colascione

{{Short description|Long-necked lute}}

{{Distinguish|Calichon}}

{{Infobox instrument

| name = Colascione

| names = Colachon

| image = Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution (1900) (17813391984).jpg

| image_capt = Colascione (right)

| background = string

| classification = Plucked

| hornbostel_sachs =

| hornbostel_sachs_desc =

| inventors =

| developed = Italy, Renaissance

| range =

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}}

The colascione (or calascione, {{IPA|it|kolaʃˈʃoːne|lang|link=yes}}, {{langx|fr|colachon}} {{IPA|fr|kɔlaʃɔ̃|}}, also sometimes known as liuto della giraffa meaning giraffe-lute, a reference to its long neck) is a plucked string instrument from the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods,Curt Sachs: Handbuch der Musikinstrumentenkunde. Breitkopf und Härtel, Wiesbaden 1979, S. 227f.Curt Sachs: Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente, zugleich ein Polyglossar für das gesamte Instrumentengebiet (1913)Anthony Baines: Lexikon der Musikinstrumente. J.B. Metzler'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 2005, S. 66 with a lute-like resonant body and a very long neck. It was mainly used in southern Italy. It has two or three strings tuned in fifths.

Noteworthy are the great similarities of the colascione with instruments such as the dutar or the saz. Nevertheless, there are important differences, such as the bridge being on the top of the body.

Fotothek df tg 0008352 Akustik ^ Saiteninstrument ^ Zupfinstrument ^ Colachon ^ Ordensliteratur.jpg|Image of Colascione from woodcut from Deutsche Fotothek

File:Colascione.jpg|A modern reconstruction

File:Domenico Colla and his brother.jpg|Domenico Colla and his brother, who toured Europe in the 1760s, playing both colascione and colascioncino.

File:The Lute Player LACMA M.83.318.12b.jpg|Colascione in an illustration from France, 1616.