Hey- I cut them and dried them myself, and they're ready to be sprinkled liberally on the performance I'm giving this afternoon; which includes some of Capirola's recercari, intabs, and a Padoana Francese- but (as usual) Martin is right about the other squiggles, same note ornaments, and freedom to spread them all around- something I've always done anyway- and it's very encouraging to hear that most players are too conservative with their ornaments, as I've wondered if I do too many...

Thanks Martin!

Dan


On 9/21/2013 12:10 PM, Martin Shepherd wrote:
Dear Bill and All,

In my capacity as a secondary fount:

Dan makes it sound as though the interpretation of Capirola's ornaments is cut and dried, which it isn't. I agree with Dan that the most likely interpretation of the two signs is lower mordent for the two dots above the note and upper mordent for the dotted number, but there are cases where the dotted number is the same as the written number, and I don't know how to interpret that. Also Capirola gives more ornament signs (and other signs, e.g. hold marks) towards the beginning of the book and the beginnings of pieces, the implication being that he's just showing you the kinds of things you can do and the kinds of contexts in which you can do them, and leaving the rest up to you.

It's worth looking at keyboard sources for further information. It's pretty clear from Sancta Maria's book that Capirola's tendency to play upper mordents on every second note of a descending scale was a common feature in the 16th C, for example.

My article in The Lute (1996) summarizes a lot of material which might be helpful.

In general, I think we play too few ornaments, simply because many sources don't include signs. Once you get used to a certain level of ornaments, the music sounds very bare without them.

Best wishes,

Martin

On 21/09/2013 17:33, William Samson wrote:
    Thank you Dan.  That's a great help.

    Bill
    From: Dan Winheld <[email protected]>
    To: William Samson <[email protected]>
    Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
    Sent: Saturday, 21 September 2013, 16:05
    Subject: [LUTE] Re: Early ornamentation
Capirola himself is the source of Capirola's ornaments. Two dots ABOVE
    the tab cipher (not the finger dots below) means a simple mordent-
quick pull off to note below & hammer back on. A "ghost" cipher made up
    of dots indicates the opposite- hammer on to the dot-cipher from the
main note followed by a pull-off back to the main note. Can't recall if
    Capirola has any other ornament signs. Typical written out fully
    articulated trill stuff. I always throw in some of my own ornaments,
    but with Capirola he often gives you enough.
    Judenkunig I'm not familiar with. Other more learned streams of the
    Lute Fountain of Holy Wisdom will no doubt supply you with more
    secondary material.
    Dan
    On 9/21/2013 7:42 AM, William Samson wrote:
    >    Dear Fount of All Knowledge,
    >
> I am working on some early C16 lute music (Capirola, Judenkunig .
    . .)
> and wonder what ornaments, if any, might be used when playing it.
    >
    >    Can anybody point me at a source that might help?
    >
    >    Thanks,
    >
    >    Bill
    >
    >    --
    >
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References

    1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html






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