Michaelstei ner Konferenzberichte

Band 72

Musikalische Auffii hrungspraxis

in nationalen Dialogen
des 16. f ahrhunderts

Teil 2
Musikinstru mentenbau-Zentren
im 16. fahrhundert

26. Musikinstrumentenbau-Symposium
Michaelstein, 6. bis 8. Mai 2005

Herausgegeben von Boje E. Hans Schmuhl

in Verbindung mit Monika Lustig

Augsburg /.WMichaetstein
 105

CRgnrrrr Rossr-RocNoNr

The origins of the Tuscan school of "liutai" in the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

The first menrion of the existence of the art of string instrument making in Flor-
ence is commonly associated with Dante Alighieri's Diaine Comedy (Purgatory,
lV 1109-129) where a certain Belacqua is lound among those who repented too late
in life and therefore have to wait the length of their own lifetime before ending
their period of expiation. Research conducted by Santorre Debenedetti at the be-
ginning of the nventieth century successfully identified this personage with Duccio
di Bonavia, a resident of the parish of Saìnt Proculus in Florence klown to have
been alive in 1299 and dead before 1302.1 Neither Dante's text nor any of the
numerous documents broughr ro light by Debenedemi, though, confirm the activiry
of Belacqua as a "liutaio" (string instrument maker); the first indication in this
sense comes instead from Benvenuto da Imola, a commentator of Dante, who lived
betrveen about 1330 and 1388. Pcrhaps on the basis of information gathered di-
rectly from his contemporaries, he recounts how Belacqua "faciebat citharas et alia
insrrumenta musica, unde cum magna cura sculpcbat et incidebat colla et capita
cithararum et aliquando etiam pulsabat".2 Only the relative chronological prox-
imity ofthe lives ofthe Dantesque commentator and Belacqua and the precision of
rhe description sustain this affìrmation while a total lack of documentary evidence
cautions us to accept the information wirh some reserve.
\7e should probably likewise evaluate with some caudon the next reference to
the production of srring insrruments in Florence found in the autobiography of
Benvenuto Cellini, written in 1558. Among the numerous details regarding his
own farher Giovanni - a professional musician and "piffaro" of the ciry beween
1480 and 1514 Benvenuto affìrms that he also constructed musical instruments
and specifically

"organi, con canne di legno maravigliosi, gravicembali, i migliori e i piir

belli, che aìlora si vedessero, viole, liuti, ed arpi lissime ed eccellentissime"
moreover he "lavorava miracolosamente d'avorio, e fu il primo che lavorasse
bene in tal arte" ["marvelous wooden pìpe organs, harpsichords, the best
and most beautiful that could be found at that time,'viole', luths, and ex-

I Sanronc Dcbcnedctri, Donnenti sa Bekcqaa, in: Bulbttino delh Società Dantesca ltaliana, Nrcva
serìe t3 (t9o6) , pp. 222-233 .
2 Bcnvenuri de Rambaldis de lmola, Conentun sapet Dantis Ald;ghùì Conoedian, vol. 3, s. 1.,
p. l33, cit. in: Debencd etri, Dorumenti su Belarq*a (see footnote l), p. 222.
 Cabricle Rossr Ro8nonl

traordinary and excellent harps (the father, is also said, was the first maker
to bc able to properly use ivory for his instruments)] ".1

Even though rhe making of musical instruments on the part ofa non-professional is
nor surprising for a musician of that period, the diversity and in some cases the
difficulty in making the instruments mentioned is striking, cspcciaìly when united
in a dilettante, even if a talented one. It therefore seems legitimate ro conjecrurc
that Cellini tends to exaggerate (and not only in this case) the abiliries of his father,
who is also describcd, shortly thereafter, as rhc firsr makcr to be able to properly
work ivory.4
Beyond these particulars, however, both citations confirm the existence of the
activity of string instrument makìng in Florencc from at lcast the end of the thir-
teenth century. Conversely, they are followed in modern bibliography by a total
lack o[ information until the begìnning of the seventeenth cenrury, as the diction-
ary of Villibald Leo von Lùtgendorffs and its subsequent supplement by 'fhomas
Drescher confirm.6 Liitgcndorff, in this scnsc, paraphrases thc rwo primary sources
he consulted on the history of string instrument making in Tuscany: the first a
study datcd 1873 by Leto PulitiT - pharmacologist and academic of the Conserva-
tory of Florence - and the second, the Nomocheliurgografa dntica e moderna by
Luigi Francesco Valdrighi completed in 1884.8 Both texts are based on accurare
first-hand research in the Florentine archives. Nevertheless, the study by Puliti
centres on production at the dmc of the arrival of Bartolomeo Crisrofori and is
therefore limited to "liutai" acrive berween 1633 and 1708. The second study in-
stead widens the investigation to earlier periods, adding however only a few makers
active in thc firsr thirry years ofthe swenteenrh cenrury to rhose alreadv known.
A subsequent investigarion on the pan of Giovanni de Piccolellis, published in
1885-86, aiming at the reconstruction ofthe history ofviolin making throughout
Europe from the origins to his own times, does not provide an in-depth study of
the local situation. It furnishes in cffcct very little information on the tradition of
violin making in Florence.e
Funher studies specifically focused on the hisrory of string instrument making
in Tuscany and Florence have insread been conducted mainly with regard to the
migration of Gcrman "liuraì" to lraly berween the sixteenth and seventeenth centu-
ries. Among these, Luisa Cervelli's article published in 1968 underscores the pres-

Bcnvcnuto Ccllini, Vira di Benuenuto Cell;ni orefe e stubote forntino da lui medesino sLrina,
fNapoli 1728], p. 5, reprint Firenzc and Pampaloni 1990.
For a biography of Giovanni Ceilini see Timothy J. McGee, Giot anni Cellini, ptfero di Firenze,
in: Riuista ltdliana li Mssiolog;a 3212 (1997), pp.201 221, esp. p.2t2.
\qillibald l,eo Freiherr von Lùrgendorff, Di? Geigen- and Inatenmacher aom Mitxkber bir z,c
Gegenwart, }.znkfu* (Main) 1922.
6 Ibidem, supplement by Thomas Drescher, Tutzing 1990.
7 Ltto Prliti, Della uita d:l ser[eùsi]no Fetdinaruh dei Medici gran principe di Totcana e delh origine
del p;anoforte, in: Axi delk Attadenia dzl Ro. Istituto Muicale di Firenze 12 (1874), pp.78 83.
Luigi Francesco Valdrigh), Nonocheliurgografa antica e noderna ossia ebno difabbricatoti di xra-
mmti armonici con note esplicatiu€ e docamenti estiltti dall'archiùo ìi Stata in Modtna, Modenr I884
Giovanni de Piccolellis, Liatai artichi e molerni, Firenze 1885, rcprint Sala Bolognese 1980.
The origins of the Tuscan school of "liutai" in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

ence in the city of two German makers: Bartolomeo Eberspacher and Filippo Zim-
belmann, active during the second half of the seventeenth century.lo Further re-
search on the part ofAdolfLayerrrestablished the presence of German makers in
Florence during the first half of the century. A tradition whose beginning Layer
ascribes to Matthias Hindelang (or Marteo Indelami) and the brothers Bartolomeo
and Melchiorre Eberspacher, active in the ciry by 1603, as the founders ofrhe local
school. Richard Bletschacher is of the same opinion and hypothesises as well a rela-
rionship between the birth of musical opera in early seventeenth century Florence
and the increasing demand for stringed instruments that would have consequently
favoured the settling offoreign makers in the ciry.12
A few years ago, during some research in the State Archive in Florence, I was
lucky enough to find the names of some more makers of string and keyboard in-
struments active in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: a few of rhese had
German origins and their number, added to the group already known, confirmed
the presence of a lively tradition of insrrument making already underway in early
sevenreenth century Florence, and was too large to be only just at a starting point.r3
Moreover, a gap of circa three hundred years still needed to be filled between the
early Dantesque citation and this later evidence. On the occasion ofthis conference,
therefore, I have continued the study initiated by Leto Puliti moving backwards in
time in a search for evidcnce of the presence of stringed instrument makers in FIor-
ence during the course of the sixteenth century. This cffort has brought to light the
names of eleven new artisans enrolled in the registers of the corporations as "liutai"
(or, as we will see in the following table, under analogous categories) between 1557
and 1600.
In contrast with Brescia and Venice where the "liutai" were enrolled in mer-
chant corporations (respectively rhat of the "patér" and of the "marzeri"),r4 Floren-
tine "liutai" - and later the "buonaccordai" or keyboard instrument makerc - wete
instead members of the woodcarvers guild rhat already in 1534, following a de-
crease in the number of the artisans enrolled in the so-called minor guilds, united
with that of blaclamiths, key makers, sculptors in stone and wood and armour
makers to form the so-called "Universitir dei Fabbricanti". Members included arti-
sans in quite dissimilar professions such as bricldayers, painters, stonecutters, kiln
men, blacksmiths, shoeing smiths, cutle$, coppe$miths, swordsmiths, coachbuilders,
brazier smiths, sawyers, turning lather operators and many others. Subsequently,
following a later reorganisation of the Florentine guilds in 1586, the "Università dei
Fabbricanti" in turn joined with the guild of "Por S. Piero e Fabbricanti", that of
grocery merchants.

10 Luisa Cervelli, Breui note sui liutai tederch; attiui in Lalia dal secolo WI" al XWII", in Analecta
Musicologna 5 (1968), pp.299 337, esp. pp.306,337.
t1 ldolf Lqer, Die Allgàter Lauten- und Geigennacher, tug;bvg 1978, p.94.
t2 Rìchard Bì«schachcr, Dr Lauten- und Geigennachet les Fitmer Landts,Hofrteim am Taunus 1978,

']1991, p.9t.
t3 Gabriele Rossi-Rognoni, Le boxeghe forertine di strunnti musicali, rr Nccardo Spinelli (ed.),lrrl
forextixe: la grande:taria dell'atigianato. vol. 5, Firenze 2002, pp. 133 149.
14 See on this point Srefano Toffolo, Stnmenti Musicali a Vnezia, Cremona 1995, esp. pp. 107-108.
108 Cabriele Rossi Rognoni

3 EI
É €.è E E
É É
É U H CÈ

B lanolol m [e] o di Giorgio tedesco liutaio 1557 r577

Bernardino diJachopo Peronj da fa 1560 1585

Bologna ceterrnr

Berto di . liutaio Corso degli 1561 1578

Armaioli

Bartolomeo di Ciorgio tedesco liutaio 1578 158 5

Domenico d'Agostino Ciari liuraio r578 1595

Jacopo di Ralfaello lapucci liutaio r582 1584

Michelagnolo di Girolamo de' romano liutaio 1585

Giardini
Luca di Lionardo redesco liutaio fra gli 158 5
armaiuoli
F.milio di Ratrrello l,apucci liutaio alla Vergine 1588
de' Ricci

Giovanni di Domenico Billij napoletano lirrtaio Canto 1595

alle rondini

Giovanni di Cosimo called tedesco liutaio Corso 1595

Finchi or degliAdimari
fringuello
Lucrezia widow of Finchi liutaio Corso r596
Ciovanni degli Adimari
di Cosimo

Table of the musical instrument makers enrolled in Florence in the period 1557 1600

The considerable size of the "Università" made it such that, proportionately, the
musical instrument makers were less rhan 0,5 7o of the total. They therefore played
a minor role in the corporation despite a progressive and constant increase of their
number after the mid-sixteenth century (fig. l). Consequently, they are never men-
tioned explicitly in the statutes or in official documents, with the only exception
being the "tamburai" (drum makers) who are mentioned in a sixteenth century de-
scription of the guild.t5

15 Archivio di Stato di Firenze MS 846, fol. 94v.

The origins of the Tuscan school of "liutai" in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

I buonaccordai
I lìutai

1550 1560 1570 1580 1590 1600 1610 1620

Fig. l The nurnber of sùing and keyboard instrument makers reSistered in the guild of "Por S.
Piero e Fabbricanti" in Florence between 1550 and 1630

Admission in the corporation customarily took place after a period of training as a

"garzone" and then as an apprentice in a master's workshopl rhis culminated in the
making o[a "master piece", that is, an apprentice instrument that served to demon-
sùate the pupil's mastery of the skills necessary for working autonomously. If the
object was judged satisfactory by the commission of the "Magistrati delle Arti"
(guild officers), the candidate was "matriculated" and after paying the relevant fee,
could then take up the profession independently. The members of the minor arts,
moreoverr not only produced their own objects but also sold them directly without
intermediaries.l6
Despite the fact that the guild system underwent progressive deterioration and
disorganisation from the mid-seventeenth century on - a process that led to its end
by the end of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries - the membership
registers and the successive tax renewals, the so-called "campionì", constitute the
principal documentary source for the ascertainment ofthe presence ofspecific rypes
ofartisans in the ciry up to the 1770s. The Florentine "campioni" specifr for each
guild member: namer name of father and grandfather, provenance when not Flor-
entine, profession, worlahop address, date of enrolment and a list of the contribu-
tions to the guild's coffers. They rhus furnish the information necessary for the
reconstruction of the presence, distribution, rhe beginning and often the duration
of the professional activity of musical instrument makers (fig. 2).17

l6 Giulio Gandi, Zr Caryorazioni dellAntica Fitenn, Fnenzr 1928, p. 203.

17 The'campioni" in guesrion are all found in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze (Universirà di Por
S. t'iero e labbricanti archive).
 Cahriele Ro55i-Rognoni

{7--
7--

Fie.2 An example of the entries in the "campioni" of lhe guild of "Por S. Piero e Fabbricanti" in
1585 where it is possible to read the enrolment of Michelagnolo di Cirolamo de' Ciardini
and Luca di Lionardo d'Agostino, both described as "liutai"

Although the registers ftom 1,537 to 1555 need 6.rrther examìnation, the names of
musical instrument makers begin to appear after the 1557 register with rhe mention
of a certain Bartolomeo di Giorgio enrolled regularly thereafter for almost 20 years,
lp to 1577 and again in a later register until 1585. The profession specified is that
of "liutaio" and rhis is also the term connected to the production of musical in-
struments that is found most often in the "campioni" for the entire sixteenth cen-
tury. The term "liutaio", in effect, seems to be already in use at the time to indicate
both bowed and plucked instrumenr makers (apparently not the cittern makers, as
we shall see) at least judging from the cases of a few makers slightly later, all listed
as "liutai", but whom we know were active in both fields or specialised in one or
the orher.rs Only after 1602, did the "campioni" begin to lisr names of "buonac-
cordai", that is, keyboard instrument makers while the term "liutaio" is equated
between 1662 and 1681 with that of"chitarraio", the latter term replacing it com-
pletely after 1681, although with apparently the same semantic ambivalence.
The migration and settlement of numerous "liutai" from Germany and in par-
ticular from the ciry of Fùssen in the Fùrstbistum Augsburg, is a well-known phe-
nomenon at least after the beginning of the sixteenth century up to the early eight-
eenth century, and involves all the major commercial centres located along rhe
main roads from Austria to Italy: in particular, the cities ofVenice, Padua, Bologna.
During the seventeenth century, migration has a massive impact on cities further
sourh like Romel9 and Naples, bur as the "campioni" demonstrate, the German
"liutai" had already settled in Florence around the mid-sixteenth century. This phe-
nomenon corresponds to a wider migratory movement fiom Germany to Tuscany
already in progress from the mid-fifteenth century; in effect, at least 40%o of the

18 See, for example, Lùtgendortr, Die Geigen- und l-aatenmacher (see footnote 5), vol. 2, for Bastiano
Pardini and torenzo Bomberghi, both violin makers; Giovanni Suover, lute maker; Francesco
Seni and Domenico Saracini. both violin and lute makers, but all lisred rs'liutaio" in the "cam-
pioni" of dre guilds.
t9 In parricolar, relevant to rhe phenomenon in Rome, see Renato Meucci, La cos*tzione li smlmmti
nusiuli a Rona tra WII e l'lX secolo, con notizie inedite salh faniglia B;glioni, in: Bìanca Maria
Antolini, Arn do Morelli and Vera Vira Spagnuolo (eds.), h ntsica a Rona attarerso le fonti d'ar-
r/zllla (Report ofthe Internarional Convendon, Rone,4-7ltne 1992), Lucca 1994, pp. 581 593,
and Bernhard Hcnrrich, Nuoae notizie si liutai teì"sth; o?e nti a Roma, tn: Recercare 13 (2001),
pp.249-256.
The oriSins of the Tuscan school of "liutai" in the sìxteenth and seventeenth centurìes

rotal number of foreigners in Florence seem to have been Germans (or more gener-
ally, inhabitants of northem and nonh-eastern European countries).20
Ifithin the first twenry years of the seventeenth century, five more Cerman
"liutai" are enrolled with Bartolomeo di Giovanni, making Florence one ofthe cities
where, at the very outset of this process, the presence of instrument makers from
northern Europe is most notable. One of these, Giovanni di Cosimo Finchi called
"il fringuello" (the bullfinch), enrolled in 1595 and seems to have survived less than
a year aker his transfer to Florence given that for the next year's payment, he is
replaced by Lucrezia, widow of Giovanni di Cosimo Finchi. This single mention
within the registers ofthe corporation, however, is not sufficiently informative as to
whether Lucrezia's enrolment signified that she actually carried on her husband's
activity, or more probably retained the ownership of the activity. The presence of
women in the Florentine guilds and as working artisans is, however, documented at
least from rhe fifteenth century among painters. The actual involvement ofa woman
in the field ofstring instrument making, nonetheless, can be found, for example, in
the case of Carerina Guarnieri, who was apparently the pupil of her brothers Giu-
seppe and Pietro,2l
The inclusive term "liutaio" instead does not seem to apply to the makers of
citterns: the insttument maler Bernardino di Jacopo Peroni, who came from Bolo-
gna in 1560 and was active until 1585, appears in effect rwice in the Florentine
"campioni" with the clarification "fa ceterini" ("he makes citterns"). This indication
can be added to the one already mentioned regarding the Dantesque Belacqua and
hints at the presence of a notable tradition of cittern makers in the ciry of Florence,
a tradition for which the cities of Brescia, Urbino, Perugia and Bologna - Peroni's
place of provenance - were particularly renowned. The wide diffusion ofcitterns in
Florence is confirmed moreover by numerous sources, many of which have already
been identified by Emanuel Winternitz.22 The instrument is explicitly mentioned
in a passage of the D iaine Comedy (Paradise )O! 22) :

"E come suono al collo della cetra / prende sua forma / e sì come al pertu-
gio / della sampogna vento che peneta ll Così rimosso d'aspettare indugio
/ quel mormorar dell'aguglia salissi / su per lo collo come fosse bugio."
("And as the sound takes its form at the cittern's neck, and as at the vent of
the bagpipe wind which enters it, thus without pause ofwaiting that mur-
mur ofthe Eagle rose up through its neck, as ifit were hollow.")

LrcizSandri, Straniei eforanen nella Firmze del Qtattmcmto attatmo i libi di icodi e di m*ata
e usciu drgli upedali c;rudini, n: Forestieri e s»aniei nel* cìuà ba"o med;eaall (Repon of dre Inter-
national Study Seminar, Bagno a tupoli, 4-8lune 1984), Florence 1988, pp. 149-161.
21 The active panicipàtion ofwomen in the making ofmusical instruments and, in panicular, in rhe actual
carying on ofrhe acriviry ofa husband on ùe pan ofa widow has been recendy discussed anew byJenny
Nex in her lecture, Womn ir tbe Mrsial lrctrunmt Tralz ix landon, 1250-1814 presented at the joint
meeting ofthe American Musiol Insrument Society, Calpin Society and the International Comminee of
Muical Instnrment Museums and C-ollections (CIMCIM), Vermillion, Soudr Dakota,1923 May 2006.
Emanuel rVinternirz, The Saruiul ofthe Kithara axd the Erohtìon ofthe English Cìttem. A Studf in
Morphokg, in: Muical Instrunents and Thei Synbolim in llestcm At, New Haven and London
1979, pp.57 65.
 ( liìbricle Ros\r RoJìnof

Moreover, §Tinternitz points out the connection between an instrument represen,

ted in the frescoes by Filippino Lippi in the Cappclla Suozzi in S. Maria Novella exe-
cuted between 1497 and 1502 and the Renaissance variations on rhe model of the
cittern. Another appearance of the instrument in Florence has been recently brought
to my attention by Gianni Cicali in a "sacra rappresenrazione" by Castellano Castel-
lani, Cottantino imperatore, performed in Florence around 1510 where the opening
is recited, not by an angel, but by a youth who plays rhe "cittern", substantiating
'Winternitz's
hypothesis that rhcrc is continuiry berween the classical lyre, the ideal
instrument in the hands ofthe "aedo", and the cittern rhat here replaces ir.
It is surprising, instead, that the Florentine producrion of citterns is nor even
touched upon by Vincenzo Galilei who briefly mentions the instrument in his
Diahgo della musica antica et moderna published in Florence in 1581 when Peroni
was at the height ofhis activiry; afrer having traced the origins ofthe instrumcnt to
England ("fu la cetera usata prima fra gli inglesi che da altre narioni" - "rhe cirtern
was used first by the English before any orher nation"), Galilei adds in fact only
that: "hoggi le pitr riputate [.. .] siano <luelle che si Ìavorano in Brcscia" ("today the
best [. ..] are those made in Brescia)."2]
Two more of the eleven "liutai" identificd in thc sixteenth century are nor Flor-
entine: the first is Michelagnolo di Girolamo de' Ciardini, from Rome, and the
second is the Neapolitan Giovanni di f)omenico Billij, enrolled respectively in
1585 and 1595. The lack of later indications makcs any hypothesis on their spe-
cialisation impossible. In borh cities - and in particular in Romc in the seventeenth
century the presence of instrumenr makers of German origin is well documented
(in Rome alone during the early decades of the seventeenth cenrury, rhere are more
than fifteen, that is, over 50 % of the total),ra probably specialized in the manufac-
ture ofplucked insrrumenrs. Naples and Rome, in particular, are the cities in which
the viol flourishes, imported from Spain towards the end of the fifteenth century
through the courts of the two Borgia Popes: Calistus III and Alexander VI.2t 'l'he
provenance of the two "liutai" in con.iuncrion with §?oodfield's indications regard,
ing the usc of "violoni" and "bassi di violoni" in Florence in 1518, 1568 and 1589
could perhaps be a starting point to investigate whether the tavo makers were spe-
cialised in this field.
In conclusion, only rwo, of the "liutai" identified in Florence in the sixteenth
century seem to be Florentine in origin: the brothers Jacopo and Emilio Lapucci,
sons of Raffaello di Antonio, who matriculated respectively in 1582 and 151ì8. The
"campioni" even furnish the address of the latter: alla Vergine de' Ricci. As is com-
mon in corporate organisations, musical instrument makers in Florence gathered in
well-defined areas of the city: the "liutai" were conccntrated in the area just a few
steps south of the cathedral benveen via degli Adimari, canto del Giglio and rhe
piazza della Vergine de' Ricci, along the mdn street that leads to the Arno, while

23 Yincenzo Galtei, Dialogo delk nutica antica et modtmr, Firenzc 1581, reprint lì.ome 1934, p. 147.
24 Mctcci, La cottrazione di arunenti nusicali a Roma (see footnote l9).
25 Ian Woodfìeld, Th? Earlr hntu,1 ofthe z;al Cambridgc 1984, pp. 185 186, Iolian translation:
Renato Meucci (ed.), La uiok da gamba: dLtlle originì al Rina:cinento,Iornro 1999, pp. 93 113,
csp. pp. 94-95.
The origins oi lhe Tuscan school of "liutai" in the sixteenth and se\enteenth centulies

the workshops of the keyboard instrument makers, or "buonaccordai", were almost

without exception located on via dei Servi, which still bears that name and runs
perpendicular to the Cathedral towards the church of the SS. Annunziata. This
situation remaìned substantially unchanged until at least the end of thc cightcenth
century.
Historical toponymy, moreover! provides one of the few indications on the
production ofwind instruments in Florence: the present-day Piazza S. Elisabetta, in
fact, alternates, between 1400 and 1779, the names of Via de'Ricci with that ofvia
delle Trombe, just as the adjacent piazza S. Elisabetta was known as San Michele
delle 'l'rombe. The origin of thc name, however, may perhaps be attributable to the
fact that the city trumpct players resìded in that area rarher than ro the presence of
instrument makers.26
'I'he total lack of surviving srring instruments from Florence dating from the
sixtecnrh ccntury is, finally, a very striking factor. This absence contrasc". in par-
ticular, with the abundance of instruments, prevalently plucked instruments, that
still survive from cities like Padua, Vcnice, Bologna and Rome, produced once again
by German makers contemporary with those discussed here.'I'he scarce survival of
srring instruments by Florentine artisans, hoq/ever, is a phenomenon that concerns
the whole of the next century, just as much a^s the fact that local production is almost
totally absent in the inventories of thc Medici and Lorraine collections. A possible
explanation may be found in the fact that, àctive as ir was, in no discipline did rhe
local school reach the fame and excellence of thc Vcncrian, Padua, Roman and
Neapolitan schools with regard to plucked instruments, or the Cremonese school
with rcgard to bowcd instruments. It was possibly lor this reason thar Florentine
musical instruments had a limited terrirorial difl'usion and, at the same time, had
not captured on the local scene the attention ofthc grand-ducal court. For rhe same
rcason it is also possible that thc earlier instruments, as often happened with the later
ones, have been reJabelled at a later time with the names of more famous makers
and more prestigious provenances.
Thc cxplanation rcmains, however, merely a hypothesis in the absence of mate-
rial evidence for the production ofa local school, rich, well-documented and active.27

Figures

Fis. 1: Cabriele Rossi-Rognoni, tlorence.

Fie. 2, Archivio di Stato di Firenze (Università di Por S. Piero e F.Ìbbricantiarchive)-

Piero Fiorelli and Maria Venuri (ed,s.), Stalzrio storito e anministntin del Conone li F;renze,
F;rcnzc r2004.
I wish to thank Herlxrr Heyde and Rcnato Mcucc; fòr reading the manuscript and fòr thcir prc-
cious suggestions and advices.