Music in Venice

"In every home, someone is playing a musical instrument or singing. There is music everywhere." 
​(Anonymous, 17th century)
For centuries, Venice was regarded as one of the centres of musical excellence. In a guidebook, published in 1581, the city is described as la sede della musica, the seat of music. Venice was the birthplace of Andrea Gabrieli (c.1532/33-1585) and his nephew, Giovanni Gabrieli (c.1554/7-1612), one of the most influential musicians of his time. The great composer, Claudio Monteverdi (who was not, however, a native of the city) was primo maestro di cappella at the Basilica San Marco from 1613 until his death in 1643. 

In 1637, the world's first public opera house was opened in Venice and by the end of the century a city of roughly 160,000 inhabitants could boast no fewer than seven opera houses. 

During the second half of the 17th century the following composers were born in Venice: Antonio Lotti (1667-1740), Antonio Caldara (1670-1736), Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751), Alessandro (1673-1747) and Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) and the most famous of all, Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). Throughout the course of the 18th century, such figures helped La Serenissima reach its zenith in musical terms. No other city in the world could compete with the wealth of vocal and instrumental music performed in Venice's churches, opera houses and, particularly, its four ospedali maggiori, charitable institutions in which foundling girls were taught music to performance standard by some of the greatest composers of the day.
Nowadays, in addition to the Teatro la Fenice, Venice's world famous opera house, classical music concerts are regularly performed at the following venues: