Switzerland

Lignornetto: Museo Vela - the villa and grounds

Lignornetto: Museo Vela - the galleries

Date of Production: 2011-11-03

Playing Time: 00:58:37

Catalogue Number: 2.110538

UPC: 747313553853

The Places

The Museo Vela is at Ligornetto in the Swiss-Italian canton of Ticino. The galleries have remarkable collections of the works of the Vela family, Lorenzo, Vincenzo and his son Spartaco. The principal part of the collection includes works in gesso of Vincenzo (1821?EUR"1891), plaster-cast figures later reworked in stone. The Museo Vela houses the largest such exhibition in the world.

The Music

Music for the visit is by Chopin, with his piano preludes, written principally during the winter of 1838?EUR"39 that he spent in Mallorca with his mistress, the writer George Sand. The stay there brought many difficulties, not least the early signs of illness that was to bring about Chopin's death ten years later. Other music included is Chopin's Variations brillantes, written in 1833, based on a melody from an opera by Hérod and Halévy.