Dear list Monica's discussion of Corbetta's Italian preface has drawn my attention to the Italian word 'anche', which she has left out. I would translate: 'Take care to put a thin octave string [i.e. bourdon] on the second string [i.e. fourth course] which is D sol re, because the two in unison do not make the harmony which ALSO my sonatas require.' (Averti di mettere una piciol ottava alla seconda corda que e D sol re perche li dui unissoni non fanno armonia, come _anche_ le mie sonate lo ricercano.) I would like to speculate on what Corbetta could have meant with this. It seems possible that he is referring to the music of other composers, for which an octave D is required. It gives the impression that he is referring to a similar advice, given somewhere else, of which he supposes that the reader could be familiar with. We should keep in mind that much of what he writes in his preface is directed to a certain circle of readers, as he speaks of the 'Professori here in Paris.' Could this other book be Carre's 'Livre de Guitarre' from 1671? As Monica has pointed out in het preface to the facsimile edition of this book, the privilege for printing, the "Extrait Du Privilege Du Roy", is dated 18th February 1671. It is not known when it was actually printed, but Monica argues that this could have been after November 1671, when the marriage of the dedicatee of the book, Princess Elizabeth Charlotte, and Louis XIV's younger brother, Philippe, Duc d'Orleans, took place. From that moment on Elizabeth Charlotte would have had the title 'Madame', and, significantly, the dedication on the title page of Carre's book is to 'Son Altesse Serenissime _Madame_ La Princesse Palatine.' We should, however, consider that at the time that the privilege was given (18 February 1671) she was Princesse Palatine but not yet 'Madame'. This demonstrates that privileges were given for hand written documents, which were perhaps not exactly identical with the later prints. Besides, the process of engraving and printing was very time-consuming and it will have taken place in the months after February, and details could be changed during that period. And the printing could of course have been done before the
wedding. Corbetta's privilege to publish La Guitarre royalle (1671) was dated 21st September, 1670 (so, earlier than Carre's) but it was not printed until October 1671. As Monica has observed, there may have been animosity between the two men, and perhaps indeed over plagiarism. The title page says: 'Livre de guitarre contenant plusieurs pieces composees et mise au jour par le Sieur de la Grange.' But how could Corbetta accuse Carre of plagiarism, had he not known the actual contents of this book? It is in the Livre de guitarre where we find Carre's advice 'fault mettre a la guitare une octave au quatriesme.' It appears from his Italian preface that Corbetta considered himself as superior to all guitarists from Paris, saying: 'Molti professori di chitarra, in particolare qui in Parigi, n'hanno tenuto il secondo loco dopo di me, confessato da loro medesimi.' (many guitar teachers, especially here in Paris, do not even deserve the second spot after me, as they themselves confessed) In her new article Monica writes: 'If Corbetta always used octave stringing on both the fourth and fifth courses himself, and thought that this was the arrangement most suitable for his music there is no reason why he should not have said so. People who acquired copies of his book presumably would have wanted to play the music in the way he thought best, whatever method of stringing they may have used previously. Adding a bourdon to the fifth course is no more difficult than adding one to the fourth-provided that suitable strings are available.' To begin with the last subject, we can conclude that bourdon strings were at that time considered suitable for basso continuo, so why not for solo repertoire. Even if Corbetta is very condescending about most other players, he must have realized that they were the potential customers for his book. Adding an octave to the fifth course is not difficult, but there could have been other reasons for reluctance. Guitarists do not always act completely rational. As I have argued in my article in The Lute 47, Corbetta's reference to the octave D could have been a compromise to those who were used to re-entrant tuning. Lex -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
