From Rome to Vilnius is a new investigative insight into the cultural heritage of Lithuania: the music at the Vasa Court in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It reflects the influence of the greatest masters of the Roman polyphonic school in the musical world of Poland and Lithuania, and shows the Vasa Court as a place of advanced music-making in 16th and 17th-century Europe.
At the end of the 16th century, during the time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sigismund III Vasa was the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the highest political authority in the country. Every year, the King, who was based first in Krakow and then in Warsaw, had to spend a few months in Vilnius, and it was reported that he always travelled with his musicians. Sigismund III, who was himself a musician and a lover of music, was not happy with the standard of the music in the Royal Chapel, and decided to invite Italian musicians to improve the musical life of his court.
Italy was the main influence in music in Europe at that time, not only because of the different styles that originated there (polyphony, poly-choral music, monody, opera, etc), but also because of the achievements of the composers who wrote in these styles. We can distinguish clearly two main schools of music in Italy: the Venetian school, created by Adrian Willaert, with the new poly-choral style that was performed in the Basilica of San Marco; and the polyphonic Roman school of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, one of the most influential musicians of the 16th century, and one of the great masters of the art of polyphony of all time.
Sigismund III decided to hire the best musicians from Rome, and from 1595 to 1649 all the Kapellmeisters at the Vasa Court in Poland and Lithuania were Italians. Most of them were not only prominent members of the Roman school, but also former pupils of Palestrina.
Annibale Stabile was the first Italian musician who came to work as Kapellmeister for the Vasas. He studied under Palestrina in Rome, and before coming to the Vasa Court he was a well-known composer, serving as the Kapellmeister at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four Papal Major Basilicas. He was also Kapellmeister at the Archbasilica of St John Lateran, the highest Papal Basilica, and therefore the Cathedral Church of Rome.
Another very important composer from the Roman school who held the position of Kapellmeister at the Vasa Court was Luca Marenzio. As he was not a member of the clergy, he worked for several patrons in Rome, such as Luigi d’Este. Nevertheless, he was considered one of the most important madrigal composers in all of Europe, and his work in this field can only be compared with that of Claudio Monteverdi and Sigismondo d’India.
Asprilio Pacelli, another pupil of Palestrina, worked for 20 years as Kapellmeister for the Vasas. A monument with a statue of him was put up in St John’s Archcathedral in Warsaw in recognition of his great work. While he still was in Rome, Pacelli had held the position of Kapellmeister at the German College, one of the Pontifical Colleges of Rome, and also served as Kapellmeister at St Peter’s Basilica, the Papal Basilica in Vatican City.
The next Italian master from the Roman school to serve as Kapellmeister at the Vasa Court was Giovanni Francesco Anerio. He was also a pupil of Palestrina, and, like Stabile, before leaving for Warsaw, he held a position in the Archbasilica of St John Lateran in Rome, and was also Kapellmeister in Verona Cathedral. Nowadays, Anerio is considered one of the most important members of the Roman school, together with Palestrina himself.
Marco Scacchi was the next in this impressive line, a pupil of Anerio, and the Kapellmeister at the Vasa Court for nearly 21 years. Scacchi was an imposing master of counterpoint. He wrote not only sacred and secular music, but was the author of many books on music theory which were well known in his time. He created the music for three operas to be performed at the Grand Duke’s Palace in Vilnius, even before the first operas were put on in Paris and London.
Bartłomiej Pękiel joined the Royal Chapel of Sigismund’s son, Władysław IV Vasa, as organist under Scacchi, and eventually became deputy Kapellmeister. After Scacchi left Poland, Pękiel became Kapellmeister at the Royal Chapel, and the first Pole to occupy the position since the arrival of Stabile. He was highly respected by his colleagues, and his music shows clearly the influence of the Roman school.
Diomedes Cato was an Italian-born lutenist and composer. He left Italy when he was about five years old, and went to Poland, where he received instruction in music in Krakow. He became a lute player in Sigismund’s Royal Chapel, and was active in Poland, Lithuania and Sweden, both as a composer and a lutenist.
Tarquinio Merula was a well-known composer in his day, and joined Sigismund’s Royal Chapel as an organist under Pacelli. Merula held the position for only five years. He was a very prolific composer at this time. The reconstructed motet Benedicta tu from his Opus No 6 was written during his time in Poland.
Francesco Rognoni was another Italian composer who established a relationship with the King of Poland. Although he never worked for Sigismund, he dedicated his most famous work Selva di varii passaggi to him. His diminutions on Vestiva i colli presented in this CD were extracted from this treatise.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the Vilnius court was presided over by Lew Sapieha (Leonas Sapiega), Sigismund III Vasa’s crown chancellor (the highest official in the country after the King himself). Sapieha was an expert in music, and was entrusted with the position of administrator of the Royal Chapel. He had his own chapel attached to his residence in Vilnius, led by the Italian composer and singer Giovanni Battista Cocciola, who served there for many years as Kapellmeister. Cocciola was already a famous composer, and his work shows much of the influence of the Roman school. It is believed that he was invited to work in the Commonwealth by Marenzio himself, and had frequent contact with Kapellmeisters from Warsaw.
The Sapieha album is a compilation of pieces with a sacral function. It does not mention the compiler or the composers, but is a testimony to the vitality of the musical culture in Lithuania in the first half of the 17th century.
This selection recreates a musical journey that starts with Palestrina, covering Stabile, Marenzio, Pacelli, Anerio and Scacchi, and ends with Cocciola, thus revealing the huge influence of the Roman school in the musical activities of the Vasa Court.
Rodrigo Calveyra, the artistic director of Canto Fiorito (www.cantofiorito.lt)
CD “FROM ROME TO VILNIUS” was released by Brilliant Classics on the 1st of October 2024.
