1600—Venice and Ferrara, Italy

Giovanni Artusi praises musical performances of the nuns at Ferrara’s San Vito in his L’Artusi overo delle imperfettioni. Among the instruments the nuns perform on are numerous wind instruments, including cornetts and trombones (tromboni). Regarding their musical proficiency, Artusi offers high praise for the nuns, specifically mentioning “their grace, the beautiful manner of phrasing, of giving life to the passagework” (Boydell, Crumhorn 298). Artusi also discusses numerous lessons that can be learned from the nuns’ performance, including which instrument a person should play: “Those who are experienced on the trombone know how to adapt themselves to other instruments. However, they do not merely forsake this part for that, but they use the instrument on which, through long practice and natural inclination, they are excellent. They do not neglect proper instinct and natural choice, for example, by choosing the lute or double harp when they know how to play on other instruments more skillfully. Instead they pay attention to those toward which nature has given them particular inclination, and on which they have practiced long and assiduously” (Artusi 135).