Tenor and Bass Parts in Music for the Venetian Ospedali of the 18th Century: Historical Evidences and Contemporary Performing Practice (a Study Based on the современная исполнительская практика (на примере сочинений Антонио Вивальди и Бальдассаре Галуппи)

Since 1960s musicologists have been trying to understand how figlie di Coro of Venetian Ospedali performed scores written for a SATB choir. In this paper different opinions on this problem (including the ideas of Michael Talbot, Joan Whittemore, Richard Vendom and Micky White) are considered. Moreover, the present study displays new evidence in favor of octave transposition in C-clefs in musical practice of previous centuries. The names of the singers found in the score of B. Galuppi’s Psalm Laudate Dominum in G-major show that solo bass and tenor parts were sung by the girls an octave higher. A review of recent recordings of Venetian sacred music presented in this paper reveals the impact of the musicological research on the contemporary music practice.