Ladislas of Poland’s visit to Mantua (1625): music in open and enclosed spaces

The visit to Mantua of Ladislas Sigismund Vasa, son of Sigismund III, King of Poland and Sweden, was announced, expected, and prepared well in advance. Ladislas stayed in Mantua at the end of February 1625. Duke Ferdinando I Gonzaga mobilized the best musical and artistic resources at court for the prestigious guest, offering a comprehensive programme of events. Despite the lack of sources, it is clear that the festivities planned for Ladislas’s three- day stay replicated, on the one hand, well-tested Mantuan traditions for similar occasions, while also emphasizing or adapting some elements deemed appropriate for the concurrent jubilee year. Ladislas’s short sojourn in Mantua came at a troubled time in the life of the Gonzaga court, caught in the middle of reorganizing its artistic collections and, contrary to appearances, economically weakened and close to political decline and the irreversible depletion of its artistic and musical resources. The present contribution combines known documentation with new details and contextual evidence, in an attempt to arrive at a better understanding of both the role of the artists involved and the function and meaning of the venues visited by Ladislas and the objects presented to him.