The Conservatory of”
San Pietro a Majella” has its roots in the life of the
four Orphanages founded in the 16th century in the poorest
zones of Naples: “Santa Maria di Loreto”, “Sant'
Onofrio a Porta Capuana”, “Poveri di Gesu Cristo”
and “Pietà dei Turchini”.
They are born as institutes of mercy in
order to help the orphan and abandoned children, then in the
course of approximately sixty years they are transformed in
schools of music in order to satisfy the requirements of a
society that demands a greater number of virtuous singers
– for example the famous castrated – of musicians
and composers and that considers music as the most profitable
trade, so the orphanages have been transformed in places where
music is conserved ,that is the Conservatories.
After a century of
remarkable splendour and notoriety an inexorable and slow
decline begins, after the Revolution of 1799 only the “Pietà
dei Turchini” survives. As it is too much narrow to
receive what is remained of the glorious tradition of the
18th century, in 1808 it is transferred in the large Convent
of the “Dame di San Sebastiano”; later on, in
1826, after the Bourbon restoration, by order of Ferdinand
II it is definitively transferred in the ancient Convent of
the Celestini Fathers, the order founded by Celestino V an
hermit on the “Majella”. So the Conservatory of
“San Pietro a Majella” is born, It is also the
seat of a very important Library where autographs, manuscripts
and rare prints, in particular about the Neapolitan music
of the 18th century, are conserved.
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