Antonio Bartolomeo Bruni

Antonio Bartolomeo Bruni (January 28, 1757 – August 6, 1821) was an Italian violinist, composer and conductor. Bruni was born and died in Cuneo, Italy. During most of his life he resided, played and composed in Paris. c.1791 (at the height of the French 'terror'). He is the author of 'Un Inventaire sous la terreur' which lists musical instruments recovered from noble households. This inventory was published: J. Gallay, ed. (Paris: Georges Chamerot, 1890). According to the scholarly work 'The Hurdy-Gurdy in Eighteenth-Century France' by Robert E. Green ( Indiana University Press, 1995) where the Bruni text is footnoted, the author says of Bruni inventory " from 111 noble households ( it ) lists six which possessed vielles (hurdy-gurdies)." p. 17. More light is (perhaps) shed in the fictional novel The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason where this affair is again referred to thus: "A Temporary Commission of Arts was set up and ... Bruni ... was named Director of the Inventory. For fourteen months he collected the instruments of the condemmed [sic?]. In all, over three hundred were gathered, and each carries its own tragic tale." He goes on to say that 64 were pianofortes.