Dear David,
This is indeed very unusual, and I hadn't spotted it before. Thank
you for drawing it to our attention. For those without access to
Piccinnini's book, the tuning instruction at the end of Gagliarda IX
looks like this:
14
===
=1=
===
===
===
===
which in this case means tune the 14th course an octave below the
note at the 1st fret on the 5th course. If we take Piccinini's
instrument to be in A, it would mean having a low D# on the 14th
course. This note appears just once in Gagliarda IX as follows:
|\ |\ |\ |\ |\ |\ |\ |\ |\ |\
| |\ |\ | |\ |\ | |\ |\ |
| | |\ | | |\ | | |\ |
| |. | | |. | | |. | |.
7 8 14 9
==========4==|=0==============|====
====2==0=====|================|====
=2===========|================|=4==
=5===========|=5=====3==0=====|=5==
=5===========|=5========2=====|=4==
=4===========|=4=====0==2==0==|====
Although the number 14 in the music matches the 14 in the tuning
instruction, I think it is a mistake. This piece of music appears in
the section for arciliuto, not for chitarrone. On page 10 Piccinini
gives the tuning of the two instruments. His chitarrone has 14
courses, but his arciliuto has only 13. The number 14 does not
appear anywhere else amongst the pieces for arciliuto. It seems to
me that Piccinini meant the 10th course to be tuned a semitone
higher, not the non-existent 14th. In Piccinini's tablature the 10th
course is represented by the Roman numeral X. I suppose it is just
possible for a typesetter to confuse a carelessly written X with 14.
-o-O-o-
One thing I had not noticed before, until working out what was wrong
with Gagliarda IX, is the standard way Piccinini tunes the diapasons
of his instruments. For the sake of comparison let us assume that
his arciliuto and chitarrone are both tuned to A. He tunes the 8th
course of his arciliuto to f#, and uses his lowest string (the 13th)
for f natural. He does it the other way round for the chitarrone,
tuning the 8th course to f natural, and his lowest string (the 14th)
to f#. There's nowt so queer as folk.
Best wishes,
Stewart.
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Rastall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "Michael Stitt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Miles Dempster"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Lute Net" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 2:40 AM
Subject: Re: MORE THAN 14 course German theorbo?
>
> On Monday, January 5, 2004, at 05:04 PM, Thomas Schall wrote:
>
> > My liuto attiorbato (14-ch. model after Sellas) has a low F and
it's
> > frequently used by Mellii, Zamboni and others. I have not seen
up to
> > now
> > a piece in the italian baroque which uses a 15th ch. - many
players
> > even
> > tune their 14th course at f-sharp (for easier continuo).
>
> Picinnini also uses the 14th course at times, but it looks to me
as if
> he is sometimes indicating something other than F. Did they use
> re-entrant tuning on those bass courses?
>
> There is an indication after Gagliarda IX on pp.72-73 in Libro
Primo,
> Bologna 1623 that the 14th course should be tuned to what looks
like
> C#. Seems very unusual...
>
> David Rastall
