Christ Church holds a large and seminal collection of music source materials. Its principal riches lie in two fields: manuscripts of English and Italian music before 1700 and printed music before 1700. Among its treasures, the collection contains 28 rare Italian prints calling for chitarrone or tiorba as a continuo instrument. These prints include works by Claudio Monteverdi, Sigismondo d’India and Alessandro Grandi, to pick just the better-known ones. The scores are in demand by scholars and will be digitised soon.
In the meantime however, for the benefit of any readers or researchers curious about this instrument, here is a link to a short video by Lynda Sayce, which covers the history of the Renaissance lute, up to and including the chitarrone. The programme consists of four-part music for different sizes of lute as well as a number of solo pieces. As a photographer, Lynda is a valued member of the Christ Church Library digitisation team. She is also one of the UK's leading lutenists, and is noted both as a performer and as a musical scholar.
* For other news related to Special Collections, please go the library Exhibitions and Events.
