Re-Reading the Present: The Padua Episcopal Seminary Music Collection

Abstract

This study delves into the historical and aesthetic value of the music documents sitting in the Padua Episcopal Seminary Ancient Library. This institution’s role in town has been so far overlooked by musicologists. A study of those sources allows us to reconstruct its thick network of relationships both with the Seminary's in-house activity (theology school, typography, theater) and with other institutions. As a result, the Seminary stands tall as a key player in the city’s cultural life from the late 18^th century to the early 20^th century.

This essay is divided into three parts: (1) printed material; (2) manuscripts; (3) composers’ papers. Part 1 describes the libretto collection (dated 1654-1931) listed in the Appendix, plus a music dictionary and some 18^th- and 19^th-century treatises, showing clear links with St. Anthony’s chapel masters and their theoretical work. Several printed music volumes allow us to place the Seminary and its students on the local concert scene. Part 2 documents the lively theatrical production of the Seminary, which did not limit itself to religious activity and teaching. Part 3 describes the Gino Favero, Piero Bernardi, Giovanni Battista Cheso, and Luigi Bottazzo papers—an ideal starting point to study their musical output and rethink the Seminar’s role in the spread of the Cecilian movement principles across the 19^th and 20^th centuries.