Better late than never.
The Archbishop of Ferrara, Giancarlo Perego attended, Thursday evening, the inaugural performance of
Farnace,
Vivaldi's opera directed by Federico Maria Sardelli in the grounds of the Teatro Comunale.
A significant and symbolic presence, almost three centuries after the ban by the religious authorities of Ferrara on the presence and presentation of the works of the Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741).
And the end of a deep misunderstanding between the musician and the Church in this historic metropolis of Emilia-Romagna.
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"With this gesture, we want to put an end to a rupture that needed to be healed,"
said conductor Federico Maria Sardelli at a press conference on Thursday, offering Archbishop Giancarlo Perego a copy
of Vivaldi's
Farnace
libretto
. A gift that would have been experienced as a snub in the middle of the 18th century, at a time when the Italian composer had become
persona non grata
in Ferrara. The genesis of the dispute dates back to 1737, in the last years of Vivaldi's life. At the initiative of Cardinal Tommaso Ruffo, the representations of
Farnace
expected in the city had been banned because of the reputation considered too sulphurous of the musician who, it was said, no longer celebrated mass and had an extramarital relationship with a lyrical singer.
Suspicion of impiety
Rumors which had a basis of truth. The Baroque composer, then 59 years old, could no longer sing Mass due to breathing difficulties, possibly asthma, and health presented as valetudinary. As for her relationship with singer Anna Giró, she would never have crossed the bounds of decency and friendship, even if it earned her a lot of gossip. Tolerated in Venice, these stories were more damning in the territory of the Papal States, which then included Ferrara.
"Vivaldi has more than once wandered between the lines of what was acceptable
," Catholic Church historian Massimo Faggioli remarked for the AP agency.
However, he was eventually overtaken by the tight control that the authority of the Church and the Vatican exerted over culture. ”
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The disappointment of the tour of his
Farnace
, a dramatic opera he composed in 1727, however, caused Vivaldi serious financial troubles which continued until his death in Vienna four years later. In the absence of his person, his music has since been able to find its way back to Ferrara and even on the stage of the Teatro Comunale. This was not the case with its
Farnace
. Until this week.
"We wanted to give back to Vivaldi what was taken away from him here in Ferrara"
, declared Thursday the artistic director of the Teatro comunale, Marcello Corvino, happy to put an end to this misunderstanding.
An epilogue to this secular cold between the Church of Ferrara and the Italian composer, Archbishop Giancarlo Perego hailed the performance of the opera, however late it may be.
The man of the Church has publicly admitted that the reputation and probity of Vivaldi and de la Giró were well attested and that his august predecessor, Cardinal Ruffo had clearly been misled by rumors.
Three centuries of
Vivaldian
fake news
thus come to a close.
In music.