City in the Veneto region, in northern Italy. The canonical post of cantor in the cathedral was created between 1255 and 1270, but was abolished in 1329 because of financial difficulties, and for the rest of the century musical activity was confined to mansionarii, who operated irregularly. During the first quarter of the 15th century there were at least five cantors, including Canon Johannes Gasparus, the dedicatee of Ciconia's Liber de proportionibus. Another canon–musician (from 1412) was Matheus de Brixia, who died in Vicenza in 1419 and left (in addition to his music and books) 1200 gold ducats for the creation of a prebend for a singer; all the singers were supported by prebends, transferred from one cantor to another to assure continuity of musical activity. A performance of a liturgical play in the cathedral in 1379, including ‘cantus et melodiae variae’, is recorded by the local chronicler Conforto Pulci. In 1409 Beltram Feragut wrote the motet Excelsa civitas Vincencia for the accession of Pietro Emiliani as Bishop of Vicenza, and it was re-used for that of his successor Francesco Malipiero. A school for singing ‘cantum figuratum’ was founded in 1431, and its first teacher was probably Johannes de Lymburgia, then one of the cathedral cantores, whose motet Martires Dei incliti celebrates the two patron saints of the city. In 1460 the teaching of music in the cathedral was firmly established. Luca de Cataro and Cornelius (1487) were clergymen entrusted with the teaching of ‘cantum planum et figuratum’; the first musician employed at the cathedral was Robinus de Picardia (1488–1511).
Among maestri di canto during the 16th century were Fra Ruffino (1525–31), a figure of some importance in the development of cori spezzati, Nicolò Vicentino (1534) and the madrigalists Ippolito Camaterò (c1565) and Leon Leoni (1588–1627). Employing these few composers, the Accademia Olimpica, founded in 1555, was encouraged to add music to the normal literary and philosophic studies, and by 1596 it provided part-time employment for several musicians to teach its members. Being the most distinguished body of its kind, it entertained noble visitors to Vicenza, in 1582 receiving Duke Guglielmo III of Mantua with a concert by its virtuosos and featuring ‘ladies of Vicenza, celebrated for their singing’, which suggests an ensemble created in imitation of the famous trio of lady singers at the Ferrara court. The Accademia Olimpica was renowned for its theatre, the Teatro Olimpico, which still survives (see illustration); it was designed by Palladio and built between 1580 and 1585 by Vincenzo Scamozzi, who designed its fixed stage scenery. One of the earliest revivals of Greek drama with sung choruses was mounted there in 1585, a performance of Sophocles’ Oedipus tyrannus in an Italian translation by one of the accademici, Orsalto Giustinian, with the choral sections set by Andrea Gabrieli. The play was repeated in 1612 with music by Leoni.
In the 17th century the cathedral still employed good musicians as maestri di cappella, including Amadio Freddi (1627–34), the violinist Biagio Marini (1655–6) and the opera composer G.D. Freschi (1656–1710). The first public opera house in Vicenza was the Teatro Castelli or Teatro delle Garzerie, opened in 1656. P.P. Bissari provided the texts for at least three operas, including La Romilda (1659). The theatre, also called the Teatro di Piazza, was destroyed by fire in 1683, rebuilt by local noblemen and reopened in 1689 as the Teatro Nuovo. Theatrical life was still quite lively in the 18th century: the Teatro delle Grazie was built in 1711 and opened in 1713 with C.F. Pollarolo's La pazzia degli amanti and La violenza d'amore; it burnt down in 1784 and was replaced by the Teatro Eretenio, opened in 1784 with Cimarosa's Olimpiade. The Teatro Eretenio offered full and varied seasons during the early 19th century. It was closed between 1847 and 1850 and between 1859 and 1866, and had few important seasons after that. A new theatre, the Teatro Verdi, was inaugurated in 1923. Like the Eretenio, it was destroyed by bombing in 1944.
Cathedral music was dealt a decisive blow in 1810 when Napoleon secularized the monastery and musicians were no longer employed. In 1866 the Istituto Filarmonico was founded, sponsored by the city; it later became the Istituto Musicale F. Canneti, which in turn became part of the Venice Conservatory in 1969. In 1910 the Società del Quartetto was founded and has continued to hold concerts in the Teatro Olimpico, while regular seasons of chamber and symphonic music are given by the Amici della Musica. Operatic activity in Vicenza has been kept alive by the Comitato Spettacoli of the Teatro Olimpico and more recently by the Vicenza Festival (June to September), which has presented operas by Monteverdi and Mozart and Italian 18th-century works in the Teatro Olimpico.
DEUMM (D. Bertoldi) [incl. further bibliography]
GroveO (P. Rigoli)
A. Alverà: I vicentini distinti nella musica (Vicenza, 1827)
G. Gasparelli: I musicisti vicentini (Vicenza, 1880)
G. Mocenigo: I teatri moderni di Vicenza dal 1650 al 1800, o Due distrutti teatri di piazza e delle grazie (Bassano, 1894)
G. Cogo: Vita teatrale vicentina 1866–1922 (Vicenza, 1922)
G. Cogo: Nei teatri di Vicenza: storia, personaggi, curiosità, avvenimenti, 1585–1948 (Vicenza, 1949)
G. Mantese: Memorie storiche della chiesa vicentina (Vicenza, 1952–74)
G. Mantese: Storia musicale vicentina (Vicenza, 1956)
A. Gallo and G. Mantese: Ricerche sulle origini della cappella musicale del duomo di Vicenza (Venice, 1964)
F.A. Gallo: La prima rappresentazione al Teatro Olimpico (Milan, 1973)
V. Bolcato and A. Zanotelli: Il fondo musicale dell'Archivio capitolare del Duomo di Vicenza (Turin, 1986)
C. Galla: La Società del quartetto: 80 anni di musica a Vicenza (Vicenza, 1990)
DENIS ARNOLD/R