Un amico di Frescobaldi: Lelio Guidiccioni, uomo di lettere, connoisseur d’arte e di musica

This contribution moves from the finding of the dedication to Cardinal Scipione Borghese of Frescobaldi’s “Liber secundus sacrarum modulationum” (Rome, 1627) among the autograph manuscripts of Lelio Guidiccioni (Lucca, 1582 – Rome, 1643), a prelate and a man of letters, who evidently wrote this text on behalf of the composer. Guidiccioni — as Etienne Darbellay — was very interested both in art and in music. He gathered a small but precious collection of paintings and drawings, which was viewed as noteworthy already in his own time by some art historians. Further, our findings show that Guidiccioni cultivated a friendly relationship with Girolamo Frescobaldi, who lived in Rome for over forty years, just as Guidiccioni did. The biographies of Guidiccioni and Frescobaldi reveal that they were associated with the same entourages of major papal families: first the Borghese, later the Barberini. The relationship between Frescobaldi and Guidiccioni was not an occasional one, however, since the composer’s name even occurs in the testament of the latter: in it, he mentioned «the spinet named by Frescobaldi the Joy » («l’arpicordo chiamato dal Frescobaldi la Gioia»); further, the inventory of Guidiccioni’s goods lists a portrait of Frescobaldi, placed beside the ones of his ancestors and some cardinals. Guidiccioni’s interest in music is confirmed by some of his literary and poetic works, particularly his unpublished “Discorso sopra la musica”, which was conservative in character. It is likely that Pietro Della Valle’s brief treatise “Della musica dell’età nostra che non è punto inferiore, anzi è migliore di quella dell’età passata”, which was dedicated just to Guidiccioni, can be regarded as a response to the latter’s “Discorso”.