Il 03/01/2011 18:15, t...@heartistrymusic.com ha scritto:
I have heard many recordings of the guitar version with full orchestra, and I
havealso
performed the piece on guitar with full orchestra. Guitars and lutes were not
designed for
this. Even then I wanted a facsimile of the original, but was unable to locate
one.
Now that I am dabbling in the lute world I would like to re-visit this piece.
Questions:
1. Given the time period, would it be most historically accurate to perform
this on a baroque
lute in baroque tuning? Or could one get by with an 8 course renaissance
instrument?
Vivaldi uses the word "leuto" Vivaldi to indicate an instrument able to
realize the continuo. See, for example, his "Concerto per la solennità
di san Lorenzo" RV 556. In my opinion (and in that of Rossella Perrone,
who wrote a detailed preface to my edition of Vivaldi's works for lute
and mandolin) that instrument was the archlute, i.e. the Italian baroque
lute. But I guess that Vivaldi wouldn't mind if someone played it on the
German baroque lute -- or even on the mandora, as Pietro Prosser
suggested a few years ago.
In her preface, Rossella Perrone writes:
"In writing almost certainly for the «leuto» that he knew, that is, the
lute in use in Italy or the archlute, Vivaldi left the Bohemian patron
or his lutist the task of adapting the part. In any event, it is
significant that the three compositions dedicated to Wrtby, together
with the concerto RV 540, can be played on both types of instrument and
the keys of the works (C major in RV 82, G minor in RV 85, D major in RV
93 and D minor in RV 540) are comfortable for the archlute and the lute
in D minor alike.
"Moreover, in the three compositions dedicated to the Bohemian count,
considering the fact that the pieces were certainly destined for a
chamber group, the lute part, unlike the concerto RV 540, in which the
richer order of the score allows an explicit doubling of the roles of
the instruments (as support for the basses in the ripieno and for the
solista in the solos), is notated only in the treble clef without
employing the bass clef. Nevertheless, since the lute part in score is
always in the middle, between the violin and the bass, with the
exception of the Larghetto of RV 82 (highlighting, with such an arrangement,
the derivation of the violin part from the «leuto» part), one can put
forward the hypothesis that the lutist of the period read from his own
line and the bass line at the same time, perhaps playing both the
melodic line as well as the basses for harmonic support.
"Ever since the publication of these compositions, as we were saying,
the problem of the type of «leuto» employed by Vivaldi has come up. The
confusion arose because of Vivaldi’s use of the treble clef. However,
from the autograph RV 540, where the notes in the treble clef are
written an octave higher and the basses on the true notes, we learn that
the parts of the three compositions dedicated to Wrtby (all in G clef),
were to be played by the archlute an octave lower and not on a small
lute with
a register that could go as high as D5".
2. Would Vivaldi have written standard notation that a lutenist would then
have entabulated
according to the instrument in their possession at the time?
I guess so. There are some examples of this "modus operandi" in the lute
literature of that time. There is an interesting article written by
Pietro Prosser (in Italian, sorry):
http://riviste.paviauniversitypress.it/index.php/phi/article/view/05-02-INT04/44
3. For correct volume and tonal balance, what would be the most appropriate
(and
historically correct) number of violins, etc.? String trio? Two per desk?...
The Concerto RV 93 is scored for two violins, lute and "basso".
Best regards,
Fabio
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