One of the few in the world, it is now playing again. Today at 6.30 pm the concert with the restored 18th century lyre-guitar. The work is being carried out by the Region’s Centre for Planning and Restoration.
It is a precious instrument, probably of French manufacture, made between the late 18th and early 19th century. Its construction characteristics make it ascribable to a rare type of plucked lute, represented today by very few examples in the world. It is a lyre-guitar owned by the Fondazione Teatro Massimo that has just been restored by the Regional Planning and Restoration Centre. The instrument will be played again in a concert today, Wednesday 29 June at 6.30 pm at the Teatro Massimo (Sala Onu)
It will be played by maestro Davide Velardi, with Irene Maria Salerno at the piano and the extraordinary participation of soprano Chiara Giacopelli. Participants will include Carlo Vermiglio, Regional Councillor for Cultural Heritage; Gaetano Pennino, General Manager of Cultural Heritage; Francesco Giambrone, Superintendent of the Massimo Theatre; Enza Cilia Platamone, Director of the Regional Centre for Planning and Restoration; and Luca Gazzara, Commissioner of the Regional Centre for Planning and Restoration. Music by Carulli, Legnani, Diabelli, Giuliani will be performed.
The lyre-guitar is an aesthetic-morphological variant of the guitar, classifiable in the family of chordophones, and more precisely in the category of plucked lutes. It is an instrument endowed with great timbral, melodic and harmonic qualities, which enjoyed great fame between the end of the 18th century and the first two decades of the 19th century, first in France, particularly in Paris, and later in much of Europe, including Italy, where the valuable Neapolitan production of Gennaro Fabricatore is significant. The instrument, made by a presumably French luthier, was missing a third of the bottom of the sound box on arrival at the Regional Design and Restoration Centre, which was restored. There are very few examples of this type of lyre-guitar (movable bridge and neck detached from the body) in the museum in the world. Three of them are kept in the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels.