Saint Biagio’s church: music as frescos of Mattia Preti.
St. Biagio’s church has been the seat of the Carmelites of Modena for more than four centuries, since his foundation in the 14th century. In 1783, this religious order was abolished and the church became the center of the St. Biagio’s parish. During the centenary Carmelite’s occupation, the building was always subject to decorative and architectural improvements. In the mid-17th century, the most significant requalification campaign was carried out also thanks to Mattia Preti, a famous painter who realized the fresco of the dome and the stunning Concert of Angel of the apse basin.
Concert of Angels by Mattia Preti
In 1651, Mattia Preti moved to Modena in order to realize of the dome frescoes and the apse basin of the ancient Carmine church, known nowadays as the St. Biagio church. In less than two years, Cavalier Calabrese successfully completed his work, decorating with frescos a surface of about 500 square meters. Inside the dome, in addition to the four impressive Evangelists of the pendentives, in a cloudy sky the Trinity and the Saints receive the Virgin. The event is accompanied by a Concert of angels frescoed in the apse basin. In the middle, over a balustrade, an angel directs an orchestra of musicians and cantors. Between the instruments painted, twelve are easily recognizable: three trumpets on the extreme left, a trombone, an ear trumpet, a spinet, two violins, a lute, a tambourine, a harp and a second lute. In the middle of the vault, over the clouds animated by musical sheets and flying cherubs, there is an angel playing an organ. This Concert is a unique masterpiece, the higher example of this kind of work found in the city, and it made the Carmelite church one of the greatest examples of Baroque musique paintings in the whole region.
Musical itineraries in St. Biagio
The Concert of painter Preti is not the only music testimony in Saint Biagio church. The orchestra of angles painted in the basin echoes the altarpiece of Giovanni Battista Codebue, which is collocated in the apsidal wall. Created in 1596, this Annunciation presents in the highest part an ensemble of angels playing music, surrounding God and the Holy Spirit and giving a visual prelude to Preti’s music.
In the Presbitery, on the left, there is the pipe organ built in 1625 by famous Antonio Colonna. In the altar dedicated to the Carmelite patron St. Alberto degli Abati, we can find the altarpiece Sant'Alberto di Sicilia, realized by Gian Gherardo delle Catene in 1528. High, over the clouds, an angel shows a title block that recalls the liturgical hymn tuned up for the Saints.