(It. Milano; Lat. Mediolanum).
City in Italy, capital of Lombardy.
MARIANGELA DONÀ
Milan probably existed before the invasion of the Gauls or the Celts, to whom the foundation of the city in the late 5th century bce is attributed. The political and economic importance of Milan grew further in the 3rd century ce, and in 313 Constantine promulgated the famous edict favouring Christianity there; with Constantius II (352) Milan became the effective capital of the Roman Empire. Soon afterwards Ambrose, who came to be the symbol of Milan, arrived in the city; at first he was consular governor (c370), and he was elected bishop by the people in 374. Milanese (also called Ambrosian) chant is the earliest Western repertory of liturgical music to have survived parallel to the Gregorian repertory, and only in the 20th century had it begun to be undermined as a result of liturgical reforms. The independence of the Milanese rite was due to the political and ecclesiastical authority commanded by the city during the Middle Ages, and it was reinforced by the prestige associated with Ambrose, to whom the Milanese chant and liturgy had been traditionally attributed, together with the introduction of antiphonal singing from the East. It is certain only that he wrote the texts for four or six hymns. Milanese chant is characterized by a strong Eastern influence (Byzantine and Syrian) but built on a nucleus apparently of local origin. The long tradition of Milanese chant was fostered and maintained through the establishment of a schola cantorum conducted by a magister chori puerorum, which may have been founded by Ambrose. His successor, Simpliciano, is said to have enlarged the schola and appointed at least three magistri cum ferulis. The Milanese chronicler Landolfus the Elder reported that Archbishop Ariberto d’Intimiano (1018–45) reorganized the schola and the children were taught in the cathedral by four priests, including Arialdo and Azzone in the first half of the 12th century, and Eriprando and Ogero in 1144. Perhaps during Ariberto’s tenure, but at least in the first half of the 12th century, the practice of two-voice polyphony was known at the cathedral.
The only Ars Nova composer connected with Milan appears to have been Jacopo da Bologna, who was at the Visconti court during the reign of Luchino (1339–49) and after 1352. The Milanese were always specially inclined towards religious music, about which the first official document was issued by the provincial council in 1311. When it was decided that a new cathedral be built, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, in his proclamation establishing the prerogatives of the deputies entrusted with its construction (1394), included regulations for the cathedral’s music. In the same year the first organist was appointed, magister Montus a Prato, and the cathedral cappella was essentially established. Matteo da Perugia was appointed biscantor in 1402, remaining until 1407 and later returning in 1414 for two years; from 1411 the post was held by Ambrogio da Pessano. Matteo was in effect the first of a long series of outstanding maestri di cappella and was followed by Beltrame Feragut (1425–30), Ambrosius da Pessano (appointed 1430) and Santino Taverna.
There is evidence of only limited musical activity in the Duchy of Milan under the rule of the Visconti (to 1447) and during the short-lived Ambrosian Republic (1447–50). This changed with the advent of the Sforza family, which began in 1450 with Francesco I (see Sforza). Under Francesco, who had married Bianca Maria Visconti, but especially under his son and successor, Galeazzo Maria, sacred and secular music reached its greatest splendour. The cathedral cappella grew to include 12 first-rate singers with Giovanni Molli and Gaffurius (1484–1522) as maestri, and in 1491 Bartolomeo Antegnati built a fine organ in the cathedral. Galeazzo Maria Sforza established a court ensemble in 1473, recruiting the best French and Flemish singers and composers, which by 1474 included 18 cantori di camera and 22 cantori di cappella, and which became one of the most important ensembles of the period; Weerbeke (?1471–80), Josquin (?1473–?1479), Johannes Martini (1474) and Compère (1474–5) were among the members of the cappella at its height. But many musicians began to leave the Sforza court after the murder of Galeazzo Maria in December 1476. Under Galeazzo’s brother Ludovico il Moro, who seized power from his brother’s widow in 1479, splendid musical festivities, some with sets and machinery designed by Leonardo da Vinci, were organized at court; Bellincioni’s Festa del Paradiso with music by Gaffurius was staged for the wedding festivities of Gian Galeazzo Sforza and Isabella of Aragon in 1489. The high level of musical life at court was largely due to Beatrice d’Este, Ludovico’s wife. Ludovico also established a Gymnasium in Milan in 1492 at which Gaffurius lectured on music; other professors included Luca Pacioli and Facius Cardanus. During his 38 years in Milan, Gaffurius established a reputation as one of the leading musical figures of the time; he wrote his major theoretical treatises and composed most of his music there. Although the cathedral cappella was dominated by Italians and the court cappella by Netherlanders, the relationship between the two was cordial and there were frequent interchanges of musical forces.
In 1535 Sforza rule ended, and for nearly two centuries Milan came under Spanish rule; a long period of general decadence began, which had repercussions in musical development and inhibited the development of an autonomous tradition. Nevertheless religious music, fostered in particular in the cathedral, maintained its traditionally high standards. Gaffurius was succeeded as maestro di cappella by Mathias Werrecore (1522–50), Olivero de Phalanis (1550–51), Simon Boyleau (?1557–63 and 1572–4), Ruffo (1563–72) and Bartolomeo Torresani (who also appears to have worked under the name of Hoste da Reggio). The Council of Trent and the Counter-Reformation had considerable consequences for the city’s musical life, mainly because of Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan from 1560 until 1584: interpreting the recommendations of the Council, he established a more rigorous code affecting both the character of religious music and the discipline of the musicians who performed it. One of the new rules banned all instruments except the organ in church; Ruffo wrote a series of masses accordingly in 1570, and many of his later masses were written to render the text as intelligible as possible in accordance with the wishes of Cardinal Borromeo.
During the early 16th century secular music continued to be practised even if it had lost the splendour that had characterized the Sforza court. The Spanish governors also employed musicians at their court; Ferrante Gonzaga (in Milan from 1546) had an instrumental and a vocal cappella, with the madrigalist Hoste da Reggio as maestro, and among his musicians was a cornett virtuoso, Moscatello, and the young Lassus, who was probably there in 1547–9. There was no shortage of festivities or sumptuous performances accompanied by music; notable ones took place in 1548 on the occasion of the visit to Milan of Philip of Spain and in 1559 to celebrate the peace of Câteau-Cambrésis. In 1563 Giaches de Wert was maestro di cappella to Governor Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba; in 1573 Giovan Leonardo Primavera was maestro to Luis de Zúñiga y Requesens. Outside the court, music was practised by many accomplished noble amateurs; preference was given to the lute by most players and composers, and a Milanese school of composers of lute music centred on Francesco Canova da Milano (including Joan Ambrosio Dalza, Marco Dall’Aquila, P.P. Borrono, Alberto da Ripa, G.G. Albuzio, G.P. Paladino and Perino Fiorentino) began to develop. Madrigals were also greatly favoured and were published in costly editions by such composers (many of them maestri in Milan) as Lassus, Hoste da Reggio, Wert, Primavera, Ruffo, Boyleau, Pietro Taglia, Gioseppe Caimo, Maddalena Casulana, Vicentino and Michele Varotto, printed in Milan by Castiglione, Moscheni, Ponzio, Piccaglia and Pontano; these printers also published editions of canzonettas and villanellas by such composers as Vecchi and Giovanelli.
The violin and viol families were also popular in instrumental music, Milan being the centre of the region most important in the early history of the violin; the first use of the term violino appears in 1538 in a document describing some of the musicians brought by Pope Paul III to the peace conference at Nice in 1538 as violini Milanesi. Virtuoso players became famous outside Italy; for example, by 1590 almost all the players of violins and viols employed by Queen Elizabeth I of England were Italian, including various members of the Lupo family headed by Ambrose Lupo of Milan. The Milanese Riccardo Rognoni was the author of one of the early important violin methods (1592). This predilection for instrumental music was noticeable in the 16th century and continued in the 17th; many canzonas (the canzon francese was much favoured) and instrumental capriccios were composed by musicians employed in the city churches, for instance Florentio Maschera and Francesco Rognoni Taeggio. Such compositions were often performed in patricians’ houses and dedicated to noble patrons, frequently taking their title from a patron’s name (‘La Brasca’, ‘L’Aresa’ etc.). The most notable among the noble amateurs to hold academies in their palazzos were the Brivio brothers, and the Arese and Valera families.
The first known sonata per violino e basso continuo and the first sonata a tre were published in the collection Concerti ecclesiastici (Milan, 1610), composed by G.P. Cima, a local musician who became the leading composer of the Milanese instrumental school in the early 17th century. These two musical forms were substantially developed in the 17th century by Lombard composers, mainly from Brescia and Bergamo, rather than Milan; similarly, Lombards from Cremona and Brescia became the outstanding lute and violin makers at that time. Biagio Marini, maestro di cappella at S Maria della Scala (1649–52), published his op.16 of three- to six-part chamber pieces at Milan in 1649.
A considerable number of organ works (ricercares and canzonas) were also published by such composers as Gian Paolo and Andrea Cima, and Francesco and Gian Domenico Rognoni. The end of the 16th century marked a decline in the popularity of the lute, which was increasingly replaced by the harpsichord or the Spanish guitar. The Milanese school of dancing-masters, including Pompeo Diobono and Virgilio Braccesco, became established around Cesare Negri and attained international fame. Negri was the author of the dance treatise Le gratie d’amore (1602), dedicated to Philip III of Spain, which is illustrated with dance figurations (fig.1) and their music, and provides a comprehensive record of the social and theatrical dance music of the period.
During the 17th century the results of the rigorous restrictions imposed by the Counter-Reformation became increasingly extensive, so that religious music became almost totally predominant. Musicians had to compose madrigals of a religious character (such as Orfeo Vecchi’s La donna vestita di sole, 1602); secular madrigals were often presented in sacred guise – Monteverdi’s madrigals, for example, were mainly known in Milan in a religious arrangement by Coppini (1607–11). Collections of vocal music by Milanese composers were also published in the early 17th century, such as the Concerti de diversi eccellentissimi autori (RISM 160813), published by Lomazzo and edited by Francesco Lucino, a musician at the cathedral; it included concertante pieces by such composers as G.C. Gabussi, Gastoldi, G.D. Rognoni and G.P. Cima.
After the departure of Vincenzo Ruffo (maestro di cappella, 1563–72), the cathedral cappella continued its tradition of excellent maestri, most of whom were also prolific composers of sacred music. Carlo Borromeo and, later, his cousin Cardinal Federico devoted their personal attention to the cappella which was in turn entrusted to Boyleau (1572–4), Pietro Ponzio, Gabussi (1582–1611), Vincenzo Pellegrini (1612–30), Ignazio Donati (1631–8), G.B. Crivelli (1638–42), A.M. Turati (1642–50), Michel’Angelo Grancini (1650–69), G.A. Grossi (1669–84), C.D. Cossoni (1684–93) and G.M. Appiani (1693–1714). Grancini was outstanding among these maestri; he was active in Milanese churches from 1622 and was renowned for the expressive singing style of his polyphonic writing, clearly influenced by Monteverdi. Polyphony also flourished during the 16th century in other Milanese churches with musical establishments, among them S Maria della Scala, S Ambrogio, S Marco, S Simpliciano, S Celso and S Eufemia, and in the convents. The strict polyphonic style gave way to a more expressive style using a few voices and continuo. Among local composers was the nun Caterina Assandra, who published a collection of motets in the new concertato style in Milan in 1609.
In so austere a climate there was little opportunity for the development of opera. However, some public festivities with music were arranged when distinguished visitors came to the city. In 1594 Il precipitio di Fetonte was performed with musical intermedi, and in 1599 the pastoral fable or ecloga Arminia by G.B. Visconti with music by Camillo Schiafenati was performed for the visit of the Infanta Isabella and her husband Archduke Albert of Austria. These performances were generally given in the great hall of the ducal palace opened in 1598 in the presence of Archduchess Margherita of Austria, wife of Philip III of Spain. (Later scholars have referred to the hall as the Salone Margherita, though there is no mention of this name in contemporary documents.) The ducal palace also contained the small Teatrino della Commedia (from 1686 the Regio Nuovo Teatro; closed 1729) used for commedia dell'arte and opera performances by touring theatrical companies, among them the famous ‘Fedeli’ of G.B. Andreini, which included his wife Virginia Ramponi, creator of the title role in Monteverdi’s Arianna in Mantua.
Opera gradually acquired greater status in Milan. At the beginning of the 17th century the main theatrical productions came from Venice. Benedetto Ferrari's Il pastor regio was staged in 1646 and Cavalli's Giasone in 1650. These were performed by the Febiarmonici, who also gave Strozzi and Francesco Sacrati's La finta pazza in about 1650, probably in the Borromeo family's private theatre at Isola Bella, Lake Maggiore, in whose archive the score of this opera has been rediscovered. Orione, an opera specially written for Milan by Cavalli, had its première at the Teatro Regio in 1653. After 1670 the dependence on Venice decreased and a certain amount of local operatic production began to take shape, in part because of the local librettists Francesco Lemene and Carlo Maria Maggi.
The end of the Spanish domination of Lombardy and the advent of Austrian rule in 1706 was the beginning of a new age of prosperity and peace which lasted until 1797 and saw a flowering of culture and the arts. In 1699 the Nuovo Regio Ducal Teatro had been built by order of the Spanish governor, Vaudemont, on the site of the great hall. The theatre burnt down on 5 January 1708, and until a new theatre was built on the same site, opera was staged on a smaller scale in the Teatrino della Commedia. In 1717 a new theatre, the Regio Ducal Teatro (sometimes known as the Teatro Regio Ducale) was built by the architect Giovan Domenico Barbieri. It had five tiers of boxes, each with an anteroom where servants could prepare refreshments. Although one of the largest in Italy, the new theatre had the defect of being too long and narrow, providing a poor view of the stage (fig.2). It was inaugurated on 26 December 1717 with Gasparini's Costantino. For 59 years, until 25 February 1776 when it in turn burnt down, this was the centre of musical and social life in Milan. The city was still not a creative force in opera, but rather an eclectic and receptive centre open to widely varying tendencies. Its productions shone for the scenery of the Galliaris, for the ballets in the intermezzos, arranged by fine choreographers such as Le Picq, Noverre and Angiolini, and for the singers, who were among the best in Italy: the castratos Carestini, Bernacchi, Tenducci and Farinelli and the prima donnas Tesi, Bordoni, Gabrielli and Aguiari. In about 1740 the orchestra numbered 45 (fig.3). From the beginning intermezzos had been inserted between the acts of operas, as in Naples and Venice, but after 1738 they were usually replaced by ballets. During Carnival (26 December to February) two opere serie were performed. Already in 1718 a third opera was performed in August. The eclectic operatic repertory included works by composers from all parts of Italy as well as foreigners, but many were Milanese, the most distinguished being G.B. Lampugnani (Candace, 1732, Angelica, 1738, performed with intermezzos from Pergolesi's La serva padrona). L'ambizione superata dalla virtù by the Milanese symphonic composer G.B. Sammartini was staged at the Regio Ducal Teatro in 1735 in honour of the new sovereign Carlo Emanuele III of Savoy during the short period of Franco-Sardinian domination (1733–6).
The 18th-century Milanese musical scene, closely linked with that of Vienna, was of a high standard; this was due, in particular, to the presence of Sammartini, who spent his entire life in Milan. He was maestro di cappella in several Milanese churches and took a leading role in the city's musical life, composing and conducting music for religious and state occasions. His vocal and instrumental music, notably his symphonies, whose harmonic and thematic relationships clearly indicate the emerging Classical style, soon became recognized outside Italy, and he was considered the leading figure in a Milanese symphonic school including Brioschi, Galimberti, Giorgio Giulini, G.B. Lampugnani and Melchiorre Chiesa. During Lent, when the theatres were closed, private concerts ‘di sinfonia e di canto’ continued, while in the churches, especially the Jesuit church of S Fedele, sacred cantatas were performed, many of them by Sammartini, who from 1728 was maestro di cappella of the Congregazione del SS Entierro which met at S Fedele.
Gluck was in Milan from 1737 until 1745 as a guest of Count Antonio Maria Melzi and probably studied with Sammartini, whose influence is evident in his early work, in particular Le nozze d'Ercole e d'Ebe and La contesa de' numi. Four of his operas were first performed in Milan: Artaserse (1741), Demofoonte (1743), Sofonisba (1744) and Ippolito (1745).
Johann Christian Bach was in Milan from 1757 to 1762. His patron was Count Agostino Litta, who enabled him to study with Padre Martini in Bologna. His style was influenced by that of Sammartini and other Milanese symphonists and this in turn had some influence on Mozart's style. By 1760 Bach was appointed one of the organists of Milan Cathedral and his opera Catone in Utica, written for Naples in 1761, was revived in the Regio Ducal Teatro the following year.
The Milanese of the mid-18th century had a keen interest in orchestral music, and concerts were organized on the ramparts of the Castello Sforzesco, where a large orchestra gave open-air performances several times a week. The vogue of instrumental and symphonic music was such as to encourage the establishment of the Accademia Filarmonica (1758), whose members were primarily noblemen, but whose musical backbone was formed by Sammartini and other musicians. Those seeking admission to the Accademia were required to pass stringent tests and each member was obliged to compose a sonata or overture annually. In the second half of the 18th century Milan was one of the most enlightened Italian cultural centres, with thinkers and men of letters such as the Verri, Cesare Beccaria and Giuseppe Parini. This was the atmosphere in Milan when the young Mozart visited the city for the first time in 1770; he was warmly received and met several musicians, including Sammartini. He returned at the end of the year to direct performances of his new opera Mitridate, re di Ponto, which he had written for the Regio Ducal Teatro. He again visited Milan in 1771 for the first performance of Ascanio in Alba, a festa teatrale to a text by Parini (commissioned for the wedding of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and Maria Ricciarda Beatrice d'Este, at which Hasse's Ruggiero was the main operatic event), and in 1772–3 for the première of Lucio Silla. Both works were given at the Regio Ducal Teatro.
The cathedral cappella continued to flourish and musicians of high repute competed for the posts of organist and maestro di cappella. The maestri were Carlo Baliani (1714–47), G.A. Fioroni (1747–78), Giuseppe Sarti (1778–87), Carlo Monza (1787–93) and N.A. Zingarelli (1793–4), all of whom were active in other Milanese musical institutions and as composers.
Opera, however, remained the main attraction. The theatrical spectacles received new impulse through Archduke Ferdinand, from 1771 Governor of Lombardy, who was very fond of opera and theatre. When the Teatro Regio Ducale burnt down on 25 February 1776, the archduke persuaded his mother, the Empress Maria Theresa, to approve a proposal by the Milanese nobility to build two new theatres designed by Giuseppe Piermarini: the Teatro Grande, or Regio Ducal Teatro alla Scala, and the smaller Teatro della Cannobiana. Until they were built a temporary wooden theatre, the Teatro Interinale, was erected to a design by Piermarini in the garden of the palace that had belonged to Bernabò Visconti. Between September 1776 and Carnival 1777–8 spectacles were staged in the Teatro Interinale. On 3 August 1778 the Teatro alla Scala was inaugurated with Salieri's L'Europa riconosciuta to a libretto by Verazi, with ballets choreographed by Claudio Le Grand and Giuseppe Canziani (fig.4). The theatre took its name from the site previously occupied by the church of S Maria della Scala (named after Bernabò Visconti's wife Beatrice della Scala). The architect was Piermarini, the interior was painted by Giuseppe Levati and Giuseppe Reina and the curtain, depicting Parnassus (at Parini's suggestion), was the work of Domenico Riccardi. The horseshoe-shaped theatre had five tiers of 194 boxes, a large royal box opposite the stage, a gallery and stalls (fig.5); each box had an anteroom as a cloakroom. Visibility and acoustics were excellent from every point. The exterior had a façade of three orders with a pediment, central projection and three-arched portico with a terrace above. The theatre overlooked a narrow street; it was only in 1857 that the piazza was opened out to its present size.
The Teatro alla Scala (as it came to be known) soon became one of the most famous in Italy; it represented one of the main centres of development of Italian opera, the genre that dominated Italian musical life in the 19th century. It also became a centre of Italian social and political history: in 1793 it was the scene of festivities for the coronation of Emperor Joseph II; in 1797 the end of Austrian domination and the advent of Napoleonic rule was celebrated by the performance of a tragedy-ballet, where the royal box was divided into six smaller boxes reserved for the ‘liberated people’; also in 1797 the revolutionary opera La congiura pisoniana was first performed there; and in 1805 impressive performances for the coronation of Napoleon as King of Italy were given there. During the Napoleonic period of transition, operas from the old repertory were staged alternately with cantatas and other works. (For the theatre plan and interior, see Acoustics, fig.22)
The Teatro della Cannobiana (or Canobbiana), built on a site adjoining the schools founded in 1554 by Paolo da Cannobio, opened on 21 August 1779 with Salieri's La fiera di Venezia and Il talismano by Salieri and Giacomo Rust. The Cannobiana also staged drama and ballet and, during the Republic, patriotic displays and festivities. It was used chiefly for comic opera and semiseria, especially when La Scala was closed.
At the turn of the century Milan began to develop into a modern city based on the activity of a prosperous middle class, which eventually turned it into the most important industrial centre of Italy. Lombardy was returned to Austrian control in 1815 and renewed Viennese connections resulted in a large patrician and upper class supporting cultural life.
A new era of Italian opera began with the success of Rossini (La pietra del paragone, 1812), who quickly came to dominate Italian opera along with Donizetti and Bellini; from then on, Milan’s musical history became virtually identified with that of Italian opera, of which La Scala was perhaps the most notable centre (it was also at that time that cycles of Mozart operas began to be mounted there). Important operas had their premières at La Scala and helped to establish the theatre’s reputation: Rossini’s works dominated the period 1812–20 (including Aureliano in Palmira, 1813; Il turco in Italia, 1814; La gazza ladra, 1817; and Bianca e Falliero, 1819); Meyerbeer had successes with Margherita d'Anjou (1820) and L’esule di Granata (1821); Mercadante with Elisa e Claudio (1821), Il giuramento (1837) and Il bravo (1839); Donizetti with Lucrezia Borgia (1833) and others; and Bellini had three successes particularly important for the theatre, Il pirata (1827, commissioned by Barbaia and initiating the composer’s fruitful collaboration with the librettist Romani), La straniera (1829) and, after an initial failure, Norma (1831).
By the 1830s La Scala was one of the leading opera houses in Europe; 40 premières were given in that decade and in 1839 Verdi’s first opera, Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio, was performed there. Ricordi bought the publishing rights, and the theatre’s director, Bartolomeo Merelli, commissioned three more operas from the young composer. The first, Un giorno di regno, was a failure and was withdrawn after its first performance in 1840, but Nabucco (1842) and I Lombardi alla prima crociata (1843) were great successes; in fact, I Lombardi came to represent the drive towards unification and the patriotic choruses often incited demonstrations in the theatre. Although Verdi is closely associated with La Scala, his career there was chequered, and his works until Otello in 1887 had their premières elsewhere (with the exception of revisions); there was hissing and chatter during the Milan performances of La forza del destino, Un ballo in maschera and Aida, and Milanese critics accused Verdi of not knowing how to write for singers and of imitating Wagner. The Requiem, written for Manzoni, was given at La Scala in 1874 only a few days after its first performance at S Marco (see fig.6), and Verdi did return to La Scala with the premières of his last two operas, Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893). Many other Italian composers were presented at La Scala during the second half of the 19th century, including Petrella, Faccio, Marchetti, Boito, Ponchielli and Catalani. The works of foreign composers were also brought to the theatre and, after initial failure, Wagner’s operas were enthusiastically received under Franco Faccio’s direction.
The best Italian singers performed at La Scala throughout the century, while the most notable conductors were Alberto Mazzucato (1859–68), Faccio (1871–91) and Toscanini (1898–1903). Alessandro Sanquirico was the theatre’s leading stage designer and scene-painter from 1817 to 1832; besides setting new standards of design in Rossini’s opere serie and the operas of Mozart, Bellini (fig.7), Donizetti and Meyerbeer, he influenced opera stage design throughout the 19th century and into the 20th. Carlo Ferrario, who was the leading Milanese scene-painter of the second half of the 19th century, worked at other theatres as well as at La Scala, making a return to more realistic design. Ballets were produced there by such great choreographers as Salvatore Viganò and Gaetano Gioja.
Throughout the 19th century alterations and improvements were made to the theatre, the most important of which were the enlargement of the stage in 1807, the overall restoration in 1838, and the removal in 1857 of the tall houses that had made it impossible to have a perspective view of the façade. Gas lighting was installed in 1860 and electric lighting in 1883. There have traditionally been four annual seasons: Carnival to Lent (initially reserved for opere serie), and autumn, spring and summer, when opere buffe were mounted. The administration of La Scala had at first been supported by the proceeds of the dramatic company which used the theatre until 1803, but from 1806 to 1918 the theatre was supported, with varying success, by its joint owners: the state, then the city, box holders, impresarios and patrons. During the Austrian Restoration, the administration was in the hands of the government, but afterwards the theatre attracted such adventurous impresarios as Domenico Barbaia (1826–32) and Bartolomeo Merelli (1835–50 and 1861–3). In 1897 the city withdrew its subsidy and Duke Guido Visconti di Modrone formed a syndicate to take over the theatre’s management, appointing Toscanini artistic director in 1898, with Giulio Gatti-Casazza as manager.
There were several minor Milanese theatres that mounted opera during the 19th century. Despite several substantial interruptions the Teatro della Cannobiana continued its activities, particularly when La Scala was closed. Many works by second-rate composers had their premières there, as did Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (1832). In 1894, under the ownership of the publisher Sonzogno, the theatre was renamed the Teatro Lirico Internazionale and opened with the Greek composer Spyridon Samaras’s La martire; it was later known simply as the Teatro Lirico and passed into other hands. In 1897 Caruso made his Milan début there in the première of Cilea’s L’arlesiana. The Teatro Carcano, modelled on La Scala, was built by Giuseppe Carcano in 1803 and opened that year with La Zaira, sometimes attributed to Vincenzo Federici but more probably by Francesco Federici. Of the operas that had their premières there, few were memorable, though Donizetti’s Anna Bolena (1830) and Bellini’s La sonnambula (1831) were notable exceptions. In 1882 the first concert of Wagner’s music in Milan was given there by Faccio. The Carcano had largely lost its importance by the mid-century and by 1900 it was no longer used for music. The Teatro di S Radegonda was opened in 1803 in a Benedictine convent, remodelled to accommodate drama and opera; it was demolished in 1882. The Teatro Lentasio opened in 1801 as a marionette theatre, but also presented opera and drama from 1805 to 1853. The Teatro Re was built by Carlo Re, opening in 1813 with Rossini’s Tancredi; after the 1848 revolution it was used primarily for drama, though operas were occasionally mounted until its demolition in 1872, the final performance being Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. In 1815 the Teatro Fiando was opened, offering a variety of entertainments including marionette plays, drama, opera and ballet; the building was demolished in 1868, rebuilt and renamed the Teatro Gerolamo. The Teatro Manzoni (so-called from 1873) was built in 1872 as the Teatro della Commedia to replace the Teatro Re. It initially concentrated on performances of drama and music, particularly opere buffe and operettas, and over the next 50 years gradually raised its standards to occupy an important place in the city’s theatrical life; however, soon after 1900 its musical activity ceased. The Politeama Ciniselli, a private theatre, was acquired by Count Francesco Dal Verme, demolished and rebuilt, reopening in 1872 with Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots as the Teatro Dal Verme. The most modern theatre of its time, it primarily gave drama and grand opera; first performances there included Puccini’s first opera Le villi (1884) and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci (1892).
One of the city’s most important institutions, the Milan Conservatory, was founded during the Napoleonic era; from 1803 there had been attempts to establish a residential conservatory based on the traditional Italian model, and in 1807 the conservatory, partly modelled on the Paris Conservatoire, was instituted by Napoleonic decree, principally to train musicians for the city’s main musical institution, La Scala. The conservatory was housed in the convent attached to the church of S Maria della Passione, where it has remained, and all the students were resident. Simon Mayr was asked to take up the post of director in 1808, but he preferred to remain in Bergamo and it was subsequently offered to Bonifazio Asioli, maestro di cappella and music director at the court of Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais (Napoleon’s stepson); he accepted, and held the post until the fall of the Kingdom of Italy in 1814. Among the first professors were the violinist Alessandro Rolla, the horn player Luigi Belloli and the pianist Piantanida. The founding of the Milan Conservatory initiated the founding of a series of conservatories all over Italy. Under Austrian rule the conservatory underwent some changes; literary and historical studies were added to the teaching of music and it was opened to non-resident students. Outstanding 19th-century directors were Francesco Basili (1827–37), who refused admission to Verdi in 1832, Nicola Vaccai (1837–44), Alberto Mazzucato (1872–7) and Antonio Bazzini (1882–97). The conservatory soon became the most important music school in Italy, attracting such pupils as Puccini and Catalani to study with professors of the stature of Ponchielli (1880–86).
During the 19th century Milan became one of the most important centres of Italian publishing, dominated by the firm of Ricordi; it was established in 1808 by Giovanni Ricordi, a modest artisan, typographer and copyist, and developed by his descendants, who turned it into a flourishing and powerful business, also serving as a patron to support and stimulate composers. By 1811 Giovanni Ricordi was appointed publisher to the Milan Conservatory; in 1814 he was prompter and exclusive copyist to La Scala, which gave him rights to publish the music performed there, and in 1825 he bought its musical archives. Ricordi absorbed Artaria in 1837, further consolidating its power, and in 1839 the firm published Verdi’s first opera; with the exception of three operas published by Lucca in 1846–8, Ricordi published all his subsequent operas and most of his other works. Lucca had been established in 1825 and became Ricordi’s chief rival from about 1840. In 1842 Ricordi initiated the Gazzetta musicale di Milano, Italy’s first regular musicological and critical journal, with Lucca issuing the rival publication Italia musicale (1847–59). From 1874 the firm of Sonzogno began to specialize in music under Edoardo Sonzogno; in 1888, when Ricordi absorbed Lucca (which had taken over Canti and several other smaller music publishers), Sonzogno proved to be Ricordi’s main rival, being the publishers of many verismo composers, for instance Mascagni and Leoncavallo. Ricordi, however, published all but one of Puccini’s operas and, with the absorption of Lucca, had gained Italian rights to publish those of Wagner.
Although the tradition of instrumental music began to wane with the rise of opera, Milan remained one of the most important centres for its cultivation. During the first half of the 19th century instrumental music was performed in Milan more than in any other Italian centre, partly because the tradition established during the previous century was continued by such figures as Rolla and other professors at the conservatory, and partly because of the presence of the occupying Austrian nobility, who were directly connected with the musical activity at Vienna. This resulted in the foundation of several circles for amateur performances, such as the Società del Giardino, the Nobile Società and the Società d'Incoraggiamento. Concerts of chamber music were also held in many aristocratic houses.
The decade 1850–60 was almost devoid of instrumental music, but thereafter it started to revive. The court cappelle were dissolved with the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy and were replaced throughout Italy by philharmonic societies and other private associations founded by members of the aristocracy and wealthy middle class. The Società del Quartetto was founded in Milan in 1864 (similar organizations were established in other Italian cities) with members like Mazzucato and Boito as its intellectual backbone. Boito was actively associated with the ‘Scapigliatura’, a mainly literary movement which aimed at revitalizing and reforming the arts. The group reflected, in part, the disillusionment that followed the enthusiasm of unification. Boito published music criticism in the Giornale della Società del quartetto, promoting greater simplicity in art. From 1872 the orchestra of La Scala gave concerts under Faccio for the Società del Quartetto and in 1878 it took part in the Exposition Universelle in Paris; its success was so great that the following year the Società Orchestrale della Scala was formed with Faccio as director, giving two annual seasons of concerts in the spring and autumn. The orchestra played an important role in renewing interest in instrumental music and Faccio did much to establish high standards. Of lesser importance was a short-lived society founded in 1863 by Gustavo Adolfo Noseda on the model of the Concerts Populaires de Musique Classique initiated by Pasdeloup in Paris in 1861.
Milan continued to grow as a thriving industrial city supporting a wide range of musical activity. La Scala further expanded its prestige and in addition to presenting the standard repertory and works by Puccini, Franchetti, Leoncavallo and Giordano, mounted the first Italian productions of many foreign works, including Tchaikovsky’s Yevgeny Onegin (1900), Strauss’s Salome (1906), Elektra (1908) and Rosenkavalier (1911), Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande (1908), Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov (1909) and Falla’s La vida breve (1934). After World War II several important works had their premières there, for instance Milhaud’s David (first staged performance, 1955), Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites (1957), Pizzetti’s L'assassinio nella cattedrale (1958) and Il calzare d'argento (1961), Stockhausen's Donnerstag aus Licht (1981), Samstag aus Licht (1984) and Montag aus Licht (1988) and Berio's La vera storia (1982). Many other works were given their Italian premières at La Scala, for example Britten’s Peter Grimes (1947), Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges (1947), Walton’s Troilus and Cressida (1956) and Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen (1958).
In 1920 the theatre became a self-governing body, ‘Ente Autonomo del Teatro alla Scala’; Toscanini was then appointed artistic director and established a reputation for consistent excellence in performances during what was called ‘the great Toscanini period’. He formed a new orchestra of 100 players and a chorus of 120; while the stage and auditorium were being reconstructed he took the company on a tour of Italy, the USA and Canada. His regime culminated in the company’s visit to Vienna and Berlin in 1929. His eventual resignation had many causes, including political ones. Artistic directors succeeding him have included Erardo Trentinaglia (appointed 1931), Jenner Mataloni (1935), Carlo Gatti (1941), Gino Marinuzzi (1944), Antonio Ghiringhelli (1948), Victor De Sabata (1953) and Francesco Siciliani (1957), while conductors have included De Sabata, Giulini, Abbado and Muti. The La Scala company has also toured to Munich (1937), London (Covent Garden, 1950 and 1976), Johannesburg (1957), Edinburgh (1957), Brussels (1958), Moscow (1964), Montreal (1967) and Washington, DC (1976). After being seriously damaged by bombing in 1943, La Scala was one of the first buildings in Milan to be rebuilt after the war. It was reconstructed to its original designs (capacity now 3000) and was reopened on 11 May 1946 with a concert conducted by Toscanini containing works by Rossini, Verdi, Boito and Puccini. In 1955 the Piccola Scala (cap. 600) was built next to La Scala for performances of early opera and small-scale contemporary works, opening with Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto. It closed in 1983.
The Teatro Nuovo was built in 1938 and has always alternated productions of drama and concerts. It has a permanent orchestra and since World War II has played a particularly important role in the dissemination of new music. In addition, from 1959 to 1994 the Milan radio orchestra of the RAI gave public concerts in the conservatory, with Bruno Maderna as permanent conductor from 1971 to 1973. The Teatro Angelicum was built in 1939 specially for concerts of sacred music; its regular chamber orchestra was founded in 1941 primarily to present Italian instrumental music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Its activity ceased in 1992. The orchestra of the Società dei Pomeriggi Musicali aims to bring artists and audiences up to date with new works. The Polifonica Ambrosiana, founded in 1947 by Giuseppe Biella, devotes many of the programmes it organizes to medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music, as does Musica e Poesia a S Maurizio, managed by the city of Milan. Many solo and chamber concerts are given in the city under the auspices of the Società del Quartetto, Società dei Concerti, Musica Rara and other groups.
The Studio di Fonologia Musicale was opened in 1955 at the Milan branch of the RAI on the initiative of Berio and Maderna, and was directed by Berio until 1961. This electronic studio gave rise to a vigorous promotional and organizing activity, attracting composers of every tendency, from Pousseur to Cage. It also resulted in the publication of the magazine Incontri musicali (1956–60) and the establishment of a concert series, run by Berio and Maderna, under the same title; among the musicians who took part in the series were Scherchen, Boulez and Cage.
After the unification of Italy (1870) the conservatory came under state control, and in 1901 it was renamed the Conservatorio di Musica G. Verdi; it continued to be one of the most important music conservatories in Italy. 20th-century directors have included Pizzetti (1924–34), G.F. Ghedini (1951–62) and Jacopo Napoli (1962–72). Most of the conservatory buildings were destroyed in the 1943 bombing, but have since been reconstructed. The conservatory has a large library of over 250,000 volumes, including rare manuscripts and early editions, the collection that Noseda bequeathed to the library and the musical archives of the church of S Barbara in Mantua, as well as a collection of instruments. Other schools of music are the Scuola di Musica di Milano and the Civica Scuola di Musica, while the University of Milan has a music department.
Publishing in Milan remains centred on Ricordi, which began opening branches elsewhere from the beginning of the 20th century. After World War I the firm began to publish new editions of works by earlier composers and also continued to publish contemporary Italian works. The Milanese firms of Carisch, Curci and Suvini Zerboni (founded 1930) are among the leading publishers of contemporary Italian music.
In addition to the library at the conservatory there is an important archive at Ricordi which includes all Verdi’s autographs. The Museo Teatrale alla Scala (opened 1913) has a large collection of musical autographs and manuscripts, letters and portraits of composers, opera librettos and drawings and etchings by important stage and set designers. The Castello Sforzesco has a museum of instruments, containing about 650 instruments from the Renaissance to the 20th century; the Civica Raccolta delle Stampe Bertarelli holds 11,000 illustrations of musicians and other theatrical personalities. The Ufficio per la Ricerca dei Fondi Musicali Italiani, founded in 1965 and housed in the conservatory library, contains the union catalogue of manuscript and printed music (up to 1900) in Italian libraries.
MGG2 (‘Mailand’; T. Bailey, A. Cattoretti)
SartoriL
P. Morigi: La nobiltà di Milano (Milan, 1595)
G. Borsieri: Il supplimento della Nobiltà di Milano (Milan, 1619)
F. Picinelli: Ateneo de' letterati milanesi (Milan, 1670)
L. Melzi: Cenni storici sul R. Conservatorio di Musica in Milano (Milan, 1873–8)
G. Martinazzi: Cenni storici dell’Accademia dei filodrammatici di Milano (già Teatro Patriottico) (Milan, 1879)
F. Mompellio: Il R. Conservatorio di musica ‘Giuseppe Verdi’ di Milano (Florence, 1941)
C. Sartori: Casa Ricordi 1808–1958 (Milan, 1958)
M. Donà: La stampa musicale a Milano fino all’anno 1700 (Florence, 1961)
G. Barblan: ‘I “Rognoni” musicisti milanesi tra il 1500 e il 1600’, Anthony van Hoboken: Festschrift, ed. J. Schmidt-Görg (Milan, 1962), 19–28
G. Barblan: ‘La musica strumentale e cameristica a Milano dalla seconda metà del '500 a tutto il '700’; ‘La musica strumentale e cameristica a Milano nel '700’; ‘L’Ottocento e gli inizi del secolo ventesimo’, Storia di Milano, xvi (Milan, 1962), 589–618; 619–660; 661–771 [pubn of the Fondazione Treccani degli Alfieri per la storia di Milano]
Annuario dell’anno accademico 1962–1963 e sguardo storico dal 1917 al 1962, ed. Conservatorio di Musica ‘G. Verdi’ (Milan, 1963)
G. Confalonieri, ed.: Cento anni di concerti della Società del Quartetto di Milano (Milan, 1964; Eng. trans., 1965)
D. Costantini and A. Magaudda: ‘Feste e cerimonie con musica nello Stato di Milano nel sec. XVII’, Seicento inesplorato: Lenno-Como 1989, 65–93
C.S. Getz: Music and Patronage in Milan, 1535–1550, and Vincenzo Ruffo's First Motet Book (diss., U. of North Texas, 1991)
M. Toffetti: La canzone strumentale a Milano (1572–1647) (diss., U. of Milan, 1991)
F.A. Gallo: ‘La biblioteca dei Visconti’, Musica nel castello: trovatori, libri, oratori nelle corti italiane dal XIII al XV secolo (Bologna, 1992), 59–94, esp. 62–3; Eng. trans. (Chicago, 1995), 47–67
M. Giuliani: Gli eccellentissimi musici della città di Milano (Trent, 1994)
M. Donà: ‘Music in Milan in the Eighteenth Century during the Austrian Domination’, Austria 996–1996: Music in a Changing Society: Ottawa 1996 (forthcoming)
A. Magaudda and D. Costantini: ‘Un periodico a stampa di antico regime: la “Gazzetta di Milano” (sec. XVII–XVIII): spoglio delle notizie musicali per gli anni 1686–1699’, Fonti musicali italiane, i (1996)
G. Porro: ‘Lettere di Galeazzo Maria Sforza, duca di Milano’, Archivio storico lombardo, v (1878), 107–29, 254–74, 637–68; vi (1879), 250–68
E. Motta: ‘Musici alla corte degli Sforza’, Archivio storico lombardo, xiv (1887), 29–64, 278–340, 514–61; pubd separately (Milan, 1887/R)
V. Rossi: ‘Per la storia dei cantori sforzeschi’, Archivio storico lombardo, xxviii (1901), 150–60
G. Cesari: Musica e musicisti alla corte sforzesca (Milan, 1923)
G. Barblan: ‘Vita musicale alla corte sforzesca’; ‘La vita musicale in Milano nella prima metà nel Cinquecento’, Storia di Milano, ix (Milan, 1961), 787–852; 853–95 [pubn of the Fondazione Treccani degli Alfieri per la storia di Milano]
W.F. Prizer: ‘Music at the Court of Sforza: the Birth and Death of a Musical Center’, MD, xliii (1989), 141–93
G. Lubkin: A Renaissance Court: Milan under Galeazzo Maria Sforza (Berkeley, 1994)
P.A. and L.M.Merkley: Music and Patronage in the Sforza Court (Turnhout, 1999)
D. Muoni: ‘Gli Antegnati organari insigni colla serie dei maestri di cappella del duomo di Milano’, Archivio storico lombardo, x (1883), 188–221
A. De Gani: I maestri cantori e la cappella musicale del duomo di Milano dalle origini al presente (Milan, 1930)
L. Parigi: La musica nelle gallerie di Milano (Milan, 1935)
E. Cattaneo: Note storiche sul canto ambrosiano (Milan, 1950)
F. Fano and G. Cesari: La cappella musicale del duomo di Milano, i: Le origini e il primo maestro di cappella, Matteo da Perugia, IMi, new ser., i (1956)
C. Sartori: La cappella musicale del duomo di Milano: catalogo delle musiche dell'archivio (Milan, 1957)
C. Sartori: ‘Organs, Organ-Builders and Organists in Milan, 1450–1476: New and Unpublished Documents’, MQ, xliii (1957), 57–67
R. Allorto: La musique sacrée à Milan à la moitié du XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1960)
C. Sartori: ‘La musica nel duomo e alla corte sino alla seconda metà del '500’, Storia di Milano, iii (Milan, 1961), 723–895 [pubn of the Fondazione Treccani degli Alfieri per la storia di Milano]
R. Allorto: ‘La musica sacra a Milano’, La Scala, no.152 (1962), 9–19
F. Mompellio: ‘La cappella del duomo dal 1573 al 1714’; ‘La cappella del duomo dal 1714 ai primi decenni del '900’, Storia di Milano, xvi (Milan, 1962), 506–552; 553–88 [pubn of the Fondazione Treccani degli Alfieri per la storia di Milano]
La musica sacra in Lombardia nella prima metà del Seicento: Como 1985
G. De Florentiis and G.N. Vessia: Sei secoli di musica nel Duomo di Milano (Milan, 1986)
M. Vaccarini: La lauda spirituale, la cantata sacra e l'oratorio nella vita religiosa e musicale dei PP. Gesuiti a Milano (diss., U. of Milan, 1993)
R.L. Kendrick: Celestial Sirens: Nuns and their Music in Early Modern Milan (Oxford, 1996)
G. Chiappori: Serie cronologica delle rappresentazioni drammatico-pantomimiche poste sulla scena dei principali teatri di Milano dall’autunno 1776 sino all’intero autunno 1818 (Milan, 1818)
L. Romani: Teatro alla Scala (Milan, 1862)
P. Cambiasi: Rappresentazioni date nei Reali Teatri di Milano 1778–1872 (Milan, 1872, 3/1882 as Teatro alla Scala 1778–1881, 5/1906 as La Scala 1778–1906: note storiche e statistiche)
A. Paglicci-Brozzi: Contributo alla storia del teatro: il teatro a Milano nel secolo XVII (Milan, 1891)
A. Paglicci-Brozzi: Il Regio Ducal Teatro di Milano nel secolo XVIII: notize aneddotiche 1701–1776 (Milan, 1894)
B. Gutierrez: Il Teatro Carcano (1803–1914): glorie artistiche e patriottiche, decadenza e resurrezione (Milan, 1914, 2/1916/R)
G. Marangoni and C. Vanbianchi: La Scala (Bergamo, 1922)
G. Macchi: La Scala, dalle origini all’ordinamento attuale (Milan, 1927)
G. Galbiati: Il Teatro della Scala dagli inizi al 1794 nei documenti ufficiali inediti dell'Archivio B. Arese: pubblicazione per le nozze Borromeo-Arese (Milan, 1929)
V. Ramperti: Per la storia del teatro milanese ricordiamo i dimenticati (Milan, 1929)
G.M. Ciampelli and B. Gutierrez: La Scala nel 1830 e nel 1930 (Milan, 1930)
G. Morazzoni: I palchi del Teatro alla Scala (Milan, 1930)
C.A. Vianello: Teatri, spettacoli, musiche a Milano nei secoli scorsi (Milan, 1941)
F. Abbiati and others: La Scala (3.8.1778 – 11.5.1946) (Milan, 1950)
F. Armani and G. Bascapè: La Scala: breve biografia (1778–1950) (Milan, 1951)
C. Sartori: ‘The Scala under Toscanini’, Opera, v (1954), 266–739 passim; repr. in The Bedside Book of Opera, ed. H. Rosenthal (London, 1965)
G. Barblan: ‘Il teatro musicale in Milano nei secoli XVII e XVIII’, Storia di Milano, xii (Milan, 1958), 947–96 [pubn of the Fondazione Treccani degli Alfieri per la storia di Milano]
C. Gatti: Il Teatro alla Scala, nella storia e nell’arte, 1778–1963 (Milan, 1964, 2/1964)
G. Tintori, ed.: Il Museo teatrale alla Scala, 1913–1963 (Milan, 1964)
F. Armani, ed.: La Scala, 1946–1966 (Milan, 1966)
L. Rossi: Il ballo alla Scala 1778–1970 (Milan, 1972)
G. Barblan and A. Basso, eds.: Storia dell’opera (Turin, 1977)
G. Salvetti: ‘La Scapigliatura milanese e il teatro d'opera’, Il melodramma italiano dell'Ottocento, ed. M. Mila (Turin, 1977), 567–604
K.K. Hansell: Opera and Ballet at the Regio Ducal Teatro of Milan, 1771–1776: a Musical and Social History (Ann Arbor, 1986)
L. Bianconi: ‘La finta pazza’ ritrovata, Venice, La Fenice, 1987, pp.967–81 [programme book]
G. Barigazzi: La Scala racconta (Milan, 1991)
A. Cascella and R. Carpani, eds.: La scena della gloria: drammaturgia e spettacolo a Milano in età spagnola (Milan, 1995)
G. Salvetti, ed.: Intorno all'Ascanio in Alba di Mozart, una festa teatrale a Milano (Milan, 1995)
M.P. McClymonds: ‘Verazi's Controversial Drammi in azione as Realized in the Music of Salieri, Anfossi, Alessandri and Mortellari for the Opening of La Scala, 1778–1779’, Scritti in memoria di Claudio Sartori, ed. F. Lesure and M. Donà (Lucca, 1997), 43–87
D. Daolmi: Le origini dell'opera a Milano (1598–1649) (Turnhout, 1998)