«Sonate per il violino», 1651
(Jesi, Biblioteca Planettiana, ms. Plan. 414)
edited by Fabrizio Longo

(Instrumental Music, 20)

29,7 x 21 cm; XXIV, 38 pp.
Intro and Apparatus in Italian and English

The document known as Plan. 414 is a manuscript hosting about a hundred Sonate per il violino. It was written in 1651 for Jesi-born nobleman Tommaso Colini and is now at the Biblioteca Planettiana, Jesi. It mostly contains short dances specifically intended for the violin, which is significant for it points to the new modern tendency resulting from the, then, growing interest in the instrument. Some pieces are quite noteworthy—e.g. Se per donna mortale, La Marchetta, Alta Vittoria, a few archaic examples of tarentelle, and especially the Ballo del Duca d’Oria and the Ballo del Duca d’Osona, so far attested in Jesi only. The entire document is in staff notation and displays a whole assortment of period musical styles. It was perhaps intended for teaching—not only music, but dance as well.

Fabrizio Longo has degrees in Italian Literature and in violin, the latter obtained with the highest grades. He devoted himself to ancient violin, studying its repertoire and performance practice in Rome and Piacenza, under Enrico Gatti, and then in Bologna, at the Accademia Filarmonica, under Luigi Rovighi. He issued essays, articles, encyclopædia entries, and scholarly editions of 17th- and 18th-century music for several publishers, e.g. Di Nicolò Libri, SMSP, Walhall, Ut Orpheus, Arcana, Dramaturgias, Ambronay’s, ETS, Il Poligrafo, and Treccani. He recorded for many producers, including SMSP, MTV, Teatro di Messina, Radio Classic, Ambronay’s, Tactus, and IBA Israeli Radio. A winner of international competitions, he performs either on original ancient instruments or on copies from museum specimens, as a soloist, or in ensembles like Opera Qvinta, Cappella Mediterranea, Orchestra Barocca de Nice, Orchestra Barocca of Bologna, Ensemble Phoenix, and Modo Antiquo. He is currently collaborating with the Museo internazionale e Biblioteca della musica, Bologna, and with the Early Music Department, Giovan Battista Martini Conservatory, Bologna.