Italian harpist, presumably the same one who was active in Ferrara in the 1480s, later in Naples and Valencia. He was heard playing in Madrid in 1510 by Fernández de Oviedo, was paid homage in a Fantasia by Mudarra in 1546 and his playing was described by Bermudo in 1555. He was renowned for his ability to play chromatically on a diatonic harp. Bermudo says that "con extraordinaria habilidad lograba cromatizar el sonido natural de cada cuerda y con tal recurso, clausular no solamente en tonos naturales sino también en los accidentales". The imitation of Ludovico’s playing of is given by Alonso Mudarra in his famous “Fantasía que contrahace la harpa en la manera de Ludovico” (mu012) whose caption also adds “Es difícil hasta ser entendida”, and later in the tablature “Desde aquí hasta acerca del final hay algunas falsas que tañiéndose bien no parecen mal”.
Concerning the identity of Ludovico there is an absence of conclusive facts. It is probable that the Ludovico imitated by Mudarra is the harpist who played at the court of king Fernando (Ferrante) of Naples. According to Barbieri’s notes cited not altogether precisely by Pujol (pujol1949 64-66), there was a musician named “Ludovico el del arpa” at that court. It is possible that this is the same harpist mentioned by Bermudo: “Dizen, que el nombrado Ludovico cuando venía a clausular, poniendo el dedo debajo de la cuerda, la semitonaba, y hacía clausula de sustientado” (berm1555, fol. 110). It is precisely the imitation of these cadences that gives Mudarra’s fantasia its character and unique style. Given that Bermudo adds that there were few harpists in Spain “poco tañedores ay de arpa”, it makes it more likely that the reference is to the same character. This Italian name of Ludovico was not at all common in Spain. Barbieri (barbieriC p. 170). Further evidence is given by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo in his Catálogo Real de España / Catálogo imperial a manuscript in the library of El Escorial (E:E). Barbieri (p. 170) quotes from this saying that Ludovico used to sing the song “A la mia gran pena forte” to king Fernando. Barbieri mistook this as a reference to Fernando el Católico, whereas it is more likely that it is a reference to king Fadrique of Naples, defeated by Fernando the Catholic and Louis XII of France in 1501. Bermúdez (berm1994) corrected this error that had been repeated by all subsequent writers . Barbieri, in the commentary to the song “A la mia gran pena forte” (no 337 in his edition of the Cancionero de Palacio), comments that “Esta canción macarrónica trilingue se refiere al destronamiento de Don Fadrique de Nápoles y de la división de su reino entre el rey de Francia Luis XII y el de don Fernando el Católico en el año 1501. Barbieri was not mistaken inasmuch as Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo in his su Catálogo de Castilla reports having heard Ludovico el del arpa sing and play for Fernando the Catholic in Madrid…” • Bermudez clarifies on the basis of information from Fernández de Oviedo that the king Fernando is Ferdinand of Naples, not Fernando el Católico.