Dear Stewart, I'm sure that you are right about this. Just a couple of ideas that occurred to me from my own study of Dalza & Petrucci:
We can't be sure of what Dalza's manuscript looked like, so what we see in the book is Petrucci's setting of the music, following conventions already established in his earlier publications. As Petrucci was the first printer to produce lute tablature (leaving aside the question of whether Marco Dall'Aquila did print any tablature!) he seems to have had a reasonably free hand to design what he thought was necessary. So he could have easily designed another sign for a breve if it had been needed (or if it had been in use in manuscripts at the time). It's interesting to look at Petrucci's use of the fermata in the Bossinensis books: there is usually a fermata sign over both the last chord of the lute tablature and the last note of the vocal part. Quite often the final note of the mensural part is a breve, but there are quite a few digressions. Sometimes there are several chords or notes in the last bar of the tablature, and there is still a fermata over the last chord. The overriding impression from this too is very much that the fermata is not a fixed unit of time. Best wishes, Denys PS - I too would very much like to see a definitive translation of the Petrucci "regula" - although I gather it's not so easy even for Italians! I met an Italian guitarist last year and asked him if he could translate the introduction from Casteliono's book for me and he seemed to find it very difficult. Much harder, apparently, than we in the UK find Dowland's English. I would be glad to hear, though, if that's not true for Italian speaking members of the list. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stewart McCoy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Lute Net" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 9:15 PM Subject: Tablature rhythm signs > Dear Ed, > > A tempting thought, but I don't think Dalza uses the fermata as a > sign for a breve. In the pieces called Tastar de corde Dalza has > several chords with a fermata, for example the piece starting like > this: > > |\ |\ |\ |\ |\ |\ |\ > | |\ |\ | |\ |\ |\ > ^ ^ | |\ |\ ^ | |\ |\ | > . . |. | | . | | | | > -0--|----|-----------|-3--|-------------|- > ----|-0--|-3---2--0--|----|-------------|- > ----|----|--------.--|----|-0-----------|- > ----|----|-----------|----|-3-----------|- > -0--|-2--|-----------|-0--|-------3--2--|- > -0--|-0--|-0---------|-3--|-2--0-----.--|- > . > > (A mono-spaced font is essential for this to look right.) > > Each bar consistently lasts a semibreve, so the fermata sign cannot > mean a breve. If Dalza wanted a bar's worth for each chord, he would > have used the sign for a semibreve for each chord, i.e. > > | > | > | > | > > In his introduction Dalza shows all the available note values > represented by flags, including fancy flags for triple time. He > gives the following five basic signs: > > | |\ |\ |\ |\ > | | |\ |\ |\ > | | | |\ |\ > | | | | |\ > > He would presumably have included the fermata sign along with these > signs, if he had thought of it as a breve. The fact that he leaves > it out in the introduction would suggest that he didn't consider it > to be a sign with a fixed note value like the other rhythm signs. I > think he means that the player should wait a suitably long time on > each chord with a fermata. > > I'm afraid I don't fully understand what he says about these signs, > and would appreciate help from an Italian speaker. This is the > passage, with my attempt at a translation: > > Questi sonno li segni > [Here are the signs.] > > | |\ |\ |\ |\ > | | |\ |\ |\ > | | | |\ |\ > | | | | |\ > > El primo significa la mesura a che devi tegnir: > [The first means the pulse (beat) which you must keep:] > > laqual bisogna pigliarla si larga che in quel tempo tu posse dare le > botte del numero diminuto: > [this needs to be held long enough for you to be able to strike > shorter notes within that time.] > > per che lo secondo segno vale per la mita del primo. > [because the second sign is worth half the first.] > > El terzo per la mita del secondo. > [The third (sign is worth) half the second.] > > El quarto per la mita del terzo. > [The fourth (sign is worth) half the third.] > > El quinto per la mita del quarto. > [The fifth (sign is worth) half the fourth.] > > Dalza then goes onto describe the rhythm signs for triple time. I > can't see any reference to the fermata sign. > > I'm afraid I don't know about the origin of the fermata sign, and > would appreciate help in that direction too. > > Best wishes, > > Stewart. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ed Durbrow" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "lute list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 4:51 PM > Subject: Re: Tablature rhythm signs > > > > >Where the singer's > > >staff notation part ends with a long, the lutenist's tablature > has a > > >pause sign instead. I've not looked very far, but my guess is > that > > >longs were generally confined to final bars, where the exact > length > > >of the note was not very important. > > > > > > That is most interesting Stewart. It got me to thinking, I wonder > if > > those signs that look like fermatas in Dalza are really just a way > to > > notate a breve. That's more or less the way I've always played > them. > > I don't think I've ever come across a longa in tab. > > cheers, > > -- > > Ed Durbrow > > Saitama, Japan > > http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/ > > > > > > > >
