Musica in Purgatorio. La vita musicale nella chiesa di Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco dalla fondazione alla fine del XVIII secolo

Description

Aware of the fact that in artistic products it is often the destination that modifies the diffusion and popularity of the work itself, without affecting its value in the slightest, the author wished to investigate a field of Neapolitan music that still lacks a defined and significantly detailed research framework: sacred music produced within the city limits and performed in the same religious circuits of Baroque Naples. The author’s research began in the Historical Archive of the Opera Pia del Purgatorio ad Arco (A.S.P.A.), located in Vico Storto ad Arco, behind the church of Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco, whose façade faces Via Dei Tribunali, in the heart of the historical centre of Naples. In spite of the absence of a specific musical fund and in spite of the awareness of the improbability of identifying musical papers of importance, the research that has been carried out, and that is still in progress, has made it possible to reconstruct all the musical events linked to the Deputation sui generis such as that of the Purgatorio ad Arco. This has made it possible to rediscover and give due attention to an articulated system of artistic production, musical and otherwise, which, gravitating around a host of noble benefactors, was aimed at communicating to all the people the pious sentiment of devotion to the Souls in Purgatory.