Master Classes Summer 2010

Cristofori Colloquium: July 22 - 23

Bartolomeo Cristofori and the music at the court of the granprincipe Ferdinando De’ Medic

PRESENTATION OF THREE COPIES OF BARTOLOMEO CRISTOFORI’S INSTRUMENTS

• Copy of the oval spinet by Bartolomeo Cristofori from 1690
• Copy of the piano from 1726
• Copy of the ebony harpsichord

INTRODUCTION BY GABRIELE ROSSI ROGNONI, CURATOR OF THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MUSEUM FLORENCE

The Musical Instrument Collection of the Granprincipe Ferdinando de’ Medici represents the summit of the Medici’s collecting activity over two centuries, it is one of the most important collections of the European baroque that has at least partially survived until today. The collection, which was made up of more than 100 instruments, included instruments by Bartolomeo Cristofori, Nicolo’ Amati, Antonio Stradivari, built specially for the Granprincipe. Ferdinando’s interest in musical instruments reveals itself also in the numerous innovations in construction and sonority documented for the first time in his collection, for instance the covered strings for bowed instruments (introduced in Florence in 1685) and the first cases of modernising these instruments (1733).

Only a knowledge of the dynamism expressed in Ferdinando’s collecting allows one to understand the context in which the invention of the pianoforte was generated. The paper will be concerned with riconstructing and presenting the framework of the Florentine innovations in the context of Italian instrument building of that period with the aim of clarifying and contextualizing the introduction of Cristofori’s invention.

PAPER BY KERSTIN SCHWARZ

The oval spinett and the ebony harpsichord: two very particular instruments both for their form and precious materials, made during the first years of Cristofori’s stay at the court of Granprincipe Ferdinando.

The “Arpicimbalo che fa il piano e forte” invented by Cristofori at the Medici court and further developed - The pianoforte from 1726: the fruit of 30 years of experience.

DONATELLA MITOLO WITH THE VIOLINIST VALENTINA GIUSTI

“LECTURE – CONCERT: THE MUSIC AT THE COURT OF THE GRANPRINCIPE FERDINANDO DE’ MEDICI

For the lecture-concert all three Cristofori copies will be used to show their individual characteristics.

The following program is the fruit of a research project into the music composed and performed at the court of Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici (1663–1713), son of the Tuscan ruler Cosimo III.

For the history of music and that of musical instruments this court represents a moment of extraordinary creativity, both for having seen the birth of the pianoforte at the hands of the Paduan Bartolomeo Cristofori, and for the presence of musicians of the calibre of G.F. Handel, Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Francesco e Antonio Veracini, all thanks to the munificence and sensibility of Prince Ferdinando. Alongside them, a group of chamber musicians were employed in the ducal chapel. Up to today little has been known or heard of their activity, for the music library of Prince Ferdinando was entirely dispersed following the extinction of the Medici dynasty.

Among them there are: Giovan Battista Gigli, court lutenist and composer of wonderful 3 part sonatas dedicated to Grand Prince Ferdinando, (discovered by Donatello Mitolo and given the first modern performance in Florence); Martino Bitti first violin and composer (he composed an Anacreonte written together with Alessandro Scarlatti), his most important instrumental work is the collection of eight sonatas for violin and basso continuo dedicated to Prince Ferdinando; Lodovico Giustini from Pistoia, composer of twelve sonatas da cimbalo di forte e piano, volgarmente detto di martelletti (for harpsichord with loud and soft commonly known as with hammers), in other words the first examples of music expressly composed for the new, revolutionary instrument, that saw the light in Florence at the court of Prince Ferdinando: the piano; Azzolino Bernardino Della Ciaia, an ‘amateur’ Sienese musician, composer of one of the finest and most original collections of sonatas for harpsichord (or pianoforte?) from the early 18th century.

PROGRAM

Oval spinet
A. SCARLATTI - Toccata M. BITTI - Sonata VII in re minore per violino e basso continuo A. VERACINI - Sonata op.III n°7 in sol minore per violino e basso continuo

Ebony
harpsichord G. F. HAENDEL - Preludio HWV 426 in re minore D. SCARLATTI - Sonata K59 in do minore, Sonata K30 in mi minore

Pianoforte A. B. DELLA CIAIA - Sonata op.4 n°5 per cembalo L. GIUSTINI - Sonata op.1 n°11 in mi maggiore

Language: Italian, English

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