MUSICAL ENSEMBLES IN THE LIBRI AMICORUM OF HANS HOCH DATED ROME, 1618–1656

The Cisalpine cities, where renowned universities were located, were favourite destinations for young ultramontani both in the 16th century during the peregrinatio academica and in the following centuries during the Kavalierstour and Grand Tour phenomenon: The presence of the ultramontani in Italy is widely attested in the libri amicorum, travel notebooks that young people carried with them to collect the dedications of friends, teachers, and prominent figures they met. The four Hans Hoch’s libri amicorum contain 785 dedications by various subscribers, collected in Rome between 1618 and 1656. The set of four albums constitutes a document that attests to the presence of transalpine people in Rome in the first half of the 17th century and is an essential, though neglected, prosopographical source for tracing the circulation of young elites in the city. This paper definitively clarifies the distinct identity of Hans Hoch in relation to Hans Gros, thanks to the autograph subscriptions of both found in some libri amicorum. It also focuses for the first time on the potential of the four testimonies with particular attention given to the iconographic aspect. Through an analysis of the organological and symbolic significance of the scenes depicted, especially of the musical ensembles, this research aims to provide new evidence for the study of the practice and context of open-air musical performances. The aim is also to understand whether such performances relate specifically to Rome, or more likely, to the soundscape of several cities in a more general European scenario animated by the customs of nobles in the 16th and 17th centuries.