Dear Jon, In a world of different pitch standards, different temperaments, different nominal pitches, modes, tones, hexachords, and all the other paraphernalia of early music, the definition of key is likely to get out of hand. I'll try to keep things simple.
As you know, it was normal procedure in the baroque period to group pieces according to key, so you'd have a suite consisting of say an allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue, all in the same key, with the same key signature, and every piece ending with the same chord. When you play your harp in an ensemble, you say you group pieces according to key, i.e. you'll have three or four pieces in C major, and then maybe have another group of pieces in another key. That's all we mean by grouping pieces according to key. I guess you group pieces like that for two reasons: 1) Purely practical - you don't want to have to keep stopping between pieces to re-tune your strings; 2) Euphony - it's more satisfying on the ear, if you stay in the same tonality, at least for a while. If you keep jumping from one key to another, it can be unsettling, especially if the keys are totally unrelated. In 16th-century sources there are lots of examples of pieces grouped according to key. I mentioned Galilei's manuscript, but that is a bit exceptional. I suppose the commonest thing was to have a pavan and galliard both in the same key, often with both pieces sharing similar melodic material. You may find a suite of branles all more or less in the same key, so they could be played one after the other. The trouble with tablature is that it doesn't specify an exact pitch. We need to be able to talk about notes, chords, and keys, so we have to find a way of identifying them. There will always be exceptions, but it is usually assumed that renaissance lute music is for a lute in g', i.e. a lute with the first string tuned to g'. This means that a G major chord will look like this: _a_ _a_ _c_ _c_ _c_ _a_ Everything else is calculated from that g' first string, so the note f'# will be ___ _e_ ___ ___ ___ ___ i.e. one semitone down from g'. Rainer aus dem Spring has pointed out that Elias Mertel grouped pieces according to key in his _Hortus Musicalis Novus_ (Strasbourg, 1615). Pieces in G major are grouped together, so Prelude No. 162 begins |\ |\ |\ |\ |\ | _a____________a___ ___a__________a_|_ _____c________c_|_ _______c______c_|_ _________c____c_|_ ___________e__a_|_ No. 163 begins | |\ |\ |\ | |\ |\ |\ | | |\ | _a___a_________c___ _a_|_a_________c_|_ _c_|_c_________d_|_ _c_|_c__a________|_ _c_|______e_c__a_|_ _a_|______.______|__ No. 164 begins | |\ | |\ | |\ _a___a_________e_h_e___ _a_|_a_____a_f_.___._|_ _c_|_c___c_._________|_ _c_|___c_____________|_ _c_|_________________|_ _a_|_________________|_ The next seven preludes are likewise in G major. One interesting thing I did notice with Mertel's collection is that his idea of what constitutes a key must have been slightly different from ours. Pieces in a minor key usually end with a major chord (tierce de picardie), so there is an interplay between major and minor there. However, there is more to it than that. The first 31 preludes are all in the key of C, but the C major pieces are all mixed up with the C minor ones. Nos 1, 11, 16, 18, 20, 30, and 31 are in C major, while all the other 24 are in C minor. I don't know why. Best wishes, Stewart. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Murphy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Lute Net" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Rainer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 4:05 AM Subject: Re: MS grouped by key? > A question for you all. I don't understand the "grouping by key". I > understand that in a mean temperament there is a matter of key, although > with equal temperament it shouldn't matter. Since the lute manuscripts are > written in tabulature the absolute key should be a matter of tuning the > instrument (within its range). Perhaps being a beginner I've missed some > aspects of tabulature, but it would seem that the absolute pitch (within > limits) should be irrelevant unless playing ensemble or in a mean > temperament (and there the choice of temperament should be the defining > factor). > > Admittedly my harp ensemble does tend to sequence our pieces by key, as the > harp is basically diatonic and some members without levers have to retune to > a new key. And the harp is normally tuned in equal temperament. How does the > "key" apply to the lute when the text is in tab? Unless the instrument > ensemble is tuned to different keys. But would a manuscript arrangement for > a piece then be consistant? > > I'm sure there is a good answer, and I'm sure Stewart will be quite clear on > it. > > Best, Jon To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
