As said, it would be revealing to see if other pieces in the MS do not
always completely specify instruments and identify an accompanying
melody instrument on the top line. The Baerenreiter edition may allow
you to check this: - please let us know about the other pieces (is
instrumentation always given?); similarly for the title (do they always
list the complete instrumentation in the title of pieces in this MS?).
Perhaps the 'chitarra' was only mentioned as it was so unusual (and to
give it a Spanish flavour)?
MH
--- On Sat, 9/5/09, David van Ooijen <davidvanooi...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: David van Ooijen <davidvanooi...@gmail.com>
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: [VIHUELA] Re: [VIHUELA] Haendel - Cantata
Spagnuola
To: vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu
Date: Saturday, 9 May, 2009, 9:39 AM
On Sat, May 9, 2009 at 10:04 AM, Martyn Hodgson
<[1]hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
>
> Without having seen the original MS it's difficult to be sure if
> Chrysander's edition is wholly accurate, certainly his naming the
two
> upper staves of the system as for guitar seems editorial (since he
> places the chittara in brackets). It would also be revealing to see
if
> this MS usually identifies a particular instrument on the top line
or
> if it was assumed (a violin, oboe or flute perhaps). Further, if
the
> upper line is played an octave down (as you rightly suggest more in
the
> period guitar tessitura) it crosses the bass line (eg bar 2).
>
> I suggest it more likely that the composer simply expected the
guitar
> to play along as continuo (hence second line down duplicating the
bass
> stave) and that a violin, or flute or oboe played the melodic upper
> line. the bass then played by cello with/without keyboard.
You might be absolutely right, and not having the original in front of
us leaves all of our speculations rather academic, but I would think
the continuo line to be played by whatever continuo group available or
deemed appropriate and the top line to be played on a guitar of some
sort. Actually, guitar in hand I find it not so much of a puzzle to
fit it in a working tessitura on the instrument, just play as is but,
indeed, an octave lower. Voice crossing with bass line, always in this
cadens, but the guitar bass has an octave jump to emphasize what's the
harmony - what to do about reentrant tuning with such octave jump in
the bass is yet another question, not one that would have bothered
Handel when writing this part, I imagine. Lovely 'Spanish' parallel
chord progression by the way, and the constant play with B-flat
C-sharp, too: flamenco!
On the other hand, but we might have the wrong instrument in mind. Who
knows, one of Handel's theorbo men might have had a guitar with a
tuning that worked very well for this part or, more likely, Handel
just left it to the guitarist to figure out what to do with the part.
If he expected a violin to play the melody, it would surely say
violin? It's a cantata for 'Voce sola e Chitarra', that suggests to me
a guitar would play the solo voice. In whatever way, by including
strumming chords when there's just a continuo bass for example, I
certainly couldn't resist when playing through.
I'll check the Baerenreiter next time in the library, perhaps it has
something more to say.
David
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References
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