I don't see that the "Roman" analogy is a direct analogy; in the
case of Apicius it is a tangled tale in a late source, with an
overabundance of fish sauce.
Varenne's 17th century cookbook is interesting because it is so
different from those from other countries.
There are many issues with Mace, but the main one in regard to the
strings is that he was eccentric and far removed from the source.
And I'm not saying the information isn't true, I'm just saying it isn't
reliable.
Elevating Mace to the level of reliable, first hand witnesses is just
fitting the the facts to the theory.
Even if Mace was the Samuel Pepys of the lute--which he is not--he
still would be far removed from the Continent, which makes him a
secondary source
For example, the fact that he tuned in single reentrant for the
theorbo, is that a personal quirk, or reflective of English practice,
or one of several variant tunings, or reflective of a widespread
Continental practice, or one of several widespread Continental tunings?
Well, we just can't say--the information is interesting, but there is
no evaluative context.
From a compositional point of view, the narrative of the defence of
English music seems to me to show that he was not really familiar with
the major composers of his time. The lack of sales for his book is
ascribed to the waning of the lute's popularity, but I think it is far
more reasonable to assume that his book was a dud for any number of
reasons, the central one presumably that much of the material was
dated. I think it is pretty safe to say that the important figures in
music were also for the most part unaware of Mace and his work. New
evidence may come to light to rebut this, but he seems pretty far off
the radar.
Contrast Mace's writing with that of the eclectic Pepys:
We walked to church with him, and then I left them without staying the
sermon and straight home by water, and there find, as I expected,
[1]Mr. Hill, and [2]Andrews, and one slovenly and ugly fellow,
[3]Seignor Pedro, who sings Italian songs to the [4]theorbo most
neatly, and they spent the whole evening in singing the best piece of
musique counted of all hands in the world, made by [5]Seignor
Charissimi, the famous master in Rome.
Interesting that it was "OK" to skip out before the sermon.
I think the issue here is not whether one can defend any source for
music style--one can, of course, I think it is important whether there
IS a difference, or whether they all get lumped together.
And then, of course, people can disagree. And we will.
dt
> Suppose he had written a cookbook that included a recipe for two
> headed boar, and wrote a chapter on Italian spices.
> Would later chefs take it seriously?
actually, three are quite a few modern cooks who are working with
surviving recipies from the time of the Romans and later who would
have
been interested, especially in the spices. Jaded feasters were
commonly
served mostrosities such as swans-a-swimming and cockatrices; a
two-headed
boar would have been a tame sight.
Apparantly, there is no evidence that thomas Mace traveled, to Italy
or
anywhere (Mathew Spring, _The Lute in Britain_), and, yes, there can
be a
difference in quality of product between differnt markets for it.
But,
consider that lute strings will not find a huge local market
anywhere,
most of them would have been marketed away from where they were
produced;
and production locale was most likely to have been chosen for
proximity to
a fleshe market to ensure fresh and conveniant raw materials.
--
Dana Emery
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References
1. http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/7165.php
2. http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/7673.php
3. http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/7730.php
4. http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/457.php
5. http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/7731.php
6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
