Italy: Valvasone, 2

This cover was produced September 15, 1974, and seems to celebrate the "return to service" of the organ in the Duomo in Valvasone, Italy. I have written about this organ in a previous post, for a different cover. That cover marked the 30th anniversary of the 1970's restoration. This cover is contemporaneous with the restoration. The cover uses a stamp (Scott 1149) issued to commemorate athletic games in Rome (28 June 1974). It is not a first day cover, simply a postcard with a special postmark. The Italian in the postmark reads:


manifestazione inaugurale restauro organ servizi distacati
inaugural event restoration of organ services

This site gives some information on the duomo and the organ. The Italian version includes some pictures. The instrument has been recorded in 2003, and thus includes all of the restoration work of which I am aware.  

The back of this postcard includes a photograph of a woman holding flowers in front of a depiction on the Madonna and child. No information about the photo is included on the card. The only other word on the card is "rotante" which means, enigmatically, means "rotating."

 

Italy: Palestrina

In 1975 Italy issued a single stamp to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the birth of the musician Pierluigi da Palestrina. Scott 1195 describes him as a "composer of sacred music." Indeed he was. His influence of musical art cannot be overestimated. The stamp shows the composer with a book of music, and his dates (died 1594). the postmark is text plus a posthorn. The cachet on my cover shows a portrait of the composer along with a representation of an organ: two keyboards (with many, many notes!) and a row of pipes. Palestrina's career carried him around Italy with stints at the Vatican in Rome. He is known for his sacred choral and instrumental works more than his secular pieces, but all of it demonstrates his mastery of polyphony and counterpoint.

Italy: Music Year 1985

In 1985 all member nations of the European Union were encouraged to issue stamps honoring the "music year." Many did, including Italy with this pair of stamps (Scott 1640-1641) featuring composers and tenors. The 500-lira stamp shows Pertile and Martinelli; the 600-lira stamp shows Bellini and Bach. The background of both includes a representation of what may be imaged as organ pipes. The 600-lira stamps honors "composers." Bellini is best known for his operas, though there is an organ sonata listed in his oeuvre. Bellini 's father and grandfather were both organists and music teachers. The 500-lira stamp honors "tenors."  Aureliano Pertile was a famous tenor who lived in the later 1800's through the 1950's. Giovanni Martinelli was another vocalist who lived during the same time frame. All the persons represented have a birth or death year which is a multiple of -85.

Valvasone, Italy: Duomo organ restoration

The organ in the Valvasone, Italy Dom was built by Vincenzo Colombi in the 16th century. It was restored in 1972-1974 by Alfredo Piccinelli. This cover includes a postmark that commemorates the 30th anniversary of that restoration. The postmark shows most of the facade, with the left being occluded by an image of a treble clef. The date given in the postmark is 8 May 2004. I have not determined what that specific date may specify: perhaps concerts, perhaps the date of re-dedication 30 years earlier.

Interestingly, the organ was apparently worked on significantly in again 1999 by Francesco Zanin. While the present cover would include that time frame, this second period of restoration work is omitted. One suspects then that the work completed in 1974 was of such a scale and scope as to somehow eclipse that of 1999.

The organ was begun in 1532, installed in 1533, while painting of the interior and exterior of the protective doors continued through 1535 (exterior) and 1537 (interior). The artist himself died in 1539 with the work only partially complete; it fell to his son to complete the paintings by 1544. To read some accounts, the paintings  by Giovanni Antonio da Pordenone are at least as important as the organ itself.

This site includes good details about the instrument. The instrument is rather small (relatively few ranks, and a short compass) but seems to be a very typical instrument f the Italian Renaissance. This site dealing with music in the region gives more information about the instrument.

Tied to the cover by the postmark is Scott 2590, a stamp depicting Santa Maria Assunta Church in Pragelato, Italy. The stamp was part of a set of 4 marking the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin. The stamp is thus most likely coincidental to the postmark, aside from the "church" unifying factor.

This cover was a gift from my friend, Mark Jameson in Reading.

Italy: Mercadante

Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870) was in Italian composer of some import. He was known during his lifetime for his operatic compositions. After his death his fame receded; he is not so nearly well-known as other Italian opera composers. However, his technique was much-respected, making his influence on composers later in music history significant.

Italy issued this stamp in 1970, for the hundredth anniversary of the composer's death. The image includes a likeness of Mercadante and stylized "something" in the background. This stamp has appeared on the organ topical list for some time, I believe the assumption being the background somehow is stylized organ pipes. I am not convinced however. They could just as easily be piano strings in my opinion. Mercadante was a composer of operas. He has a single organ work in his oeuvre, an "Homage to Bellini." That work was recorded in 1995, that being the best single reference to the work I could find.

Italy: Verdi

Italy issued this stamp in 1951 as part of a set of three stamps honoring the death of Guiseppe Verdi 50 years after his death in 1901. This is the middle-value stamp and features a church and an organ facade. I had for years not known that Verdi was an organist, but he's quite well-known for his organ skills. Verdi was born in Le Roncole, a village in Parma, Italy. Verdi spent the majority of his life in this region. He began playing the organ as a substitute at age 9 at the church of St. Michael the Archangel, and shortly thereafter took the same position permanently. The facade shown in the stamp could be that of the St. Michael church organ, but one can't be certain.