Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio a Porta Capuana

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Portal of the Church of Sant'Onofrio alla Vicaria , formerly Sant'Onofrio a Porta Capuana

The Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio a Porta Capuana (" Conservatory of Sant'Onofrio at the Porta Capuana "), or Sant'Onofrio for short , was one of the four famous orphanages and conservatories of Naples , which in the 17th and 18th centuries the Neapolitan School emerged , and at the beginning of the 19th century it was absorbed in the later and still existing Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella .

history

At the instigation of Cardinal Alfonso Gesualdo , Count of Conca and Prince of Venosa and uncle of the madrigalist Carlo Gesualdo , the "White Brotherhood" ( Confraternita dei Bianchi ) was founded in 1578 . It was affiliated to the Church of Sant'Onofrio a Porta Capuana, and pursued humanitarian and religious purposes. Its members were craftsmen and fabric dealers. After about ten years, a two-story building was bought and an orphanage was opened for the abandoned children of the neighborhood around the turn of the 17th century.

The costume of the Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio was similar to that of Santa Maria di Loreto , but the children here wore a brown cimarra and hat over the long white sottana .

Presumably the Sant'Onofrio was directly involved in the tragic revolution of Masaniello (1647), it was very close to the market square, and possibly also had connections with families who participated in the riot - at least the institute was in the Result severely affected by the enormous reprisals by the Spanish viceroy . For years it had great difficulty surviving and was about to close when another drama, the plague of 1656, also decimated the few surviving children.

However, twelve years later (1668) the Padri Scolopi managed to bring the orphanage back into shape with the help of iron discipline.

From 1653 the Sant'Onofrio became a music school, at that time it had two singing teachers and a conductor .

About a fifth of the students were neutered who lived strictly separated from the other students, if only to prevent aggressive attacks by the "normal" boys. They were also closely monitored as there were occasions when young castrati tried to flee or to kill themselves. In addition, they enjoyed a certain preferential treatment because of their precious singing voices , lived in nicer, better heated rooms, and did not eat their meals with the others in the cold refectory , but in their own room.

Thanks to masters such as Cristofaro Caresana , Angelo Durante (uncle of the more famous Francesco Durante), Nicola Sabini and Nicola Fago , the Conservatorio was soon able to compete with the other three Conservatories of Naples, and in the first half of the 18th century, Francesco Durante , Nicola taught here Porpora , Francesco Feo , Leonardo Leo and Girolamo Abos ; in the second half of the century, teachers included Carlo Cotumacci , Joseph Doll , Giacomo Insanguine , Giovanni Furno and Salvatore Rispoli .

Despite great success and some famous musical personalities who had learned their trade in this institute or who taught here as teachers, the Sant'Onofrio also suffered from a crisis at the end of the 18th century, just like the other two remaining conservatori - the Pietà dei Turchini and the Santa Maria di Loreto . When the latter was converted into a military hospital in 1797 and his last students had to move to Sant'Onofrio, they only found about 30 of their own students here. The Conservatorio also had to be closed a few years later, its students were taken over by the Pietà dei Turchini, until the re-establishment of the Real collegio di Musica ("Royal Music College"), the predecessor institution of today's Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella (from 1826). .

Students and teachers of Sant Onofrio a Porta Capuana

The Porta Capuana (Oswald Achenbach: The Walk to the Market, 1879)

Teacher (maestro):

Students and teachers:

Student:

literature

See also

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Information on the Conservatorio Sant'Onofrio a Porta Capuana in the archive of the website www.sanpietroamajella.it , last accessed on October 11, 2018
  2. ↑ a b Information about the Conservatorio della Pietà die Turchini in the archive of the website www.sanpietroamajella.it , last accessed on October 11, 2018