Well - I hope that when you write your letter you make it clear that Carre
has included a piece by Corbetta in his first book which includes his
observations on stringing. This is from Corbetta's 1648 book and Carre
evidently thought it OK to play it with a fully re-entrant tuning.
You have said "This new article does not offer any new insight." But
actually it includes quite a lot of information which other people might not
be aware of e.g.
1. The reference to the law suit between Carre and Corbetta and the
printer Bonneuil which isn't widely known and does indicate that Corbetta
and Carre were aware of one another's work and probably knew one another.
2. Details of sources from which Castillion has copied information.
3. Details of Italian books which circulated in France and Italian
sources which French players must have been familiar with.
4. An English translation of what Corbetta says in the Italian preface
and Donald Gill's interpretation of it not included in Lex's article.
5. Details of the one English source of information about stringing which
clearly indicates the French tuning in staff notation and includes a
possible reference to Corbetta who spent much of the last 20 years of his
life in England which Lex hasn't mentioned.
6. Some observations about Sanz - including an English translation of a
crucial passage which got left out of Lex's article.
I don't think I have said anything which any reasonable person could take
exception to. The only thing that I regret is that - due to circumstances
outside of my control - Lex didn't have the opportunity to read it before
the journal was published.
As ever
Monica
