Dear Lex,
Much as I deprecate the high lervels of banging and thrashing about
produced by some guitar continuo players these days, I see no reason to
suppose that strumming should be generally eschewed ('It seems unlikely
however that a chordal style, continuously including all courses of the
instrument, was intended'). For example, song accompaniments with
Alfabeto are surely nothing more than basso continuo realisations on
the guitar (as for example in the Corradi 1616) I mentioned.
rgds
Martyn
--- On Wed, 14/12/11, Lex Eisenhardt <eisenha...@planet.nl> wrote:
From: Lex Eisenhardt <eisenha...@planet.nl>
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Return to earlier question: {was Re: Agazzari
guitar [was Re: Capona?]}
To: "Monica Hall" <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
Cc: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Date: Wednesday, 14 December, 2011, 8:51
>> Agazzari was working in Rome and Siena, and probably the chitarra
spagnuola was more widely known there around 1600.
>> But Agazzari's 'Del sonare sopra il basso' is really about figured
bass and counterpoint, and from how he describes the use of the
'ornamental' instruments it appears that the chordal style of the
guitar is not within sight. I doubt if Agazzari would have considered
the alfabeto of the guitar as a 'foundation', while the bass is not
even performed on the guitar.
>
> I think you are interpreting what he says in too narrow a way.
Amongst the second group of instruments he has included the Lirone,
Cetera and the Pandora. These are all instruments which are capable
of filling in the harmony to some extent. There is no reason to
suppose that they played nothing but a single lin - what would the
point be - and the same is true of the chitarrina. It could be
strumming away in there!
Agazzari (in Strunk) says: 'Like ornaments are those which, in a
playful and _contrapuntal_ fashion, make the harmony more agreeable and
sonorous.'
The instruments with 'imperfect harmony [of the parts] such as the
cetera, lirone, chitarrina, etc.' could indeed have played more than
one voice at a time, although single line should also be considered
possible. But I assume that Agazzari would have expected that also this
was done 'in a contrapuntal fashion.' And yes, on the cetera and
chitarrina that could possibly mean strumming. It seems unlikely
however that a chordal style, continuously including all courses of the
instrument, was intended
Lex
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