Colascione

Not to be confused with Calichon.
Colascione
Colascione (right)
String instrument
Other namesColachon
Classification Plucked
DevelopedItaly, Renaissance

The colascione (or calascione, Italian: [kolaˈʃʃoːne], French: colachon [kɔlaˈʃɔ̃], 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,[1][2][3] 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 or the saz. Nevertheless, there are important differences, such as the bridge being on the top of the body.

  • Image of Colascione from woodcut from Deutsche Fotothek
    Image of Colascione from woodcut from Deutsche Fotothek
  • A modern reconstruction
    A modern reconstruction
  • Domenico Colla and his brother, who toured Europe in the 1760s, playing both colascione and colascioncino.
    Domenico Colla and his brother, who toured Europe in the 1760s, playing both colascione and colascioncino.
  • Colascione in an illustration from France, 1616.
    Colascione in an illustration from France, 1616.
  1. ^ Curt Sachs: Handbuch der Musikinstrumentenkunde. Breitkopf und Härtel, Wiesbaden 1979, S. 227f.
  2. ^ Curt Sachs: Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente, zugleich ein Polyglossar für das gesamte Instrumentengebiet (1913)
  3. ^ Anthony Baines: Lexikon der Musikinstrumente. J.B. Metzler'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 2005, S. 66