Redentore Church Associazione Culturale Musica Venezia presents SACRED MUSIC

FESTIVAL OF REDENTORE 2016 Music by C. Monteverdi, A. Vivaldi, A. Corelli ENSEMBLE MUSICA VENEZIA

For the Festival of Redentore the annual concert of sacred music to celebrate this important event will again be offered to the city of Venice by the Associazione Culturale Musica Venezia by Roberta Reeder. Performed by Ensemble Musica Venezia, it will take place Friday 15 July at 8.30 in the magnificant Palladian church constructed in gratitude to Christ the Redeemer for having saved Venice from the plague. Admission is free.

It is a special concert with pieces chosen for their relationship to the Festival of Redentore, such as “Christe Redemptor Omnium” (“Christ the Redeemer”) for organ performed by Marija Jovanovic. The event will also present two splendid duets: one by C. Monteverdi, “Venite, venite sitientes ad aquas Domini” (Isaiah, 55), and “Tantum ergo Sacramentum,” a liturgical hymn drawn from Pange Lingua composed by St. Thomas Aquinas for the celebration of Corpus Domini, set to music by A. Tonelli based on Sonata no. 7, op. 3 by A. Corelli, both performed by Elena Bertuzzi, soprano and Giovanna Dissera Bragain, contralto. Another piece by Monteverdi, the very beautiful motet “Venite Videte,” will be sung by Elena Bertuzzi, while “Beatus Vir” by L. Leo (Psalm 111) will be performed by Giovanna Dissera Bragadin. This is a text set to music by many important composers and is one of the pieces included in W.A. Mozart’s “Vespers of the Confessor.”

When the plague arrived in Venice in 1575, the Venetians considered it a divine sign, a punishment for their sins. The inns closed their shutters, the courts ceased to function, in the prisons only a few remained alive. More than 50,000 Venetians died, among them the great artist Titian. For being saved from the plague, the Senate voted in favor of constructing a new church on the island of the Giudecca, requesting Andrea Palladio to design the work. On 20 July, 1577 the end of the plague was celebrated with a procession which reached the Redentore Church over a bridge of boats. After fifteen centuries the tradition has been kept alive to commemorate this event.