Dear Ron and All,
Thanks for pointing out the cognate - I wasn't familiar with Ness 75.
It does, however, reinforce my impression that the Marsh piece is
probably an intabulation of a vocal piece, and Ness 75 is yet another
example of a piece which makes use of thematic material from a vocal or
instrumental original while not actually being an intabulation. Just
like my last piece of the month, in fact!
One of my correspondents noticed that I played no ornaments in this
piece, and it reminded me of an issue which I have never quite got
around to bringing up, so maybe now is a good time:
I think by now most of us are used to the idea that the large number of
ornament signs in English 17th C MSS like Board and ML reflect the style
of the time, in other words the old guys played lots of ornaments and
the fact that we don't is rather unHIP. It has generally been assumed
that this amount of "twiddly business" is a 17th C phenomenon and
reflects French influence. On the contrary I think lutenists like John
Johnson played lots of ornaments, it's just that they are not notated in
some of the earlier MSS (like Marsh). But what about Francesco da
Milano? There's no doubt that contemporary keyboard players (e.g.
Sancta Maria, first half 16th C) played lots of ornaments and this was a
practice which continued throughout the 16th C (another keyboardist,
Diruta, wrote an important treatise in 1594). I think lutenists
probably played lots of ornaments as well, and perhaps our modern
performances (mine included) would strike the old guys as rather bare.
We are very concerned with the notion of the lute imitating vocal music
and maintaining "pure" polyphony, but perhaps we are rather out of step
with the old guys on this one.
What do you think? Perhaps we should try adding ornaments to Francesco
and Co.? I have tried, of course, but maybe not seriously enough. Just
to clarify, by "ornaments" I mean "graces", i.e. mordents, trills,
turns, etc. played with the left hand. Of course there are many
examples of embellished pieces by Francesco and others where many notes
have been added in the form of (plucked) diminutions, etc. and that is
also something we should consider doing.
Best wishes,
Martin
Ron Andrico wrote:
Dear Martin & all:
Thanks for posting this fantasia from the Marsh book, and I like the
way you have repaired the funny bits. I have chosen this fantasia
several times as a quiet interlude for communion when playing
for church services, just repeating or extending as necessary. If it
sounds familiar, it is a cognate of Francesco's 'Richercha Del
medesimo', f. 37, Cavalcanti ms. Brussels (Ness 75).
Best wishes,
Ron Andrico
www.mignarda.com <http://www.mignarda.com>
> Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:00:51 +0100
> To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [LUTE] new piece of the month
>
> Dear All,
>
> In the nick of time, before April turns into May, there is a new piece
> of the month: www.luteshop.co.uk/month/pieceofthemonth.htm
>
> Do let me know what you think - sending parcels off into cyberspace
> sometimes feels like Mr Sting's message in a bottle....
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Martin
>
> P.S. I hope to make it into the 17th C next time.
>
>
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Make i'm yours. Create a custom banner to support your cause.
<http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Contribute/Default.aspx?source=TXT_TAGHM_MSN_Make_IM_Yours>
