Colahan, Ellwood. 2023. "French Music by an Italian Count: A Survey of Selected Recordings of Ludovico Roncalli." Soundboard Scholar 9, (1). https://digitalcommons.du.edu/sbs/vol9/iss1/9

Little is known about the composer of a book of guitar music published in Bergamo in 1692, titled Capricci armonici sopra la chitarra spagnola. Ludovico Roncalli was born in Bergamo to a noble family in 1654, around the same time as de Visée, and inherited the title “Count of Montorio.” Count Ludovico trained as a lawyer and was ordained as a priest, before publishing his only musical work. He was apparently not a professional musician but a dilettante composer and guitarist of an unusually high level of ability. He dedicated his book to the Cardinal Benedetto Panfilio, a high church official in Rome and important patron of composers such as Corelli, Handel, and Scarlatti, as well as an occasional author of opera libretti. Roncalli’s music is demanding on the performer but restrained in style and altogether devoid of flashiness or gratuitous...