Concert of sacred music, Società Filarmonica, Naples (25 March 1877)

What it was

A "concerto vocale e strumentale di musica sacra" given by the amateur Società Filarmonica of Naples on Sunday 25 March 1877 (Palm Sunday in 1877; Easter fell on 1 April), with singers drawn from the Neapolitan aristocracy and a volunteer orchestra of gentlemen "dilettanti". Marie, her mother, Dina and Olga Hamontoff attended. She pasted the printed programme into her diary (069.0518-0520), having announced it in 069.0516 ("Ce soir concert à la Filarmonica dont voici le programme").

The programme (as printed)

Parte prima 1. Haydn: the second sonata of the Seven Last Words, for string instruments (Haydn's quartet version of Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze). 2. Miceli: soprano solo from a Stabat (Sig.ra Sambon). 3. Ed. Moreaux: Rimember!, meditation for melodium (Baron Galiani). 4. Mozart: Lacrimosa, quartet "nel Requiem" for soprano, contralto, tenor and bass. 5. Pergolesi: soprano solo and soprano-contralto duet from the Stabat Mater. 6. Gounod: Ave Maria on the first Prelude of S. Bach, for soprano, violin, melodium and piano.

Parte seconda 1. E. Burelle: La Penitenza di Beethoven, transcribed for violin, melodium and piano. 2. Mozart: Agnus Dei, soprano solo. 3. Miceli: Libera me Deus, soprano solo from the Miserere. 4. Rossini: La Carità, chorus.

Followed by the orchestra list (twelve violins, three violas, five cellos, three double basses). The "melodium" is a reed-organ of the harmonium family.

Marie and the concert

Her account of the evening is in 069.0521-0535. She arrived in fear that everyone would be wearing black; it turned out they were in colours and bare shoulders; she moved to the Fabbricatore seats; the orchestra of dilettanti received "une salve de reconnaissance et d'approbation"; M. Fabbricatore played in a Mozart quartet and the duke of San Martino the double bass. Between pieces she held court: the duke of Melito said he preferred "Les noces de Jeannette" to "cette musique de Pergolèse et Mozart"; she was introduced to the marchese di Campomarino and Count Caracciolo; the duke of San Cesario told her she was "dorée sur tranches". She ends: "Vous remarquez sans doute que je n'ai pas encore retrouvé l'art de remplir des pages."

Notes and doubts

• Identified: Haydn (Seven Last Words, quartet version), Mozart (Requiem), Pergolesi (Stabat Mater), Gounod (Ave Maria on Bach's first Prelude from The Well-Tempered Clavier), Rossini (La Charité, one of the three Chœurs religieux, for women's voices). The IMSLP links point to scores of these works, not to the arrangements actually used in Naples.
• Not identified: "Miceli" (a Neapolitan composer; the best candidate is Giorgio Miceli, 1836-1895, born in Reggio Calabria and trained at the Naples Conservatory, per Wikipedia, but no sacred Stabat or Miserere by him has been found); "Ed. Moreaux, Rimember!"; "E. Burelle", transcriber of a "Penitenza di Beethoven" (presumably the Beethoven song known as the "Bußlied"); the Mozart Agnus Dei solo.
• The Società Filarmonica itself could not be traced in this pass; no history of the society, or of its "duca Galiani" members, has been found. The tag on 069.0516 points to the Cercle Philharmonique stub; whether that is the same society was not established.
• Marie's own wording and most surnames in the concert paragraphs are in the diary; this entry gives the programme the paragraph IDs and the context.

Sources

• Programme transcribed in 069.0518-0520 from the facsimile in Mon Journal t. 10, pp. 43-45 (per the RSR note of 2026-09-28).
• Wikipedia, "Giorgio Miceli": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Miceli
• IMSLP score pages (see `full_text`).