Colascione

 ( Baroque Instruments ) 

The colascione (or calascione, , , also sometimes known as liuto della giraffa meaning giraffe-lute, a reference to its long neck, is a plucked string instrument from the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods,Curt Sachs: Handbuch der Musikinstrumentenkunde. Breitkopf und Härtel, Wiesbaden 1979, S. 227f.Curt Sachs: Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente, zugleich ein Polyglossar für das gesamte Instrumentengebiet (1913)Anthony Baines: Lexikon der Musikinstrumente. J.B. Metzler'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 2005, S. 66 with a lute-like resonant body and a very long neck. It was mainly used in southern Italy. It has two or three strings tuned in fifths.

Noteworthy are the great similarities of the colascione with instruments such as the dutar, the tanbur or the saz. Nevertheless, there are important differences, such as the bridge being on the top of the body.

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Colascioncino A smaller version of the instrument existed, called the colascioncino, with string length 50–60 centimeters. The string length for the colascione was 100–130 centimeters. Domenico Colla toured Europe with his brother in the 1760s, playing both colascione and colascioncino.

In the literature of colascione, it is often confused with calichon, a bass version of the mandora.

Categories: Baroque Instruments, Basso Continuo Instruments, Renaissance Instruments, Orchestral Instruments, String Instruments

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