Welcome lirone players, early music lovers, history buffs and culture vultures! Our website is about to launch and we’ll regularly introduce new information and events into our ever-growing space. Please contact lirone.org to register your interest and we will update you with further website and lirone news.

UPCOMING EPISODES: AN INNOCENT ABROAD First research trip to Italy (1981) THE MARVELS IN THE MACHINE A demonstration of the inner workings of the Lirone, including its signature piece, The Seven Planets THE LAMENT OF ARIANNA Claudio Monteverdi’s masterpiece in music and images; LESSON I: Arianna for Players A MAN OF GREAT JUDGMENT The lirone’s invention, the lira da braccio and humanism Florence 1450–1530 A TOUR OF THE LIRONE PALACE IN FLORENCE Confraternity of Archangel Raphael, Piazza S Maria Novella Music, artworks, frescos, oratory halls, costumes and scenery, with distinguished members, Striggio I, Caccini, Gagliano, Peri, Cavalieri, Vincenzo Galilei…and the Florentine Camerata FLORENTINE REPERTOIRE Intermedii, devotional songs, sacred dramas, monodies and early opera LESSON II: Striggio’s Lament of Psyche, Peri’s Euridice, Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero and more FROM MONTEVERDI TO LUIGI ROSSI As a student Rossi hand copies the Lament of Arianna, then goes on to lead the new Roman style of Bel Canto LESSON III: Monteverdi, Ottavia’s laments from Poppea (the most performed lirone pieces in history!) LESSON IV: Rossi’s Lamento di Zaïda Moro THE JESUITS AND MUSIC And the Counter-Reformation’s Influence on Roman Musical Style: The Five Senses, Imagination Prayer, tears and lamenting, the new Jesuit Colleges in Rome offering a classical education, music and the arts ROMAN REPERTOIRE The Barberini: Papal opera, oratorio, motet, cantata and laments by Rossi, Carissimi, Mazzocchi, Pasqualini, Marazzoli and more LESSONS V, VI, VII……ad infinitum

The LIRONE

Click on the video below to learn about how I rediscovered the lirone: