Ascension Oratorio

Sailors in Venice normally gather every year at this time for a ceremony called the Wedding of Venice to the Sea. They offer prayers of thanksgiving to Saint Nicholas, their patron saint, and hold a symbolic wedding of Venice to the Adriatic, tossing a gold wedding ring into the water and repeating a Latin wedding vow. The King’s Consort recreated the ceremony in music – as it would have been celebrated in 1600 – and you’ll hear some of it on Sunday Baroque this weekend.