Società Filarmonica (Naples)

What it is

An aristocratic music and theatre club of Naples whose concerts and amateur performances Marie attends in March-April 1877. She calls it by its French and Italian names indifferently, and says so: «c'est le sympathique Gatowsky qui nous emmène au Cercle, ou a la société filarmonica où l'on joue ce soir une comédie française» (070.0911, 24 April 1877). The invitation she pastes in on 12 March 1877, «pour un concert du Cercle Philharmonique», is headed «Società Filarmonica» (069.0282-0283), and the printed programme of 25 March is «Società Filarmonica. Programma del concerto vocale e strumentale di musica sacra» (069.0518). «On dit que toute l'aristocratie y va» (069.0282); its president is the duke of San Cesario (069.0457), the orchestra is made up of gentlemen amateurs (see the concert entry).

In the diary

• 1877-03-12 (069.0282-0283): invitation to a concert; «C'est presque une sortie dans le monde».
• 1877-03-19/20 (069.0441, 069.0456-0457): a second invitation; the evening of 20 March, the same show as before; presented to the duke of San Cesario, «président du Cercle».
• 1877-03-25 (069.0516-0535): the concert of sacred music: Concert at the Filarmonica, Naples, 25 March 1877.
• 1877-04-24 (070.0911): a French comedy performed at the club.

Not this club

The «Cercle philharmonique» of 11 May 1877 (071.0266), where Marie hears a charity concert after Marcuard's tip, is in Florence, not Naples.

Sources

Marie Bashkirtseff, Journal, carnets 069-070. The society's history, seat and dates were not traced (searched in Italian for the Naples «Società Filarmonica» and for the duke of San Cesario, without result).