A Musical Journey - Italy: A Musical visit to the lagoons
and islands of Venice
Chapter 1: Lagoons
Chapter 2: Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. Torcello.
Chapters 3 and 6: Lagoon and Torcello
Chapter 4: Burano
Chapter 5: Murano
The music accompaniment is Vivaldi’s L’Estro Armonico, Op. 3 Nos. 1, 2, 4, 7, 8 and 10
Capella Istropolitana/Josef Kopelman from Naxos CD 8.550160
No recording dates or venues given
DVD Director, G Gachot
Cameraman H.T. Aschwanden
Audio Format, DTS 5.1. Dolby Digital 5.1. PCM Stereo 2.0
Video Format, NTSC. Colour. Aspect ratio 4:3
NAXOS DVD 2.110306 [57.02]
Of all the tourist traps I have managed to visit, from China’s
Great Wall to Paris via Granada, Rome, Florence and many other venues,
Venice is the one that really blew me away. As one of the great Italian
city-states of the medieval period it could be said to vie with Florence as
a major centre of art and culture in the Renaissance with affluent families
supporting the arts as well as wars. Now capital of the Veneto region, it is
located at the very head of the Adriatic 4 km from the mainland of Italy to
which it is joined by a causeway. It comprises more than one hundred small
islands traversed by canals, there is no road traffic. Between the city and
the Adriatic are the lagoons, expanses of water sheltered from the open sea
by sandbanks and by the longer island of the Lido, the beach resort of the
city. The lagoons are divided into Laguna Viva and Laguna Morta, alive and
dead, the latter only underwater during spring high tides.
In the Venice lagoons are found several of the major islands
included in this musical journey. The start is in the city itself with views
of the Grand Canal at dusk and then seen as a boat looks back at the mighty
Campanile of St. Marks. On the island of San Michele is the earliest
Renaissance church of Venice, dating from the 15th century. This is the
cemetery island where the city buried their dead. For some time demand has
exceeded supply of space, and bones are removed. Despite this, elegant
marble and colourful floral tributes abound with the sight of snow on the
ground to remind the viewer that it is cold around here in winter (CH.1).
The booklet reminds us that among the more permanent of the graves are those
of the great Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev, the composer Igor
Stravinsky and the American poet Ezra Pound.
The music throughout this journey is taken from Vivaldi’s set
of twelve concertos known as L'Estro Armonico, first published in
1711. Himself a violinist of ability, his music receives due string sonority
and grace of phrasing by the instrumentalists of Capella Istropolitana under
Josef Kopelman. There are serious attempts to match changes of tempi in the
various movements to change of venue.
After the cemetery island the journey continues to the still canal
waters of Torcello and the Cathedral Santa Maria Assunta (CH.2). Its elegant
interior houses a timeless mosaic of Madonna and Child and also an extensive
Last Judgement, both from the late twelfth century but having received
restoration. The early twelfth century Church of Santa Fosca is only
interesting as regards its octagonal shape
The island of Burano (CH.4), the home of the composer Galuppi, has a
certain timelessness too, with its visually dated shops, colourful fishing
boats and lace-making. However it is the visit to the glass-making factory
on Murano, for which the island is famous, that will draw the eye and the
stirrings of covetousness (CH.5). To see the production of such things of
beauty and intricacy is a delight; to be able to afford to buy one, or even
a few of them to adorn one's home would be pleasant indeed.
The journey concludes (CH.6) with a return to Venice itself, past
the Arsenal (built 1104) and a brief view of the Academia Bridge and the
backwater canals and warehouses. Venice is now a city of industry as well as
Grand Palaces such as that of Francesco Da Mosta whose series of programmes
for the BBC is now available on DVD (BBCDVD2145). The programmes may lack
music, but make up for it in informed narrative and superb photography. The
latter is normally a strength of this series but, made in winter as
indicated by the snow scenes and leafless trees, a little too much depends
on the atmosphere of half-light and that of the lagoon directional buoys.
Robert J Farr
There is more to Venice than St. Marks, as a trip to some of the islands will confirm, particularly in the case of Murano and its glass-making.