The Venetian polychoral style, the pride of Venetian music in the fifteenth and sixteenth century, was introduced by friar Ruffino Bartolucci, who for the first time innovated late Medieval practice of alternating Gregorian monody with polyphony segments performed by a split (spezzato) choir. The two semi-choirs alternated, intersected, or overlapped, thus creating a kind of duality, a living, mobile, changing unity. The Cappella Marciana is the protagonist of the Biennale’s final concert on October 10, with two Stabat for split choir by Giovanni Croce and Pierluigi da Palestrino followed by Lisa Streich’s Stabat for four choirs.
