I've got the Scelte edition too but there is much more output than that
(at least 34 works published in Paris, many of which survive). If
you've got the Edizione Scelte, you have part of the "traite des
agremens" which does help interpreting the music. That particular
booklet has a printer's catalogue of Merchi output (from one of his
last Paris works) listing about all his works very neatly.
Merchi actually does "recycle" sometimes, but it's not always too
obvious. A good example of this I found in the opus 2
(violin/mandolin/pardessus duets) versus opus 3 (guitar duets): one
movement is too similar to be a coincidence though not exactly the
same. I doubt he would resort to copying an entire sonata and even when
he does it like in my example it's rather subtle.
I've yet to embark on a comprehensive comparison of the Paris and
London output; and as I've just stumbled upon some exciting new
discoveries in my main area of interest (mandolin - that also explains
what triggered my main interest and research into Merchi's music) as
well as being on the brink of leaving for a symposium on mandolin
history... I doubt if I will be able to give further feedback soon.
What we're really missing here is a comprehensive study on Merchi -
some sort of a monography on his life and work... His works actually
went as far the court in Dresden and was also sold in the Hague.
What I also find interesting is his link to the colascione which he
apparently played in duo with his brother. I believe the Mercure de
France even lists the tuning (two-string colascione if I remember
right). Too bad none of that music got published... :(
Kind regards,
Pieter
_______________________________________________________________________
From: "WALSH STUART" <s.wa...@ntlworld.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2013 9:07 PM
To: "jelmaa" <jel...@gmail.com>
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Giacomo Merchi: Allegretto per la chitarra 1776
On 05/09/2013 19:32, jelmaa wrote:
> I know that he published at least one song both in an edition with
5-course guitar accompaniment (tab+staff), in France, and the same song
with a very similar accompaniment for the English Guittar, in staff, in
London, though in a different key. We also know he recycled
guitar-violin duets as guitar duets (or the inverse, I don't know).
>
> So he may well have converted guittar pieces to guitar pieces :-)
>
> Jelma
Are you thinking of Ah! vous dirous je maman? (the immortal melody
better known as....) but yes, of course, he may have done. It's ages
since I've looked up the Merchi brothers. Was it just Giacomo who came
to London and published music for the English guitar (but who taught
both types)?
It's strange that one Merchi or other didn't publish music for the
cistre ou guitharre allemande (or announce the music as playable on it,
as Carpentier says that his cistre (cythre) music can alternatively be
played on the guitharre espagnolle). The (almost) A-tuned cistre was
very popular in France at the time and Spanish guitar music and
'cistre'
music of the time looks remarkably similar although the cistre has more
courses.
Stuart
>
> On Sep 5, 2013, at 20:13 , WALSH STUART wrote:
>
>> On 05/09/2013 06:21, Pieter Van Tichelen wrote:
>>
>> Hi Stuart,
>> Beautiful and I'm happy someone has finally started looking into the
>> Merchi publications for (English) guitar. As I have recently done
>> some research into some of his music I can add a bit of background
>> info.
>> Merchi actually preferred the "Spanish" guitar as can be noted from
>> a fragment from the Public Advertiser, February 10, 1769:
>> "Signor Merchi [...] begs Leave to acquaint the Nobility and Gentry,
>> that he continues to teach Singing, and the Accompanyment on both
>> the Spanish and English Guittar; he however recommends the former;
>> for though it be a more difficult Instrument than the English
>> Guittar, yet it is more harmonious and pleasing,; nay, it proves as
>> proper for Accompanyment as the Harpsichord; and as to the
>> Difficulties, a skillful Master may very easily remove them. Signor
>> Merchi has invented a new and most expeditious Method, after which
>> any Person with a little Attention may be able to play a Minuet in
>> two Lessons, and to accompany an Air in four or five. He also offers
>> to supply the Dilletanti with the choicest Collection of Opera
>> Songs, both French and Italian, with some of his own Compositions,
>> as well as Duo, Trio, Allemandes, Minuets, Rondeux, which he has
>> lately set [...]" (Public Advertiser, January 15, 1774, GDN
>> Z2001147297, BBCN).
>> Merchi (we usually don't which of the two brothers Giacomo or
>> Giuseppe Bernardo - only the early Paris publications mention the
>> first name Giacomo I seem to recall) went to London to teach and
>> publish guitar - same as they (or one of the brothers) did in Paris.
>> In Paris they published about 40 works, mostly for guitar, about
>> half of which is accompaniment of popular song (from the Opera
>> Comique), but there are a couple of instrumental works for (Spanish)
>> guitar as well. Some of this Paris output has been republished in
>> London for (English) guitar, but if you want to dig into the real
>> bulk of Merchi repertory you'll have to look into their Paris
>> output. He also published one book of triosonata's and two books of
>> duo's, all of which were listed for violin or mandolin or pardessus
>> de viole. Some of his guitar duo's are in the Paris taste of
>> accompaniment with a violin (guitar has the lead and accompanied by
>> a violin).
>> Merchi had established himself in Paris as a maitre de guitarre,
>> colascione ("calisoncini") and mandolin (at least until the big
>> maestro's took over in the 1760s). He and his brother were actually
>> listed as virtuosi players touring Europe in the 1750s on all of
>> these.
>> Part of the Paris output is the famous guitar method in two books -
>> the second of which goes into the details of "agremens"
>> (ornamentation) and is usually quoted for praising the use of single
>> strings on the guitar (making the transition from the baroque
>> course-strung guitar).
>> This particular treatise can be quite useful when you're about to
>> play Merchi music, to see what he really meant with some of his
>> ornamentation signs. For example, contrary to normal theory and
>> practice, he recommends a triller to start on the principal note
>> rather than the upper note (which makes a lot of sense on the guitar
>> as well).
>> He actually shows some influence from Tartini in use of
>> ornamentation and his triosonata's and violin/mandolin duets bear
>> this out as well. I'm not sure where they had their music education
>> but Brescia isn't all that far from Padua, so it's not all that
>> surprising to see this influence.
>> Kind regards & thanks for posting!
>> Pieter
>>
>> Thanks Pieter and thanks for all this detailed information.
>> I think it's just the case that, every so often, someone digs out
some
>> Merchi (whichever one) and has a go. James Tyler and Robert Spencer
>> recorded a Merchi (J.B?) duet for ('Spanish' gut-strung) guitars
>> decades ago. Taro Takeuchi has just released a CD, Affectuoso, with
>> music for both types of guitar from the 1760s/70s and which includes
a
>> virtuoso rendition of Merchi's variations on La Folia, also for
>> 'Spanish' gut-strung guitar (lasting about 15 minutes!).
>> The little piece I played from Dodici Suonate does actually specify
>> Giacomo Merchi on the title page.You say that some of the Paris
>> repertoire was republished in London for the English guitar? I have
>> the Studio Per Edizioni Scelte reprints of Merchi and I know Le
Guide
>> Des Ecoliers but I don't remember seeing any music for the Spanish
>> guitar recycled as music for the English guitar. But some of
Merchi's
>> English guitar music (published in London) does turn up in C.F.A.
>> Pollet's publications for 'cistre ou guitharre allemande' published
in
>> Paris (without attribution).
>> Stuart
>> ____________________________________________________________________
>>
>> From: "Mayes, Joseph" [1]<ma...@rowan.edu>
>> Sent: 04 September 2013 23:26
>> To: "WALSH STUART" [2]<s.wa...@ntlworld.com>, "lutelist Net"
>> [3]<Lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
>> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Giacomo Merchi: Allegretto per la chitarra 1776
>> Nice!
>> Joseph Mayes
>> On 9/4/13 4:50 PM, "WALSH STUART" [4]<s.wa...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>>> [5]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_iZXUD6rTA
>> To get on or off this list see list information at
>> [6]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>>
>> --
>>
>> References
>>
>> 1. mailto:ma...@rowan.edu
>> 2. mailto:s.wa...@ntlworld.com
>> 3. mailto:Lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
>> 4. mailto:s.wa...@ntlworld.com
>> 5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_iZXUD6rTA
>> 6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>>
>
>
>
--
