Musica Toscana, Inc., was a nonprofit cultural, educational, and musicological organization located in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, that promoted the musical heritage of the Tuscan region of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It was founded in 1999 under the leadership of the

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

Robert L. Weaver, a retired faculty member of the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

. Musica Toscana was headed by Margaret M. Guarnieri after 2007. As of 2012, the organization ceased operations. It maintained a reciprocal membership with the

period instrument In the historically informed performance movement, musicians perform classical music using restored or replicated versions of the instruments for which it was originally written. Often performances by such musicians are said to be "on authentic ...

ensemble

Auser Musici Auser Musici is a period instrument ensemble centered in Pisa that specializes in early music repertory from the Tuscan region of Italy. History, Mission, and Activities The ensemble was founded in 1997 by the flautist Carlo Ipata and has performe ...

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

, Italy. One of the principal reasons for the creation of Musica Toscana was the acquisition in 1984 of the private music library of the Italian Ricasoli family by the Dwight Anderson Music Library of the University of Louisville. At the time, the Ricasoli collection was one of the largest private collections of eighteenth-century music remaining in the world. The collection originated with Baron Pietro Leopoldo Ricasoli in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

and was once in the possession of Baron

Bettino Ricasoli Bettino Ricasoli, 1st Count of Brolio, 2nd Baron Ricasoli (; 9 March 180923 October 1880) was an Italian statesman. He was a central figure in the politics of Italy during and after the unification of Italy. He led the Moderate Party. Biography ...

, a founding father of the modern Italian state and one of its first

prime ministers A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

.An overview of the musical patronage of the Ricasoli family and a catalog of the holdings of their music collection is provided in ''The Music Library of a Florentine Noble Family'' (Sterling Heights, Mich: Harmonie Park Press, 2012), . The principal goal of Musica Toscana was to promote music written in Tuscany, performed in Tuscany, or written by Tuscan composers active outside of Tuscany that originated from the period 1590-1850, an era of political, culture, and economic decline in the region, but one of continued musical importance that saw the birth of

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

in the 1590s and the invention of the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

a century later. Musica Toscana oversaw the publication of a series of scholarly and performing editions, the ''Monuments of Tuscan Music'', and sponsored concerts and lectures devoted to its repertory of interest, sometimes in collaboration with

Bourbon Baroque Bourbon Baroque is a period instrument ensemble from Louisville, Kentucky. It specialises in historical informed performance of the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. History Bourbon Baroque was founded by harpsichordist John Austin Clark a ...

. Only four of many planned volumes of the ''Monuments of Tuscan Music'' series appeared before the dissolution of the organization. {{Reflist

External links

Barone Ricasoli
Ricasoli history Arts organizations based in Louisville, Kentucky Culture of Tuscany Culture in Florence Music organizations based in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Louisville, Kentucky Organizations established in 1999 Organizations disestablished in 2012 1999 establishments in Kentucky 2012 disestablishments in Kentucky

See also

External links