Riccardo Rognoni or Richardo Rogniono (ca. 1550 – before 20 April 1620) is the earliest known member of the Rognoni family which started one of the earliest of all violin schools, based in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. His treatise ''Passaggi per potersi esercitare nel diminuire'' ("Passages for practice in diminution"),

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

1592, is the first to mention the ''violino da brazzo'', or violin. He was directly involved in taking the violin from a street instrument to court instrument in the Lombard area. Some of his excellent violin pupils include his sons

Francesco Francesco, the Italian language, Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis (given name), Francis", is one of the List of most popular given names, most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name inclu ...

and Giovanni Domenico. The noble title ''Taegio'' or ''Taeggio'' was conferred on the Rognoni family by king

Sigismund III Sigismund III Vasa (, ; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Relig ...

of Poland, and appears on the title-pages of works of Rognoni's sons from 1605. Riccardo writes in the title of the ''Passaggi'' that he was expelled from the "Val Tavegia", or

Val Taleggio The Val Taleggio () is an Alpine valley in the Italian region of Lombardy, split between the provinces of Bergamo and Lecco. It is a western fork of the Val Brembana which begins in the commune of San Giovanni Bianco, in the Province of Bergam ...

. The records of bloody conflicts between Milan and Venice in the area explain why he arrived in Milan as a Ghibelline fugitive. Paolo Morigia reported that he was "much praised for his playing of the viol and judged among the finest of the City", while Filippo Picinelli in 1670 described him as an "excellent player of the violin and other string and wind instruments, who became the Orpheus of his day." His ''Passaggi'' and only one instrumental work survived: a piece in an anthology printed by Gastoldi: ''Il primo libro della musica a due voci'', Milan, 1598.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rognoni, Riccardo 1550s births 17th-century deaths 16th-century Italian musicians Italian violinists Italian male violinists Italian male classical composers Italian Baroque composers 17th-century Italian composers 17th-century Italian male musicians