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Vivaldi opera gets premiere in Ferrara nearly 300 years late

The Catholic Church and the northern Italian city of Ferrara made their peace with Antonio Vivaldi on December 30, 2021—nearly 300 years after the city’s archbishop effectively canceled the staging of one of his operas, sending the famed Baroque composer into debt for his final years of life.

Ferrara archbishop Gian Carlo Perego attended the ceremony opening Vivaldi’s Il Farnace at the city’s public theater, a decision hailed by the theater’s artistic director as a “marvelous gesture” that helps heal the past and highlight one of Vivaldi’s lesser-known works.