Count Ludovico Giuseppe Antonio Filippo Roncalli was an Italian composer and priest, born 6 March 1654 in Bergamo and died there 25 August 1713. Little is documented of his life beyond his legal and clerical training and a 1695 visit to Rome, where he may have entered musical circles connected to Cardinal Benedetto Pamphilj. In 1692 he published Capricci armonici sopra la chitarra spagnola (‘Harmonic caprices for the Spanish guitar’), a collection of nine suites for five-course Baroque guitar dedicated to Pamphilj, each combining a preludio and alemanda with other period dance forms such as corrente, sarabanda, gigue, minuet, and gavotta.

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Roncalli’s Capricci armonici is one of the most substantial and admired collections of solo repertoire written for the five-course Baroque guitar, and — via Oscar Chilesotti’s 1881 transcription into modern notation — became a foundational source for the 20th-century revival of Baroque guitar music on the modern classical guitar. The passacaglia that closes the ninth suite was orchestrated by Ottorino Respighi as part of his Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 3, bringing Roncalli’s music to a much wider orchestral audience.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovico_Roncalli