Dear Stewart, The Spagna by Francesco is a different animal from most spagnas that I have seen. A. Ness found it in two mss.: The Cavalcanti which dates from, I believe, the 2nd half of the 16th century and a Florence ms. of unstated date which lacks the supporting lute part. Whether the latter had been played w/ the original tenor or the "filled-out" tenor is uncertain but there are many other characteristics that set it apart from previous Spagnas.
In Otto Gombosi's study of the Capirola he offers two more spagnas and each of these abound in ficta, variety of tempos (slow sections beside bursts of speed), division into 3 (and 5!) and single line 2nd parts. These mirror other contrapunti that show up in various late 15th cent. mss. on other tenors from songs, mass movements and motets. Beside these Francesco's Spagna seems downright Victorian --and would never frighten any horses. There are many contrapunti in the Cavalcanti, mostly divisions over chord progressions and, taken as a whole they may have been offered as didactic material. It is also the unique source for FdM's Canon as well. What I'm getting at is that this spagna was written for a very different audience than those of the previous century and was probably seen as an antique fashion but useful for learning an art of contrapunti. Certainly w/ the filled out "chords" there is no need of a plectrum whereas the earlier tenor/contra style would have a very striking dual line texture. Sean On Jul 29, 2005, at 11:38 AM, Stewart McCoy wrote: > Dear Sean, > > Thanks for your message. It's very hard to generalise, but sometimes > I think we exaggerate the linear aspect of 15th and early 16th > music. Even in the age of polyphony, composers still had their ears > on what was going on vertically. An example I find particularly > interesting is how Francesco da Milano treats La Spagna in his > setting for two lutes. I imagine this is similar to the 16th-century > idea of a tenorista accompanying some flashy descanting by a > virtuoso Pietrobono-type character. Although the Spagna melody is > always present in the Lute 2 part, it is not always easy to pick it > out, because it isn't always the highest note of the chord. Thus the > Spagna tenor is transformed into a series of chords, and the > vertical is more apparent than the horizontal, at least to my ears. > I concede that one's ability to pick out the notes of La Spagna is > determined by how well one is familiar with that tenor. > > All the best, > > Stewart. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Sean Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Lutelist" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> > Sent: Friday, July 29, 2005 2:24 PM > Subject: Byrd - horizontal and vertical > > >> >> Hi Stewart, >> >> The note to Gary about linear "vs" vertical is very interesting. > I've >> been working w/ a lot of 3-part vocal music intabs from the 15th >> century and it's usually practical and doable to bring out the > cantus >> (or tenor) but if the tenor and countertenor(s) start crossing >> excessively then the lower voices start getting vertical again. > But >> even this benefits from picking your lines and keeping them > linear, >> dropping back (the opposite of accenting --a term for this?) > others >> where necessary. Entry points are wonderful for recalibrating the > ear. >> >> I've noticed Spinacino and Fridolin Sicher (St Gall organ book) > will >> often add divisions or a figure to accent lines. And it's very > helpful >> to pencil, circle and arrow various voices --often w/ different >> colors-- to remember what is going on and to keep things fresh. >> >> all the best from SF >> Sean > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
