Riccardo Rognoni

Riccardo Rognoni (c. 1550 – before 20 April 1620) is the earliest known member of the Rognoni family which started one of the earliest of all violin schools, based in Milan. He authored the first known method specifically for the violin - "Passaggi". He was directly involved in taking the violin from a street instrument to court instrument in the Lombard area. Some of his excellent violin pupils include his sons Francesco and Giovanni Domenico.

The Rognoni family was bestowed the noble title "Taegio" by emperor Sigismund III of Poland in 1605.

Riccardo writes in the title of "Passaggi" that he was "expelled from the Val Tagegia" and the records of bloody conflicts between Milan and Venice in the area explain why he arrived in Milan as a Ghibelline fugitive. Picinelli describes him as an "excellent player of the violin and other string and wind instruments, who succeeded in becoming an Orpheus in his day." Paolo Morigia reported that he was "much praised for his playing of the viola and judged among the finest of the City."

His "Passaggi" and only one instrumental work survices: a piece in an anthology printed by Gastoldi: "Il primo libro della musica a due voci", Milan, 1598.

References

*"Passaggi per potersi esercitare nel diminuire terminatamente con ogni sorte d'instrumento et anco diversi passaggi per la semplice voce humana di Richardo Rognoniono espulso di Val Tavegia", Venice, 1592
*Preface by Guglielmo Barblan to Francesco Rognoni "Selva De Varii Passaggi", Arnaldo Forni Editore, 2001.