On October 7, 1571, the Holy League’s out-numbered naval fleet famously triumphed over the militarily superior Turkish navy at Lepanto. Immediately after the victorious news reached Venice, Mass was sung in St. Mark with great splendor. Contemporary witness Rocco Benedetti talks about the concerti divinissimi, which combined both church organs along with various other instruments and singing, in an outpouring of divine harmony:
[…] they made the most divine concerts, as one or the other organ sounded together with all kinds of instruments, and of voices, keeping together the same tempo and the same tone, which truly seemed as if the cataracts of celestial harmony have opened up, and she [harmony] poured forth from angelic choruses.
The opulence of the celebrations which followed this epic sea battle were unprecedented, and historians such as Iain Fenlon argue that the grandeur of the art & music which ensued were a prefigurement of the triumphalist & politically-charged Baroque æsthetic which would emerge in just a few short decades.
On Saturday October 7, 2023, the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, Musica Transalpina commemorates this historic event with celebratory music which was composed before & after this legendary battle which helped shape the course of European history.
Concerti divinissimi: Compositions commemorating the naval victory at Lepanto in 1571.
Ss. Peter & Paul church in Wilmington, California
Saturday October 7, 2023 at 1.30 P. M.
Many thanks to Raphael Zendejas for making this performance possible.