Francesco de Ficoroni
This is a different Section where we show our 2014 finding of a unique Roman pagan polyphonic source which covers a gap of more than 1500 years. We have published and presented it in one Spanish specialized journal (Quod Libet), one doctoral thesis and two International Conferences.
"... a guisa di tibia a tre ordini" (sic.)
Francesco de Ficoroni 's Book "Osservazioni sopra l' antichita di Roma" (1709) was edited in response to the broadly inaccurate Bernard de Montfaucon 's "Diarum Italicum" (1702). The corrections of Ficoroni 's book triggered an extensive and inflamed controversy, both in time as in number of implied personages. The polemic was closed five years later through the Holy Office 's intervention.
Doctor Manuel Lafarga links up, to a large extent, a peculiar finding related to this controversy to the polyphonic nature of pagan music.
Ficoroni drawed in 1702 an eros playing triple pipes (launeddas), carved on a sarcophagus earlier to Constantine times. This happened in presence of the owner site when recovered, Domenico Caballini.
This finding supports the arguments related to the persecution of polyphonic pagan music (musicoclasm) carried out by the church from the fall of Roman Empire onwards.
A gap of historical silence is sealing this instrument, it seems from many time ago. Our finding of Ficoroni ‘s source is the only survival one in a span of more than 1500 years, between the Sardinian player from Ittiri (8th-century BC) and the first Christian relief at Northern Europe (9th-century AD). There are no historical literary references to launeddas.
- Lafarga, Manuel (2018) Polyphonic Pipes in the Greco-Roman World. In: The 9th International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony, 30 October – 3 November, 2018, IRCTP, Tbilisi, Georgia (Abstract, Author's Preprint, please don’t use for citations)
- Lafarga, Manuel (2017) Polyphonic Traditions in the Greco-Roman World. In: ESEM - European Seminar in Ethnomusicology XXXIII: Ethnomusicology in the 21st Century, September 5-9, 2017. Tbilisi, Georgia. (Abstract)
- Sanz, P. (2017) Polyphonic Instruments in the Greco-Roman World. In: ESEM - European Seminar in Ethnomusicology XXXIII: Ethnomusicology in the 21st Century, September 5-9, 2017. Tbilisi, Georgia. (Abstract)
- Lafarga, M; Llimera, V. & Sanz, P. (2017) Tubos polifónicos antiguos II: tubos triples (launeddas). En defensa de Francesco de Ficoroni (Ancient polyphonic pipes II: Triple pipes (launeddas). In defense of Francesco de Ficcoroni). Quodlibet: revista de especialización musical, ISSN 1134-8615, Nº 62, 2016, págs. 8-38. (English Abstract)
- Lafarga, M. (2016) Ecos de Grecia: la cuestión pendiente. Bases históricas de la polifonía vocal e instrumental en el Mundo Clásico (Echoes form Greece: the outstanding question. Historical basis of vocal and instrumental polyphony in the Classical World). Doctoral Thesis at Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), Arts Department (in Spanish). (Complete Download, Spanish) (English Abstract)
Musica Reservata - El Caso Ficoroni - La Polémica - Dr. Manuel Lafarga
Musica Reservata - El Caso Ficoroni - La Polémica - Prof. Manuel Lafarga
Tubos triples en el Imperio Romano: periplos y peripecias del mejor anticuario romano del XVIII / www.musiclanguagefrontiers.com
Ecos de Grecia - La cuestion Pendiente Revisitada - Dr. Manuel Lafarga
Ecos de Grecia: La Cuestión Pendiente Revisitada - Tesis Doctoral 2017 - Dr. Manuel Lafarga
Tesis Doctoral Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, 2017 - Dr. Manuel Lafarga