MUSIC AND THE STRINGED INSTRUMENT MAKING ART IN FERRARA BETWEEN 1400 AND 1900
We may trace the history of the luthier’s art in Ferrara back to its beginnings around the middle of the 15th century, a period of cultural development fostered by the patronage and love for the arts of Prince Leonello of the House of Este ( 1441 – 1450 ). With the overcoming of politically difficult times, of wars and famine, Leonello (a man of great culture) sought to put a new face on the city’s social life and on its territory by inviting the most important and famous men of letters, scientists and artists from all over Europe to his court.
Literary and musical theatre flourished in those years, a trend that was continued and developed with astute passion by the first Duke of Ferrara Borso d’Este (1450 – 1471) and thereafter by Ercole I (1471 – 1505), who by that time found an environment ripe for renewal and a complete renovation of the musical environment of the court. His passion for music was such that immediately on becoming Duke he set up a choir composed of thirty regularly salaried choristers, most of whom were foreigners.
In the 24 years of his reign, Ferrara became Europe’s leading centre of music. It was in those years, from Leonello d’Este to Ercole I, and that is from 1441 to 1505, that at least five known Violinmakers made their living in Ferrara: Antonio dai liuti, Guarino Battista, Pietrobono, Polverino Rinaldo and Gelmini Geminiano. Thanks to famous musicians like Josquin Dépres and Adriano Willert, the foundations were laid for a true Ferrarese school of music and around 1528 Willert, Verdelot and Arcadel were to bring popularity to one of the most typical musical forms of the century: the madrigal. Under Duke Alfonso II ( 1559 – 1597 ), Ferrara enjoyed the period of its greatest musical splendour. An expert musician himself, like his sisters Lucrezia and Eleonora, he was almost excessively keen to surround himself with the greatest instrumentalists, composers and singers of the time.When it came to music Alfonso spared no expense and his administrative books reveal that for the maintenance of music he spent an amount equal to the cost of maintaining his small German army, the extremely loyal Ducal guard.
After appointing Francesco Viola to 
direct the choir he expanded its membership to include thirty-six singers, whose number was increased to as many as sixty in case of need. The publication of several madrigal anthologies by the Ferrarese publisher Vittorio Baldini demonstrates the status attained by Ferrara after 1580 as a centre and meeting point of musical interests. The group of Ferrarese composers, which was numerically very limited in the middle of the 16th century, became so numerous toward 1590 that few other Italian cities, we are certain, could compare with it. The last years of the sixteenth century passed in a jubilation of songs and sounds and in this context stringed musical instruments were used in practically every home. From 1550 until the death of Alfonso II in 1597, the luthiers Calabri Pier Vittorio, Gamberoni Giovanni, Cappello Giovanni Marco, Dall’ Hocha, Grappello G. M., Fontana Giovanni, Pazzagola, Cricca Alfonso, Patarino Marco and Cricca Giulio all lived and worked in Ferrara. An impressive quantity if we consider that the inhabitants of the city and surrounding areas may have numbered around 10,000, but it is strongly indicative of the degree of interest in music that marked the everyday life of Ferrara’s citizens. Following the death of Alfonso II and Ferrara’s consequent return into the hands of the Church, the echoes of those songs and those sounds which had inspired so much admiration in poets and musicians faded into a nostalgic memory.
La poursuite de la vie musicale tait plutt dcourageante et peu stimulante aprs la mort dAlfonso II, suite la situation politique et conomique qui en dcoulait. En effet, il devait se passer presque 100 ans avant quune activit mritant lattention puisse rapparatre. Vers la fin du 17me sicle, des luthiers dune plus grande renomme commencent sinstaller; nous pouvons dj les classer dans la phase du dveloppement moderne. Il sagit de la priode o Antonio Stradivari avait dj conu ses modles de la Section Dorée.
Aprs 1690, on commence par Alessandro Mezzadri et Giambattista Grancino, puis se suivent beaucoup de noms des luthiers importants qui ont contribu au dveloppement de la lutherie italienne. Entre la deuxime moiti du 18me sicle et le 19me sicle, nous trouvons, avec Luigi Marconcini et ses fils Giuseppe et Gaetano, ceux qui poseront la pierre fondatrice du style typique de Ferrare. Ils seront suivis par Luigi Meletti et Luigi Soffritti et, enfin, Ettore Soffritti et tous ses lves, qui ont dvelopp la lutherie de Ferrare du 20me sicle et qui lui ont donn une grande valeur.
Ferrara 4 Marzo
2007 Copyrigt Alessandro Ciciliati
Bibliography :
1) Storia, costumi e tradizioni di Ferrara vol. 1° ed.
Alfa. Bologna Cap. Teatro e musica pag. 317
2) Enciclopedia liutaria Vannes
3) The late Cremonese Violin Makers – Dmitri
Gindin