City in the Lombardy region of Italy. The history of Cremona is characterized by the lack of a local court to subsidize its musical activities. In the Middle Ages musical life was organized around the 12th-century cathedral, whose Statuta canonicorum (1247) regulated the performance of music during religious services. Various singers from among the cathedral canons of different eras are mentioned in the Obituario cremonese, including Adam, a cantor (1098), Iohannes Bonus de Geroldis, appointed as bishop in 1248, and Magister Prepositinus, chancellor of the Sorbonne between 1206 and 1210. The liturgical repertory of the cathedral is recorded in a gradual (three volumes), an antiphoner (eight volumes) and a psalter and hymnal, all dating from the 15th century and lavishly illuminated; there are other manuscripts which survive from Augustinian and Franciscan convents. The first information on the construction of an organ by Pantaleone de Marchis and Lorenzo Antonio da Bologna dates from 1482; the earliest organists include Bartolomeo de Piperaris, Jacomino de Fixeraghis and Battista de Ferrariis. The organ was reconstructed in 1542–7 by Giovanni Battista Facchetti and became renowned for the brilliance of its sound, due in part to its being tuned to a high pitch, which led in 1582 to a famous dispute involving the Cremona organ builder Giovanni Francesco Maineri and the maestro di cappella Marc’Antonio Ingegneri. Information on musical activities before 1526 is fragmentary; on 19 March of that year there is a payment slip in the Libri provisionum (I-CRd) for the maestro di cappella Cesare Zocco and 12 singers. Even for subsequent periods, however, there are few records, partly because of an administrative peculiarity of the cathedral: the board of trustees was responsible for an inclusive payment made to the maestro di cappella, who in turn was responsible for paying the individual cantors (the socii cantores) and the instrumentalists; this administrative practice was adopted in other Cremona churches such as S Agata which appointed Rodiana Barera on 2 January 1586 together with ‘seven persons, including singers and players’ (I-CRas, Notarile, G.B. Torresini, series 2186). This clearly makes it impossible to determine the names of the various socii cantores; in addition, during the mid-16th century it was often the case that the names of the maestri appointed were not indicated in the Libri provisionum, and their pay was not recorded. Names that are recorded include Ettore Vidua, who died in 1571, and Ippolito Chamaterò, a record of whose service to the cathedral of Cremona is preserved in his settings of the Magnificat for eight, nine and 12 voices of 1575.
In the second half of the 16th century the ideals of the Counter-Reformation concerning the renewal of church music had an ardent supporter in Bishop Nicolò Sfondrato of Cremona (elected Pope Gregory XIV in 1590), an admirer and patron of music to whom Ingegneri dedicated his first book of motets (1576) and three other collections of masses and motets. Ingegneri was the most important figure in the city's musical life in the second half of the 16th century. Born in Verona, he was resident in Cremona from at least 1566 at the prelature of Sant'Abbondio. Ingegneri was maestro di cappella at the cathedral from 1576 at the latest; although described as cantor, he was responsible for paying all the other regular musicians, including a cornett player, and for organizing the diversos concentus of voices and instruments for special occasions. The young Monteverdi probably received his first musical training at the cathedral under Ingegneri, and lived in Cremona until 1591.
From 1596 the Cappella delle Laudi in the cathedral became an important place for Marian devotions and musical activities when the Compagnia delle Laudi del Sabato del Duomo di Cremona was formed; thus there grew up the practice of having a maestro di cappella and an organist for this music performed every Saturday evening and on the six feasts of Our Lady. These included Barera (maestro di cappella, 1595–1622), Omobono Morsolino (organist, 1596–1611), Nicolò Corradini (organist from 1611 and maestro di cappella from 1635 to 1646), Tarquinio Merula (maestro di cappella, 1627–30, 1633–5, 1646–55), as well as the cornett player Guilio Cesare Bianchi. Among the various important musicians and theorists of the period born in Cremona and working in other cities were Costanzo Porta, Camillo Angleria, Agostino Licino, Lucrezio Quinzani, Tiburtio Massaino and Benedetto Pallavicino.
The musico-literary Accademia degli Animosi was founded in 1560 with Bishop Sfondrato's endorsement. After an interruption of its activities in 1586, it was reconstituted by Count C. Stanga in 1607 and remained active until 1642 in stimulating the performance of secular music in the city; Monteverdi became a member in 1607. Reconstituted once more in 1644, it continued its activities until about 1692, though with less vigour, particularly after 1675 when it had to compete with the Accademia dei Disuniti, which included mostly commoners. In about 1720 this academy became incorporated with the Accademia degli Arcadi. An exclusively musical academy, the Accademia Musicale, was founded in 1735. Its members, having taken an entrance examination, met twice monthly and soon organized an instrumental ensemble that had the exclusive right of performance in religious and private festive events.
A society that stimulated Cremonese musical life in the first half of the 19th century was the Società Filarmonica, inaugurated in 1816 with a performance of Haydn's The Creation. Its statutes prescribed the performance of at least 30 concerts a year, usually held on Friday evenings. Among its members were Donizetti (1816), Rossini (1817) and Bellini (1830). After 1830 it was known as the Casino dei Nobili, since it included mostly members of the local aristocracy who advocated independence from Austrian rule; as a result the society was harassed by Austrian police, particularly after 1838. Following the city's unification with Italy in 1859 the society ceased to exist. In 1908 the Società dei Concerti was founded to promote symphonic and chamber concerts. The city's only professional instrumental ensemble, the Camerata di Cremona, was formed by Ennio Gerelli in 1960.
Cremonese theatrical life suffered from a comparatively late start. In 1670 the Marchioness Giulia Ariberti had a small theatre built for the nobility. It ceased its activities in 1714 and was transformed into a church. The initiative for the construction of a new theatre was taken in 1745 by the Casino di Conversazione, a society of noblemen founded in 1738. The theatre, designed by G.B. Zaist, was a wooden structure with four tiers totalling 100 boxes; it was named Teatro Nazari after its owner, the Marquis G.B. Nazari, and was inaugurated on 26 December 1747 with a performance of a Bolognese comic opera. During its Carnival season and until 1765 comic operas, frequently brought by Bolognese impresarios, were predominant there. From 1785 to 1806, when it burnt down, the theatre was managed by the Nobile Società del Teatro and renamed Teatro della Nobile Associazione. Another theatre, the Teatro della Concordia, was then built to a design by L. Canonica, modelled after Milan's Teatro Carcano. It was inaugurated on 26 December 1808 with Paer's Il principe di Taranto and mostly staged works of the Milanese repertory until it burnt down in January 1824. The new theatre, constructed in stone by L. Voghera and F. Rodi, was inaugurated on 9 September 1824 with Rossini's La donna del lago. In the 1890s it featured numerous operas by Ponchielli who was born in Cremona. Named the Teatro Ponchielli in 1892, it was renovated in 1969 and again in 1986.
Stimulated by the musicological heritage of Gaetano Cesari, a native of Cremona who donated his large library to the city administration, the Civico Istituto di Musicologia was instituted in 1949. The Scuola di Paleografia e Filologica Musicale, affiliated to the University of Parma until 1971 and then to the University of Pavia, has been active since 1952; it offers degree courses in musicology, musical education and musical palaeography, and postgraduate courses in musical philology.
Cremona has been universally celebrated since the 16th century for the manufacture of excellent musical instruments, especially string instruments. The tradition was established in the early 16th century by the Amati family, whose craftsmanship led to the design of the modern violin. By 1530 they had already set up a shop in Cremona under the leadership of Andrea. Until well into the 18th century the family constructed string instruments of elegant shape and capable of producing a remarkably mellow tone. Its most illustrious member was Nicolò, who probably trained Antonio Stradivari and Andrea Guarneri. Stradivari was particularly successful in constructing instruments perfectly balanced in design, size and finish. The Guarneri family (especially Giuseppe) concentrated instead on developing a massive build and powerful tone for their instruments. Members of the Bergonzi family were active as instrument makers throughout the 18th century. The Scuola Internazionale di Liuteria helps to maintain the fine Cremonese traditions. The Museo di Organologia A. Stradivari, in the Museo Civico, houses a collection of rare early instruments as well as numerous documents concerning the history of musical instruments.
DEUMM (M.C. Mazzi)
MGG2 (G. Fornari)
GroveO (A. Roccatagliati)
L. Manini: Memorie storiche della città di Cremona (Cremona, 1819–20)
L. Lucchini: Il duomo di Cremona (Mantua, 1894)
G. Sommi Picenardi: La Società filarmonica di Cremona (1816–1859) (Cremona, 1897)
R. Monterosso and S. Bassi: Mostra bibliografica dei musicisti cremonesi: catalogo storico-critico degli autori e catalogo bibliografico (Cremona, 1951)
F. Zanoni: I corali del duomo di Cremona e la miniatura cremonese del Quattrocento: catalogo descrittivo comprendente i Corali di S. Agata (Cremona, 1956)
F. Fronte and A. Ziino: ‘Frammenti gregoriani nell'archivio di stato di Cremona’, Bolletino storico cremonese, xxiii (1965–8), 223–48
E. Santoro: ‘L'Accademia degli Animosi: la rinascita dell'antica istituzione secondo gli statuti del 1607’, ibid., 166–72
E. Santoro: Il teatro di Cremona (1801–1850) (Cremona, 1970)
P. Frisoli: ‘The “Museo Stradivariano” in Cremona’, GSJ, xxiv (1971), 33–50
R. Monterosso: ‘Il teatro d'opera a Cremona nel sec. XVIII’, Quadrivium, xii/2 (1971), 211–27
Restauro liutario: Cremona 1976
G. Nicolini: Quarant'anni di storia della Scuola internazionale di liuteria di Cremona (Cremona, 1977)
I violini del palazzo comunale di Cremona (Cremona, 1982)
M. Manzin: Arte organaria nella cattedrale di Cremona (Gavirate, 1985)
L. Gaboradi and E. Zanesi: Centocinquant'anni di studi stradivariani nella biblioteca di Cremona (Cremona, 1987)
A. Mosconi and C. Torresani: Il Museo Stradivariano di Cremona (Milan, 1987)
Musica e musicisti nel duomo di Cremona: documenti e testimonianze dal XV al XVII secolo, Battistero di Cremona, 15 April – 20 May 1989 (Cremona, 1989) [exhibition catalogue]
F.M. Liborio and others, eds.: Il teatro Ponchielli di Cremona (Cremona, 1995)
C. Nisoli and others, eds.: L'organo monumentale della chiesa di San Sigismondo in Cremona (Cremona, 1995)
ELVIDIO SURIAN/RODOBALDO TIBALDI