Stewart McCoy wrote:
Dear Stuart,
"Mr Strangs Gregery hitts" is in only one source - Cambridge University
Library, Dd.2.11. There might well be a bar missing from the first
strain, but it is impossible to be sure what the missing notes are or
where they should be.
The attribution to John Whitfield is incorrect. On folio 9v is a piece
called "The Scottish Hunt's Up". The scribe, thought to be Matthew
Holmes, couldn't fit all the music for that piece onto the page (9v), so
he wrote the last few bars at the very bottom of the next folio (10r),
and added the attribution to John Whitfield.
On folio 10r Holmes copied Holborne's Ploravit Pavan and Lushier's
Almain. He had a little bit of space left on folio 10r, so he copied "Mr
Strangs Gregery hitts", with all the letters squashed up close together.
Unfortunately he couldn't get to the end of the piece, so he put the
last bit after the end of "The Scottish Hunt's Up" in the bottom
right-hand corner of the page. These last few notes of "Mr Strangs
Gregery hitts" got tangled up with "J. Whitfield", which explains how
the false attribution arose.
What puzzles me is why Holmes didn't carry on copying "The Scottish
Hunt's Up" at the top of folio 10r. Perhaps he copied the Holborne and
Lushier pieces before he had finished "The Scottish Hunt's Up". At all
events, "Mr Strangs Gregery hitts" was copied last.
Best wishes,
Stewart McCoy.
Thanks, Detailed indeed! Any idea what "Mr Strangs Gregery hitts" means?
Stuart
-----Original Message-----
From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On
Behalf Of Stuart Walsh
Sent: 12 November 2009 21:45
To: Lute Net
Subject: [LUTE] Mr Strange Gregory hitts J. Whitfield
Talking of 'Lute News', every issue has a supplement of pieces edited by
John H. Robinson. The latest is "Twenty Continental Preludes and
Exercises....from CUL MS 3056." He must have edited hundreds and
hundreds of pieces over the years.
Anyway, in 2000 Lute News no56, "Lute Music Ascribed or Dedicated to
John Whitfield, Greene and Southwell", the second piece has this very
strange title:
"Mr Strange Gregory hitts J. Whitfield".
And it's a nice little piece (a galliard?) - and it's not too
difficult. A lot of the music in these supplements is tough going. In
the scholarly notes, it is explained that this isn't really the title.
It's not by (or for?) J. Whitfield. The title just is:
"Mr Strange Gregery hitts"
(Or "Mr Strange Gregery hills"). So (?) this might mean a man called
Gregory Strange from a place abbreviated as hitts or hills?
Anyway again, the first strain (of three) has only seven 'bars'. Is this
likely in English lute music of this period? I just wonder if after bar
5 there could be a bar missing?
I do try all the pieces in these supplements and I'm amazed at John H.
Robinson's achievement.
Stuart
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