CORDEDRAGO: not humble work, but noble art, that of the stringmaker ...

For the most daring physicists, in fact, the strings are at the base of the very structure of the universe, because from the vibration of the strings, that is essentially from the music - as Pythagoras already claimed - the whole cosmos draws harmony: it would therefore not be incorrect to define the Great Architect a Great Stringmaker!

Chordes autem dictas a corde: the strings are so called from the heart, as Isidoro of Seville argued, because as the heart beats in the chest, so the strings resound struck by the musician on the zither, magically capturing the soul.

The dragon is then an alchemical animal, as is the alchemical red cinnabar - similar to dragon's blood - with which the strings for baroque lutes were loaded, like the sulfur used to whiten them and make elastic and resonant, like the salt used to preserve the gut, or the alum used to tan it in order to make the cantini more resistant.

And alchemical and witchcraft magic is even more to mix unclean and vile ingredients, such as guts of sheep and wine dregs, thanks to which tender lambs, innocent victims, miraculously reborn, emit a very sweet and spiritual song.

Davide Longhi