Domenico Colla was an 18th-century

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

n composer and performer who traveled Europe in the 1760s, performing in the most important theaters and salons. Together with his brother Giuseppe, he was one of the Signori Colla, or the Colla brothers. The brothers played in royal circles; they performed before

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

in 1765 in the palace at

Sanssouci Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...

. 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 ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

, 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 free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electable position in Europe (16t ...

. The brothers played the

colascione The colascione (or calascione, Italian: [], French: ''colachon'' [], 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 perio ...

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''; fa, دوتار, dutâr; russian: Дутар; tg, дутор; ug, دۇتار, ucy=Дутар, Dutar; uz, dutor; ; dng, Дутар) is a traditional Iranian long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran and ...

tanbur The term ''Tanbur'' ( fa, تنبور, ) can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia. According to the ''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', "terminology presents a compli ...

. 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''
/ref> *''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.RISM page for Colla's sonatas.
{{Authority control 18th-century Italian composers 18th-century Italian male musicians