Domenico Colla was an 18th-century

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

n composer and performer who traveled Europe in the 1760s, performing in the most important theaters and salons. Together with his brother

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, he was one of the Colla brothers. The brothers played in royal circles; they performed before

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

in 1765 in the palace at

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. They were in London in 1766, where it was advertised that they had performed before the British royalty, as well as other the royal families of Europe. The brothers were also noted for being survivors of slavery in

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

, rescued from it by the

King of Poland Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of Royal elections in Poland, free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electab ...

. The brothers played the

colascione The colascione (or calascione, , , also sometimes known as liuto della giraffa meaning giraffe-lute, a reference to its long neck) is a plucked string instrument from the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods,Anthony Baines: Lexikon der Mu ...

and colascioncino and guitar. Domenico's name is attached to six sonatas for the smaller colascioncino. The cocolascione was a long-necked lute (strings 100 –130 cm), possibly related to the

dutar The ''dutar'' (also ''Dotara, dotar''; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a traditional Iranian long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran and Central Asia. Its name comes from the Persian language, Persian word for "two strings", دوتار ''do tār'' (< � ...

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. The colascioncino was tuned an octave higher with strings 50–60 cm long. The instruments can have two or three strings. According to the advertisement, the brothers played the two string variety. Domenico composed music, and his six sonatas for the colascioncino may be the only works that have survived for that instrument. Each sonata lists either the colascioncino or colascioncino of two strings.

Works

''Six Colascioncino Sonatas'' The sonatas are set up with the colascioncino playing the melody, accompanied by a bass-ranged instrument, the colascione. Rudolf Lück, 1954, p.64, (RISM has quote from Lück's dissertation) ''Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Colascione und seiner süddeutschen Tondenkmäler im 18. Jahrhundert: Inaugural-Dissertation der Philosophischen Fakultät der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität zu Erlangen''. *''Sonata in G major'' *''Sonata in G major'' *''Sonata in D major'' *''Sonata in E major'' *''Sonata in E-flat major'' *''Sonata in F major''

References

External links

British Museum, drawing from 1749 by Ghezzi that preceded the later 1752 engraving by Oesterreich.RISM page for Domenico Colla; has link to pages about his works.Record for Colla's sonatas in Dresden library.
* Colla's sonatas in RISM.] {{Authority control 18th-century Italian composers 18th-century Italian male musicians