I like this thesis. Also, the music of these composers tends to exist both in publication and widely scattered manuscripts compiled by different individuals in different places. I wouldn't be surprised if different players transcribed it differently in their own manuscript versions to best suit their own personal stringing tastes. Where they occur, has anybody endeavored to compare the settings of single pieces across different sources, especially different manuscript sources of disparate origins?
Best, Eugene > -----Original Message----- > From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On > Behalf Of Monica Hall > Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 3:11 PM > To: Eugene C. Braig IV > Cc: Vihuelalist > Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Baroque guitar, where to start? > > I have just been reading part of the introduction to Alejandro Vera's > edition of this new Murcia manuscript. > > In the passage dealing with the perenniel problem of which stringing to > use > he mentions that Neil Pennington thought Murcia's music was intended for > the > re-entrant tuning, Craig Russell and I (in 1984)opted for the French > tuning, > Richard Savino thinks you need octave stringing on the 4th and 5th > courses, > Michael Lorimer thinks Murcia had octave strings on the 3rd and 4th > courses > and Frank Koonce thinks Murcia would have had several guitars and used > different ones for different pieces. In some instances you would need to > change instruments in mid-stream. Vera gives some interesting examples > e.g. > notes on the 1st course which belong in the lower octave and notes on the > 5th course which even with a high octave string will be an octave too low. > > The point is (I think) that Murcia's music, and for that matter most other > baroque guitar music, isn't intended for one method of stringing rather > than > another. It is arranged in such a way that it can be conveniently played > on a 5-course instrument and in a way that makes the best use of the > limitations which having only 5 courses imposes. It relies on the > ambiguous tone quality of the instrument to create the desired effect. > > I am sure that re-entrant tunings were an integral feature of the > instrument > for this reason. I remember Chris pointing out that they have very > obvious > advantages when it comes to arrranging the music conveniently. This is > certainly the case on the cittern which always had a re-entrant tuning. > > Arguments about whether the music conforms to the rules of music theory, > and > the idea that you can leave out one string of a course or strike it in > such > a way the emphasis falls on one or other string are futile. That's not > what it is all about. > > Food for thought > > Monica > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Eugene C. Braig IV" <brai...@osu.edu> > To: "'Roman Turovsky'" <r.turov...@verizon.net>; "'Alexander Batov'" > <alexander.ba...@vihuelademano.com> > Cc: "'Vihuelalist'" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu> > Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 6:19 PM > Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Baroque guitar, where to start? > > > > ..And not to mention into the present in some Latin American folk > > traditions. > > > > Best, > > Eugene > > > > > > > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On > >> Behalf Of Roman Turovsky > >> Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 1:04 PM > >> To: Alexander Batov > >> Cc: Vihuelalist > >> Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Baroque guitar, where to start? > >> > >> 5 course/string guitars survived into the 19th century in Ukraine: > >> http://polyhymnion.org/images/bandurka.jpg ! > >> > >> RT > >> > >> > >> > >> ----- Original Message ----- > >> From: "Alexander Batov" <alexander.ba...@vihuelademano.com> > >> Cc: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu> > >> Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 12:59 PM > >> Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Baroque guitar, where to start? > >> > >> > >> >I don't think he ever did (the music just doesn't go lower than the > open > >> A > >> >string) but I suppose there is a presumption that it was most likely > for > >> a > >> >5-string (i.e. single strung) guitar. 5-string guitars did certainly > >> exist > >> >at the time. Also, some original 5-course guitars were converted to > >> >5-string ones by changing their original bridges. > >> > > >> > Alexander > >> > > >> > PS: If I remember it correctly there are also a few arrangements of > his > >> > music for the seven string Russian guitar (supposedly from his period > >> > in > >> > Russia between 1804 - 14). > >> > > >> > On 03/02/2011 15:49, Monica Hall wrote: > >> >>> > >> >>> [Eugene C. Braig IV] Indeed, at least relatively speaking. > However, > >> the > >> >>> 6-course instrument was largely a quirk of Spanish-speaking places. > >> The > >> >>> rest of Europe seems to have gone to five single strings first > (using > >> >>> the > >> >>> low octave at d and A, and probably often simply leaving their 5- > >> course > >> >>> guitars single strung), then later adding the sixth at E. A fine > >> >>> example of > >> >>> 5-string guitar music and on of the earliest known concerti for > >> >>> guitar > >> >>> is > >> >>> Lhoyer's, published in Germany in the very early 19th c. > >> >>> > >> >>> Best, > >> >>> Eugene > >> >>> > >> >> > >> >> That's very interesting. Does Lloyer actually specify that his > music > >> is > >> >> for a single strung 5-course guitar? > >> >> > >> >> Monica > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > To get on or off this list see list information at > >> > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >> > > > > > > >
