Ludovico Roncalli

Who was Ludovico Roncalli?

Count Ludovico Roncalli, or simply Count Ludovico, was an Italian nobleman who published a collection of suites for five-course baroque guitar, Capricci armonici sopra la chitarra spagnola, in 1692. Nothing is known about him except what can be gleaned from this publication. This was transcribed to modern notation and arranged for the six-string guitar by Oscar Chilesotti in 1881. The work, consisting of nine complete suites, each comprising several short movements, is a great favorite of guitar enthusiasts, and individual movements frequently appear in guitar method books. Frederick Noad, who compiled an anthology titled The Baroque Guitar, as well as other popular instruction books, did not rate the Chilesotti transcription highly, pointing to many omitted embellishments and octave errors relating to the fourth and fifth strings. Another edition in modern notation was published by Bruno Henze, and released in 1955 by VEB Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig. Noad did not comment on whether this edition had corrected the deficiencies of the Chilesotti version.

The original is available in two facsimile editions, both published in 1979. A passacaglia from Roncalli's work was made famous in Ottorino Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances.