Music in the Myth of Venice

Abstract

Historians have long been fascinated by the ‘myth of Venice’: the phenomenon of a single state acquiring and sustaining a reputation, often at obvious variance with reality, that would serve not only the propaganda goals of the state itself but even as an influential political model for others. Although there are several aspects to this myth, they all focus on the perfection of the Venetian Republic, its uniqueness and virtù. The official epithet, la Serenissima, epitomized the image of this splendid city, founded miraculously upon the waters, unwalled yet unconquered for more than a millennium, remarkably undisturbed by internal strife. Petrarch's wellknown panegyric expresses a generally held view of Venice: ‘a city rich in gold but richer in renown, mighty in works but mightier in virtue, founded on solid marble but established on the more solid foundations of civic concord, surrounded by the salty waves but secure through her saltier councils.’