Granata's Novi Capricci Armonici Musicali in vari toni per la chitarra
spagnola, violino and viola concertati et altra sonate per chitarra sola
1674 has pieces for solo guitar and, at the beginning, 12 pieces with a
guitar part on the left hand side and then in staff notation (treble and
lightly figured bass) on the right.
This publication has been discussed before but , as usual, I can't
remember the details and don't want to plumb the archives. Gary Boyes
http://www.library.appstate.edu/music/guitar/1674granata.html
says that these pieces are for violin, guitar and continuo. I think last
time the work was discussed somebody said that it might be like some
lute trios where there is a lot of doubling (e.g. Hinterleithner and
later in the 18th century, Martino and others).
But I think it was Monica who thought that these pieces are(or might be)
for violin and continuo, and alternatively playable as guitar solos.
Anyway, I always thought it would be interesting to hear the guitar part
with the bass line. So I've had a shot at one of the pieces, the
Alemanda in E minor on page 20 which is quite attractive as a solo. I'm
not sure how fast this piece is to go and I'm taking it fairly slowly.
That leaves bar 8, the concluding bar of the first section, with one
chord for the duration of the whole bar (or almost). That's a lot of
space/time with nothing happening. Often in Allemandas, there are some
arpeggio twiddles for the first two beats and then a strummed chord.
(Most, but not all, of the later solo alemandas in this publication are
treated in this way.)
http://www.pluckedturkeys.co.uk/Granata.mp3
So this is for guitar and a lute playing the bass line. I didn't try and
do continuo because I don't know enough about it and, anyway, the guitar
is covering the main harmony. The bass does double the guitar quite a
bit (but there is often a lot of doubling in the Baroque guitar duets
I've seen). I think it's quite a strange sound. The second bar of the
second section sounds weird. The clash in the repeat of the second
section, towards the end is just my mistake.
Stuart
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