The Archive of the Pia Istituzione Musicale in Cremona

Abstract

The object of research was the fondo of the Pia Istituzione Musicale, preserved at the State Library of Cremona, which consists of an archive of documents and a collection of music. The last-named includes around 130 musical editions (mainly vocal scores of nineteenth-century operas) and 234 manuscripts. The aim of the investigation was first to identify the nucleus of the collection so as to portray the identity of the entire fondo.
The Pia Istituzione Musicale of Cremona was a self-governing society of mutual assistance whose aim was to assist and provide pensions for local musicians using funds realized either from concerts or from financial operations. The authors of the project, and therefore the administrators and organizers, were the representatives of the city's musical institutions, that is: the Kapellmeister and harpsichordist at the theatre (Ruggero Manna), the first violin and conductor of the theatre orchestra and of the choir (Carlo Bignami), the coordinator of the wind instruments and music teacher of the orchestral players (Giovanni Maini). The collection - which did not constitute (except to a very minor degree) the repertory of the Pia Istituzione - was instead drawn from three principal sources. The first - the donation of don Cesare Paloschi, who had various responsabilities in the Società filarmonica di Cremona (1816-1855 circa) - consists of manuscripts which can be dated as falling between the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century and containing sacred and symphonic music by Haydn, Pleyel, Witt, Wranitsky, Küffner and Mozart, as well as some musical editions published by Johann André of Offenbach-am-Main. The second, contributed by the Manna family, formed part of the repertory of the company of buffi, the Ragazzi napoletani, who were active in Italian theatres from the end of the eighteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth century. The mother of Ruggero Manna was, in fact, Carolina Bassi, one of the favourite singers of Meyerbeer, Rossini and Mayr. The Manna donation includes full scores of operas by Cimarosa, Fioravanti, Guglielmi, Portogallo, Pavesi and Rossini, and opera excerpts by the above composers as well as by Mayr, Meyerbeer, Paer and Pacini. The third contribution consists of manuscripts of Italian symphonies (Bonfichi, Fioravanti, Nicolini, Rolla, Dusik...) found in the repertory of the Società filarmonica di Cremona in the second decade of the nineteenth century and donated by one of the families which founded the society. The three sources of the collection provide tangible evidence of three aspects of musical civilization in nineteenth-century Cremona in that they are closely related to the didactic, institutional and idealistic activities of its protagonists and supporters.
Transcriptions of the antique inventories and the catalogue of the manuscripts actually present in the library are given in the Appendix.