https://santacecilia.it/
The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world.
Officially founded in 1585, it has evolved over the centuries from an organization of largely “local” musicians to a modern academy and symphonic concert organization of international repute. Uniting an academic body of 100 of the most illustrious exponents of culture and music with a symphonic orchestra and chorus that are among the most internationally renowned, the Accademia carries out professional musical training and conserves an extremely rich historical patrimony, thus reflecting its own multi-century history.
Its first seat was the Church of Santa Maria ad Martires, better known as the Pantheon. Successively, the Congregazione changed ecclesiastical base six times, from the Pantheon (1585-1622) to San Paolino alla Colonna (1622-52), to Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (1652-61) to San Nicola dei Cesarini (1661-1663) to the Chiesa della Maddalena (1663-85).
The 1830 election of Luigi Rossi to the post of secretary of the Congregazione inaugurated a period of great changes, solidifying the Accademia as an institution of true international stature. With the decision to open membership to previously excluded categories (poets, dancers, musicologist-philologists, musical instrument makers, editors, and even sovereigns and ambassadors in the capacity of patrons) and thanks to the collaboration with Gaspare Spontini (who was in Rome between 1839-40), Rossi launched a profound reform of the Statute, transforming the Congregazione first into the Congregazione and Accademia (1838) and then into the Pontificia Accademia. All the major exponents of the European music world of the day were enrolled as honorary associates, including: Cherubini, Morlacchi, Mercadante, Donizetti, Mayr, Rossini, Pacini, Paer, Paganini, Spohr, Auber, Adam, Baillot, Liszt, Cramer, Thalberg, Czerny, Moscheles, Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Thomas, Halévy, Gounod, Meyerbeer; the ballerinas Maria Taglioni and Fanny Cerrito; the actress Adelaide Ristori; and librettists Jacopo Ferretti and Carlo Pepoli. Among the sovereigns were Queen Victoria of England and her consort, Albert; William IV of Prussia and his wife, Elisabetta Luigia, and the rulers of Naples, Ferdinando II and his wife, Maria Teresa Isabella of Austria.
Beginning with the unification of Italy, new and diverse peregrinations awaited the Regia Accademia di Santa Cecilia. The search continued for a suitable site for the burgeoning concert activity focused on the symphonic, chamber and choral repertoires which had begun in 1895 with the founding of a stable chorus and orchestra and the start of regular concert seasons which have continued to the present. And though its offices, first housed as guests in the “Ferro di cavallo” (“Horseshoe”) in Via di Ripetta along with those of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana and other institutions, were to soon find a definitive home within the ex-Orsoline Convent on Via Vittoria, the concerts themselves were to move from the Sala Accademica (1895-1908) to the Augusteo (1908-1936) to Teatro Adriano (1936-46).
In just a few years, the Accademia passed through other, profound changes, impelled by the support of the Savoy government and by the 1895-1949 presidency of Enrico di San Martino, a leading figure in national and international stage and cultural politics from the end of the 19th through the first half of the 20th centuries. The Santa Cecilia music school (which became the Conservatorio), the library, the high-level specialisation courses, the Regia acting school “Eleonora Duse” (which became the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica “Silvio D’Amico”), and the Scuola Nazionale (later the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia) were founded under his guidance, thanks to a sort of mandate for the performing arts obtained from the government at a national level. As concert seasons were developed and consolidated with stable artistic ensembles and a large number of subscribers, the Accademia wound up assuming an aspect unique for its genre, which it still preserves today even after cutting ties with many of the entities and schools that were founded along with it.
After the Second World War, the Accademia – by now Nazionale – began a new period, characterized by a change at the top: the Count of San Martino (who died in 1947) was succeeded by Ildebrando Pizzetti, Alessandro Bustini, Renzo Silvestri, Guido Guerrini, Renato Fasano, Mario Zafred, Francesco Siciliani, Bruno Cagli, Luciano Berio, Bruno Cagli and Michele dall’Ongaro. A place for concerts – the dominant problem – was temporarily established at Teatro Argentina (1946-58), while the Accademia awaited the outcome of an architecture competition (1952-54) that was supposed to resolve this recurring dilemma. When the competition failed, the Auditorio Pio on Via della Concilazione became guest hall for the 1958-59 season, and so it remained until the end of the century. In 1967, the Legge 800 (a law reforming the Performing Arts) instituted the Gestione Autonoma dei Concerti della Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, a public entity charged with organizing and managing the concert seasons, recognizing as well the Accademia’s particular position in the divulgation and diffusion of musical culture in all its forms (concerts, conferences, publications, custody of the historical patrimony and superior musical instruction). The Accademia and the Gestione Autonoma are presided over by the same President (who is also superintendent and artistic director), and who is elected by the academicians from their own ranks.
From 2003 to today, the venue for the Concert Season is the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone.
The only example among the Italian academies of Renaissance origin to have assumed the physiognomy of a modern and productive company, the current Academy, which became a foundation in 1998, supports an academic body made up of 70 effective and 30 honorary members, which includes major Italian and foreign musicians, a symphonic orchestra and choir known and appreciated all over the world. Therefore, it combines an activity of promotion of culture and musical heritage, a teaching tradition of the highest level and above all an internationally renowned concert activity in continuous expansion.
