Mozart once played on a baroque organ (27 December, 1769), found in Chiesa di San Tomaso Becket, Verona, Italy. Last Friday night, I went to a concert there to hear Mozart music. Amazing.
The small group of musicians and the organist all sat up high in the balcony that you see here. The music echoed beautifully through the large structure of the church.
As a keyboard player (piano), I appreciate this all,and enjoy the history as well.
Here is a link to more info on the church (but in Italian)
Mozart often used Milan as a home base in those roughly two early years spent in Italy, and played the organ at San Marco, played in the Palazzo Clerici (the one in Via Clerici, there are others in town), and in the Royal Theater attached to the palace next to the Duomo. The palace, begun in the Middle Ages and continually enlarged and refurbished, is still there. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point-of-view, the theater is not. It burned down a handful of years after Mozart's stay in town. Why potentially fortunate? Because if it hadn't burned down, we wouldn't have the world famous "La Scala," today, which was built--thanks to private citizens' contributions, and on territory previously occupied by Santa Maria della Scala, a church and monastery built by Beatrice Regina della Scala of Verona (what a small world!), wife of the fascinating lord of Milan, Bernabò, who collected ex-communications as others collect stamps--to replace it, hence the name "La Scala." Milan is a great place, too! Maybe you could organize something for your groups during the annual women's fashion week.
ReplyDeleteP.S., how funny, the word verification for this post (unitaci) in Italian means, "Let's unite!"