[LUTE] Re: Albrechtsberger
Oops, sorry to Pietro and David - I hope you are not offended by my comment. It did bring a broad smile to my face, though, which is not such a bad thing these days. Rob PS Some people have written to me saying the link doesn't work. It does if you copy and paste it into Internet Explorer. Alternatively search www.amazon.co.uk for mandora and jew's harp, and have a listen to the short excerpts. www.rmguitar.info -Original Message- From: Pietro Prosser [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 21 January 2008 00:16 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: R: [LUTE] Albrechtsberger If you are interested, you can find the 4 concertos by JGA in on CD issued by ORF (Austria) http://shop.orf.at/1/index.tmpl (world premiere of the 4 concerti and with historical instruments) I played the mandora in the 3 concerti for mandora + jew's harp, Enrico Baiano the cembalo in the 4th. best wishes Pietro Prosser -Messaggio originale- Da: Rob [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Inviato: domenica 20 gennaio 2008 21.23 A: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Oggetto: [LUTE] Albrechtsberger Is this for real? The funniest baroque music I've ever heard: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Albrechtsberger-Concertos-Jews-Harp-Mandora/dp/B 05975/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Albrechtsberger-Concertos-Jews-Harp-Mandora/dp/B000 005975/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8s=musicqid=1200860368sr=1-1 s=musicqid=1200860368sr=1-1 Rob www.rmguitar.info -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.7/1234 - Release Date: 20/01/2008 14.15 No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.7/1234 - Release Date: 20/01/2008 14.15
[LUTE] Re: Albrechtsberger
Oops, sorry to Pietro and David - I hope you are not offended by my comment. It did bring a broad smile to my face, though, which is not such a bad thing these days. Rob I was laughing out loud the full week of receiving the music, chuckling during rehearsals and smiling during the concert. David - enjoying a hilarious job at times PS: Disclaimer. Someone sending me a private reply commented on my one-page summary of Albrechtsberger, Jew's harp, mandora and personal adventure, implying that my paragraph on the mandora ... A mandora, also known as calchedon or colachon, is an 18th century German lute with 6 to 8 courses (of sometimes single strings) and 10 frets on the neck. The tuning of the first 6 courses is usually d'-a-f-c-G-D, but Albrechtsberger's music requires a mandora tuned a tone higher to e'-b-g-d-A-E (just like a guitar), with courses 7 and 8 tuned to D and C. Although they look alike at first glance, the construction was different from that of a baroque lute, allowing higher tension strings for greater volume, because a mandora was specifically designed for continuo playing. The surviving solo music is much simpler than that for baroque lute. .. was lacking in clarity. He said the large A tuned instrument (string length c. 95cm) was the professional continuo instrument, and said he wanted to know of evidence showing the D (or E) tuned galichonmandora was used for continuo. I have none. Semantically I think you could argue I didn't claim to either, safely leaving the continuo part of the story to the mandora in general without connecting it to string lengths or tunings, but I don't deny you could also read in my passage that mandoras in D and E were 'specifically designed for continuo playing', too. I should think any instrument in the hands of a professional continuo player will serve as continuo instrument, by the way, but that is besides the point for someone seeking evidence of past use. And a good point that is. Once more, I have none and will gladly bow to superior knowledge. David van Ooijen [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.davidvanooijen.nl To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: Albrechtsberger
Le 21 janv. 08 à 10:36, LGS-Europe a écrit : Oops, sorry to Pietro and David - I hope you are not offended by my comment. It did bring a broad smile to my face, though, which is not such a bad thing these days. Rob I was laughing out loud the full week of receiving the music, chuckling during rehearsals and smiling during the concert. David - enjoying a hilarious job at times David Can you smile and laugh and play that instrument at the same time. I thought you had to clench your teeth? You might have swallowed the thing ... One of my students used one of these to demonstrate the resonance patterns of the vowles in various languages (by completely removing the vocal cord resonance, which tends to mask this quality). It was very revealing, but it did cause great and rather uncontrollable hilarity. On a slightly more serious note, if this was, as you seem to imply, serious Baroque music, held in esteem at the time, it might tell us a little more about the Baroque aesthetic. Perhaps, texture and sound quality were just as important to them as extreme stability of frequency, or stable in tune-ness. They would have loved a slightly earthy bass string. Regards Anthony PS: Disclaimer. Someone sending me a private reply commented on my one-page summary of Albrechtsberger, Jew's harp, mandora and personal adventure, implying that my paragraph on the mandora ... A mandora, also known as calchedon or colachon, is an 18th century German lute with 6 to 8 courses (of sometimes single strings) and 10 frets on the neck. The tuning of the first 6 courses is usually d'-a-f-c-G-D, but Albrechtsberger's music requires a mandora tuned a tone higher to e'-b-g-d-A-E (just like a guitar), with courses 7 and 8 tuned to D and C. Although they look alike at first glance, the construction was different from that of a baroque lute, allowing higher tension strings for greater volume, because a mandora was specifically designed for continuo playing. The surviving solo music is much simpler than that for baroque lute. .. was lacking in clarity. He said the large A tuned instrument (string length c. 95cm) was the professional continuo instrument, and said he wanted to know of evidence showing the D (or E) tuned galichonmandora was used for continuo. I have none. Semantically I think you could argue I didn't claim to either, safely leaving the continuo part of the story to the mandora in general without connecting it to string lengths or tunings, but I don't deny you could also read in my passage that mandoras in D and E were 'specifically designed for continuo playing', too. I should think any instrument in the hands of a professional continuo player will serve as continuo instrument, by the way, but that is besides the point for someone seeking evidence of past use. And a good point that is. Once more, I have none and will gladly bow to superior knowledge. David van Ooijen [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.davidvanooijen.nl To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: Albrechtsberger
Dear Pietro I think David refers to the F+ concert. As known the autograph bears a mandora part in staff notation with the basses written in letters following the german habits (!). For this concert JGA requires 8-courses e-h-g-d-A-F(!)-E-C, as written on the autograph. The tuning is similar with for example with the 2 last partite by G.A.Brescianello, and many other mandora pieces (also 6-courses in d-a-f-c-G-Eb. Yes, I played the F-major concierto. From your score, labeled DRAFT, by the way, so a belated thank you for providing clear music. You wrote 'Mandora mi8' in the score in front of my part, si I assumed and managed a 'normal' tuning in E without problems. I had a 10-course bass lute, so extra basses were not a problem either. But the low F (didn't think of that for one moment), would have made life a little easier, I suppose. On the other hand, reading in E is easier with guitar experience. But the low F would have given a better resonance to all the F-chords, so next time I will do! I made a part in tenor clef, by the way, reading it as a guitar part. Albrechtsberger's music was not difficult, however, I got lost in my own cadenza ... |-( David For the E+ concert requires e-h-g-d-A-E-D#-H'. For the D+ concert JGA gives no information: following the other tuning we could argue e-h-g-d-A-D-C#-A' but the 3 lower strings are too low for a ca.70cm mandora. I founded the tuning e-h-g-d-A-F#-E-D functions well, better as e-h-g-d-A-G-F#-D, which is easier for G+, but sounds not well for E+. bast wishes Pietro -Messaggio originale- Da: LGS-Europe [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Inviato: lunedì 21 gennaio 2008 10.36 A: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Oggetto: [LUTE] Re: Albrechtsberger Oops, sorry to Pietro and David - I hope you are not offended by my comment. It did bring a broad smile to my face, though, which is not such a bad thing these days. Rob I was laughing out loud the full week of receiving the music, chuckling during rehearsals and smiling during the concert. David - enjoying a hilarious job at times PS: Disclaimer. Someone sending me a private reply commented on my one-page summary of Albrechtsberger, Jew's harp, mandora and personal adventure, implying that my paragraph on the mandora ... A mandora, also known as calchedon or colachon, is an 18th century German lute with 6 to 8 courses (of sometimes single strings) and 10 frets on the neck. The tuning of the first 6 courses is usually d'-a-f-c-G-D, but Albrechtsberger's music requires a mandora tuned a tone higher to e'-b-g-d-A-E (just like a guitar), with courses 7 and 8 tuned to D and C. Although they look alike at first glance, the construction was different from that of a baroque lute, allowing higher tension strings for greater volume, because a mandora was specifically designed for continuo playing. The surviving solo music is much simpler than that for baroque lute. .. was lacking in clarity. He said the large A tuned instrument (string length c. 95cm) was the professional continuo instrument, and said he wanted to know of evidence showing the D (or E) tuned galichonmandora was used for continuo. I have none. Semantically I think you could argue I didn't claim to either, safely leaving the continuo part of the story to the mandora in general without connecting it to string lengths or tunings, but I don't deny you could also read in my passage that mandoras in D and E were 'specifically designed for continuo playing', too. I should think any instrument in the hands of a professional continuo player will serve as continuo instrument, by the way, but that is besides the point for someone seeking evidence of past use. And a good point that is. Once more, I have none and will gladly bow to superior knowledge. David van Ooijen [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.davidvanooijen.nl To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.7/1234 - Release Date: 20/01/2008 14.15 No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.7/1234 - Release Date: 20/01/2008 14.15
[LUTE] Re: Albrechtsberger
Is this for real? The funniest baroque music I've ever heard: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Albrechtsberger-Concertos-Jews-Harp-Mandora/dp/B 05975/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8 It's for real. In 2006 I had the pleasure of playing one of Albrechtsberger's concerto's for Jew's harp and Mandora. this is what I wrote for our news letter: TOINK! In many concerts I play, my lute is the focal point of attraction. There are many people who have never seen the instrument before and they are curious for its construction, sound and history. Not so last month when I played in Johann Georg Albrechtsberger’s concert for two violins, Jew’s harp, mandora and bass. A Jew’s harp for me was an instrument of folk music, of the flower power movement of the 1960’s and a cheap and simple children’s toy, but not an instrument for classical music. I was wrong. Albrechtsberger (1736 - 1809) went to school with Joseph Haydn’s brother Michael, was a friend of Mozart and a teacher of Beethoven. He worked as organist in various churches and abbeys before he was appointed at the imperial court in Vienna. In 1791 he succeeded Mozart as assistant Kapellmeister in St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, and eventually became Kapellmeister in 1793. In 1750 Johann Heinrich Hörmann wrote a Partita in C for Jew’s harp, two recorders, four violins and continuo. It was the first work featuring the instrument, which until then had been regarded as just another folk instrument. Soon after that the Jew’s harp gained popularity in the salons of Europe and it had a few virtuoso players. One of these was the Benedictine monk Bruno Glatzl, who lived in the abbey where Albrechtsberger was working at that time. Another monk there played the mandora, so that is why Albrechtsberger wrote his concerto for Jew’s harp and mandora. A mandora, also known as calchedon or colachon, is an 18th century German lute with 6 to 8 courses (of sometimes single strings) and 10 frets on the neck. The tuning of the first 6 courses is usually d’-a-f-c-G-D, but Albrechtsberger’s music requires a mandora tuned a tone higher to e’-b-g-d-A-E (just like a guitar), with courses 7 and 8 tuned to D and C. Although they look alike at first glance, the construction was different from that of a baroque lute, allowing higher tension strings for greater volume, because a mandora was specifically designed for continuo playing. The surviving solo music is much simpler than that for baroque lute. Anyone who has ever heard, or even played, a Jew’s harp will know it’s a drone instrument. The player holds the instrument against his teeth and plucks a small metal spring that will resonate at one tone. By breathing in or out and by changing the cavity of his mouth he can play the harmonics on this tone. For even a slightly complicated melody he needs more than one Jew’s harp, tuned on another note than the first one. Albrechtsberger’s concerto requires four harps. The player holds these in his two hands and has to switch between them quite rapidly. Once you are used to the very low volume of the instrument, much softer than a lute, you will be able to hear distinctions in dynamics and tone colour that make it a surprisingly sensitive instrument, able of conveying delicate feelings in music. For me it was quite a surprise, so at the market, the concert was part of a three-day international Jew’s harp festival with many concerts, lectures and a market, I bought a harp myself. Here I also found an Ainu mukkuri, the Jew’s harp of the indigenous people of Japan’s northern island Hokkaido. It was sold by a group of Japanese who had come all the way to Holland just for this festival! So, apart from practicing my Jew’s harp, I am now also playing the mukkuri. David van Ooijen David van Ooijen [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.davidvanooijen.nl To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
