Music-selling in seventeenth-century Rome: three ... - Patrizio Barbieri

Music-selling in seventeenth-century Rome 139Piazza di Pasquino, an area that in the meantime had become more suitable for hiscommercial activities (Fig. 3). There, in 1666, he passed on, leaving his publishing andbook-selling activities to his son Federico. 291686. Federico however was not as lucky in his activities as his predecessors. On16 July, at the instance of his creditors, a general inventory of his assets was compiled:the part concerning musical publications is transcribed in Appendix III. 30 Toward theend of the following month, he too died. On 22 December as many as forty-onecreditors meet together, including ten booksellers who were his suppliers: Anissonand Huguettan of Lyon, Nicolò Pezzana and Giovanni Bersano of Venice, GiacomoCadovino of Padua, Davico of Bologna, and four others from Rome (LeonardoChouet, Giuseppe Lorenzo Saltini, Felice Cesaretti, and the heirs of the late GiovanniCapranica). 31 The notarial deeds relating to the repayment of the said creditorsare encountered at least up to 1690. 32 Under such circumstances, Federico’s sonsabandoned their father’s activity and, within a few years, the family died out (Fig. 1). 33His shop on Piazza di Pasquino (at the corner of Via dei Leutari) was made overto Vincenzo de Romanis, and continued its bookselling activity. The inventory ofgoods drafted at the latter’s death in 1716 reveals the presence of many books onlegal subjects and various branches of learning, but not even one dealing with music.De Romanis, like Federico Franzini, left fairly hefty debts, mostly to the followingbooksellers who were his suppliers: Paolo Baglioni and Nicolò Pezzana of Venice,Anisson, Posuel, and Rigaud of Lyon 34 The sale of musical publications had for sometime transferred to the stationer-bookseller-publisher Sebastiano Testa (c1657–1729),whose shop at the sign ‘del Cembalo’ was also located on Piazza di Pasquino. Towardthe end of the 17th century, interest in instrumental music had started to pick up:Testa is known to have reprinted at his own expense Corelli’s second work and perhapseven his third (1701). 3529. Again, in about 1650, the family’s finances must still have been satisfactory, since in those yearsFederico, in his father’s name, rented out an apartment in the house in which he lived: AS, 30 Not. Cap.,uff. 25, vol. 246, f. 78, 4.1.1650; id, vol. 248, f. 193, 16.9.1651.30. AS, Notai A.C., vol. 6448, fs. 404r–502r, 16.7.1686.31. AS, Notai A.C., vol. 6449, f. 538, 22.12.1686: “Congregatio dd. creditoribus q. FedericiFranzini”.32. AS, Notai A.C., vol. 6458, f. 493 (18.8.1690) and f. 498 (23.9.1690).33. With regard to the inheritance due to Federico’s sons, Giovanni Battista and Tommaso, see AS,Notai A.C., vol. 6460, f. 103, 3.3.1692. On the related events, see franchi, Le impressioni sceniche, p. 286.34. Roma, Archivio Capitolino, Inventario Generale Urbano, sez. 19, prot. 80 (not. Antonio BonifacioSenepa), unnumbered folios, 23.9.1716: inventory of goods of the late Vincenzo de Romanis, “bibliopolain Platea Pasquini”. Debts for 406.15 scudi. Among the creditors: “Il sig. Paolo Baglioni mercante di libriin Venetia deve havere per tanti libri mandati scudi 124.80; Il sig. Nicolò Pezzana mercante di libri inVenetia deve havere per tanti libri mandati scudi 144.80; Si deve a’ sig. i Anisson, Posuel, e Rigaud mercantidi libri in Lione di Francia per tanti libri da medesimi mandati scudi 70.-”.35. See the inventory of his music books in patrizio barbieri, “Musica, tipografi e librai a Roma:tecnologie di stampa e integrazioni biografiche (1583–1833)”, Recercare, vii, 1995, pp. 47–85: 79–80 (alsoat www.patriziobarbieri/pdf/recercarevii.pdf).