The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena VIASP Conference Series, Vol. 441Enrico Maria Corsini, ed.c©2011 Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Galileo and Music: A Family Affair1

Dinko Fabris

Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Linguistiche e Antropologiche, Universita

della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy

Abstract. According to Viviani, Galileo’s first biographer, the scientist was an excel-lent keyboard and lute player. In turn Vincenzo Galilei, father of the illustrious scientist,had been one of the most influential music theorist of his age and also a great composerand virtuoso of the lute. Galileo and his brother Michelangelo, born in 1575, inheritedVincenzo’s duel skills, both in theory and practical music: Galileo’s correspondencesshow indeed his competence in the music and in the lute playing; Michelagnolo, afterbeing educated in part in Galileo’s house in Padua, transferred to Germany in Munich,where he became a court lute player. Nevertheless, Galileo helped for the rest of hislife not only his brother but also his nephews, as documented in dozen of family lettersquite important to establish the central role of the music in Galileo’s everyday life, afact almost ignored by most modern biographers. The importance of music in Galileo’soutput and life has been first outlined by the historian of sciences Stillman Drake and bythe musicologist Claude Palisca. After their studies starting in the 1960s there is a greatbelief that Vincenzo influenced his son Galileo, directing him towards experimentation.The aim of this paper, following the reconstruction of Galileo’s soundscape proposedby Pierluigi Petrobelli, is to reexamine the surviving historical accounts on the musicalpassion and talent of Galileo and his family in the several houses where they performedmusic (in Florence, Padua, Munich, etc.) in particular on the lute, the instrument thatwas an important experimental tool for the scientist.

The important role of music in Galileo Galilei’s life has been underestimated in theimpressive bibliography produced on the scientist2. He was the son and the brother ofprofessional musicians and he was a lute player himself. Vincenzo Galilei, father ofthe illustrious scientist, was one of the most influential music theorists of his age andalso a composer and virtuoso player of the lute, the “king” of Renaissance instruments.In the family in Florence, during the early days of Galileo, music was a daily activityand his young brother Michelangelo became soon a virtuoso player too. According toGalileo’s first biographer, Viviani, also a scientist, Galileo was an excellent keyboardand lute player, whose playing3:

1To the memory of Antonio Tamburro: a scientist and music-lover.

2Even in the recent bibliography on different aspects of the living context around Galileo, music is absent.See P. M (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Galileo, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,1998 or J. R, Galileo in Context, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2001.

3Cf. V. V, Racconto istorico della vita del Sig.r Galileo Galilei di Vincentio Viviani [Ms. 1654], inA. F, Edizione Nazionale delle Opere di Galileo Galilei, Firenze, Barbera Editore, XIX, App. III,1968, p. 602 ff.

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[. . . ] surpassed in beauty and grace even that of his father, and had a suavity which

he never lost until his dying day.

The role of music in Galileo’s output and life has been first outlined by the histo-rian of sciences Stillman Drake4 and by the musicologist Claude Palisca5. After theirresearch and publications starting in the 1960s, it became, strongly evident that Vin-cenzo influenced his son Galileo, directing him towards experimentation6. The twoscholars I have just mentioned were also the protagonists of the international confer-ence held in 1989 at the University of Calgary, Canada, onMusic and Science in the Ageof Galileo7. Apart from the book of proceedings of this important conference, edited byVictor Coelho and published in 1992, very few essays on the topic “Galileo and Music”are available for both specialists and general readers. After an article on Galileo e lamusica published by Clemente Terni in 1964 in Italian8, the most active scholar work-ing on this subject is Paolo Gozza of the University of Bologna. Gozza has devoted to

4Drake published over hundred of books, articles, and book chapters on Galileo starting from the trans-lation of Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1953) and other works edited inDiscoveries and Opinions of Galileo (1957). Using both published and manuscript notes, Drake–awardedin 1984 the Galileo Galilei Prize for the Italian History of Science–demonstrated in his writings the im-portance of experimental measurement in Galileo’s innovative thought, in particular the law of fallingbodies. As a consequence, he have developed a strong interest in Galileo’s practical music competenceas a significant help in design experiments. See S. D, Renaissance Music and Experimental Science,“Journal for the History of Ideas”, 31, 1970, pp. 483-500; I., The Role of Music in Galileo’s Experiments,“Scientific American”, 232, 1975, pp. 98-104; I., Music and Philosophy in Early Modern Science, in V.C (ed.),Music and Science in the Age of Galileo, Dordrecht, Kluwer, 1992, pp. 3-16.

5Palisca’s studies focused on Galileo’s father, Vincenzo, as a pivotal music theorist of his age. See C.P, Vincenzo Galilei’s Counterpoint Treatise: a Code for the “seconda pratica”, “Journal of theAmerican Musicological Society”, 9, 1956, pp. 81-96; I., Girolamo Mei (1519-1594): Letters on Ancientand Modern Music to Vincenzo Galilei and Giovanni Bardi: a Study with Annotated Text, Rome, Ameri-can Institute of Musicology, 1960; I.,Vincenzo Galilei and Some Links Between “Pseudo-Monody” andMonody, “Musical Quarterly”, 46, 1960, pp. 344-360; I., Scientific Empiricism in Musical Thought, inH. H. R (ed.), Seventeenth Century Science and the Arts, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1961,pp. 91-137; I., Vincenzo Galilei’s “Arrangements for Voice and Lute”, in G. R-R. J. S (eds.),Essays in Musicology in Honor of Dragan Plamenac, Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1969,pp. 207-232; I., Mersenne pro Galilei contra Zarlino, in F. C (ed.), Essays in Honour of DavidEvatt Tunley, Perth, University of Western Australia, 1995, pp. 61-72 (some reprinted in I., Studies in theHistory of Italian Music and Music Theory, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1994). In addition, see thepaper I., Was Galileo’s Father an Experimental Scientist? in V. C (ed.), Music and Science in theAge of Galileo, Dordrecht, Kluwer, 1992, pp. 143-152.

6Both Galilei, father and son, are considered among the protagonists of the “first stage of the ScientificRevolution” in H. F. C, Quantifying Music. The Science of Music at the First Stage of the Sci-entific Revolution (1580-1650), Dordrecht-Boston-Lancaster, Reidel, 1984, in the chapter ExperimentalApproach, pp. 78-79 (Vincenzo) and pp. 85-93 (Galileo).

7See V. C (ed.), Music and Science in the Age of Galileo, Dordrecht, Kluwer, 1992. The morerelevant contributions to the topic “Galileo and Music” are D, Music and Philosophy in the Age ofGalileo (cit. note 4); O. G, Kepler, Galilei, and the Harmony of the World, pp. 45-65; V. C,Musical Myth and Galilean Science in Giovanni Serodine’s “Allegoria della scienza”, pp. 91-114; R.E. B, Tickles, Titillations, and the Wonderful Accidents of Sounds: Galileo and the Consonances,pp. 129-141; P, Was Galileo’s Father an Experimental Scientist? (cit. note 5); H. M B,Vincenzo Galilei in Rome: His First Book of Lute Music (1563), pp. 153-184; R. L, In Tune withthe Universe: The Physics and Metaphysics of Galileo’s Lute, pp. 211-239.

8C. T, Galileo Galilei e la musica, “Chigiana”, n.s., 1964, pp. 249-260. The author outlines just fewreferences to the science of sound in the writings of Galileo.

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“Galileo and Music” a relevant part of his book La musica nell’epoca della rivoluzionescientifica, a milestone in this field of researches until the appearance of another bookby Gozza edited in Canada in 20009. The latter reprinted a short “reassessment” ofthe topic Galileo and Music by Floris Cohen10. A more recent book dealing with thistopic has been published in the Series of Scuola Normale di Pisa by Natasha Fabbri in2008, under the title Filosofia, Scienza e Musica in Mersenne, Descartes e Galileo11:her chapter L’harmonia nella scienza sperimentale e nella cosmologia di Galileo isa deep introduction to the music background of Galileo’s scientific thought. Amongother references, Fabbri quotes the positive opinions on Galileo musicus by such con-temporary experts as Mersenne12 and Descartes13. But it is quite evident that the fewbibliographical studies on “Galileo and Music” we have listed here are not exhaustive.

This paper will touch on the presence of the music in the scientific output ofGalileo, which could cover a full university course and which needs specific interdisci-plinary competences: Galileo was indeed a profound expert in Mathematics, Physics,Geometry, Astronomy, but also in Literature, Poetry and Music. My present purpose islimited to summing up the information we possess on the presence of the music in hisfamily households, from his youth to the end of his life, leaving a special place to thepractice of the lute.

The eminent lutenist Vincenzo, the father, has obviously the lion’s share in thispicture. It is difficult today to understand the importance given to music within a familyat the time of Galileo. Today music is considered no more than a soundtrack in thebackground of everyday life. At the end of the Renaissance age, on the contrary, musicwas something to be taken seriously: an interpretation of the Universe, to which it wasgiven an order through harmony and sound by a “God Musician” and “Geometrician”.This attitude is emphasized in treatises by the eminent scientists contemporaries ofGalileo: Kepler, Benedetti, Mersenne, Newton, Descartes and even experts of hermeticsciences such as Fludd and Kircher14.

9P. G, La musica nell’epoca della rivoluzione scientifica, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1989; I. (ed.), Numberto Sound. The Musical Way to the Scientific Revolution, Dordrecht, Kluwer, 2000.

10H. F. C, Galileo Galilei, in G (ed.), Number to Sound (cit. note 9), pp. 219-232, reprintedfrom I., Quantifying Music (cit. note 6), pp. 85-97. According to Cohen: “The core of Galileo’s musicaldiscourse consists of the combination of ideas of Benedetti’s, who had applied the vibrational nature ofmusical sound to the problem of consonance, and of Vincenzo Galilei’s, who had shown that there is morethan one type of ‘natural’ ratios for the consonances [. . . ] Whether or not Galileo owed much to his fatherand to Benedetti, he certainly handled the legacy in an independent way. As compared to Vincenzo [. . . ]he used in a more outspoken way the musical instrument as a source of experimental evidence for themusical theorist” (pp. 226-227).

11N. F, “De l’utilite de l’harmonie”. Filosofia, scienza e musica in Mersenne, Descartes e Galileo,Pisa, Edizioni della Scuola Normale, 2008.

12Galileo is called “mathematicien musicien” in a letter by Marin Mersenne sent in 1627 to L. Holste, hiscorrespondent in Rome, asking some technical questions to the scientist on consonances (P. T-C.

W (eds.), Correspondance du P. Marin Mersenne, 2nd ed., Paris, Editions du Centre National de laRecherche Scientifique, I, 1969, p. 603, cit. in F, De l’utilite de l’harmonie (cit. note 11), p. 168).

13According to Descartes: “Tout le meilleur est ce qu’il [Galileo] a de Musique”. Letter from Descartesto Mersenne, 11 October 1638, in T-W (eds.), Correspondance du P. Marin Mersenne (cit.note 12), VIII, p. 104, cit. in F, De l’utilite de l’harmonie (cit. note 11), p. 169.

14Among others, see D. P. W, Studies in Musical Science in the Late Renaissance, London, Brill,1978; D, Music and Philosophy in the Age of Galileo (cit. note 4); P, Was Galileo’s Father an

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It is very difficult to separate Galileo’s biography from his works, filled with ref-erences to instruments, strings and music. Take for instance the last book published byGalileo, Discorsi e Dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienze, publishedin 1638. Using the typical Renaissance dialogue form inherited from his father Vin-cenzo, Galileo introduces many astonishing intuitions, including the “visual nature ofsound”: he describes the possibility to see the structure of concentric circles that allowsthe diffusion of sound in a medium (the same effect provoked by the launch of a stonein a lake15).

Federico Cesi, Galileo’s colleague at Accademia dei Lincei, recalled the discus-sions he had with the Pisan scientist in Tivoli on “Musical proportions and their corre-spondences to the strings in musical instruments”16. But the authentic manifesto of hismusical thinking is the well known “favola musicale” which Galileo introduced in hisSaggiatore published in 1623, not necessary to recall here17.

The testing the quality and the tune of the strings has, of course, also symbolicimplications, since the lute is an easy representation of the harmony of the universe:a single broken string means the fault of harmony, as in the well known painting byHans Holbein the Younger, The Ambassadors (1533) in National Gallery, London (Fig-ure 1)18. The similar concept of the harmony restored in a private house is well repre-sented in Giovanni Cariani’s Concerto (1518-1520) in Washington, where a big lute is

Experimental Scientist? (cit. note 5); G, La musica nell’epoca della rivoluzione scientifica (cit. note9); I. (ed.), Number to Sound (cit. note 9); F, De l’utilite de l’harmonie (cit. note 11).

15G. G, Discorsi e Dimostrazioni matematiche, intorno a due nuove scienze attenenti alla Mecanica& I Movimenti locali, del Signor Galileo Galilei Linceo, Leiden, Elzeviri, 1638.

16“Le dispute filosofiche che vanno interserendo, o quanto sono belle e conformi al senso mio! Quella delleproportioni musicali et della rispondenza delle corde nelli istrumenti, che V. S. m’accenna, passammo giacopiosamente col S.r Galilei nostro in Tivoli; et veramente sarebbe bene, fusse pienamente distesa incarta [. . . ]”. Letter from Federico Cesi in Acquasparta to Giovanni Faber in Rome, 14 January 1619, inF (ed.), Opere di Galileo Galilei (cit. note 3), XII, p. 436. In the correspondence with Galileo Cesiis very active in sponsoring the Sanbuca Lincea, overo dell’Istromento musico perfetto, a music treatisepublished in 1618 by Fabio Colonna, a Neapolitan member of the Accademia dei Lincei and anotherscientist-musician in direct contact with Galileo. See Fabio Colonna: la musica lincea, in F, Del’utilite de l’harmonie (cit. note 11), pp. 180-186.

17G. G, Il Saggiatore nel quale con bilancia esquisita e giusta si ponderano le cose contenute nellaLibra Astronomica e Filosofica di Lotario Sarsi [. . . ] dal Signor Galileo Galilei Accademico LinceoNobile Fiorentino [. . . ], Roma, Mascardi, 1623, in F (ed.), Opere di Galileo Galilei (cit. note 3), VI,p. 197 ff.; repr. by F. F, Il Saggiatore, Torino, Einaudi, 1977, pp. 111-113; a translation is availablein S. D, Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo, New York, Anchor Books, 1957, pp. 256-258. Themusical allegory on the mystery of finding the origins of the sound, has been interpreted also as an answerto Galileo’s critics during the “affair”. See P. R, Galileo Heretic, Princeton, Princeton UniversityPress, 1987, pp. 28-67; C, Myth, Science and Serodine’s “Allegoria della Scienza”, (cit. note 7),with iconographic evidences; F, De l’utilite de l’harmonie (cit. note 11), pp. 189-196.

18A picture is available at http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/hans-holbein-the-younger-the-ambassadors. The bibliography on this masterwork and its subtle allegories is imposing. See the bib-liography and interpretations resumed in E. M, Hans Holbein the Younger: A Guide to Research,New York, Garland, 1997 and N. W, Hans Holbein the Younger, 1497/98-1543: the German Raphael,Koln, Taschen, 2004. In the website http://www.vanedwards.co.uk/month/jan01/month.htm David VanEdwards has inserted for useful comparison the two engravings we also reproduce here (Figure 2) frommusic treatises of the period, namely A. LR, A briefe and plaine Instruction, London, 1574, and M.M, Harmonie Universelle, Paris, 1636, illustrating the testing strings before use on a lute. It seemsnot noticed until now to the historian of arts the identity of Savoldo’s lute maker with the one attributed to

Galileo and Music: A Family Affair 61

Figure 1. Hans Holbein the Younger, Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve(The Ambassadors), detail, 1533, oil on oak, National Gallery, London.

painted in the middle of the family scene, immediately after a change of strings19. Inthese few examples chosen from the vast iconography of the lute in Renaissance arts, astrong importance is assigned to the strings and their tuning.

The art historian Mario Rosci has outlined the great value of the lute at the earlystage of the studies on the visual perspective: since the 15th century the instrumentwas reproduced in the tarsie of the Renaissance Studiolo del principe20. As noted firstby Jurgis Baltrusaitis, there is a parallel between the position of the lute in Holbein’sThe Ambassadors and an engraving by Albrecht Durer demonstrating a perspective de-vice starting on the body of a lute21. Also related to Holbein is the emblem of a lutewith a broken string found in Andrea Alciati’s Emblematum Liber (influential book firstpublished in Germany in 153122). Among the many allegories of lutes in Alciati, oneis striking, since it shows, acting in the place of the broken string, a cicada, i.e., thesame musical animal described at the end of the “favola musicale” in Galileo’s Sag-

Paolini. The gesture of testing the strings was very familiar in Galileo’s houses and one of the most easilyrelated to his “sensata esperienza” with strings.

19A picture is available at http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pinfo?Object=89609+0+none. Current interpreta-tions for this scene refers to Giorgione’s Three Ages but it remains not clear the meaning of the lute player.I would point out on the rule of the little box containing the strings on the table, in my opinion a clearsymbol of restored harmony between the other two characters, maybe members of the same family.

20M. R, E. Baschenis, in Pittori bergamaschi, Bergamo, Poligrafiche Bolis, 1985.

21J. B, Anamorphoses ou magie artificielle des effets merveilleux, Paris, Perrin, 1969, pp. 93-94. The engraving was printed in A. D, Underweysung der Messung mit dem Zirckel von Richtscheytin Linien ebnen unnd gantzen Corporen, Nuremberg, Hieronymus Andreas Formschneider, 1525.

22A. A, Viri Clarissimi D. Andreae Alciati Iurisconsultiss. Mediol. Ad D. Chonradum PeutingerumAugustanum, Iurisconsultum Emblematum Liber, Augsburg, Heinrich Steyner, 1531. Cf. M. F. S. H,Holbein’s “Ambassadors”: The Picture and the Men, London, George Bell & Sons, 1900, pp. 228-232.

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Figure 2. Left panel: Adrian LeRoy, A briefe and plaine Instruction, London,1574. Right panel: Marin Mersenne, Harmonie Universelle, Paris, 1636.

giatore. But the original source for this scene is the Greek story (recalled by Clementand Strabo) of the musician Eunomos winning a lyre competition with a broken string,thanks to a cicada spontaneously flying overhead, that hopped down and supplied themissing note with its chirp23.

The entire story is quoted also in Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia (3rd ed., Padua, 1611),with the curious addition that Aristoxenus erected a statue to Eunomio with his citternand the cicada24.

The multiple meanings of the lute in the Renaissance art allow tracing a stronginfluence on the young Galileo in his native family house full of instruments and play-ers. Not by chance the eminent painter called “Il Cigoli” is said to have learned theperspective from young Galileo, as we have seen the connection between the lute andthe art of perspective25. All Galileo’s first biographers recall his ability in playing luteand keyboard instruments:

(Viviani) [. . . ] Erano tra tanti suoi graditi trattenimenti nella musica pratica enel toccar li tasti e il leuto, nel quale, con l’esempio e l’insegnamento del padresuo, pervenne a tale eccellenza, che piu volte trovassi a gareggiare co’ primi pro-fessori di quei tempi in Firenze e in Pisa, essendo in tale strumento ricchissimod’invenzione e superando nella gentilezza e nella grazia del toccarlo il medesimopadre; qual soavita di maniera conservo sempre sino agli ultimi giorni [. . . ] In-tese mirabilmente la teorica della musica, e ne diede evidente saggio nella primaGiornata delli ultimi Dialoghi26.

23C A, Protrepticus, 1.2.4 and S, Geographica, 6.1.9 (citing as “authority”Timaeus).

24C,Myth, Science and Serodine’s “Allegoria della Scienza” (cit. note 7), p. 103.

25According to V, Racconto istorico (cit. note 3).

26Ibid.

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(Gherardini) [. . . ] In tutte le scienze o arti fu pratichissimo [. . . ] Dilettossi straor-dinariamente della musica, pittura e poesia27.

(Vincenzo Galilei Jr.) [. . . ] Tra le opere d’intavolatura di liuto composte dal padre

del Galileo, e alla stampa il Primo libro de’ contrapunti a quattro [sic!] voci;

ma molte altre non sono andate in luce. Fu Vincentio Galilei uomo singolare in

detto strumento, come anco in gioventu il Galileo, e non solo nel liuto, ma nello

strumento di tasti ancora [. . . ]28.

Galileo’s father, Vincenzo, was born in Florence and called himself a noblemaneven if his activity was mainly that of a tradesman and of a practical musician29. Around1560 Vincenzo settled in Pisa, where Galileo Galilei was born in 1564, the oldest ofmany children and during this period Vincenzo Galilei also studied in Venice withGioseffo Zarlino, the most renowned music theorist of his age. Later the Galilei familysettled in Florence where Vincenzo became a member of the group animated by Gio-vanni De Bardi Conte di Vernio, an Academy where the discussion was centered on thebest way to perform ancient Greek music. Vincenzo published a number of lute books(in the special music notation for the instrument called “tablature”) and a treatise onmusical theory. Indeed he is considered among the most influential theorists of his age.

Vincenzo’s first interest was the lute: in 1563, one year after his marriage withGiulia Ammannati he published his first book of tablature for the instrument. In 1568was published in Venice the first edition of Vincenzo’s famous treatise on lute playing,under the title Fronimo. Dialogo nel quale si contengono le vere et necessarie regoledell’intavolare la musica nel liuto. The second edition of this book, the most importantlute treatise ever published in Europe, appeared in 1584 (Figure 3)30.

27N. G, Vita di Galileo [Ms. c. 1654], in F (ed.), Opere di Galileo Galilei (cit. note 3),XIX, App. III, p. 645.

28V. G J. [Ms. notes post November 1664, in the miscellany Anteriori di Galilei, Firenze, BibliotecaNazionale Centrale], in F (ed.), Opere di Galileo Galilei (cit. note 3), XIX, App. III, p. 594.

29On the biography of Vincenzo Galilei, apart for the essays by Drake and Palisca cited at the notes 3 and 4,see A. F, Ascendenti e collaterali di Galileo Galilei, “Archivio storico italiano”, 5th ser., XLVII, 1911,pp. 346-378; F. F, Alcuni chiarimenti su Vincenzo Galilei, “Rassegna Musicale Italiana”, X, 1937, pp.85-92; N. P, Temperaments and Tendencies in the Florentine Camerata, “Musical Quarterly”, 40,1954, pp. 169-189; R. H. H, “Dialogo della musica antica et moderna” of Vincenzo Galilei, Ph.D.Thesis, University of North Texas, 1973; W, Some Aspects of the Musical Theory of Vincenzo Galileiand Galileo Galilei, in Studies in Musical Science in the Late Renaissance (cit. note 14), pp. 14-26; F.R, Der Musiktheoretiker Vincenzo Galilei und das Ende des “klassischen” Kontrapunkts, “Jahrbuchdes Staatlichen Instituts fur Musikforschung Preussischer Kulturbesitz”, 1979, pp. 19-34; H. F. C,Quantifying Music (cit. note 6), p. 78 ff.; C. O, Vincenzo Galilei: Catalogo tematico ragionatodelle sue opere musicali con particolare riferimento agli esemplari conservati nelle biblioteche italiane,Laurea Thesis, University of Pisa, 1986; proceedings of the conference held at Santa Maria a Monte1987, D. B-R. C (eds.), Vincenzo Galilei, Pontedera, Bandecchi & Vivaldi, 1988; V. G,Il Fronimo, C. O (ed.), XVI, 62, 1988, pp. 728; B, Vincenzo Galilei in Rome, in C (ed.),Music and Science in the Age of Galileo (cit. note 7); P. C, Tel pere, tel fils? Les opinionsesthetiques de la famille Galilei, “International Review of Aesthetics and Sociology of Music”, 23, 1992,pp. 27-42; I., Fronimo de Vincenzo Galilei, Tours, CESR-Minerve, 2001.

30Facsimile of the 1584 edition, Bologna, Forni, 1978, also available online at the website of the Bib-liotheque Nationale de France: http://gallica.bnf.fr:80/ark:/12148/bpt6k582176.image.f2. See also C-, Fronimo (cit. note 29).

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In Florence, Vincenzo had already published another pivotal treatise, fruit of thediscussions at the Bardi Camerata, and in particular with Girolamo Mei. The treatisewas published in 1581 under the title Dialogo della musica antica, et della moderna, inwhich we find strong evidence of his knowledge of the ancient Greek music theory31.

Vincenzo was for certainly the most prolific lute composer of his time, if we areto believe his immodest declaration in the second edition of Fronimo32:

[. . . ] I have intabulated for the lute all the nicest music extant in the world, in the

way that is possible to play them with an ordinary tuning [. . . ]. With the help of

God I hope to publish in the near future [. . . ]. Chansons Francais, espagnolles,

italiens, motets for a total average of three thousand pieces divided into one hun-

dred books.

And later on Vincenzo claimed to possess musical compositions of his own or byother composers no less than33:

[. . . ] 200 Ricerche and Fantasie on different subjects divided into 10 books

500 Romanesche

300 Pass’e mezzi

100 Gagliarde all different and in addition many arias on different subjects, Salta-relli etc.

And of all this would take no less than 10 books to publish [. . . ]

This impressive list of instrumental pieces is still nothing when compared to thequantity of polyphonic music he pretended to have already transcribed from originalsources by different eminent composers and intabulated for the lute–using a peculiarsystem he describes in Fronimo and testified also in his manuscript books preserved inthe National Library in Florence:

[. . . ] I have a total of 14,000 pieces of this sort of tablature for the lute of my

hand [. . . ]

31An early facsimile was edited by F. F, Roma, Reale Accademia d’Italia, 1934; other facsimile NewYork, Broude Brothers, 1967; see also H, Dialogo della musica antica et moderna (cit. note 29)and V. G, Dialogue on ancient and modern music, trans. with intr. and notes C. Palisca, New Haven,Yale University Press, 2003.

32V. G, Fronimo. Dialogo, Venezia, Scotto, 1584, p. 104. The sentence does not appear in thefirst edition, published 16 years before (Venezia, Scotto, 1568). But see the commentary of C,Fronimo (cit. note 29), p. 42 ff.: “Un simple calcul revele qu’a raison d’une piece par jour, il aurait fallu 38annees de travail a Galilei pour attaindre ce nombre! Le lecteur peut donc legitimement mettre sa parole endoute, meme si certains elements donnent a reflechir. Tout d’abord, le nombre total de madrigaux italiensfigurant dans les deux editions de Fronimo (qui approche les 200), s’il est loin du chiffre annonce par leluthiste florentin, represente neanmoins un ensemble qui n’a pas d’equivalent chez ses contemporains [. . . ]Meme s’il est peu probable qu’il ait effectivement mis 14000 pieces en tablature de luth, il faut garder al’esprit qu’il en a surement eu le desir et la volonte [. . . ] En conclusion, au-dela des chiffres evidemmentgonfles par Galilei, on peut retenir que Fronimo faisait partie d’un projet editorial beaucoup plus ambitieux[. . . ]”.

33All quotes are from G, Fronimo, (cit. note 32), p. 104.

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Figure 3. Frontispiece of Vincenzo Galilei, Fronimo. Dialogo, Venice, 1584 (leftpanel) and Michelangelo Galilei, Il primo libro d’intavolatura di liuto, Munich, 1620(right panel).

This incredible amount cannot be considered an exaggeration if we look at theonly extant manuscript by Vincenzo Galilei, which contains hundred of lute pieces in-serted on 272 pages34. Apart his practical activity and compositional skill, we shouldconsider Vincenzo also as a scientist, one of the first before his son Galileo to use an“empirical theory” to explain physical phenomena35. His tool for experiments was in-deed the lute. The practice on the instrument allowed Vincenzo to establish a differentperception of the consonances and dissonances36. He developed a tendency againstrigid rules. For instance, the parallel fifths, forbidden in the classical polyphony, cansound well in popular songs like the villanella, in particular thanks to the sweet soundof the gut strings of the lute. But the same popular piece, played on the metal stringsof a harpsichord, sounds disgusting. Against the Pythagorean theory of Medieval timesVincenzo used the new physical principles based on Aristoxenes (following the con-

34The autograph manuscript by Vincenzo Galilei, Libro d’intavolatura di liuto (Biblioteca Nazionale Cen-trale, Firenze, Ms. Gal. 6) is dated 1584, the same year of the second edition of Fronimo; cf. facsimile, O.C (ed.), Firenze, Spes, 1992.

35Cf. P, Was Galileo’s Father an Experimental Scientist? (cit. note 5).

36“Quel che di sopra vi ho provato in contrario con il mezzo del senso e sufficiente risposta intorno a tuttoquello che di piu havete detto, impero che dove l’esperientia e in contrario, non e da prudente l’addurreautorita [. . . ] e tutta volta che questi nostri sensi haveranno a fare giuditio de gl’oggetti loro particulari[. . . ] mi concederete ancora non potersi in modo alcuno ingannarsi, naturalmente parlando [. . . ]”. G,Fronimo (cit. note 32), 1584, p. 94.

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temporary lute treatise published by Bartholomeo Lieto in Naples in 155937). In thetuning of the instrument by the way of the strings’ length Vincenzo applied a ratiodifferent from that used in the past. Stillman Drake argued that Vincenzo performedthese experiments in 1588, when his son Galileo was living at home, so that his son–already involved in mathematics–actually helped the father in those experiments38. Inother words: Galileo derived from his father the attitude to solve theoretical questionsthrough the experiment, thus combining practical considerations with theory.

It is not by chance that the most relevant attitude of a scientific method can befound in two manuscript treatises by Vincenzo inherited after his death by Galileo, asrevealed by Claude Palisca39. Another feature used by both father and son was thePlatonic form of the Dialogue in order to present scientific ideas. Fronimo introducedtwo protagonists, the master “Fronimo” (from the Greek “Phronimos”, a learned man)and the pupil “Eumatio” (from the Greek “Eumathes”, an easy learner)40.

Galileo inherited Vincenzo’s duel skills, both in theory and practical music, asdemonstrated during his entire life, and in particular in his last treatise Discorsi e di-mostrazioni matematiche published in 1638. But it is Galileo’s private correspondencethat best shows his practical music competence41. In 1592, when still a student inPadua, Galileo received a letter where “the lute remained in his hands at his desires”is mentioned42. One year later his mother Giulia Ammannati from Florence asked,in name of the younger brother Michelangelo, Galileo’s help to obtain “certe sonate”(“some sonatas”) from a certain “Monsu” in Florence43.

37B L P, Dialogo quarto di musica dove si ragiona sotto un piacevole discorsodelle cose pertinenti per intavolare le opere di musica et esercitarle con la viola a mano over liuto con suetavole ordinate per diversi gradi alti e bassi, Napoli, Cancer, 1559; cf. facsimile, P. B (ed.), Lucca,Lim, 1993.

38D, Music and Philosophy in Early Modern Science (cit. note 4). See also I., The Role of Music inGalileo’s Experiments (cit. note 4).

39C. P, The Florentine Camerata: Documentary Studies and Translations, New Haven, Yale Univer-sity Press, 1989. The treatises are quite important in the history of acoustics and they anticipated severalobservations on the generation of sound later made by Galileo, using strings and other material associatedto the lute. The same I., Was Galileo’s Father an Experimental Scientist? (cit. note 5), p. 147 set outat Yale University to replicate an experiment of stringing an original 17th-century lute in the UniversityCollection of Musical Instruments, in the same way as indicated in one of Vincenzo’s manuscript treatise:V. G, Discorso particolare intorno all’unisono, ed. and trans. P, The Florentine Camerata(this note), pp. 198-207.

40L, Dialogo quarto (cit. note 37) introduces “Lieto” as the master and “Rosso” as pupil, a virtuosolute player totally unaware in music theory.

41The correspondence of Galileo is published in F (ed.), Opere di Galileo Galilei (cit. note 3) innine volumes: X (1574-1610), XI (1611-1613), XII (1614-1619), XIII (1620-1628), XIV (1629-1632),XV (1633), XVI (1634-1636), XVII (1637-1638), XVIII (1639-1642).

42“[. . . ] Il liuto resto nelle sue mani, et sin hora deve V. S. haverne fatto il suo volere. Et me le raccomandodi tutto cuore [. . . ]”. Letter from Benedetto Zorzi in Venice to Galileo in Padua, 12 December 1592, inF (ed.), Opere di Galileo Galilei (cit. note 3), X, pp. 50-51.

43“[. . . ] Ho auto una lettera da Michelangniolo, cola qual mi pregava che io andassi a trovare il Monsu, eche lo pregassi che gli mandassi parecchie sonate; pero vi sono ita molte altre volte, e anno fatto dire dinon vi essere. Hora i’o inteso da Benedetto, che vi e stato piu volte, come lui ha detto che voi havete datocerte sonate in costa a non so che signori, i quali anno mandato qua tutti i principii col chiedergline di altresorte che quelle havevano, per il che l’a ‘uto per male, non ne vol piu dare a nessuno. In pero se vi paressi

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In the correspondences of Galileo we even find some original references dealingwith musical instruments. For example in a letter of 1612 where the scientist is in-formed of the death of “Cristoforo Vendelino”, one of the most important lute makersactive in Italy, descending from the famous German family Tieffenbrucker44. Galileoseems very interested in trying to recover from the lute maker’s atelier an unusual “Li-uto tiorbato o liuto veramente con due manichi”45 and his correspondent in Padua isinstructed to consult for expertise Antonio Terzi, a famous lute composer from Berg-amo46. In 1613 the painter Ludovico Cardi, reassured Galileo: he had been successfulin finding for him in Rome the best strings made in Abruzzo (“two dozens [. . . ] of verygood quality”). Galileo had already addressed in 1612 to the painter a famous letter full

di scrivere 4 versi al Sig. Cosimo Ridolfi, e vedere se per suo mezzo ne potessi aver qualcuna, sott’ombradi voler inparare lui; se no, aspettar di venir qua voi [. . . ]”. Letter from Giulia Ammanati in Florence toGalileo in Padua, 29 May 1593, in ibid., p. 61.

44“Messer Christoforo Vendelino e morto; pure sono rimasi i suoi giovani, et io mettero studio accioche V.S. resti servita del liuto [. . . ]”. Letter from Lorenzo Pignoria in Padua to Galileo in Florence, 12 October1612, in F (ed.), Opere di Galileo Galilei (cit. note 3), XI, p. 414. In spite of the accurate researcheson the german lute makers active in Italy, there is still a confusion in between the different members of theeminent family of Tieffenbrucker. It seems that in fact Lorenzo Pignoria had given mistakenly the name ofthe lute maker, since “Christoforo” and “Vendelin” are two different people: Christofoto Heberle was theson of Wendelin I Heberle and nephew of Leonardo Tieffenbrucker (the matter for the change of the familyname is not clear). It is plausible that Pignoria has simply indicated the lute maker as “Christoforo [son of]Vendelin”. First connection with “M. Cristoforo” is in the letter sent byMichelagnolo Galilei to his brotherGalileo on 27 April 1611 (cit. note 49). In any case this information is very important for the organologicalstudies, since the date of death for Christoforo Heberle was unknown and also because he was the makerof the famous experimental “arciliuto” projected by Alessandro Piccinini in Padua around 1594. See G.M. O, The Tieffenbruckers and the Business of Lute-Making in Sixteenth-Century Venice, “GalpinSociety Journal”, XLIV, 1991, pp. 46-54; P. K, Some New Facts about Vendelio Venere, “The Lute”,34, 1994, pp. 26-32. On the music context around Galileo in Padua see also G. C, Galileo e lavita musicale padovana tra i secoli XVI-XVII, in Galileo a Padova, 1592-1610, Trieste, Lint, V, 1995:Occasioni galileiane, pp. 129-131, 140-147.

45“Del liuto, questi heredi di M. Cristoforo mi dicono che haveranno cosa a proposito; ma mostrano didubitare se V. S. vuole o liuto tiorbato o liuto veramente con due manichi, si che sara contenta a dirmenedue parole, o tirare due segni con la penna nella lettera di risposta: che hora, essendo passato il diluvio,si potra mandare a buon viaggio [. . . ]”. Letter from Lorenzo Pignoria in Padua to Galileo in Florence,23 November 1612, in F (ed.), Opere di Galileo Galilei (cit. note 3), XI, pp. 435-436. The firsthistorical evidence for a double-neck lute (“liuto a due manichi”) is in the inventory of the Fugger familyin Augsburg, dated 1566 (see D. A. S, The Musical Instrument Inventory of Raymund Fugger, “GalpinSociety Journal”, XXIII, 1980, p. 37). This early model was probably an experiment of the late “liutotiorbato”, i.e., a normal Renaissance lute with a secondary neck to join extrabasses (an usage condemnedby Vincenzo Galilei in Fronimo, 1584). In the following letter of 28 December 1612 (cit. note 46) the luteis called “tiorbato”: but it is probably that the instrument so interesting to Galileo was another experimentmade by Heberle at the end of the 16th century for reproducing the Greek “chromatic” and “enharmonic”systems of tuning, similarly to the archicembalo by Vicentino. I would also outline the reference toGalileo’s ability of drawing a lute (“tirare due segni con la penna”). Under pressure from Galileo, hiscorrespondent answered that the instrument was prepared to be sent in January 1613. Letter from LorenzoPignoria in Padua to Galileo in Florence, 25 January 1613, in ibid., p. 469. This is the last mention of thislute in Galileo’s correspondence.

46“[. . . ] Io ho veduto quanto V. S. comanda nella lettera a Mons.r Arciprete circa ’l liuto tiorbato; et tanto

s’eseguira. E ben vero ch’io non m’intendo cosı a punto di queste cose; pure m’ingegnaro di servirla co’l parere di qualche amico, et credo che sara a proposito il S.r Antonio Terzo [. . . ]”. Letter from LorenzoPignoria in Padua to Galileo in Florence, 28 December 1612, in ibid., pp. 451-452. The expert named asconsultant is the famous lutenist Giovanni Antonio Terzi from Bergamo, author of two large collectionsof lute music published in Venice by Amadino in 1593 and Vincenti in 1599.

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of artistic and musical references47. Some correspondent ask Galileo about new instru-ments and other music inventions, confident in his competence48. And strings and lutesrecur of course in the correspondence with his brother Michelangelo, a professionalmusician49.

Michelangelo or Michelagnolo, born in 1575, at the age of 9 was already so ex-pert in composition to sign the dedication of his father’s book of Contrappunti a due

voci50. After Vincenzo’s death he was received and in part educated in Galileo’s homein Padua. After many attempts by Galileo to find a good patron for him in Florence(on the occasion of the famous Medici Wedding in 1600) and in Poland (in the serviceof the Prince Radziwill51). Michelangelo finally moved to Munich, where he becamethe lute player at the court of the Duke of Bavaria. This was the same prince visitedin 1578 by Vincenzo and of course the celebrity of Galileo, following the first usageof the cannochiale in 1609 helped in the choice of Michelangelo Galilei as court musi-cian: Galileo sent from Padua to the Duke books and scientific instruments, includingthe cannochiale. In turn Michelangelo, who sometimes discussed competently with

47“[. . . ] Mando a V. S. le venti dozzine di corde, conforme a quello ch’ella chiede; et per averle buoneho usato cor uno amico quella diligenza che io ho saputo, perch’ella venga servita [. . . ] [p.s.:] Le cordele consegniai al procaccio detto Chiarino, che parte domattina di Roma per costa. Fatevele dare”. Letterfrom Ludovico Cardi (alias Il Cigoli) in Rome to Galileo in Florence, 3 May 1613, in ibid., pp. 501-502.The letter from Galileo in Florence to Cardi in Rome on 26 June 1612 is a manifesto of the Galileo’scompetence in fine arts and contains a well known reference to a typical monody performance: “Nonammireremmo noi un musico, il quale cantando e rappresentandoci le querele e le passioni d’un amanteci muovesse a compassionarlo, molto piu che se piangendo cio facesse? e questo, per essere il cantoun mezzo non solo diverso, ma contrario ad esprimere i dolori, e le lagrime et il pianto similissimo. Emolto piu l’ammireremmo, se tacendo, col solo strumento, con crudezze et accenti patetici musicali, ciofacesse, per esser le inanimate corde meno atte a risvegliare gli affetti occulti dell’anima nostra, che lavoce raccontandole [. . . ]” in ibid., pp. 340-343.

48See for instance the letter from Giovanni Antonio Roffeni in Bologna to Galileo in Florence, 11 October1611: “[. . . ] addimanda certe dichiarationi d’una maravigliosa proposta fatta, nella citta dove egli si trova,

da persona di valore. Non truovo sogetto che mi dii lume: forse potra lei sapermene dar qualche puoco. Eproposta fatta ad un’Altezza, e l’amico, di ordine suo, devesi abboccare seco, et avanti ne ricercava qualchedichiaratione. Senti, per cortesia. Professa di dare in luce un maraviglioso theatro di stupenda armonia,col vero termine del genere multiplice, dal quale ogni professore dell’arte musica potra in un momentoimpatronirsi del maraviglioso secreto d’accordare l’otto con il nove, vero contrapunto, et di divider l’unitadi tutti li tuoni, di tutti li semituoni, di tutti li diesis, e di cavare la radice quadrata e di moltiplicare per tuttii lati, che servira per la cognitione di tutte le dodici parte della musica, non conosciuta sin hora se non unaparte sola [. . . ]” in ibid., pp. 217-218.

49See as an example the letter from Michelagnolo in Munich to Galileo in Rome, 27 April 1611: “[. . . ] lelettere al S.r Giovanbatista Crivelli, per la via del quale riceverete questa, non vi scordando pero le corde,che ne sono in gran necessita. M. Cristoforo me ne mando da Padova dui mazzetti, che non son buone aniente [. . . ]” in ibid., pp. 95-97. The scarce attention reserved to the “third” Galilei is revealed by the poorbibliography on him, limited to the introductions to two facsimile editions of his only printed book: D. A.S, Introduction to: Michelangelo Galilei: Il primo libro d’intavolatura di liuto, facsimile, Munich,1981; C. C, Introduction to Michelangelo Galilei: Il primo libro d’intavolatura di liuto, facsimile,Geneva, 1988. See also D. F, Introduction to Michelagnolo Galilei. Sonatas from “Il primo librod’intavolatura di liuto” (1620), CD recording (P. Beier, lute), Nuova Era, 6869, 1990.

50Cf. A. E, Vincenzo Galilei and the Instructive Duo, “Music and Letters”, XVIII, 1937, pp. 360-368.

51Michelangelo had been sent to Poland by Galileo in 1593, as noticed by their sister Livia in a letter fromFlorence to Galileo in Padua, 1 May 1593, in F (ed.), Opere di Galileo Galilei (cit. note 3), X, p. 60.

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Galileo about scientific matters, dedicated to the Duke of Bavaria in 1620 his first bookof lute tablature (Figure 3)52.

In spite of the achievements of Michelangelo’s international career, Galileo con-tinued to help for the rest of his life not only his brother but also his nephews, asdocumented in dozens of family’s letters. Many letters refer not only to the choice ofthe best strings in Italy53, to the lutes in the Galileo’s house, but also to the troublescaused by Michelangelo’s finances or by his sons traveling in Italy54. In one case iscited a past student of their father Vincenzo55.

Michelangelo married Clara Bandinelli–the daughter of a bass singer in the Mu-nich Ducal Chapel–they had no less than 7 children56. The first son, named Vincenzoafter the grand-father, was also a virtuoso lutenist: he was sent to Italy by the Duke in1627 to enhance his musical education in Rome, then dominated by such masters asFrescobaldi, Piccinini, Falconieri, Orazio Michi dell’Arpa, Kaspsberger and others57.

After Michelangelo’s death, in 1631, Vincenzo Jr., a hooligan who caused seriousconcerns for his uncle Galileo, returned to Munich in order to assume the position of hisfather in the Ducal Chapel up to 1640. Another child of Michelangelo, Alberto Cesare,born in 1617, was also sent to Italy, for musical training, and was later active as lutenist

52M. G, Il primo libro d’intavolatura di liuto di Michelagnolo Galilei nobile fiorentino liutista delser.mo sig.r duca Massimiliano di Baviera. Nel quale si contengono varie sonate: come toccate, gagliarde,correnti, volte, passemezzi, saltarelli. Novamente composto e dato in luce in Monaco di Baviera MDCXX.In addition to the two facsimile editions (cit. note 49), there is also a modern transcription for guitar R.C (ed.),Michelangelo Galilei, “Il primo libro d’intavolatura di liuto”, Milano, Suvini Zerboni, 1977.The collection was already prepared even before is arrival in Munich, and some piece was first publishedin lute anthologies (Besard, Fuhrmann, Mertel, Mylius) while others circulated in manuscripts. It seemsthat this circulation was limited to Southern German countries.

53See note 47.

54The story has been reconstructed in C, Introduction to “Il primo libro d’intavolatura di liuto”(cit. note 49) and F, Introduction to “Il primo libro d’intavolatura di liuto” (cit. note 49).

55“Li dui giorni che o hauto li libri appresso di me, li o fatti vedere a diversi signori int[en]denti, i qualirestono stupiti di s miracoloso trovato, et in particolar il Sig.r Talbotto, signore principalissimo Inghilese,stato scolar[o] di nostro padre gia circa 30 anni fa; et dice cognoscervi voi ancora, et per esser intendentis-simo di tal proffesione, resta marav[i]gliatissimo; et vi saluta caramente [. . . ]”. Letter from MichelagnoloGalilei in Munich to Galileo in Florence, 14 April 1610, in F (ed.), Opere di Galileo Galilei (cit. note3), X, pp. 312-314. Cf. C, Fronimo (cit. note 29), p. 25.

56K. T, Die Familie Galilei in Munchen, “Jahrbuch fur Munchener Geschichte”, III, 1889, pp.553-554.

57“Qua si e fatto un vivere dispietato, e bisogna consumarsi stentando, massimamente io che mi trovocarico di sette figliuoli. Il primo e Vincenzo, del quale per ancora non o risoluzione alcuna dove sia pervoltarsi, ma penso pure sara a Roma, volendo quest’Altezza piu presto suggetti atti per servitio della suacappella che di camera, cosa che in Francia non potria conseguirsi, per non sonarsi la di musica [. . . ]”.Letter from Michelagnolo Galilei in Munich to Galileo in Florence, 5 May 1627, in F (ed.), Operedi Galileo Galilei (cit. note 3), XIII, pp. 353-355. Vincenzo Jr., who had “sonato avanti l’imperatore” inOctober 1619, was sent by the Duke to Rome with a fellowship of 220 fiorini and his sejour was organizedby Mons. Giovanni Ciampoli, secretary of Pope Urbain VIII and Galileo’s friend, with the assistance ofBenedetto Castelli. The celebrated lute and tiorba player Giovanni Girolamo Kaspberger declared to beavailable to host Vincenzo and later the French lutenist “Renatto” offered classes to the young Alberto.See C, Introduction to “Il primo libro d’intavolatura di liuto” (cit. note 49), pp. 11-13, and relatednotes

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Figure 4. Anonymous, Ricercare, ms. Galilei 9, f. 24r, Biblioteca Nazionale Cen-trale, Firenze.

at the Bavarian Court until his death in 169258. He was probably the last musician inthe Galilei family. Yet we must mention another name, Galileo’s daughter known as

58First mention of the lute competence of the younger son of Michelangelo is reported in 1628: “[. . . ]Albertino non potrei piu soffrire che perdessi il suo tempo, et a questo bisogneria provvedere, accio se-guitassi li studi e sopra tutto il liuto, e se costı non c’e occasione, veder di mandarlo in qualche luogo;et in ultimo mancando ogni comodita, bisogneria rimandarlo qua con prima buona occasione [. . . ]”. Let-ter from Michelagnolo Galilei in Munich to Galileo in Florence, 5 April 1628, in F (ed.), Opere diGalileo Galilei (cit. note 3), XIII, pp. 408-409. On the following music training of Albertino see C,Introduction to “Il primo libro d’intavolatura di liuto” (cit. note 49), p. 13.

Galileo and Music: A Family Affair 71

Suor Maria Celeste. In her ardent correspondences with the scientist, the girl declaredto be a musician59. In a letter of 1629, for instance, she asked to be allowed to returnto her father a chitarrone (long neck lute) that she hadn’t played for a long time; and inreturn she asked to be sent breviari, i.e., books of prayer to be read together with theother nuns60.

Apart the already mentioned Marin Mersenne and Fabio Colonna, in Galileo’sletters we find also the names of celebrated musicians such as Girolamo Mei, Ja-copo Corsi, Giovanni de Bardi, Giovan Battista Doni, Alfonso Fontanelli, AthanasiusKircher, the female composer Francesca Caccini daughter of the singer Giulio Caccini,and the singer Francesco Rasi. The latter, in his letter dating from 1613, mentioned hisdeep friendship with Michelangelo Galilei61.

Galileo traced the oroscopo for both the unlucky Francesco Rasi andMichelagnoloGalilei62.

In the miscellaneous manuscript Anteriori di Galileo 9 of the National Libraryin Florence, a collection of madrigals copied in “reversed score” by Vincenzo Galilei(in order to prepare a lute intabulations), a single sheet can be found in a different

59Suor Maria Celeste owned in the convent a guitar received from her father. See A. B, Galileo e SuorMaria Celeste,Milano, All’insegna del pesce d’oro, 1965, p. 19. See also D. S, Galileo’s Daughter:a Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love, New York, Walker & Co., 1999.

60“[. . . ] Vorrei anco sapere s’ella si contentassi di far un baratto con noi, cio e ripigliarsi un chitarronech’ella ci dono parecchi anni sono, e donarci un breviario a tutte due; gia che quelli che havemmo quandoci facemmo monache, sono tutti stracciati, essendo questi gl’instrumenti che adopriamo ogni giorno, oveche quello [chitarrone] se ne sta sempre alla polvere e va a risico d’andar male, essendo costretta, per nonfar scortesia, a mandarlo in presto fuor di casa qualche volta. Se V. S. si contenta, me ne dara avviso, acciopossa mandarlo [. . . ]”. Letter from Virginia Galilei (alias Suor Maria Celeste) in S. Matteo di Arcetri toGalileo in Bello Sguardo di Arcetri, 22 March 1629, in F (ed.), Opere di Galileo Galilei (cit. note3), XIV, p. 27. But still in 1633 she sends to Galileo a mottetto asking in change some “sinfonia o qualchericercare per l’organo”. Letter from Suor Maria Celeste in S. Matteo di Arcetri to Galileo in Siena, 3December 1633, in F (ed.), Opere di Galileo Galilei (cit. note 3), XV, p. 342. Also MichelangeloGalilei had at least one daughter musician, Mechtilde or Melchilde, but she renounced to the convent:“[. . . ] Melchilde o levata dalle monache per degni rispetti, come a suo tempo intenderete; hora attendeal latino, sonare d’istrumento e liuto [. . . ]”. Letter from Michelagnolo Galilei in Munich to Galileo inFlorence, 22 March 1628, in F (ed.), Opere di Galileo Galilei (cit. note 3), XIII, pp. 401-402.

61“[. . . ] Ha molto tempo che V. S. non havra havuto novelle di me, ne meno io di lei, perche, da ch’io laveddi gli anni adietro in coteste parti, essendo poi corse tante mie disgrazie e travagli acerbissimi, sonostato costretto a penar piu tosto che far godere altrui, non potendo con mie lettere, come particolarmenteio soleva far con V. S., porgendole alcuna materia di piacere, e non di noia [. . . ]”. Letter from FrancescoRasi in Mantua to Galileo in Florence, 28 January 1613, in F (ed.), Opere di Galileo Galilei (cit. note3), XI, pp. 472-474. First mention of Rasi in Munich occurre in November 1612: “[. . . ] Il S.r FrancescoRasi si trova di presente qui, quale, essendo stato a Praga con l’Ecc.mo S.r D. Vincentio Gonzaga, li fuforza restarsene la mediante una malattia sopraggiuntali: pure si e riauto in maniera che s’e condotto sinqui, dove di nuovo si e tornato a rammalare, et per 6 giorni hauto gran dolori colici; pure comincia a stareassai bene, et quanto prima potra si fara sentire a quest’Altezze, et poi tornarsene a Mantova, con fermoproponimento di non uscir mai piu d’Italia. In tanto vi si raccomanda con affetto, et in breve lui stesso viscrivera piu a lungo circa l’esser suo”. Letter of Michelagnolo Galilei in Munich to Galileo in Florence,21 November 1612, in ibid., pp. 432-433.

62See the already mentioned letter from Francesco Rasi in Mantua to Galileo in Florence, 28 January 1613:“[. . . ] che se io le havessi significato lo stato mio, ella m’harebbe forte compatito, essendomi puntalmenteoccorse (cossa di stupore) tutte quelle disgrazie che gia V. S. in facendo molti anni sono in quel mio studioin Mantova la mia figura [i.e., the horoscope], quasi da scherzo in un subito mi dicea [. . . ]”, in ibid., pp.472-474. The horoscope for Michelangelo has been reproduced and analyzed in C, Introduction to“Il primo libro d’intavolatura di liuto” (cit. note 49), p. 29-30.

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hand, which includes a manuscript Ricercare intabulated for solo lute probably at theend of the 16th century. This sheet is attributed to “Vincenzo Juniore” in the Librarycatalogue63. The style of the music, written anonymously at the very end of the 16th

century, is too modern for Vincenzo (death in 1595) and too old-fashioned for bothMichelangelo or his son Vincenzo Jr.: even without any evidence, I like the idea thatthis could be the only remaining piece of lute music composed by the young GalileoGalilei (Figure 4).

Acknowledgments. I wish to thank Terrell Stone, Pierluigi Petrobelli, and EnricoMaria Corsini for having improved the English version of my paper and in general fortheir suggestions on the text.

63Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Ms. Galilei 9: Galilei Junione [sic!]. Musica: “Madrigali acinque voci, in partitura, con la divisione del tempo”’. The “reverse” tablature was a practice suggestedby Vincenzo Galilei to prepare an easy transfer into tablature of the single voices of a madrigal, in originalprinted in separate part-books. The single piece in lute tablature is on f. 24r.