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Fortunato Santini in 1823

Life

Fortunato Santini (Rome January 5, 1778  – Rome September 14, 1861) was a Italian priest, composer and music collector.

Fortunato Santini was born in Rome and raised in an orphanage, where he studied counterpoint with Giuseppe Jannacconi. Later on he took organ lessons with G. Giudi. Between 1798 and 1801 he studied theology and philosophy and was ordained a priest in 1801. In those years he already started to copy and collect music manuscripts of the Roman School. He believed that he would only fully understand these old scores if he were able to copy them. Even in the 19th century it was not easy to understand the complicated handwritten scores of the 16th century. These first copies he made, set up the base for his collection which soon became more and more important. To copy musical compositions, Santini went to look for the originals in the different libraries and archives of Rome's churches and monasteries. Thanks to cardinal Carlo Odescalchi, who quartered Santini’s collection in his private palace in Rome, Santini had access to private archives held by the Roman nobility, like the Ruspoli family.

In 1820 Santini published a catalog of about a thousand musical scores in his growing collection.. This catalog was soon recognized throughout Europe and Santini established contacts with an international range of musicologists, musicians and collectors: Karl Proske, Raphael Georg Kiesewetter, Carl von Winterfeld, Carl Friedrich Zelter and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

In 1835, through cardinal Odescalchi, Santini became a member of the Congregazione e Accademia di Santa Cecilia; in 1837 of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, in 1845 of the Mozarteum in Salzburg and in 1840 of the French Comité historique des arts et monuments du Ministére de l'Instruction Publique.

When in 1838 cardinal Odescalchi decided to give up his title of Cardinal to become a simple member of the Jesuits, Santini moved with his library to an apartement close to the church of Santa Maria dell'Anima, the national church of the whole Holy Roman Empire in Rome and henceforth the national church of Germany and hospice of German-speaking people in Rome. There, Santini started to organize weekly private music soirées where pieces from his precious collection were executed. Mainly vocal sacred music in German by Bach, Händel and Graun who where mostly unknown in Italy in those days. To make German texts more comprehensible he translated them into italian or into latin.

Between 1830 and 1840 Santini's economic condition became difficult and he considered for the first time selling his collection which then numbered 4.500 handwritten and 1.200 printed scores. All important libraries in Europe, Berlin, Paris, Brussels and Saint Petersburg were interested. But only in 1855, did Santini convey it to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Münster. The exact amount paid is something of a mystery. The only thing certain is that Santini received, in addition to the amount of the sale, an annuity of 465 scudi paid quarterly. At first, the music collection was deposited in rooms at the Campo Santo Teutonico, the German cemetery in Rome. Only a year after Santini’s death on September 14, 1861, was his library transported, piece by piece, by donkey cart to Münster.

View of the library's west wing, the tower of the Überwasserkirche in the background

In Münster the collection was deposited in the Episcopal Museum of Christian antiquities and fell into disuse and was forgotten for many years. Only in the beginning of the 20th century Santini’s library was rediscovered by the English musicologist Edward Dent. In 1923 the Bishop loaned Santini’s library to the University of Münster, where the collection could be properly catalogued and analyzed. During World War II two-thirds of the University library were destroyed and the card catalogues were burned. Santini's library however escaped damage. After the first bombardments - as a safety measure - the collection had been moved to a Bishop’s country residence. Today the collection is in the new library of the diocese of Münster. Here the precious manuscripts are deposited in a proper manner and can be consulted by all.

Santini composed sacred music which till today is unpublished. Some of his handwritten letters and scores are also kept in the library of the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini | liceo musicale di Bologna

Literature

• Alessandro Carcano: Considerazioni sulla Musica Antica. Intitolate All’ Ab. D. Fortunato Santini, Rom 1842
• Vladimir Stassoff: L’Abbé Santini et sa collection musicale à Rome, Florenz 1854
• Edward Joseph Dent: „The library of Fortunato Santini“, in: Monthly Musical Record 34 (1904), S. 64–65
• Joseph Killing: Kirchenmusikalische Schätze der Bibliothek des Abbate Fortunato Santini, Düsseldorf 1910
• Heinz Jansen: „Die Musikbibliothek des Abbate Santini“, in: Hochland. Monatsschrift für alle Gebiete des Wissens/der Literatur u. Kunst 23 (1925), S. 762–765
• Karl Gustav Fellerer: Die musikalischen Schätze der Santinischen Sammlung. Führer durch die Ausstellung der Universitätsbibliothek Münster anlässlich des III. Westfälischen Musikfestes in Münster i. Westf. vom 15. bis 17. Juni 1929, Münster 1929
• Karl Gustav Fellerer: „Fortunato Santini als Sammler u. Bearbeiter Händelscher Werke“, in: Händel-Jahrbuch 2 (1929), S. 25–40
• Vladimir Féderov: „V. V. Stasov chez l’abb. F. Santini à Rome“, in: Festschrift Anthony van Hoboken zum 75. Geburtstag, hrsg. von Joseph Schmidt-Görg, Mainz 1962, S. 55–62
• Vladimir Féderov: „A propos de quelques lettres de Santini à Bottée de Toulmon“, in: Festschrift Karl Gustav Fellerer zum sechzigsten Geburtstag am 7. Juli 1962. Überreicht von Freunden und Schülern, hrsg. von Heinrich Hüschen, Regensburg 1962, S. 128–136
• Hans Joachim Marx: „The Santini Collection“, in: Handel Collections and their History, Oxford 1993, S. 184-197
• Sergio Lattes: Artikel „Santini, Fortunato“, in: The New Grove. Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie, vol. 22, London 2001, p. 258
• Zsuzsanna Domokos: „Lisztʼs Roman Experience of Palestrina in 1839: The Importance of Fortunato Santiniʼs Library“, in: Journal of the American Liszt Society 22 (2006), S. 45–56
• Andrea Ammendola: „,… per farne conoscere il merito‘. Händels Judas Maccabaeus in the Santini collection (Münster)“, in: Gewalt – Bedrohung – Krieg: Georg Friedrich Händels Judas Maccabaeus. Interdisziplinäre Studien, eds.Dominik Höink and Jürgen Heidrich, Göttingen 2010, pp. 125–147
• Peter Schmitz: „Eine wenig bekannte Facette. Überlegungen zum kompositorischen Schaffen Fortunato Santinis“, in: Musiktheorie. Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft 25 (2010), S. 177–188
• Peter Schmitz und Andrea Ammendola (Eds.): Sammeln – Komponieren – Bearbeiten. Der römische Abbate Fortunato Santini im Spiegel seines Schaffens [Ausstellungskatalog zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung in der Diözesanbibliothek Münster vom 15. September bis 31. Dezember 2011], Münster 2011
• Anthony Hart: „A re-evaluation of the manuscripts of the keybord sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti in the Santini collection in Münster“, in: studi musicali 2011, pp. 49–66

Film

• Santini’s Network (La rete di Santini, Italy/Germany 2014), director: Georg Brintrup with Renato Scarpa as Fortunato Santini

External links

• Diözesanbibliothek Münster, Santini-Collection
• Presentation of the film

References

Category:1778 births Category:1861 deaths Category:Italian male composers Category:Italian composers Category:Felix Mendelssohn-Bartoldy Category:Musicians from Rome