Gary's point really answers the question. Printed music was indeed
rare, expensive, and required an essentially monopolized royal
privilege to publish. Besides, Spain is really considered the source
of many of the grounds that were the basis for improvised dance music
that traveled widely in the 15th and 16th centuries. As is the case
with so-called "ficta" in vocal polyphony, why bother to publish
something so commonly known and so well understood? There simply was
no need to write it down. In the words of Reinhard Strohm:
As [music] is essentially aural communication, the best part of it
cannot be recovered, only reconstructedMusical notation is only a
secondary witness. What is more, much of the music actually heard
in the late Middle Ages was never written down at all.
Reinhard Strohm, The Close of the Middle Ages, Antiquity and the Middle
Ages : From ancient Greece to the 15th century, Ed. McKinnon, James:
Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice Hall, 1991, p. 276.
RA
> Date: Mon, 4 May 2015 12:52:47 -0400
> To: dwinh...@lmi.net; praelu...@hotmail.com; r.ba...@gmx.de;
lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
> From: boy...@appstate.edu
> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Spain vs. Italy
>
> A word of caution here:
>
> We are making judgements based primarily on the printed evidence
(i.e.,
> the 7 main vihuela tablatures); there was a great deal of music (most
of
> it!) that took place in Spain outside of these formal, published
works.
>
> Publishing was a big deal in the 16th century. Getting an imprimatur
> from a conservative and literally Inquisitorial government was
unlikely
> with a large collection of dance music; much easier to play it
> conservative and stick to sacred intabulations. The vihuela
manuscripts
> hint at a wider repertoire, as does the existence of guitar music
from a
> later period. Who knows what was happening on the streets, but the
> Inquisition wouldn't have had much to do if everyone in Spain was a
> straight-laced as the vihuela tablatures make it seem . . .
>
> Gary
>
> Dr. Gary R. Boye
> Professor and Music Librarian
> Appalachian State University
>
> On 5/4/2015 12:37 PM, Dan Winheld wrote:
> > In other words, because the only two ethnic/cultural groups that
had
> > any rhythm were invited to leave the premises at once. It was said
> > that when all the Jewish & Moorish doctors, scholars, scientists,
and
> > artists & academics showed up on his doorstep, the Sultan of Turkey
> > asked "Has the King of Spain lost his mind?"
> >
> > Lacking some rhythm myself, I do enjoy the all the great vihuela
music
> > a lot- but even I have to sometimes "move" over to Italy & Germany
for
> > a little jumping around.
> >
> > Dan
> >
> > On 5/4/2015 3:36 AM, Ron Andrico wrote:
> >> Well, the first answer that springs to mind is because Spain had
> >> recently kicked out all the dance musicians, who had moved to
Italy.
> >> They were left with a bunch of upwardly mobile courtiers (Milan),
> >> and
> >> serious-minded priests with so much time on their hands that they
> >> intabulated every piece of vocal polyphony they could put their
> >> hands
> >> on.
> >> Actually, there is quite a bit of dance music in Fuenllana's
print,
> >> some but much less in the other six published books. Also, there
> >> was
> >> quite a bit of dance music evident in Naples, which was Spanish
> >> at the
> >> time.
> >> RA
> >> > Date: Mon, 4 May 2015 09:29:52 +0200
> >> > To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
> >> > From: r.ba...@gmx.de
> >> > Subject: [LUTE] Spain vs. Italy
> >> >
> >> > Hi all,
> >> > In the early 1500s, why are dances so common in Italian lute
music
> >> and
> >> > so rare in the vihuela rep. ?
> >> > Thanks
> >> > --
> >> > Sent from my Android phone with GMX Mail. Please excuse my
> >> brevity.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > To get on or off this list see list information at
> >> > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
> >>
> >> --
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
--
