Dear List,
At this point I feel compelled to say something about "parallel
octaves." If
parallel octaves are continuous, they cease to be "parallel octaves" and
become "orchestration" (e.g., organ or harpsichord stops). The parallel
octaves that get red marks in a theory or counterpoint class are between
two
adjacent consonances and are usually part of a 3- or 4-voice texture.
Sometimes they are "hidden octaves": the same thing but with an
intervening
note in one of the voices.
Sorry for the lecture.
Mike
________________________
Michael Fink
michael.f...@notesinc.com
________________________
-----Original Message-----
From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On
Behalf
Of Lex Eisenhardt
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2010 1:15 PM
To: Vihuelalist
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Bartolotti Videos performed by Lex Eisenhardt
Today the
vihuela is usually tuned in unison throughout but this may not have
been so in the 16^th century. If the 5^th and 6^th courses were
octave
strung this might alter our perceptions of the music.
But to what extent? Early lutes had octaves, sometimes even on the 4th
course. Certain organ stops have octaves too.
The whole problem seems to be how you reconstruct the polyphony in your
mind.
The high octaves of the five-course guitar tend to be prominent indeed
(although it depends also on how you touch them, and the string tension,
and
even on how they relate in height to the bourdon, at the bridge) but I
happen to think that it's not a matter of measuring decibels in the
first
place.
The baroque guitar has nothing in common with the classical guitar.
Some people seem to shiver at the idea...
most of the time it is difficult to hear the bourdon on the fifth
course because all it is doing is creating parallel octaves in which
the upper part is more audible.
For some listeners there are parallel octaves, for others the bass
becomes
brighter and stronger, as a result of the blending of the overtones of
the
two strings, like on the lute or the organ (the latter has of course no
strings).
In the Sarabande the bass line falls a
7th at the cadence following the double bar - this big chord I comes
out of nowhere!
I'm afraid that's what big chords do. It is guitar music after all, in
this
funny mixed battuto-pizzicato style.
Paradoxically the bourdon on the fourth often sounds
to me more prominent especially in odd places in the campanellas.
Maybe it's not a paradox, since there are more notes on the 4th course
involved. It seems to be generally accepted that the bourdon on the 4th
course is needed with Bartolotti, so this happens when you play what the
tablature says.
In all 5 clips there are only 2 campanela runs, by the way, they are
both in
the prelude. The section high up the neck in the courante, for instance,
could be misleading, it is just a 'regular' texture.
But neither is there any evidence that Italians thought of the guitar
as having seven strings rather than five and that used the separate
strings of the fourth and fifth courses independently as a matter of
course.
Again, it is not so much a matter of using the separate strings
independently, but using your ears (and therefore also your hands) in a
more
varied way. Or should we believe that the tablature obliges you to
always
play the two strings (the octave and the bourdon) in perfect balance?
(This
would then of course also apply for the 4th course bourdon)
It is also unfair to suggest that other people play the music
the way that they do because it is fashionable and that they havent
given careful thought to what they are doing.
Maybe. All the heavyly syncopated afterbeat strumming (and percussion)
doesn't sound very 17th century to me. Wouldn't it be on purpose, as a
'cross-over'?
Lex
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