> > So, one may ask, what's French? Is it stile brise (that term was > coined > by David Buch, if I'm not mistaken)?
There has been some confusion with this term, which I believe does little to further a true understanding of the repertoire. I look forward to seeing its use discontinued in discussions of 17th-century pi=E8ces de luth. From my article on French lyricism: "Lionel de La Laurencie was the first to use the term in Les Luthistes (Paris: Laurens) 1928, p. 109. David Buch's article on style brise, in Musical Quarterly 71 (1986): pp. 52-67, was the first detailed attempt to show the provenance of the term. However, Buch does not credit La Laurencie as the first to use the term. Instead he quotes the 1928 publication from an earlier page where La Laurencie states "Ce style =ABbrise>> des luthistes fran=E7ais recontre encore un important imatateur en la personne de l'Autrichien J.-G. Peyer qui, de 1672 =E0 1678 etait au service de l'emporeur Leopold Ier, =E0 Vienne," (p.82). Buch further comments that La Laurencie only uses the word "brise" and that it was not until Manfred Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era (New York: Norton) 1947, that the term was first used." "Some Manifestations of French Lyricism in Seventeenth-Century pi=E8ces de luth Repertoire," Journal of the Lute Society of America, 30 (2002): 26. Frankly, I believe that we should stop using the term to refer to the genre as a whole, especially since the term has no 17th-century significance. If we are looking for useful terms from the period, I recommend notes separees for the breaking of notes, and pi=E8ces de luth to refer to the genre as a whole, the latter being consistent with genre designations for other instrumental repertories of the period (e.g., pi=E8ces de viol, pi=E8ces de clavecin, etc). Style brise is one of those coverall terms used by writers to simplify an understanding of a rich and complex genre of music, often to difficult to understand for most readers, hence the coining of this simplistic term. Best, Jorge Jorge Torres Associate Professor of Music 237 Williams Center Lafayette College Easton, PA 18042 (610)330-5365 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
