Indice dei fascicoli

Abstract: Even musical activity was strongly affected by the 1656-1657 pestilence: music in church, organ playing and processions were all prohibited. A notice from the period states that it was the ruin of musicians. More than a few German leutari living in the street by the same name died of the plague. A number of compositions were written expressly during the height of the epidemic to ask for divine mercy, others to celebrate the salvation of the community when contagion ended. The score for the Missa in angustia pestilentiae for 16 voices and basso continuo survives, composed by the maestro di cappella of Saint Peter’s, Orazio Benevoli and performed «with closed doors» during a solemn celebration. Among the pieces composed for the end of epidemic, two oratorios performed in Rieti and Palestrina stand out, genuine popular and religious celebrations. Their printed librettos survive as well as accounts written by local historians. In both oratorios a «Chorus of Citizens» voices the feelings of the population.