The Mauro Foà Collection (consisting of 87 manuscripts and 66 printed works) and the Renzo Giordano Collection (which includes 167 manuscripts and 145 printed works) have a prominent place among the musical collections of the Institute. The value and the distinctiveness of the two collections are consequence of the fact they both include works for the most part autographed of Antonio Vivaldi, works of Alessandro Stradella, rare volumes concerning German organ tablatures of the XVII century, handwritten and printed scores of Gluck, Haydn, Traetta, Rameau, Favart, Philidor, and manuscripts and printed edition of Italian and French compositions dating back to the late XVIII – early XIX century.
Both collections are nearly entirely attributable to the Count Giacomo Durazzo (1717-1794), bibliophile and imperial ambassador to the Serenissima: around 1780 he bought a group of musical manuscripts among which there were papers of Antonio Vivaldi, sold by Vivaldi’s heirs to the Venetian senator Jacopo Soranzo (1686-1761), then bought by the collector Matteo Luigi Canonici (1727-1805) and finally entered the properties of Durazzo and his heirs. Thanks to the activity of Professor Alberto Gentili (professor of History of Music at the University of Turin, living from 1873 to 1954), Luigi Torri (director of the Library from 1918 to 1932) and the librarian Faustino Curlo (1867-1935), the collection of Durazzo arrived at the Library of Turin between 1922 and 1930, after many adventures. The purchase of the documents was made possible thanks to the generosity of two sponsors, the business broker Roberto Foà (1885-1957) and the textile industrialist Filippo Giordano (1875-1952). Both collections were dedicated to the memory of the children of the two benefactors, Mauro Foà and Renzo Giordano, both died prematurely.
The documents composing the two collections are catalogued in “Isabella Fragalà Data, Annarita Colturato, Raccolta Mauro Foà, Raccolta Renzo Giordano, Roma, Torre D’Orfeo, 1987”.
