CORTILE
DELLA
ROCCHETTA
primo piano |
The Museum was founded in 1958 when the City of Milan purchased the
collection of Natale Gallini, a teacher who had devoted decades of study in
the field, and has been enlarged over the years by the addition of the
Boschi bequest and other private donations and purchases. The collection is
preceded by an introductory section, in which research methods and
restoration techniques are illustrated, and by inter-disciplinary notes
which explain the connections between this and the other collections housed in the Castle.
The Museum occupies all of Room XXXVI and part of Room XXXVII ("Sala
della Balla").
The instruments are grouped according to type, with the exception of
the non-European and ethnological section. After the display case dedicated
to viole da gamba you will find, in the first two stands, quartet instruments: violins, viols, cellos and double bases.
Amongst these is the splendid "viola" built in 1662 by Giovanni
Grancino; of unusual shape by modern standards, it is the only stringed
instrument in the collection --and one of very few in the world -- to conserve
the original baroque neck. Violins by Rogeri (1664) and Andrea Guarneri are
two of the other outstanding pieces in a group which includes instruments from
all of the Italian and European schools and, in particular, examples of
early 20th-Century Milanese craftsmanship. The pochette was a pocket-sized
violin used by dancing instructors; a notable example is that made by
Antonio Cati in the 17th Century. Closely related to these was the
hurdy-gurdy, found throughout Europe from the 11th to the 19th Centuries,
in which the bow was replaced by a wheel which continually
sounded the strings. The most interesting piece is a small 18th-Century
four-string hurdy-gurdy designed for a female musician. Archilutes,
theorbos and chitarroni are housed in a large display case in the central gallery and,
in the corresponding stand, lutes and a vast array of mandolins.
Particularly fine are the sound box of Jungmann's lute and the
mandolins by Fixer and Presbler. Next you will come to the wind
instruments, largely woodwinds (flutes, clarions, oboes, bassoons
and a serpent). Bressan's recorder is an exquisite specimen of the 17th
Century craftsmanship, a unique piece which has survived miraculously
intact. Only three guitars have retained the original baroque fittings, one
of which is the beutiful instrument built in 1624 by Mango Longo and
subsequently converted into a richly-decorated "chitarra battente".
Amongst the 19th Century guitars, two pieces (by Antonio Rovetta and
Giacomo Rivolta) exemplify well the excellent quality of the flourishing
Milanese production of the period.
Further on, you will reach a display of keyboard instruments. The
first is a double virginal (Ruckers 1597), the only one of its type known
by this craftsman. Next, a cembalo by Vito Trasuntino (1571) and a small
cembalo converted into a clavichord; this, according to recent research,
dates from about 1520, making it one of the earliest surviving instruments.
Finally, THERE are on display in the "Sala della Balla" 19th and 20th Century
keyboard instruments.
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