Simon Wascher wrote:
>
> Hello Frank,
>
> are these three accompanying voices really original ? Its just that I
> wonder about the G,, D, G, in the drone, to my experience as drone based
> musician G,, G, D would sound more musically - but indeed less "peasant
> like".
Yes, as far as I know it is original. But remember we're talking about
music from a book published in 1578. Quite a lot of things have happened
since then.
It's also an open question how "authentic" Mainerio tried to be. He
probably went more for a "bagpipe feel" than a genuine "bagpipe
imitation". Of course it's also a question of what kind of instruments
he primarily wrote for. Most 16th/early 17th Century consort
publications (Susato, Dowland, Holborne, Praetorius, Gervaise etc.) are
clearly mainly written for strings, while to me Mainerio's music seems
to have more of a "brass instruments" feeling.
Does anybody happen to know anything about the drones of early bagpipes, btw?
> I know this melody as from the Paix collection via a hungarian book, it
> is veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery popular here with drone based instruments.
That's very interesting. The tune is probably older than Greensleeves -
often thought to be the oldest still popular tune in the world. The
folia is far older than either, of course, but the modern (post 16th
century) Folia is so different from the earlier Folia one might argue
it's not the same tune.
Frank Nordberg
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