Search - Domenico Gabrielli, Maria Luisa Baldassari, Ensemble Les Nations :: Gabrielli: S. Sigismondo re di Borgogna

The oratorio as a genre enjoyed particular favor in Bologna, flourishing first in the hands of Giovanni Paolo Colonna (a pupil of Carissimi), and later in those of his worthy Bolognese successors Vitali, Ariosti, Gabrielli, Pistocchi, Degli Antonii, and Perti. In 1618 Pope Gregory XV gave the Padri Filippini permission to use the church of S. Maria di Galliera for their devotional activities. Before this time, the Congregazione dell'Oratorio filippino, founded in Bologna in 1615, held its spiritual exercises in the small church of S. Barbara. The musical activities of the Congregation were led by a praefectus musicae, who would have been for the most part an internal member of the Congregation itself.