Cappella Fede

At Midnight Mass 1686 the Catholic Chapel of King James II was officially opened at Whitehall. Designed by Christopher Wren, with interior carvings in stone and wood by Grinling Gibbons and paintings by Benedetto Gennari and Antonio Verrio, it was one of the most lavish ecclesiastical buildings in England. The maestro di cappella was the Italian composer Innocentio Fede (born circa 1661) from a famous musical family who dominated music in Rome in the last quarter of the seventeenth century. Two beautiful canticles by Fede for double-choir, a Nunc dimittis and Laudate pueri dominum, survive in English manuscript sources. They have been transcribed and edited by Peter Leech. The modern premiere performance of these delightful works took place in March 2000 in Gloucester Cathedral, with the Bristol Bach Choir accompanied by Nigel Nash and Ian Higginson, conducted by Peter Leech.

Office book (from private collection) Since the world premiere of Fede's Nunc dimittis and Laudate pueri (now published by Parish Publications, Cheltenham) in 2000 considerable effort has been made to promote Innocentio (or Innocenzo) Fede's music futher on the concert platform. Repeat performances of these delightful works were undertaken by Chandos Chamber Choir at St.George's Hanover Square, London (2001) with Katherine Mahon (soprano) singing the world premiere of Fede's 'Amor fiori' and 'Ardo sospiro' from Berkeley MS 118.

In March 2004 the City of Oxford choir also performed the Nunc and Laudate at Merton College Chapel with music by Purcell, John Blow and organ voluntaries by Giovanni Battista Draghi (organist at Catherine of Braganza's Somerset House chapel (c.1678-92) and at the Whitehall Catholic Chapel (1687-88), played by Christian Wilson.

Plans are afoot to include the Nunc and Laudate on a new CD of music from the Restoration Catholic Chapels (transcribed and edited by Peter Leech) to be performed by Schola Cantorum of Stonyhurst College. This CD will also feature world premiere recordings of excerpts from the Antoine Selosse Manuscript, soon to be published by HH editions, as well as string trios by Miguel Ferreira.

Innocentio Fede is one of the many central European composers who worked in England during the Restoration period who, if it had not been for the efforts of leading music scholars, would still be languishing in obscurity. With the help of the ensembles under his direction, Peter Leech is committed to bringing these forgotten masters and their music to a wider audience, and his website is therefore dedicated to Innocentio Fede as a way of initiating this process. Some of Peter's future concerts will involve performances of music by other composers active in the Restoration Catholic chapels of James II and Catherine of Braganza (wife of Charles II), including the Italians Giovanni Sebenico, Matteo Battaglia, Bartolomeo Albrici and Giovanni Battista Draghi and the Moravian composer Gotfried Finger.

Italian songs by Innocentio Fede for a variety of vocal combinations have been transcribed and edited by Peter from manuscripts associated with the Stuart court-in-exile at Saint Germain-en-laye (1689-1718) and will soon be available in a modern edition.

Latin Office book (from private collection) Instrumental music by Miguel Ferreira, Master of Queen Catherine's Chamber Music in England from 1662-1692, was recently discovered and identified by Peter Leech in manuscripts now held at Christ Church Oxford and the British Library. It is hoped that a premiere performance of these pieces will take place soon. Peter is currently in the process of editing music by many of the Italian, Portuguese, French and German musicians active in London between 1660 and 1700 for a collection 'Music of the Restoration Catholic Chapels'. To find out more about the Chapel of Catherine of Braganza see 'Musicians in the Catholic Chapel of Catherine of Braganza 1662-1692', Early Music, November 2001 and 'Catholic Musicians in Restoration London', Genealogists Magazine, March 2003.

Cappellafede is an ongoing project. Peter warmly invites any persons interested in offering financial support for cultural projects relating to Italian, French, German or Portuguese music and musicians in seventeenth century England to contact him at pgleech@hotmail.com.