Carreras-Meroni

XX/1-2 2008 LiM Recercare XX/1-2 2008 2 Recercare rivista per lo studio e la pratica della musica antica journal for the study and practice of early music organo della / journal of the Fondazione Italiana per la Musica Antica autorizzazione del Tribunale di Roma n. 14247 con decreto del 13-12-1971 direttore / editor Arnaldo Morelli comitato scientifico / advisory board Patrizio Barbieri, Mauro Calcagno, Philippe Canguilhem, Ivano Cavallini, Étienne Darbellay, Marco Di Pasquale, Norbert Dubowy, Lowell Lindgren, Lewis Lockwood, Stefano Lorenzetti, Renato Meucci, Margaret Murata, John Nádas, Noel O’Regan, Franco Piperno, Giancarlo Rostirolla, Luca Zoppelli direzione e redazione / editorial office Fondazione Italiana per la Musica Antica via Col di Lana, 7 – C.P. 6159 00195 Roma (Italia) tel/fax +39.06.3210806 email: [email protected] www.fima-online.org/framerec.htm grafica e copertina / graphics and cover Ugo Giani stampa / printed by Genesi Gruppo editoriale. Città di Castello LIM Editrice srl I-55100 Lucca, via di Arsina 296/f P.O.Box 198 tel 0583 39 44 64 – fax 0583 394469 [email protected] – www.lim.it Abbonamenti e arretrati / subscriptions and back issues Italia / Italy Eu. 24 estero / abroad Eu. 29 pagamenti a / payments to LIM Editrice srl (c/c postale / postal account n° 11748555; (carta di credito / credit card Eurocard; Mastercard or Visa) direttore responsabile / legal responsability Giancarlo Rostirolla ISSN ISBN 1120-5741 978-88-7096-566-7 RECERCARE XX/1-2 2008 Crawford Young Antiphon of the Angels: Angelorum psalat tripudium 5 James Haar – John Nádas The Medici, the Signoria, the pope: sacred polyphony in Florence, 1432–1448 25 Gabriele Giacomelli Il Giudizio universale di Vasari e Zuccari fra chiesa, corte e teatro musicale 95 Luigi Collarile Nuove prospettive sul contesto editoriale delle Canzoni d’intavolatura d’organo — Libro primo (1592) di Claudio Merulo 117 Giuliana Montanari Chromatic and transposing quilled keyboard instruments at the Florentine grand ducal court in the seventeenth century 143 Francesco Carreras – Cinzia Meroni Giovanni Maria Anciuti: a craftsman at work in Milan and Venice 181 Kathryn Bosi More documentation for the balletti della duchessa 219 4 Libri e musica 233 AGNESE PAVANELLO, ll ‘concerto grosso’ romano. Questioni di genere e nuove prospettive storiografiche (A. D’Ovidio). WOLFGANG WITZENMANN, Die Lateran-Kapelle von 1599 bis 1650 (am). Music and mathematics in late medieval and early modern Europe, ed. Philippe Vendrix (P. Barbieri). De Clavicordio VIII. Proceedings of the VIII international clavichord symposium, (Magnano, 5–8 September 2007), ed. Bernard Brauchli, Alberto Galazzo, Judith Wardman (P. Barbieri). Architettura e musica nella Venezia del Rinascimento, a c. di Deborah Howard e Laura Moretti (am). Francesco Carreras – Cinzia Meroni Giovanni Maria Anciuti: a craftsman at work in Milan and Venice As a maker of wind instruments, Giovanni Maria Anciuti (Forni di Sopra, Udine, 1674 – Milan 1744) worked primarily in Milan but, as we will demonstrate below, his contacts with Venice and his hometown were frequent for both professional and personal reasons. 1. Current information about Giovanni Maria Anciuti Giovanni Maria Anciuti’s exceptional craftsmanship and creativity in the construction of wind instruments, often using precious materials such as ivory and silver or rosewood and grenadillo, rare at the time,1 and his fine execution, rich in original solutions, make this Milanese figure one of the most note-worthy and esteemed makers of musical instruments of the first half of the eighteenth century. Much has already been written on these aspects of Anciuti’s work, which will not, therefore, be taken up in this article.2 Moreover, this famous craftsman was, until now, known only through the numerous instruments which bear his name. No documents or evidence connected with him has ever emerged, despite intense research in the Milan archives and elsewhere. It was thought that the surname, Anciuti, was a pseudonym, coined from the term ancia.3 The winged lion of St. Mark, symbol of Venice, present on many of his instruments was believed to recall a commercial link to the Serenissima. All of these considerations, accompanied by a list of all Anciuti’s known instruments, are presented and expanded on in the article on the 1. Examples in precious woods are, for example: Oboe, priv. coll. Amsterdam; oboe, Rome, Museo degli Strumenti Musicali, n.1368 2. See the biographical notes on Anciuti by Renato Meucci in Museo degli strumenti musicali, ed. Andrea Gatti, Milan, Electa, 1997, p. 567, and the article by ALFREDO BERNARDINI – RENATO MEUCCI, L’oboe d’avorio di Anciuti (1722), Rassegna di studi e notizie, XXVI, 2002, pp. 371–383 3. BERNARDINI – MEUCCI, L’oboe d’avorio di Anciuti, p. 372 182 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI ivory oboe in the Museo Civico of Castello Sforzesco in Milan. 4 These suppositions have been taken up over time in various museum catalogues, indices, and articles,5 the last in chronological order being the publication issued on the occasion of the exhibit Meraviglie sonore, held in Florence in the fall of 2007.6 The dates inscribed on the instruments known to be by Anciuti range from 1709 to 1740 and it is precisely within this arch of time that the craftsman presumably worked.7 Only two instruments bear the full name «Ioannes Maria Anciuti» [«Anciutus» on the double recorder],8 while on all of the others only «Anciuti» is inscribed, often along with the year of construction. 2. Research on the wind instrument makers in Milan and discovery of the first document on Giovanni Maria Anciuti This was essentially the information available on Anciuti at the beginning of 2007, when systematic research on the Milanese wind instrument makers began,9 with the aim of reconstructing and documenting the history of wind instrument production, using as a point of departure the few studies on Milan.10 For the eight4. BERNARDINI – MEUCCI, L’oboe d’avorio di Anciuti, pp.371–383 5. wILLIAM WATERHOUSE, The new Langwill index. A dictionary of musical wind-instrument makers and in- ventors, London, Tony Bingham, 1993; PHILIP T: YOUNG, 4900 Historical woodwind instruments. An inventory of 200 makers in international collections, London, Tony Bingham, 1993; FRANCO ROSSI, “Gli strumenti musicali dei Musei Civici Veneziani”, Bollettino dei Musei Civici Veneziani, III series, I, 2006, pp. 10–69; FRANCESCO CARRERAS, Flute making in Italy during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, in Geschichte, Bauweise und Spieltechnik der Querflőte, Augsburg, Wißner-Verlag, 2008, pp.71–102 6. Meraviglie sonore. Strumenti musicali del barocco italiano, eds. Franca Falletti – Renato Meucci – Gabriele Rossi Rognoni, Firenze, Giunti, 2007. 7. 1709: sopranino recorder Belluno (Italy), private collection, and oboe Rome, Museo degli Strumenti Musicali, n. 909; 1740: alto recorder London,Victoria & Albert Museum, 20/5 8. Contrabassoon Salzburg, Museum Carolino Augusteum 15/18, and accord recorder described in GEORG KINSKY, Katalog des Heyer-Museums in Köln, 3. Band: Blas- und Schlaginstrumente usw. Abschrift des ersten Teils: Flöten und Rohrblattinstrumente p. 33: Nr. 1150: «Doppel-Blockflöte Anfang 18. Jhdt., Italien (Mailand) Brandstempel am Oberstück): «IOANNES / MARIA / ANCIVTVS FECIT / 1713» darüber eine verwischte Marke. Gut gearbeitetes Instrument aus hellem Buchsbaumholz. Längere Röhre rechts. Anordnung der Grifflöcher wie bei Nr. 1149, auf der Rückseite ausserdem ein kleines Stimmloch (vgl. Brüssel No. 1049). - Stimmung: gis2 (links) e2 (rechts) Länge: 26 cm.» This instrument is listed in the catalogue: HERBERT HEYDE, Flöten, Leipzig,Veb Deutcher Verlag für Musik, 1978, p.54, but with the annotation: lost in Leipzig during W.W.II. 9. Archivi Sonori Project, financed by the Institute ISTI of CNR in Pisa, promoted and coordinated by Francesco Carreras; archive research in Milan was carried out by Cinzia Meroni. 10. RENATO MEUCCI, Produzione e diffusione degli strumenti a fiato nell’Italia dell’Ottocento, in Accademie e Società Filarmoniche, Organizzazione, cultura e attività dei filarmonici nell’ Italia dell’Ottocento. atti del convegno, ed. Antonio Carlini, Provincia Autonoma di Trento, Trento, 1998, pp.107–134; FRANCESCO CARRERAS, La produzione di strumenti musicali a fiato in legno nell’Ottocento a Milano, in Il flauto in Italia, ed. Claudio Paradiso, Rome, Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, 2005, pp. 331–366. GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 183 eenth century then, on which the first investigations were concentrated, only meagre information relating to a few names existed at the time this project was initiated.11 Our attention focused initially on the parish records in the neighbourhoods around the Duomo, on documents of various kinds in the State Archive of Milan and the Trivulziana library. It was precisely from the examination of certain late seventeenth century notary records that a document emerged containing the name of Giovanni Maria Anciuti from which it was possible to begin a search in the direction which gave rise to the concrete results relating to his identity and profession. In fact, the dotis confessio of his future wife was found, dated Milan, 30 October 1699. Preserved among the notary acts of the Milanese notary Francesco Domenico Poroli, this document, which remains the only known notary act to date relating to Giovanni Maria Anciuti, reveals fundamental information from which it was possible to outline a course of research that, as we shall see, developed in several directions. In attachment A to the dotis confessio, dated 7 October 1699 in Milan, we read:12 In nome d’Iddio. Con la presente, che havrà forza di pubblico instromento, l’infrascritto signor Giacinto Vanotti, figlio del quondam Ambrosio, qual abita in Porta Orientale, parrocchia di S. Salvatore in Zenodochio di questa città, promette di dare la signora Giuliana sua figlia per legittima consorte al signor Giovanni Maria Anciuti, figlio del signor Antonio del loco della Pieve del Forno di Sopra, Stato Veneto, e che di presente dimora in Porta Romana, parrocchia di S. Satiro di Milano, qui presente, e che promette di ricevere la detta signora Giuliana Vanotti per sua legittima moglie servata però prima la dovuta solennità della Santa Madre Chiesa, e del Sacro Concilio Tridentino. Con dote da lire mille in denari contanti moneta di Milano dico £ 1000 imperiali da pagarseli nell’atto che seguirà il matrimonio, oltre la scharpa con un abito di sposa ed altre cosse per uso d’essa signora Giuliana, per l’importanza in tutto di lire cinquecento imperiali, a qual effetto dovrà seguire la stima d’un perito confidente d’ambe le parti, per inserirle nell’instromento dotale nel quale detto signor Giovanni Maria dovrà obbligarsi per la restituzione tanto delle dette lire mille, quanto della detta scharpa, vestito ed altro da stimarsi come sopra, o del loro valore sino al compimento della medesima somma in caso detta dote si debba restituire perché così. 11. HEYDE, Flöten, p.131, on the Grassis; Antonio Grassi and Pietro Cortellone are cited in the commercial guide of Milan Il Servitore di Piazza of 1791, as wind instrument makers. Information on the Grassis was corrected and updated in RENATO MEUCCI, Strumenti zoomorfi e teatrali, in Meraviglie sonore, p.166. 12. I-Mas (Milan, Archivio di Stato), Fondo notarile, Ultimi versamenti, cartella 35634, notary Francesco Domenico Poroli, act n. 784. 184 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI Et in oltre il Signor Giovanni Maria dovrà costituire a detta dote un augumento de lire trecento imperiali, qual dovrà subire l’istesso privilegio di dote, come sin d’hora per alhora costituisse detto augumento di £ 300, succedendo però il matrimonio. Che la suddetta dote di £ 1500 imperiali compreso la scharpa, e vestito e come sopra si è per piena e compita satisfatione di tutto ciò che detta signora Giuliana e detto signor Giovanni Maria suo futuro consorte possino havere pretendere e conseguire da detto signor Giacinto e sua casa tanto per raggione paterna quanto materna in causa di dote e suoi dipendenti ancorché potesse dirsi che le altre sorelle di detta signora Giuliana avessero avuto, o fossero per havere, maggior dote, mentre si dichiara che detti signori Giovanni Maria, e Giuliana debbano restar taciti e contenti della dote come sopra costituita nella suddetta somma di £ 1500 imperiali rinunciando per tale effetto alla disposizione di qualunque lege o statuto che parlasse in contrario, per essersi di ciò avuto particolar riguardo nel concordare e stabilire il matrimonio salva però la raggione alla detta signora Giuliana e suoi figli, se ne havrà per la successione nell’heredità paterna, e materna egualmente con le altre sorelle o come sarà di raggione in caso che il padre e la madre di detta signora Giuliana morissero senza far testamento. Che il presente si debba ridurre a pubblico instromento per la sua total osservanza alla quale fra tanto l’una e l’altra parte vicendevolmente si obbliga anche sotto lite. Et in fede. Io Giacinto Vanotto affermo e prometto come sopra Io Giovanni Maria Anciuti affermo e prometto come sopra. GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 185 Fig. 1: extract from the dotis confessio; I-Mas, Fondo Notarile, Ultimi Versamenti, cartella 35634 186 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI So here emerges the first outline of and focus on the contours surrounding the figure of this exceptional craftsman, as much known and valued for his refined instruments as illusive a biographical subject. In the first place, it seems clear that Anciuti’s name was not a pseudonym deriving from his profession (from ancia), but rather a proper name, not present in Milan since it originated in the Carnia, a mountain region north of Udine. One of the possible reasons, then, for Anciuti’s tie to Milan can be offered — the marriage contract with a young Milanese woman named Giuliana (also known as Giulia) Vanotti di Giacinto — in addition to a terminus ante quem of Giovanni Maria’s actual move to Milan into the parish of San Satiro. The amount of the dowry alone, also considering the “augumento de lire trecento imperiali” (a contribution of 300 lire) by Anciuti himself, allows us to formulate a first hypothesis as to his social status at the time of marriage. An estimation of the approximate value of 1,500 imperial lire can be made by comparing that amount to the monthly salary of a professional musician who in the early eighteenth century earned anywhere from 18 to 24 lire a month.13 3. Use of the evidence to initiate research on Anciuti: investigations in Forni di Sopra But the most important fact that emerges from this document is the birthplace of Giovanni Maria Anciuti, native “della Pieve del Forno di Sopra” (today, Forni di Sopra, in the province of Udine) in the Venetian State, which clarifies the reason for the almost constant presence on his instruments of the winged lion of St. Mark, symbol of the Venetian Republic. Until now the most accredited hypothesis has been that Anciuti worked on commission or under the patronage of the Venetian Republic.14 It seems also that the image impressed over the name on the undated ivory oboes in Paris and London, initially interpreted as a bird, most likely also represents a lion.15 Giovanni Maria Anciuti birthplace and his father’s name 13. CARLO CIPOLLA, Le avventure della lira, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2001. With reference to the purchasing power, the author states on p. 74 that in Milan “alla fine del sec. XVII la giornata di un maestro muratore era pagata in media lire imperiali 1,75”. Without considering other parameters, a rough calculation of the current value of 1,500 Milanese imperial lire in 1699 follows from an estimate of the cur rent mean value for a day’s work by a master mason at 150 euros (net); ADRIANO BASSI, L’organizzazione dei concerti fra Settecento e Novecento, in Le capitali della musica: Milano, Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana, 1984, p. 136: “Gli stipendi oscillavano stabilmente fra le 16 e le 24 lire mensili per i cantori e gli strumentisti [della cappella di corte]”. 14. BERNARDINI – MEUCCI, L’oboe d’avorio di Anciuti, p. 372. 15. This novel interpretation was put forward, still as a working hypothesis, by MEUCCI, Strumenti zoomorfi e teatrali, p. 208 . GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 187 gave us the necessary coordinates to begin the search, which should have taken place in Forni di Sopra and Udine. Unfortunately, on 18 August 1748 a disastrous flood destroyed all of the documentation in the Archivio Plebano in Forni di Sopra, documents which could have provided information on at least the first twenty years or so of Anciuti’s life, almost certainly spent in his native village. On top of that, all of the documents after that date are of relative interest to a reconstruction of the personal and professional life of Anciuti who, as we shall see below, died in Milan in 1744. General information on the Anciuti family has emerged from the Register of Deaths held in the Archivio Plebano in Forni di Sopra, which, though it takes up in 1748, lists persons born from 1693 on. An analysis of this register revealed two branches of Anciutis, today known as the Anziutti Colet-Timilin branch and Anziutti Piretu branch. The latter refers to the descendants of Giovanni Maria Anciuti’s first cousins, and not to him since Giovanni Maria was the only male child in his family and did not live in Forni.16 During a visit to Forni di Sopra in 2008 we were able to find many of the properties listed in the inventory drawn up on the death of Giovanni Maria’s father, some pictures of which are reproduced here. 16. Information kindly provided by Alfio Anziutti of Forni di Sopra, a profound expert on the history of the Carnia region and a descendant of both the Piretu and Timilin branches of the Anciuti family through his grandparents on both his father’s and mother’s sides. He guided us in the search for the old properties of the Anciutis in Forni di Sopra and the surrounding area. 188 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI Fig. 2: family home of the Anciutis in the center of Forni di Sopra 4. Use of the evidence to initiate research on Anciuti: research in the archives in Udine A substantial amount of notary documentation on the Anciuti family, however, was brought to light, thanks to research carried out in the State Archive in Udine. 17 Within this considerable harvest of documents, which totals approximately 420 records, dating between 1641 and 1722, there are ten or so in which Giovanni Maria Anciuti is explicitly cited. The positive identification of Giovanni Maria Anciuti of Milan with the person of the same name in Udine and, consequently, the certainty that his profession was that of woodwind instrument maker — essential requirements for continuing research in this direction — are confirmed by three of these documents in parti17. Research skilfully carried out by Cristina Scuderi by means of a contract with ISTI-CNR GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 189 cular. The first is the will of Giovanni Maria’s father, Don Antonio Anciuti di Santa,18 drawn up in Forni di Sopra on 11 July 1706, which reads:19 Item di tuti li suoi effetti tanto mobili, che stabili crediti et debiti taciti, et espressi nessuna cosa eccetuata, testa, alega et comanda suo vero, legittimo, real, general, et universal herede, il signor Giovanni Maria suo figlio, hora dimorante in Milano, sì di casa, campi, horti, sidimi, pradi, mobili, di ciaschedun genere, in modo tale che possi disponer a suo piacimento, tanto anco delli beni et case lasciati ad godendum, a dona Mathia, mia consorte, dopo la di lei morte, con dover detto mio herede, pagar con puntualità le aggravezze, et debiti che mi ritrovo havere fuori di detta facoltà, pregandolo di pregar, et far pregar per l’Anima mia, che gionto sarò in loco ove potrò meritar, non mancarò di pregar il Signor Iddio per agumento di sua vita et di sua fortuna, che hora et per sempre da vero padre gli li aguro, dandoli la mia beneditione paternale. Fig. 3: extract from Antonio Anciuti’s will drawn up in Forni di Sopra; I-UDas, ANA 2188: July 11 1706 18. As shown in the many documents collected, the spelling of the name could easily change from Anciuti to Anziuti, Anziuto, Anzuto or Anziutti. In this document we read: “Don Antonio di Piero Anzuto di Santa” 19. I-UDas (= Udine, Archivio di Stato), Archivio Notarile Antico, 2188, 11 July 1706 Notary Andrea di Nicolò 190 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI The second consists of an acknowledgement of a debt incurred by Giovanni Maria Anciuti with his paternal uncle, Tomaso Anciuti, with a later annotation confirming that the debt had been extinguished. In it we find the first clear reference to the relationship to wind instruments of the then barely nineteen year-old Giovanni Maria Anciuti, who had compensated his uncle in part for the debt in the form of some instruments; that is “piferi et flauti”: 20 Di 30 dicembre 1693 Venetia Confesso io soto scritto di essere vero et real debitore al signor Tomaso Anciuti di conto fatto sin hora presente batuto il dare del avere tanto di denari imprestati come di altri stromenti auti, cioè piferi et flauti, et tutto suma lire setanta due val - £ 72 — […] Li 22 settembre 1723 Si nota come hogi è restato pagato, mediante l’instromento di pagamento per me notaio collegiato. Giovanni Battista Pavoni notaio. Fig. 4: declaration by G. M. Anciuti on behalf of his uncle Tomaso, I-UDas, ANA 2195: 30 December 1693 This document contains two other noteworthy pieces of information represented by the date, 30 December 1693, which constitutes a terminus post quem for Gio20. I-UDas, Archivio Notarile Antico, 2195, 30 December 1693 GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 191 vanni Maria Anciuti’s move to Milan, since it is unlikely that he had already established himself in that city before then, and by the place. This last element proves, at least on that date, his presence in Venice, providing a valid premise for the hypothesis (reinforced significantly by the statement of having given his uncle “piferi et flauti” and to which we will return at greater length below) that Anciuti first apprenticed there, or at least had close ties with its workshops, where, despite the paucity of documentation on the wind instrument makers and the wind instruments there — between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries only seven instrument makers are documented and none in the decades straddling the two centuries — the use of woodwinds, especially oboes and recorders, was no doubt common.21 The other proof of the unequivocal identification of the Anciuti in the documents in Udine with the instrument maker in Milan comes from a document dated August 11, 1700, another acknowledgement of a debt incurred by Giovanni Maria with his cousin Carlo Anciuti, son of Tomaso, also drawn up in Venice: 22 Adì 11 agosto 1700 Venetia Confesso io soto scrito di eser debitore al signor Carlo Anciuti di lire setanta e soldi diecisete dico £ 70:17 et questi auti ad imprestito in parte et in parte in roba di avolio [avorio] d’accordo et in fede. Io Giovanni Maria Anciuti affermo come sopra. Li 22 settembre 1723 hogi è ristato pagato Sudeti hogi l’instromento per me notaio collegiato Giovanni Battista Pavoni. 21. “La Fontegara di Ganassi, la presenza di flauti nelle opere di Francesco Usper, Riccio, Picchi e Marini, la ricchissima raccolta di traversi di Verona [ivi conservati presso l’Accademia Filarmonica], il consort completo di otto flauti diritti citato da Praetorius nel 1619, che ‘si può portare via da Venezia per circa 80 talleri’ [MICHAEL PRAETORIUS, Sintagma musicum… Tomus secundus de organographia, Wolfenbüttel: E. Holwein, vol. II, 1619, p. 34], l’anonimo trattatello veneziano Tutto il bisognevole per sonar il flauto […] del 1630, le testimonianze sull’opera e sugli strumenti di Santo Bassano, le numerose testimonianze iconografiche veneziane, sono i più eminenti indizi di un’estesa e radicata frequentazione e produzione dei flauti a Venezia; purtuttavia, rarissimi sono gli strumenti oggi sopravvissuti e molto fitta è l’oscurità che avvolge i nomi e le botteghe dei loro costruttori”; cf. FEDERICO MARIA SARDELLI, Il flauto nell’Italia nel primo Settecento, con particolari cenni a Vivaldi e Venezia, in Ad Parnassum, II/ 3, 2004, pp. 103–152: 122. 22. I-UDas, Archivio Notarile Antico, 2188: 11 August 1700 192 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI Fig. 5: purchase of ivory by G.M. Anciuti from his cousin Carlo; I-UDas, ANA 2188: 11 August 1700 In fact, Giovanni Maria Anciuti probably used the “roba di avolio” he had on credit from his cousin to make the very first instruments in ivory, even if the first example that has come down to us is dated 1709.23 The documents cited above bear witness to the frequency with which Anciuti moved between Milan, Venice, and Forni di Sopra, called back there for family and other matters. It is curious that, even though he was in Venice, or at least the Venetian State more than once, after moving to Milan before October 1699, he paid off the debts incurred with his paternal uncle in 1693 and his cousin in 1700, only on 22 September 1723. We could infer that Giovanni Maria Anciuti was not able to pay off the loans from his uncle and cousin until that date. In fact, there is a passage in the dotis confessio which potentially obligated Giovanni Maria Anciuti to give the entire dowry back to his wife Giuliana (1000 imperial Milanese lire and the bride’s personal property valued at 500 imperial Milanese lire) and which, consequently, 23. A detailed description of the ivory instruments by Giovanni Maria Anciuti today known can be found in RENATO MEUCCI, Gli strumenti in avorio di Anciuti, in Meraviglie sonore, pp. 207–222. GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 193 would not have made it in his interests to use the dowry to pay off his debts. It is equally probable that, having inherited all of his father’s property in 1706, Anciuti was still not in a position to pay his uncle, who had died in 1701, and his cousin, who was most likely in Venice. In point of fact, as the documents drawn up on the death of his father Don Antonio Anciuti attest, Giovanni Maria left Milan for Forni di Sopra, remaining there from September until the early days of October 1706, during which time he paid off various debts incurred with third parties, the notary public, and sold various effects to relatives. According to the documents we have, it seems that Anciuti inherited substantial debts.24 5. Giovanni Maria Anciuti and his birthplace The documentation on the Anciutis, now held in the State Archive in Udine, helps us clarify the social status of Giovanni Maria Anciuti’s family. Therefore, it is worth dedicating a moment to some of these documents in an effort to understand better what kind of background this craftsman came from. First and foremost, one immediate and important fact can be deduced from Giovanni Maria’s signature (the first available in order of time), which, at nineteen years old, he entered on the document dated 30 December 1693 cited above. The very fact that he knew how to write and, further, that his calligraphy was so precise and neat, gives us a picture of a person with a good level of education. Fig. 6: signature of Giovanni Maria Anciuti from document dated 30 December 1693 Other data of noteworthy interest can be found in Giovanni Maria Anciuti’s father’s will, dated 11 July 1706 (cited above), and in a series of subsequent, related documents. In his will, after having recommended his soul to God, the Virgin Mary, his protector St. Anthony, and all the Saints in heaven, and after having asked his universal heir, Giovanni Maria, to insure his burial in the family tomb in Forni di Sopra, Don Antonio Anciuti di Santa goes on to indicate how he would like his estate to be divided between his wife and children. 24. I-UDas, Archivio Notarile Antico, 2188: September 1706 Notary Andrea di Nicolò 194 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI To each of his daughters he leaves 800 Venetian lire,25 with the prescription that the sum should serve as a dowry and “final remissione di paterno et materno, non pottendo in avenire per qualsivoglia causa o occasione perturbare il mio herede”, in other words, Giovanni Maria, as we have seen above. To Donna Mathia, his second wife, he leaves the use of all of his property, with the proviso to not “smembrar la sua facoltà et questo sino alla venuta del mio signor herede”. But after Giovanni Maria’s arrival in Forni only certain fields, part of a stable for keeping animals and «la cosineta da foco […] con il forno dentro, et la camera di sopra via per sua abitazione» would remain hers. After Donna Mathia’s death, this property would also pass to Giovanni Maria Anciuti.26 There follows the inventory of personal property (drawn up on 13 July, right after the testator’s death), found in the «camere sopra via la cosina del foco», Don Antonio Anciuti’s home, in which, apart from domestic items, furniture, and clothing, there is nothing of particular value. Some farm equipment found in the stables next to the house is also listed: 27 N. 2 coperte da buoi / N. 1 forca di fero da grassa / N. 1 scopa da terra / N. 2 forcazzi / N. 1 catena di fero da versar / N. 1 coltre [vomero di aratro] di fero / N. 1 trivella picola / N. 1 trivella granda / N. 1 trivella mezana / N. 4 riode da caro usade / N. 3 tetoli [spinotti] di fero da caro / N. 1 ziovo [giogo] da buoi / N. 2 zorchie da buoi / N. 1 cerza di corame [legame di cuoio con staffa per fissare il giogo] / N. 1 garton / N. 1 lioza da neve [slitta] / N. 1 trageto [traino da carro]. As confirmation of the theory that Giovanni Maria Anciuti came from a family of property owners, the complete inventory of the property left by his father at the time of his death, consists of a long list of plots of land and out-buildings, in addition to the family house, stable, and their contents, of which the following cites but a few:28 Campo arativo in Pradis passa n. 260 a £ 6 et Cavezal a prativo verso sera et di sopra via verso nul hora per £ 24 tutto fa £ 102 Campo in cima Taulla di sopra la strada di passa n. 390 a £ 7 il passo con Prativo verso sera per £ 15 et altro prativo di sopra via detto Campo et verso nul hora per £ 15 in tutto £ 186.15 […] 25. On the ratio between the “lira imperiale milanese” and the “lira veneziana” we read in CIPOLLA, Le avventure della lira, p. 125, table A2, that the “lira imperiale milanese” contained 3,9 fine silver grams, while the “lira veneziana” contained 3,0 grams; this means that one “lira milanese” was valued at 1,3 “lire veneziane”, or that one “lira veneziana” could be exchanged with 0,77 “lire milanesi”. 26. I-UDas, Archivio Notarile Antico, 2188: 11 July 1706 Notary Andrea di Nicolò 27. I-UDas, Archivio Notarile Antico, 2188: 13 July 1706 28. I-UDas, Archivio Notarile Antico, 2188: 14 September 1706 Notary Andrea di Nicolò GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 195 Nella Mauria A Trada di sotto la meta della casa di Muro di passa 8 et piedi quattro a £ 6 per passo fa £ 54 Tobbia [fienile] di sopra via per £ 50 Pratino atorno la casa di sopra via come per li termini £ 130 Casa di Trada di sopra dentro la porta maestra verso matina per £ 40 […] Isd. una quarta casa di Tavarons et giù avanti per Idem la suart di Prato sotto la casa di Tavarons valutata Idem la suart grande nel medesimo loco di Tavarons fra suoi confini Altro pezzo detto il Prato di sotto […] £ 50 £ 45 £ 185 £ 50 Andrea di Nicolò P. A. V. Notaio ricevuto scrisse A. L. D. O. M. Fig. 7: rural buildings belonging to the Anciutis in the area of Tavarons, today Chiardarens, and in the area of Trada Thus, despite the fact that he led an apparently simple life, Antonio Anciuti di Santa was a well-to-do person — the total value of his estates, in fact, came to 3049 Venetian lire — considering the amount of property in fields, out-buildings, gardens, stables. He also employed labourers for work on the land as we can deduce from an act dated after his death, in which his widow, Mathia, declares spend- 196 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI ing part of her income “a pagar opere di arar, sapar, segar, portar fieni, mercede di condote d’anemali l’anno passato et altre agravezze”.29 Lastly, the fact that Giovanni Maria, like his cousin Carlo, was able to write from a young age shows that the social status of the Anciuti, given the period and the provincial position of the town, was of a certain level. We should remember that illiteracy was very high at the beginning of the eighteenth century, especially in the small towns.30 Fig. 8: interior of the fifteenth-century chapel of St. Florian, Forni di Sopra 29. I-UDas, Archivio Notarile Antico, 2188: 10 September 1706 30. In 1861 the national mean for the male population was 72%; cf. Analfabetismo in Italia dal 1861 al 1981 www.unitus.it/scienzepolitiche; in the province of Udine the percentage in 1871 was still 68%; cf. italia.onwww.net/Italia. We can reasonably guess that at the beginning of the eighteenth century the percentages were around 80/90%. GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 197 6. Anciuti and the profession of woodwind instrument making So, naturally we ask ourselves who it was it who introduced the young Giovanni Maria to the art of wind instrument making. According to the documentation uncovered, we can formulate one possible theory on this by moving our attention once more to Anciuti’s paternal uncle and cousin, Tommaso Anciuti di Santa and Carlo Anciuti, father and son, respectively, and considering more concretely their connection to Venice. We have already seen how, in 1693 in Venice, Giovanni Maria repaid his uncle Tomaso by giving him some instruments, in this case “piferi et flauti”, and how, again in 1700, he turned to his cousin Carlo for a loan in money and ivory for a value of 70:17 venetian lire. Other information about these two figures, who, in the documents known to date, appear to be the only links connecting G. M. Anciuti with the world of wind instrument making and Venice, could be inferred from documents referring to them specifically in the State Archive in Udine. A document referring to the sale of gold and silver, for a total of £ 70, by Tomaso Anzuto (Anciuti) to a certain Gianbatista da Niese, drawn up in Forni di Sopra and dated 12 September 1686,31 proves, together with the document from 1700, referring to the loan in money and ivory to Giovanni Maria by his cousin Carlo, that both were familiar with and dealt in precious materials like gold, silver, and ivory. Also of some interest is the notary act drawn up on 25 September 1701 in Forni di Sopra which states: 32 La signora Madalena relitta del quondam signor Tomaso Anziuti con Don Antonio Anziuti suo cognato fratello del quondam signor Tomaso per loro et eredi in ogni miglior modo et forma che anno potutto et possono creano et costituiscono il signor Carlo Antonio Anciuti suo figlio patrone assoluto di tutti li effetti niuno cetuatto, che ha et aver poteva il quondam signor Tomaso suo padre nella inclita città di Venecia, come pure farsi consegnar et dar conto dal signor Bartollo Gazi Ochiala, sta di bottega al ponte de Beretari in Marcaria in detta città di Venecia, di tutta la mobilia fasola consegnatta da don Zedaral Ticho curatore a quel tempo come per aventario di pugno del signor Pietro, figlio del medesimo signor Gazi, come anco se li fusi statto consegnato altri effetti di via di detto inventario che perciò detta signora Madalena madre con il detto don Antonio et signor Pietro fratello concedono autorità et facoltà al detto signor Carlo Antonio di poter riavere dal detto signor Gazi tutto e per tutto nulla cetuatto, come in detto aventario […]. 31. I-UDas, Archivio Notarile Antico, 2188: 12 September 1686 32. I-UDas, Archivio Notarile Antico, 2188. 25 September 1701. In this document Carlo Antonio An- ziuti is declared the only heir of all of his father’s properties in Venice, under the tutelage of his mother Madalena and uncle Antonio. FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI 198 Even though it is not possible to determine what the “effetti niuno cetuatto che ha et aver poteva il quondam signor Tomaso suo padre nella inclita città di Venetia” were and, thus, to advance some kind of hypothesis about what might have been Tomaso Anciuti’s profession, this document offers the first confirmation of the tie that, if for no other reason than business, Giovanni Maria Anciuti’s uncle had with Venice. The reference to a bottega near the bridge of the “Beretari in Marcaria” is significant. From a later document, drawn up there and dated 22 November 1708, in which the cousin Carlo, fearing that his relatives did not want to help him by sending him a sum of money which he needed urgently to free himself “da infermità, et per restituire il soldo hauto ad imprestito”,33 empowered Signor Giuseppe Pavoni to sell or mortgage some of his property [located in Forni] in his name for the sum of £ 200, we can infer that Carlo Anciuti lived permanently in Venice. As we have already seen, we cannot make any valid supposition concerning the profession of Anciuti’s uncle and cousin from these documents, from which, nonetheless, certain evidence emerges that it could have initially been the uncle and then, perhaps, the cousin who offered him at least logistical support in Venice. 7. Family Tree of the Anciutis from Forni di Sopra A reconstruction of the family tree of the Anciuti family, reproduced here, is the last result of our analysis of the documents in the State Archive in Udine (though certainly not in order of importance): Tomaso Pietro m. Bastiana Tomaso m. Madalena Osvaldo Antonio m. Mathia (second marriage) Giovanni Pietro Giovanni Maria (1674-1744) m. Giuliana Vanotti Carlo Antonio Caterina (m. Francesco from Rin di Cadore) Lucia (m. Giovanni Battista Cella) Maria († ante 1706) 33. I-UDas, Archivio Notarile Antico, 2188. 22 November 1708 GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 199 8. Giovanni Maria Anciuti and his connections to Venice We do not know the names of the wind instrument makers who took up the mantle of the Bassano family in the Venice of the late seventeenth century. That notwithstanding, the hypothesis that Giovanni Maria Anciuti could have been apprenticed to some bottega in the city from the end of the 1680s is supported by the evidence we have indicated above. In particular, the “piferi et flauti” given to the uncle lead us to infer that Anciuti might have made woodwind instruments in Venice, or at least was able to get hold of them. If we consider that his remaining debt was 72 Venetian lire, the loan must have been substantial, taking into account the value of the instruments, and may have been intended for Giovanni Maria’s move to Milan. In fact, it is likely that Anciuti resided in Milan for a few years and consolidated his work, if he was in a condition to stipulate a good marriage contract with Giacinto Vanotti in 1699, add 300 imperial lire of his own, and get married. All of this information is in the few notary documents that have come to light, but it is natural to infer that his business ties with Venice were not so occasional. The hypothesis about Giovanni Maria’s Venetian apprenticeship or, at the very least, his stay in Venice lead us to suppose that he was well connected to the city’s musical circles at the end of the century which he could have cultivated in later decades in order to supply musical instruments and to hone his professional skills. In point of fact, in 1704 the Ospedale della Pietà hired two oboists, the Frenchman Luigi Rion and Onofrio Penati of Milan,34 who had been an oboist in St. Mark’s Chapel since 1696. In 1705 the Pietà ordered two oboes precisely from Milan35, and it comes to mind right away that Giovanni Maria Anciuti could very well have been their maker. Two other oboes were acquired a few months later — it is not specified from where — but they were commissioned by Penati, and other instruments were bought the following year for Lodovico Erdtman. 36 In 1713 Ignazio Sieber was hired as oboe master at the Pietà. In other hospitals, too, like the Ospedale dei Mendicanti and the Ospedale dei Derelitti, the oboe was taught from the early eighteenth century. Vincenzo Maria Coronelli’s oft-cited guide, in the 34. SARDELLI, Il flauto nell’Italia nel primo Settecento, p. 115. 35. SARDELLI, Il flauto nell’Italia nel primo Settecento, p. 119 “1705, 8 maggio. Cassa per undeci ducati 9 grossi condati a M. Antonio Businello per due aboè fatti venire de Milan per il choro» 36. SARDELLI, Il flauto nell’Italia nel primo Settecento, p. 119: «1705, 3 agosto. Cassa per trenta ducati 8 grossi condati a Onofrio Penati per due oboè e piva. — 1706, 17 marzo. Cassa per dieci ducati condati a Lodovico Erdman per due instromenti nominati salamoni per il choro». 200 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI two editions of 1706 and 1712, states “e per provederti des obois, e d’altri stromenti da fiato, non bisogna partirsi da Milano”.37 We do not know why Anciuti moved to Milan instead of undertaking his profession in Venice. It is probably that the strict regulations of the city’s guilds, to which Andrea Fornari’s petition much later in 1791 attests, 38 prevented him from fully joining one of the existing guilds because of the nature of his profession, the materials, and the tools used. Consequently, one can imagine how every burst of his creative energy could be suffocated and mortified at the outset to the point that he would decide to seek his fortune elsewhere, perhaps with the assurances and protection of some personage of the Serenissima in Milan. 9. Research in the Milan archives Research in Milan proved to be much more complex than in Udine and Forni di Sopra. As we stated above, from the dotis confessio we know that Anciuti resided in the parish of S. Satiro in October 1699. Further research starting from this first clue to Anciuti’s residence in Milan, which, according to what we know at the present time, probably began between the early months of 1694 and the beginning of 1699, did not yield the hoped-for results. This, given that, for obvious reasons (he was living but not yet married), there cannot be any information about Anciuti in the baptismal, marriage, or death records of that period in the parish of San Satiro and that the register of residents (“Stati delle anime”) of the parish are only available for the years 1818–1895. Still using the data extracted from the marriage contract of 1699, we directed our attention to documents from the parish of S. Salvatore in Zenodochio. 39 In 37. VINCENZO MARIA CORONELLI, Guida de’ forestieri sacro-profana per osservare il più riguardevole nella città di Venezia colla di lei pianta per passeggiarla in gondola, e per terra, edizione XXXIV,Venice, G.B. Tramontin, 1706, p. 21. The same reference to Milan is in edition XXXV of 1712. No other such citation can be found in the 1697, 1700, 1724 (XXXVI) and 1744 (XXXVII) guides. In that of 1712 there is a reference on p.19: Nell’obois Ignazio [Sieber] ed Onofrio [Penati]. 38. STEFANO TOFFOLO, Antichi strumenti veneziani. 1500–1800: quattro secoli di liuteria e cembalaria,Venice, Arsenale, 1987. 39. The parish of S. Salvatore in Zenodochio (or Xenodochio) “fu eretta nel 787 sulle rovine dell’Arengo (l’antico Campidoglio milanese dedicato a Giove), nella zona compresa tra l’attuale via Silvio Pellico e il primo tratto della Galleria, lungo la via detta dei Cimadori, poiché i cimadori (così erano chiamati i lavoratori di panni di lana) abitavano in questa zona”; cf. Dizionario della Chiesa ambrosiana, ed. Angelo Majo, 6 voll., Milan, NED, 1992, vol. V, p. 3169. Since it was suppressed, as were many other parishes in Milan at the end of the eighteenth century (c. 1787), all documents produced and held to that date were transferred to the Santa Tecla (or Metropolitana) parish. At present, the documents of Santa Tecla and the other parishes there included, after their suppression at the end of the eighteenth century, such as San Raffaele and San Giovanni in Laterano, are held in the Duomo Archive, to the curator of which, Dr. Fausto Ruggeri, we wish to extend heartfelt thanks. GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 201 keeping with the custom of the time according to which the groom would move to the bride’s parish, it is there that Anciuti should have moved following the marriage. And it is precisely there, in fact, that we find him. In the 1698, updated in 1699, “Stato delle anime” register of S. Salvatore in Zenodochio, we read: 40 Casa del signor Pietro Paolo Maguto: Signor Giovanni Maria Anciuti, 25 Signora Giuliana, moglie, 20 Angela Vanotta cugina, 35. This is a document of primary importance, since it allows us to estimate the year of Giovanni Maria’s birth; if he was 25 years old in 1699, he had to have been born in 1674 in Forni di Sopra.41 Unfortunately, however, as in many other cases of documents held in parish archives, certain lacunae in the Stato delle anime register in the parish of S. Salvatore, specifically those between 1700 and 1701, make it impossible to determine conclusively until what date Giovanni Maria Anciuti and his wife lived in this house or, at least, in this parish. What is certain is that between 1702 and 1744 (the year of Giovanni Maria’s death) the Anciuti family no longer appears among the residents of the parish of S. Salvatore in Zenodochio. It seemed natural at this point, to try to trace any possible children of Anciuti in the baptismal records of San Salvatore (1689–1787) and in the surrounding parishes, San Raffaele (1704–1719) and San Giovanni in Laterano (1671–1716), which were both absorbed in 1787 into the larger parish of Santa Tecla (Metropolitana), where we also consulted the Stato delle anime register (1692–1795) and register of baptisms (1692–1724) and deaths (1707– 1807).42 This effort proved fruitless; there were no traces of Giovanni Maria Anciuti or any descendents. Given the lack of any precise data which might lend some logic to further research in Milan, we fell back on Anciuti’s father-in-law Giacinto Vanotti’s will and 40. Milan, Archivio del Duomo, Parish of S. Salvatore in Zenodochio, Stati delle anime (1698–1699). The same data are also noted in the register of 1696–97 of the same parish. It appears, anyway, that the annotation was added a posteriori and incorrectly, since in the dotis confessio it is explicitly stated that, up to the date of the writing of the document itself, Giovanni Maria Anciuti lived in Milan, but in the parish of San Satiro. At the time the buildings were not identified by street name and number, but by the building owner’s name or by the name of the building. 41. Even if the information in the registers of the parishes are often inaccurate, the birth year of Giovanni Maria Anciuti is confirmed by the death registers (Registri mortuari) of the Milan township, where his name is reported for year 1744 at the age of 70 (see later). 42. It should be noted that the “Stati delle anime” registers of this parish are “porzionari”, i.e. a register for each street or group of streets of the parish, and that, at least until the mid-1750s, we cannot be sure that all the registers were kept (we recall again the fact that at that time the census was done by building and not by street and door number). Therefore, it is possible that Anciuti could have lived in an area of the parish where registers were not preserved. 202 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI appended property inventory, also among the documents of the Notary Francesco Domenico Poroli. Since the date of Giacinto Vanotti’s death in 1700 coincides with Anciuti’s likely move away from the parish of S. Salvatore, we supposed that his wife, Giuliana, the only one of Vanotti’s children, all female, to have come of age, might have inherited the43 casa posta in Porta Ticinese, parrocchia di S. Lorenzo Maggiore sopra il cantone della Stretta de Vidraschi verso il Corso grande, consistente in una bottega verso il Corso, stanze diverse comminciando al piano di Terra sino al tetto inclusive […]. However, not even an analysis of the Stato delle anime, baptisms, marriages, and deaths registers in the parish of San Lorenzo, revealed a Giovanni Maria Anciuti, or descendent, in the first half of the eighteenth century.44 The inventory of Giacinto Vanotti worldy goods, appended to his will, offers the chance to discredit the conjecture that he worked or was in some way involved in the making of wind instruments. The tools found in his bottega, in fact, would rather suggest a clothworker, an idea confirmed by the fact that his bottega was located on the Stretta de’ Cimatori, where the “cimatori”, that is, the “trimmers” of wool clothing, lived. Another line of inquiry, taken on the basis of a concrete clue, led to systematic scrutiny of the death registers of the city of Milan in the State Archives dating from the period after 1740, date of the last known instrument by Anciuti. Finally, in the register for the year 1744 at the date November 15, we read «Parrocchia di SS. Cosmo e Damiano — D. [covered by an inkblot, though in our opinion, it stands for Don] Jovanni Anzuti, anni 70, maritato con Juliana, di apoplessia». 45 In hopes of reconstructing the biography of Giovanni Maria Anciuti during this dark period of his residence in Milan, which goes from 1700 to 1744, we studied the remaining documentation in the parish of Santi Damiano e Cosma in the parish of Santa Maria alla Scala in San Fedele, into which it was absorbed in 1796 by applying this information and moving backwards in time.46 Only a few Stato delle anime registers remain. In this case the register from 1722 to 1741, which is the one of interest to our research, turns out to be lacking part of 1722 and stops in 1738, instead of 1741. Since Giovanni Maria Anciuti does not appear, the most credited 43. I-Mas, Fondo notarile, Ultimi versamenti, cartella 35635, notary Francesco Domenico Poroli, atto n. 816 (23 August 1700). In the same document we read that Giacinto Vanotti was living in a house which included a workshop, rented in the Stretta dei Cimatori, where, it appears, Anciuti did not move with his family, since the Stretta dei Cimatori was included in the Parish S. Salvatore in Zenodochio, in whose Stati delle anime registers of 1702–1711, no Anciuti appears. 44. We wish to thank Adriana Resta, archivist of the Parish of S. Lorenzo Maggiore. 45. I-Mas, Fondo Atti di governo, Popolazione Parte Antica, Cartella 162, Registri mortuari 1741–44. 46. We thank Antonio Dall’Acqua, curator of the archive of the Parish of San Fedele for his kind help. GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 203 theory, by process of elimination, is that he moved into this parish after 1738. The fact, then, that he died in Milan corroborates the idea that he lived there permanently, despite the frequent trips to Forni and Venice. Finally, in the register of the Parish of S. Salvatore in Zenodochio we find another trace of the Anciutis in the three years 1746–47–48: Casa dei reverendi padri gesuiti [...]. / Signor Antonio Maria figlio, 40. / Signora Giuliana Anciuti, vedova, 58».47 The widow Anciuti would have been 68 years old in 1748. The age entered was certainly an error, common in these registers. Once again we are talking about a temporary residence since in the preceding three years and the following three years, the Anciutis are not listed in this parish. Therefore, Giovanni Maria turns out to have had at least one son, born in 1706, who was still living with his mother in 1746. Unfortunately, there is no indication of his profession. Lastly, we undertook many other directions of investigation in an effort to fill in the blanks, which unfortunately still exist, relating to Anciuti’s life and activities in Milan between 1700 and 1744. In order of consultation, we consulted the following collections in the State Archive in Milan: Commercio Parte Antica,48 Censo Parte Antica,49 Finanza e Reddituari,50 Studi Parte Antica,51 Famiglie, looking especially for those people who could have had a special relationship with Anciuti, such as Aléxis and Giuseppe Sammartini,52 Potenze Estere e Potenze Sovrane,53 and selected notary 47. Milan, Archivio del Duomo, Parish of San Salvatore in Zenodochio, Stati delle anime (17441766), ad annum. 48. Especially, folders: 4 n. 15 — Elenco dei fabbricatori; 5 — Carte varie riguardanti le manifatture nazionali; 6 n. 28 — Elenco artigiani di Porta Ticinese; 22 — Elenchi dei generi e delle merci esportate dalla Lombardia Austriaca (fine 1700); 30 n. 3 — Carteggi vari Stati Esteri:Venezia. 49. Esp., folders: 1521, Milano A-Z (1715–1781); 1533 (M-Z)/1533 bis (A-L), Porta Orientale, Notificazione Laici; 1535 e 1535 ½, Porta Romena, Notificazione Laici; 1541 (A-D)/1542 (E-O); 1543 (P-Z), Notificazioni Reddituari Laici. 50. In particular, folders: 179 (Am-Ang); 182 (Ani-Anz). 51. Folder 165, Fascicolo 2, Musici, Suonatori, Professori, Dilettanti, Inventori di Strumenti. 52. Folder 164 — San Martini. “Che Aléxis e Giuseppe Sammartini, entrambi eccelsi oboisti attivi a Milano nei primi decenni del 1700, possano essere entrati in contatto con Anciuti e possano aver anche collaborato con lui, appare ipotesi più che verosimile soprattutto in virtù delle consuetudini e degli stretti legami professionali esistenti a quell’epoca (un analogo rapporto coinvolse a Torino i Besozzi e il celebre costruttore Carlo Palanca, così come a Venezia i Ferlendis e il costruttore Andrea Fornari). Ma la figura certamente più indiziata per una collaborazione con Anciuti è proprio Giuseppe [Sammartini]”; BERNARDINI – MEUCCI, L’oboe d’avorio di Anciuti, p. 378. 53. As to the Fondo Potenze Estere the specific folders on Venice are: 225 — Venezia — Conte Bolanos (1728–1731); 227 — Venezia — Marchese di Monteleone (1728–1730); 234 — Ambascerie diverse (1566– 1712); per il Fondo Potenze Sovrane: 122 — Corti Regie Ducali — Cariche Impiegati diversi — Famigliari — Camerieri — Provvisioni Generali — Fascicoli Personali — A-Z (sec. XV-XVIII); 124 — Corti Regie Ducali — Cariche diverse — Lettere G-M (sec. XV-1755); 125 — Corti Regie Ducali — Cariche diverse — Lettere O-T (1700–1781). Here we tried to find support for a conjecture in BERNARDINI – MEUCCI, L’oboe d’avorio di Anciuti, p. 374, where Anciuti’s unusual habit, at least for the guild members, of marking his instruments with his name could be explained by his working under the protection of some personage 204 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI registers,54 starting with the names of some of the notaries cited in the documents of the Guilds of Lathe Turners and the University of Cabinet-makers, consulted at the State Archive55 and the Historical Archive of the City of Milan.56 At this last archive we studied various files in the Fondi Materie,57 Località milanesi58 and Famiglie.59 At any rate, this research remains open-ended and oriented in two directions: toward the material, which is, unfortunately, too often spotty, held in the many, often difficult to access parish archives in Milan; in particular, those in the area around the Duomo, in via Torino and Brera, where we could imagine the artisans dedicated to wind instrument making were found, and toward the notary archives of the first half of the eighteenth century. 10. Notes on musical life in Milan in the first half of the eighteenth century Anciuti focussed essentially on two types of instrument making, at least as far as we can deduce from the known examples: recorders, made in various sizes (12 known)60 and oboes, which remain the most representative of the instruments that have survived to the present day (15 known). Other instruments, like the contrabassoon and the bass flute, represent bold experiments created, it would seem, on request or out of pure creative inspiration. One bassoon, dated 1722 or 1725, might or institution: “Ecco perché l’ipotesi che Anciuti lavorasse sotto la protezione di qualche potentato”. 54. Fondo Notarile: Cartella 219 — Rubrica del Notaio Giulio Cesare Appiani quondam Carlo Antonio (1682–1704); Cartella 1585 — Rubrica del Notaio Andrea Cima quondam Giulio Cesare (1664–1710); Cartella 1587 — Rubrica del Notaio Giuseppe Cima quondam Andrea (probabilmente figlio del precedente e che gli potrebbe essere subentrato nella mansione di cancelliere di una delle due Università dei Legnamari o dei Concari) (1701–1740). 55. I-Mas, Fondo Commercio Parte Antica, cartelle n. 256 e 263. 56. I-Mtriv (= Milano, Archivio Storico Civico e Biblioteca Trivulziana), Fondo Materie, cartella 905, Tornitori, Atti vari. 57. Particularly, the folders: 156–157–158 — Elenco degli esenti dal pagamento della tassa sulla casa ed uniti (1730–1760 circa); 418 — Forestieri; 570 — Invenzioni e Progetti (1572–1796). 58. Folders: 255 — Palazzo Reale — Fascicolo 2 — Chiesa di S. Gottardo alla Corte — Elenchi dei musici della cappella di corte (1743–1769) / Fascicolo 3 — Teatro — Spese per la ricostruzione del teatro di corte dopo l’incendio del 5 gennaio 1708; 262/5 — Chiesa di S. Maria della Passione (1551–1799); 402 — Fascicoli 2 / 3 — S. Salvatore in Zenodochio (contrada / chiesa) / Fascicoli 4 / 5 — S. Satiro (località / chiesa); 429 — Chiesa di S. Maria della Scala — Disposizioni per un Te Deum da tenersi la mattina del 20 agosto 1705 nella chiesa di S. Maria della Scala in onore della vittoria del Ritorto. 59. Folder: 54 — Anziani (also looking for different spellings of the name Anciuti). 60. In addition, a flageolet, dated 1715, and a wooden double recorder, dated 1713, from the collection E. Bertolotti of Milan, were exposed at the Vienna exhibition of 1892. The latter also in Milan in 1881 at the Esposizione Musicale. Finally a new boxwood oboe, dated 1729, was discovered in Italy at the end of 2008. GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 205 be the work of Anciuti, although the mark is not legible.61 Strangely, concert flutes are not among his instruments, even though this type of flute was becoming increasingly more popular and widespread, at least in the second decade of the century, as attested by the output of Carlo Palanca in Turin and the Castels [in Venice?]. In this regard, we are reminded of the many compositions written for the transverse flute by Antonio Vivaldi and others beginning in the first decade of the century.62 So, on the one hand, the recorders, which responded to the widespread demand for music, mostly by the upper classes at the amateur level, in the first decades of the eighteenth century and, on the other, the trend toward soloists, singers and instrumentalists, among the latter the oboists being the most esteemed among the wind instrumentalists. The recorder fashion which spread throughout Venice in counter-tendency to the general decline of the instrument in the rest of Europe, finds correspondence in the numerous compositions written for the instrument by the many composers working in the Venetian area, such as Marcello, Veracini, Bigaglia, Bellinzani, Garzaroli and Vivaldi,63 compositions which were intended for amateurs and, hence, often intentionally simple. In the first half of the eighteenth century, many recorders were made in Northern Italy, by not only Anciuti, but also Carlo Palanca in Turin and N. Castel,64 as mentioned above. It is a curious fact that five double recorders survive (the one in Leipzig, already mentioned, has been lost), among which two very precious specimens in ivory, instruments for which the repertory is very small, and which most probably should also be included in the number of instruments made on commission for some wealthy amateur. 61. Private collection, Italy: the instrument, maple and ivory, has an external octagonal profile 62. SARDELLI, Il flauto nell’Italia nel primo Settecento, pp. 103–123 63. SARDELLI, Il flauto nell’Italia nel primo Settecento, pp. 123–125 64. CARRERAS, Flute making in Italy, pp. 71–102 206 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI Fig. 9: ivory accord flute Paris © Collection Musée de la musique (cliché Billing) GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 207 11. Anciuti’s oboes The oboe enjoyed a rapid evolution in Europe around 1730, leading to the creation of new models, different from the well-established French model which had not changed significantly for several decades, since the end of the last decade of the seventeenth century, when it started to be made according to agreed-upon canons and produced in large numbers, not just in France, but also in the area around Nuremberg by the Denners, Gahns, Oberlenders, Schells, in Leipzig, and then spread throughout Europe.65 The creation of an innovative model of “linear profile,” that is, without the balaustra and almost all the other turnings characteristic of the models in fashion at the time, is attributed to Anciuti.66 The magnificent instrument (n.d.) in the Victoria & Albert Museum represents this type which quickly spread throughout England with Sammartini’s arrival in London after 1726. Also by Anciuti is the first known example of a corps-de-rechange for oboe, which we find associated with the ivory oboe (1722) now in the Museo Civico degli Strumenti Musicali in Milan, and which is thought to have been used by the virtuoso Giuseppe Sammartini, a key figure in Milanese musical life in the first decades of the century and, at the time, still in the city. Anciuti’s other oboes are modelled on a second type which came into fashion in Italy at the end of the first decade of the eighteenth century, again probably on his initiative. Some models of this type of oboe are dated 1709, 1718, 1719 and 1722.67 Another oboe of this latter type, in ebony and ivory, dated 1730, could be an instrument Sammartini used in London. This conjecture is founded on the fact that this superb oboe reaches C#, instead of the usual C and that one of Sammartini’s oboe concerti in D major frequently uses C#, and never C. 68 There is a curious anecdote, which recounts that Sammartini put an advert in the London newspapers in 1735, promising a handsome reward for the return of a misplaced Hautboy-reed. In reality, it was a corps-de-rechange which was later found. The presence in London in 1735 of an oboe with corps-de-rechange could refer to an instrument by Anciuti which arrived with Sammartini.69 65. GEOFFREY BURGESS – BRUCE HAYNES, The oboe, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2004; especially ch. 3, The sprightly hautboy, 1680–1760, pp. 40–84. 66. BURGESS – HAYNES, The oboe, p.79 67. Rome, Museo degli Strumenti Musicali, inv. n. 909 and 828; Paris, Musée de la Musique, E.980.2.138; Milan, Museo del Castello Sforzesco, n. 752; in BURGESS – HAYNES, The oboe, p.78, it is written: “By the 1730s the Italians had developed the straight-top type C and, probably somewhat later, the type D1”. Type D1 is the one of the above-mentioned oboes and was introduced at the beginning of the eighteenth century. 68. Amsterdam, private collection; this hypothesis was put forward by Alfredo Bernardini, private communication. 69. BURGESS – HAYNES, The oboe, pp. 49–50. 208 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI The Frenchman Aléxis Saint-Martin, father of the Sammartini brothers, accomplished oboist and, it seems, instrument maker, was in Milan at the end of the seventeenth century.70 It is likely that Anciuti was in contact with this person, who had introduced Milan to the French oboes in 1690.71 Moreover, the Venetian period and contacts with Onofrio Penati and other oboists from the German-speaking world must have introduced him to the more advanced production beyond the Alps. Anciuti certainly treasured these experiences which he then elaborated to create the innovative models mentioned above. Anciuti’s creative vein, particularly evident in the construction details of the instruments, rich in original and skillfully made features, is expressed more clearly in the technical solutions he adopted and in the new types of instruments he introduced, as is evident in the image reproduced below. 70. Oboe in palisander signed S. Martin at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuerberg, MIR373; cf. MARCO SOPRANA, in Storia dell’Oboe, ch. III, p.60; in his website, he assigns also to this maker the oboe marked Martin, Paris: Musée de la Musique, E.210 C.470. 71. In PAOLO MARIA TERZAGO, Museo o galeria adunata dal sapere, e dallo studio del signor canonico Manfredo Settala nobile milanese, descritta in latino dal signor dottor fisico collegiato Paolo Maria Terzago et hora in italiano dal signor Pietro Francesco Scarabelli dottore fisico di Voghera e dal medesimo accresciuta, Tortona, Figliuoli del quondam Eliseo Viola, 1666, a maker is cited “Otto flauti grandi assai a concerto, lavoro celebre del Grassi […]; quattro concerti di traverse […] tutti mano del Grassi artefice insigne”. Therefore in Milan a renowned woodwind maker existed in the mid-seventeenth century. Ties with the much later Antonio Grassi are unknown. GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 209 Fig. 10: ivory oboe with corps-de-rechange, Milan, Museo del Castello Sforzesco © Civico Museo Castello Sforzesco, Milano 210 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI 12. The art and craft guilds in Milan In order to outline the general picture of the context in which the wind instrument makers, and in particular, Anciuti, worked during the first half of the eighteenth century, we began searching through documents on the art and craft guilds in Milan at the time. We consulted the Commerce Collection — Ancient Section at the Milan State Archive72 and the materials collection in the Civic Historical Archive,73 with particular attention to documents pertaining to the University of Wood-carvers and Lathe Turners, and to the School of Carpenters (Legnamari). Various interesting documents emerged, such as the statutes of these guilds and some of the official acts relating to their disbanding, which occurred gradually between the 1770s and 1780s. In particular, we uncovered a document of special interest for this project, dated 4 March 1690 and included in the Statute of the University of the Vase Turners and Merchants (mercanti tornitori vascularii) of Milan, called concari, concerning a controversy which arose between the University and the Venerable School of S. Giuseppe de’ Legnamari (carpenters),74 in ordine alla qualità delle opere, che si fanno col torno; pretendendosi dall’Università de’ legnamari, che a quella de’ concari non fosse lecito fare e di vendere e contrattare d’ogni sorte di opera, che possa farsi col torno […]. E perché veniva all’incontro preteso dalli sudetti tornitori vascularij non potersi fare dalli detti tornitori aggregati alla sudetta università de’ legnamari, tutto ciò, che si può fare col torno; ma la maggior parte dell’opere con detto torno essere privativamente ad ogni altro proprie, e particolari solamente de sudetti tornitori vascularij. This was resolved with the intervention of the «illustrissimo signor senatore Olevano», who, on hearing both parties, established by ordinance on 24 July 1690 that in quanto alla distinzione delle opere doveranno li legnamari, & tornitori a quelli aggregati fabricare cose nobili, cioè lettiere, & altri utensilij per camere, sale, & simili, li sarà anco permesso fabricare delle opere, che fanno li concari, purché fiano fabbricate di legno non ordinario, qual per virtù della presente dichiariamo intendersi per non ordinario il zenzuino, l’ebano, granatiglia, serpentino, & ogni altro legno forestiero. Terzo potranno parimente fabricare di legno ordinario unitamente come i concari le opere descritte nella lista seguente, cioè. […] Flauti e cifoli. 72. I-Mas, Fondo Commercio Parte Antica, cartella n. 256, Università degli Intagliatori e Intornitori (1690– 1774); cartella n. 263, Università dei Bossettari. 73. I-Mtriv, Fondo Materie, Cartella 601, Legnajuoli (1646–1801); cartella 730, Paratici, Provvisioni Generali (1552–1802); cartella 731, Paratici, Atti vari (1554–1784); cartella 905, Tornitori, Atti vari 74. I-Mas, Fondo Commercio Parte Antica, cartella n. 256, Università degli Intagliatori e Intornitori (1690– 1774), 4 marzo 1690. GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 211 So, the woodwind instrument makers who used “ordinary woods” (legno ordinario), could be members of either guild. In the ordinance, we read that if they used materials like ivory or “exotic woods” (legno non ordinario), as Giovanni Maria Anciuti usually did, the legnamari would have “permesso fabricare delle opere, che fanno li concari” with such materials. We do not know, and it is not directly deducible from the text, whether musical instruments were included among these “works”, cited under the third point, and if the privilege of using these materials was the exclusive right of the Legnamari. Another later document “Scola di S. Giuseppe de Legnamari 1648. Nota delli nomi e cognomi delli signori priore, vice priore, tesoriere, sindaci, consiglieri, ed officiali della veneranda scuola di S. Giuseppe de’ Legnamari di Milano, e Corpi Santi per l’anno presente 1762”, corroborates the theory that many types of musical instruments fell under the purview of this guild. In fact, we find among the “Officials” (Officiali): 75 Francesco Birger per li clavazzini e spinette Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi per li violini, ed altri istromenti d’archetto […] Giovanni Battista …per le chitarre, leuti, ed altri istromenti da suonare Unfortunately, there is no surname for the last entry, under whose tutelage the woodwind instruments fell, positing that they were included in the category “altri istromenti da suonare” and keeping in mind the fact that there were also “tornitori a quelli aggregati” in the legnamari guild. According to the documents we found, the distinction between wood turners and bone turners which existed in the first half of the 1600s had become obsolete by the time Anciuti was active and all those who worked with lathes had to be part of the concari or, if they fell into one of the categories cited in the above document, they could also be part of the legnamari. Analysis of the archives of some notaries76, specifically cited in documents relating to the guilds, did not yield any further documents citing Anciuti or other instrument makers of the period. A last question remains regarding the fact that Giovanni Maria Anciuti was free to put his own name and year of fabrication on the instruments he made, in spite of his presumed membership in the guild system. We can make several conjectures, which must remain so in the absence of further proof. The first hypothesis derives from what we have outlined above on how the guilds worked in the first half of the eighteenth century. The woodwind instruments makers belonged to the leg75. I-Mtriv, Fondo Materie, cartella 601, Legnajuoli (1646–1801), cartella 601. 76. I-Mas, Fondo Notarile, Rubriche Notai, Cartella 219, Rubrica del Notaio Giulio Cesare Appiani quondam Carlo Antonio (1682–1704); cartella 1585, Rubrica del Notaio Andrea Cima quondam Giulio Cesare (1664–1710); cartella 1587, Rubrica del Notaio Giuseppe Cima quondam Andrea (1701–1740). 212 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI namari or the concari guild. We could discuss the fact that the documents refer only to “flauti e cifoli”, and whether this last term could have incorporated the types of instruments made by Anciuti. In any case, we can state with some degree of certainty that there were no particular restrictions on signing one’s own instruments, nor on using the tools required in all the phases of work, since the figure of woodwind instrument maker was expressly recognized in Milan, unlike Venice. Furthermore, we could posit that Anciuti enjoyed the protection of some influential personage, given the exceptional artistic talent he showed so early. He certainly enjoyed the support of famous musicians like Sammartini and his sons, with whom he must have had frequent professional contact and, also likely, the patronage of the wealthy nobility and court world. The fact that no traces of Anciuti’s presence in Milan between 1700 and 1744 have been found in parish registers might mean that he was in the service of some important family, not infrequent at the time.77 Moreover, other much less-favoured wind instrument makers in Milan, like Beltrami, Grassi, Pietro Cortellone, signed their own instruments in the eighteenth century. Finally, we can hypothesize that, with the arrival of the Hapsburgs in Milan in 1706, it was possible to make use of the rules and customs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is well known that in the German-speaking world, as demonstrated by the examples of many wind instrument makers in Nuremberg, Leipzig, and Dresden, it was common practice to sign one’s own instruments. Many wind instrument makers also in Vienna and Prague imprinted their own names, as we can see by the many signed instruments constructed in those areas in the first half of the eighteenth century. 13. Conclusions and future research The research we have completed to date has made it possible to document the identity of Giovanni Maria Anciuti, by establishing certain fundamental stages in his life and profession. Yet, despite further investigation in the archives in Milan, nothing has emerged concerning his presence in the city in the period between 1700 and 1744, the year of his death, nor has it been possible to locate any documents which could attest to his profession as an instrument maker in Milan. Further examination of the over 400 documents recovered in the State Archive of Udine might provide further information on the relations between the many characters named Anciuti and Di Santa and, perhaps, shed more light on the presumed Venetian period of Giovanni Maria Anciuti’s life. Lastly, documents that could 77. RENATO MEUCCI, Strumentaio. Il costruttore di strumenti musicali nella tradizione occidentale, Venezia, Marsilio, 2008, particularly paragraph Costruttori stipendiati e “dilettanti”, pp. 181–183. GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 213 throw light on Giovanni Maria’s association with Venice might emerge from the State Archive there, which we have not yet been able to consult. (English version by Elisabeth Giansiracusa) Francesco Carreras is a senior researcher at the Institute of Information Science and Technologies (ISTI) of Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche in Pisa. Cinzia Meroni holds a research grant at ISTI and is specialized in archive research, in particular in Milan. She wrote a dissertation on the Colombo family of piano makers of Milan. 214 FRANCESCO CARRERAS – CINZIA MERONI SOMMARIO Giovanni Maria Anciuti fu senza dubbio uno dei più noti ed apprezzati costruttori di strumenti musicali a fiato della prima metà del Settecento. Di lui sono noti numerosi strumenti, soprattutto flauti dolci ed oboi, molti dei quali realizzati con insuperata maestria e con materiali preziosi. Tuttavia, nonostante le molte ricerche effettuate, nessuna informazione sull’identità di questo personaggio era finora emersa, tanto che era stata avanzata perfino l’ipotesi che il cognome Anciuti potesse essere uno pseudonimo derivato dalla parola ancia, in relazione agli strumenti ad ancia doppia da lui costruiti e per i quali era molto ricercato. Nel corso di una indagine sui costruttori di strumenti a fiato a Milano è stato ritrovato un documento notarile del 1699, consistente in una dotis confessio relativa al matrimonio di Giovanni Maria Anciuti con Giuliana Vanotti di Milano, che contiene anche indicazioni sul paese di origine di Giovanni Maria (Forni di Sopra, Udine) e il nome del padre (Antonio). Successive ricerche effettuate a Forni di Sopra, e negli archivi di Udine hanno portato alla luce numerose testimonianze sulla famiglia Anciuti, che hanno permesso di ricostruire vari livelli di vincoli famigliari e di individuare diverse proprietà tuttora esistenti. Di particolare rilevanza è un documento del 1693, che riferisce di un prestito ottenuto a Venezia da Giovanni Maria da parte dello zio Tomaso Anciuti, in parte compensato con la cessione di «piferi et flauti», e un secondo documento del 1700, redatto sempre a Venezia, relativo all’acquisto di avorio dal cugino Carlo Anciuti. Questi riferimenti fanno pensare ad un probabile apprendistato di Giovanni Maria a Venezia. È altresì ipotizzabile che i non rari viaggi di Anciuti a Venezia e a Forni, alcuni dei quali documentati, gli permettessero di mantenersi in contatto con personalità del mondo musicale veneziano dei primi decenni del secolo, tra cui gli oboisti attivi alla Pietà, e il mondo dei cultori del flauto dolce, molto in voga a Venezia nella prima metà del Settecento. Il testamento del padre Antonio redatto nel 1706 e il lungo elenco delle proprietà di famiglia forniscono informazioni sullo stato sociale degli Anciuti, proprietari di edifici, di molti campi e fabbricati rurali. Notevole è il fatto che Giovanni Maria, il cugino e lo zio, ma probabilmente anche il padre, fossero letterati, firmando Giovanni Maria un documento ancora nel 1693. Ricerche effettuate negli archivi di Milano, in particolare in quelli parrocchiali, hanno permesso di individuare alcune tracce di Anciuti fino al 1700, e un annuncio di morte nel 1744. Rimane comunque un lungo periodo della sua vita non documentato se non dagli strumenti datati. Alcune osservazioni sulla vita musicale a Milano nel primo Settecento e sugli strumenti di Anciuti, in particolare sugli oboi, introducono l’argomento dei rap- GIOVANNI MARIA ANCIUTI: A CRAFTSMAN AT WORK IN MILAN AND VENICE 215 porti di Anciuti con l’ambiente delle corporazioni a Milano. Varie ipotesi vengono avanzate sul fatto che Anciuti marcasse col suo nome, e spesso l’anno, gli strumenti prodotti. La sua origine ed i contatti con Venezia forniscono una possibile spiegazione del simbolo del leone alato di Venezia che ritroviamo su quasi tutti i suoi strumenti. In conclusione questo studio fornisce una identità ed una prima ricostruzione della vita di Giovanni Maria Anciuti, chiarendo in maniera definitiva la sua origine e avanzando una spiegazione sui suoi legami con Venezia. Francesco Carreras è ricercatore dell’Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell’Informazione (ISTI) del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, a Pisa. I suoi interessi in campo musicale sono rivolti alla musicologia cognitiva, all’acustica degli strumenti musicali e all’organologia, con particolare attenzione alla storia della costruzione degli strumenti a fiato in Italia. Cinzia Meroni è borsista presso l’ISTI di Pisa, ed è specializzata in ricerca d’archivio, particolarmente nell’area milanese. Ha svolto una tesi dottorale sulla famiglia di costruttori di pianoforti Colombo di Milano.