Ludovico Roncalli

The Roncalli family still possess a portrait of him in clerical dress (Dell'Ara and Parimbelli 2004, 17).A note on the back of the painting reads "Comes Ludovicus Roncalius I.V.D.

[Iuris Utriusque Doctor) et abbas, et suis legatis ad Sancta exercitia promovenda insignis largitur.

(Count Ludovico Roncalli, graduate in civil and canon law and priest, illustrious donor of his erudition for the promotion of spiritual exercises.

Another note in smaller letters reads "Ritratta quando era in età d’anni XXXII" (painted when he was 32 years of age).

His reasons for visiting Rome are unknown but he may have been introduced to musical circles there by Cardinal Pamphilli to whom Capricci armonici is dedicated.

[citation needed] The work consists of nine complete suites, each comprising a preludio and alemanda followed by some of the other seventeenth-century dance forms such as corrente, sarabanda, gigue, minuet and gavotta.

Roncalli's Capricci armonici sopra la chitarra spagnola has been the exclusive subject of several recent recordings.