Orchestra at San Petronio in the Baroque Era

Abstract

The church of San Petronio in Bologna was one of the most important centers for the performance of instrumental music in the decades around 1700. The unique architecture of San Petronio, originally designed to be the largest church in Christendom, conditioned the nature of music performed in the church in several ways. The acoustics of San Petronio helped to determine both the balance and placement of the orchestra. Moreover, the size and semicircular shape of the cantoria, or musicians' gallery, influenced both the number and placement of musicians hired for special festival performances. Records of payment document the size and instrumentation of both these festival orchestras and the resident ensemble permanently employed by the church. The collection of musical manuscripts still preserved in the church archives is perhaps the richest treasure of evidence central to the style of instrumental music played by the orchestra at San Petronio.