Monday, March 25, 2013

Mozart in Milano: the church of Sant'Antonio Abate

photograph by Giovanni Dall'Orto - WikiCommons
The name of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has an unexpected yet strong link with the city of Milano. The genius of Saltzburg visited Italy three times during his life, but it is here in Milano that he wrote and performed the first of his works to be still widely performed today, the solo motet Exsultate, Jubilate (K. 165). Here it is performed by Cecilia Bartoli, one of the finest voices in the world, and Claudio Abbado, the great Milanese conductor.

Exsultate, Jubilate was written for the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini - who, according to Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang's father, "sang like an angel" - and premiered on Sunday, January 17 1773 (Mozart was just 16), in the church of Saint Anthony the Abbott.

The link with Mozart is just one of many reasons to visit this beautiful church, in via Sant'Antonio 5 (five minutes from piazza del Duomo), a hidden treasure little known both to the tourists and to Milanese themselves. 
In the XVIII century, when Mozart was in Milano, the church was still associated with the order of the Theatines, a religious congregation which worships the Virgin and the Holy Cross. The latter is the subject of an important cycle of frescoes on the vaults of Sant'Antonio, representing the Stories of the Holy Cross which - according to the legend - was found in Jerusalem by Saint Helena, emperor Constantine's mother, in the IV century.
The interior of the church is a sort of "museum" of Mannerism style, elegant and sophisticated, with some exquisite works by Giovan Battista Crespi (nicknamed "Cerano"), Procaccini and Carracci.
Next to the altar is a statue of saint Anthony the Abbott, with a little pig at his feet. Why Saint Anthony is universally recognized as the patron of hogs is actually unknown, but one reason may be his being credited in assisting in miraculous healings from shingles, also known as "St. Anthony's Fire". From the end of the XIII century to the beginning of the XVI, the friars of Saint Anthony managed a small hospital where people suffering from St. Anthony Fire were cured, mainly with soothing preparations derived from pig's fat.