The Concerto Palatino was a wind ensemble and important civic institution in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

associated with

San Petronio The Basilica of San Petronio is a minor basilica and church of the Archdiocese of Bologna located in Bologna, Emilia Romagna, northern Italy. It dominates Piazza Maggiore. The basilica is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, Saint Petroni ...

. The band performed morning and evening concerts in the city. The Concerto Palatino began in the 13th century as a group of eight

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

ers. In the late 15th century

trombones The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the air column inside the instrument to ...

were added to the band. The form of the Concerto Palatino was then fixed from 1537 to 1779 as eight trumpets, four pifari or

shawm The shawm () is a Bore (wind instruments)#Conical bore, conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 13th or possibly 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissanc ...

s or later

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

s, four trombones, two viols, and drums. The members also served as teachers at the Liceo.

Early music group

The name Concerto Palatino was resurrected in 1986 by cornettist

Bruce Dickey Bruce Dickey is an American cornett player. He is regarded as the doyen of the modern generation of cornett players, many of whom were his students at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and Early Music Institute at Indiana University, or students of ...

and trombonist Charles Toet, as one of the first

historically informed performance Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...

ensembles performing the repertoire of the original

alta capella An alta cappella or alta musica (Italian), haute musique (French) or just alta was a kind of town wind band found throughout continental Europe from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries, which typically consisted of shawms and slide trumpet ...

ensembles.American record guide - Page 124 Peter Hugh Reed, Information Access Company - 2000 "Concerto Palatino, founded in 1986 by cornettists Bruce Dickey and Charles Toet, has made a number of outstanding recordings and was one of the first cornetto-sackbut ensembles to sound truly first-rate."

References

{{Authority control Culture in Bologna Early music groups Brass bands History of Bologna