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A: Milano, Lombardia, Italy, B: Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, C: Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
The earliest dance manual recorded in Nick Enge's chronological listing of dance manuals at libraryofdance.org (Vintage Dance Manuals) is Domenico da Piacenza's. De Arte Saltandi Et Choreas Ducendi, written in Paris circa 1425, and preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (f. Ital 972). da Piacenza – also known as Domengo da Piacenza, Domenico da Ferrara, Domenichino, or Domenegino – was born c. 1390-1400 in Piacenza, and worked in northern Italian cities – Milan, Modena, Faenza, Forlì, and Ferrara. He died in Ferrara in 1476/7.
Enge writes as follows:
"This manuscript is usually referred to as PnD, and resides in the Paris Bibliothèque Nationale, f. Ital 972. It dates from roughly 1425 A.D.
"A transcription of this manuscript has been published in:
"Smith, A William. Fifteenth-Century Dance and Music; The Complete Transcribed Treatises and Collections in the Domenico Piacenza Tradition. Pendragon Press, 1996. Volume 1, pages 8-67.
"Volume 2 of Smith contains a dance concordance, including material from this manuscript.
"Most of these dances are reconstructed in Joy and Jealousy.
"Some additional commentary on this source can be found in Two Suggestions for Reading PnD (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, f. Ital. 972)
"You can download the entire document as a printable pdf (5.1 megabytes).
NOTE: In September 2020 art and music placing Domenico da Piacenza's manual in context is available from earlymusic.com at this link
