. One (I-Lc 603), from the 12th century, also preserves two interesting examples of two-part polyphony; evidence of an interest in polyphony, as well as the importance assigned to musical education, is provided by the treatise Summa artis musicae (I-Lc 614), attributed to Guglielmo Roffredi, Bishop of Lucca from 1174 to 1190. By the 13th century there were three schools: at the cathedral, at S Alessandro Maggiore and at S Maria Forisportam.
From the 14th century, when the city became an independent duchy and then a republic, the cathedral and the city government were the principal promoters of musical life. In 1306 two organs were acquired, and in 1357 an organist, Matteo da Siena, was employed. By 1308 the Comune had instrumentalists in its service and in 1372 the newly established republic founded the small Cappela della Signoria, which survived until 1517. Music played in the 14th century survives in laude and motet fragments held in the Archivio di Stato, which also houses the Lucca Codex, or Mancini Codex (I-LA 29), an important source of Ars Nova music compiled at the beginning of the 15th century.
In 1467 the English Carmelite John Hothby, a theoretican, teacher and composer, settled in Lucca; he had been summoned by the chapter of S Martino and was kept on by the republic. His 20 years in Lucca created the basis for the subsequent flourishing of polyphony. New organs were built in the 15th century in S Maria dei Servi, S Maria Forisportam and S Piercigoli. Those making the purchase objected to a first organ constructed for the cathedral, and in 1480 a second was commissioned from Domenico di Lorenzo. The instrument, built between 1481 and 1484 and one of the most important Renaissance organs, was enlarged by Luigi and Benedetto Tronci in 1792. Together with an organ built in 1615 by Andrea and Cosimo Ravani, it was replaced in 1962 by an electric organ. Among the organists at S Martino was Gioseffo Guami, the most famous member of a Lucca family of musicians. The organ tradition established an important school of organ building.
In 1543 the republican government established the Cappella di Palazzo, made up of five instrumentalists who were required to sing as necessary. Between 1557 and 1593 they were directed by Nicolao Dorati, the first Lucca composer whose name is known and founder of the city's oldest musical family. The cappella must quickly have achieved renown as in 1585 it was engaged for the wedding of Carlo Emanuele I of Savoy and Maria Caterina of Spain at Zaragoza. Giacomo Puccini, great-great-grandfather of his more famous namesake and founder of the family that dominated musical life in Lucca during the 18th and 19th centuries, directed the cappella from 1739 to 1781 (the family house holds a museum and a research institute dedicated to the better-known Giacomo, born there in 1858). Among other eminent Lucca composers who played in the cappella was Luigi Boccherini (1764–7). Expanded and reorganized according to the requirements of the day, it flourished until 1805 when it was suppressed by the Baciocchi princes.
At the end of the 16th century three seminaries (S Martino, S Michele and S Giovanni) were founded, and they became centres of musical culture. 1584 saw the establishment of the Accademia degli Oscuri, which often involved musicians from the cappella in its activities. In 1805 it took the name of the Accademia Napoleone and it is now called the Accademia Lucchese di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti.
The Congregazione degli Angeli Custodi organized sacred vigils from 1627. The first oratorios for the Congregazione di S Maria Corteorlandini date from 1636; at particular times of the liturgical year they organized cycles of oratorios. The elections (known as tasche) of the republican governors took place over three days and involved musical compositions from 1633. Certain rules were followed: librettist and composer were from Lucca, and there was generally a single subject divided into three parts or days, with one composer for each day. The compositions were cantatas or serenate politiche for soloists, chorus and orchestra, on subjects from the classical republican tradition, extolling civic virtues and the ‘libertas’ which the Lucchesi prized so highly. The practice continued until the fall of the republic in 1799.
From early times up to the 20th century the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross has been the most important civic and religious celebration, with music at First Vespers on 13 September and Mass and Second Vespers on 14 September. Added to this is a mottettone, a grand composition for two choirs, accompanied by two orchestras or an orchestra and a brass band (Michele Puccini wrote a famous example in 1845). 1711 saw a return to the ancient practice of including in the celebrations distinguished musicians from outside Lucca; outstanding soloists, particularly singers and violinists, among them Farinelli and Paganini, appeared.
From the 16th century onwards there is documentation of theatrical presentations in the Palazzo dei Borghi and the Palazzo del Podestà, and of intermedi inserted in the productions organized by the Accademia degli Oscuri. Notable performances were Esione, a ‘favola per musica intermidii’ of 1628, and Psiche (1645) by Tomaso Breni. The librettist Francesco Sbarra produced a huge output. The Febiarmonici company visited the city in 1645 and 1650. In 1672 the republic decided to build a Teatro Pubblico, which was inaugurated in 1675; it was destroyed by fire in 1688 and reopened in 1693. It remained active until the beginning of the 19th century (from 1799 as the Teatro Nazionale), when restoration became necessary. Newly inaugurated in 1819, it has since then been known as the Teatro del Giglio, from the lily on the Bourbon coat of arms. Since 1978 the summer Festival Internationale di Marlia has included opera performances.
The increasingly active musical life of the 18th century required the involvement of musicians on an almost daily basis, particularly for opera seasons and the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. As well as the Teatro Pubblico, two other theatres were active. The Teatro Castiglioncelli, built in 1752 by the Accademia ‘Magis Vigent’ and completely remodelled in 1772, remained in use until the end of the 19th century under the names Teatro Nota and, later, Teatro Goldoni. The Teatro Pantera, built by the Accademia dei Collegati in 1770, was the city's second theatre for most of the 19th century; in the 20th it was used as a cinema.
In the 19th century, following the Baciocchi princes' suppression of many institutions, musical life again flourished under the Bourbon dukes. The Teatro del Giglio saw a particularly brilliant period, thanks to their patronage and the far-sighted policies of the impresario Alessandro Lanari. On the initiative of the opera composer Giovanni Pacini an Istituto Musicale was established (the constitution dates from 1842); in 1867 it took the name of its founder; in 1924 it was recognized as a conservatory, and it was renamed after Boccherini in 1943. The 19th century also saw the formation of a larger cappella, used particularly for major liturgical services and closely linked to the Istituto Musicale. The city is active in the commemoration of its native composers, who include – as well as the Puccinis, Geminiani and Boccherini – Cristofano Malvezzi, Francesco Barsanti and Alfredo Catalani.
Important music archives in Lucca are at the Biblioteca Capitolare, the Seminario Vescovile, the Istituto Musicale, the Biblioteca Governativa and the Oratorio di Ss Crocefisso.
Grove6 (W. Dürr)
GroveO (G. Biagi Ravenni)
M. Puccini: Della musica in Lucca: cenni storici (I-Las, 1863)
D.A. Cerù: Cenni storici dell'insegnamento della musica in Lucca e dei più notabili maestri compositori che vi hanno fiorito (Lucca, 1871)
L. Nerici: Storia della musica in Lucca (Lucca, 1879/R)
A. Bonaccorsi: ‘Il “Mottettone” della Santa Croce nella Cattedrale di Lucca’, NA, xvii (1940), 5–15
B. Paoli Catelani: Il Teatro Comunale del ‘Giglio’ di Lucca (Pescia, 1941)
A. Damerini: L'Istituto musicale ‘Giovanni Pacini’ di Lucca (Florence, 1942)
A. Bonaccorsi: ‘Catalogo con notizie biografiche delle musiche dei maestri lucchesi esistenti nelle biblioteche di Lucca’, CHM, ii (1956–7), 73–95
E. Maggini: Lucca, Biblioteca del Seminario: catalogo delle musiche stampate e manoscritte del fondo antico (Milan, 1965)
A. Bonaccorsi: Maestri di Lucca: i Guami e altri musicisti (Florence, 1967)
A. Ziino: ‘Frammenti di laudi dell'Archivo di Stato di Lucca’, Cultura neolatina, xxxi (1971), 295–312
G. Biagi Ravenni: ‘I Dorati, musicisti lucchesi, alla luce di nuovi documenti d'archivio’, RIM, vii (1972), 39–81
M. Berlardi: L'oratorio musicale del '600 e '700 a S Maria Corteorlandini a Lucca (diss., U. of Pisa, 1974)
A. Ziino: ‘Polifonia nella cattedrale di Lucca durante il XIII secolo’, AcM, xlvii (1975), 16–30
A.M. Terruggia: ‘Aggiunta al laudario frammentato dell'Archivio di Stato di Lucca’, Studi e problemi di critica testuale, xii (1976), 5–26
F. Baggiani: Organi e organisti nella Cattedrale di Lucca (Lucca, 1982)
G. Biagi Ravenni and C. Gianturco: ‘The “Tasche” of Lucca: 150 Years of Political Serenatas’, PRMA, cxi (1984–5), 45–65
A. Cavalli: ‘Scritti sulla musica nelle pubblicazioni dell'Accademia Lucchese’, IV Centenario di fondazione della Accademia Lucchese di Scienze, Lettere e Arti (Lucca, 1985), 129–61
M.T. Quilici: Spettacoli lucchesi nella seconda metà del '700 (diss., U. of Pisa, 1986)
R. Silva: Antichi organi lucchesi (Lucca, 1986)
G. Biagi Ravenni: ‘The French Occupation of Lucca and its Effects on Music’, Music and the French Revolution: Cardiff 1989, 279–301
G. Calabrese: I teatri accademici nel Settecento a Lucca (diss., U. of Pisa, 1990)
G. Biagi Ravenni: La musica a Lucca (1964–1989): venticinque anni dell'Associazione Musicale Lucchese (Lucca, 1991)
G. Biagi Ravenni: Diva panthera: musica e musicisti al servizio dello stato lucchese (Lucca, 1993)
T.F. Kelly: ‘Beneventan Liturgy and Music in Tuscany: Lucca, Biblioteca Capitolare Feliniana, ms.606’, Ricerche de storia dell'arte, xlix (1993), 51–4
G. Biagi Ravenni: ‘Il Teatro Pubblico al servizio della Repubblica di Lucca’, Il melodramma italiano in Italia e in Germania nell'età barocca: Como 1993, 277–316
GABRIELLA BIAGI RAVENNI