The 'Other' Coastal Area of Venice: Musical Ties with Istria and Dalmatia

Despite the difficulty of classifying the art music of Istria and Dalmatia, and according to several degrees of subordination, adaptation, and autonomy from Venice and Italy, the essay examines the multilingual society of the aforementioned regions and the extraordinary development of a rare Slavic-Romance cultural symbiosis during the sixteenth century. The main topics focused are: 1- the linguistic and cultural frame, 2 - the professional music from Koper (Capodistria) to the free Republic of Dubrovnik (Rugusa), 3 - the music for Protestants and the policy of Catholic Church at the time of the Counter Reformation, 4 - the value of incidental music on stage, either in Croatian or Italian theatre, between autonomy and imitation, 5- the traces of traditional music in Dalmatia and its presence in Venice, 6 - the academies and their philosophical debates in ruling music as a discipline for the states and the nobility.