baroque-lute  

[BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: performing aspects

Rob
Sat, 13 Oct 2007 03:35:42 -0700

A great reply Jorge. Can you tell me if the gambists had the equivalent of
the German Bebung? And did they differentiate between a vibrato movement
along the fret as well as along the neck? I don't have the quotations to
hand, but I'm sure guitarists preferred a movement along the fret in the
lower positions, and along the neck in higher positions. I just wonder if
this is something all string players considered. 

I love those low position vibrato notes such as the Dm Passacaglia for
guitar by de Visee, bottom of the first page, fret 'd' on the third course,
or the Weiss bebung in the Logy Tombeau. 

Rob MacKillop

www.rmguitar.info

 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Henk Pakker [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: 13 October 2007 10:03
To: baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
Subject: [BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: performing aspects

A cc was used so this answer was probably not posted...
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jorge Torres 
To: Henk Pakker 
Cc: baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu 
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2007 2:56 AM
Subject: Re: [BAROQUE-LUTE] performing aspects


Dear Henk:


Virtually everything that the German baroque lutenists did can be traced to
the French, and vibrato is no exception.  Miolement is the term that was
used by Robert de Visee to designate his symbol for vibrato.  In Mersenne
the author (Basset) calls vibrato verre casse and says that it was used
infrequently.  Mace calls it the Sting and also states that it was "not
modish" these days (p.109).  After Mace it is not referred to in the
literature for the French lute.  It is Visee who is the next to mention it
in the context of plucked string practice in France.  In the preface to his
Livre de guitarre he lists the ornament and notates it with a bold asterisk
but does not discuss its execution.  (See Livre de guitarre, facsimile of
1682 Paris edition, Geneva, 1973).  This asterisk is the same symbol used
for miolement in Saiz I.  For a discussion of the close relationship between
Visee and Saiz I see Wallace Rave, "Remarks on Gallot Sources:  How They
Differ." Journal of the Lute!
  Society of America, vols. XX-XXI, 1987-1988 p. 87-105.  If one compares
the places in Saiz I that use the asterisk and compare it in parallel place
in Barbe one finds a slanted double cross used to designate what was an
asterisk in Saiz I.  The inference seems to be that miolement was indicated
in Barbe by the slanted double cross.    


It is unfortunate that there are no 17th century French lute authors that
discuss the ornament at all.  Nevertheless, vibrato seems to have enjoyed
some popularity with the viol school that was evolving at around the time of
Barbe and Saiz I.   For a comparitive discussion of the use of vibrato in
the gambists' repertoire se Frederick Neumann, Ornamentation in Baroque and
Post Baroque Music, (Princeton, 1978), p. 511-513.  In his 1685 publication
Demachy says that the ornament for vibrato he calls tremblement sans appuyer
is sometimes called miaullement.   It is possible that despite the
statements made by Mersenne and Mace (vibrato going out of fashion), that
vibrato was enjoying a revival in French instrumental practice at the end of
the seventeenth century and the start of the eighteenth century.  


Cheers,
Jorge


On Oct 12, 2007, at 3:59 PM, Henk Pakker wrote:


  I am wandering about the use of vibrato - as well as (Segovian) pushing
strings away - on baroque lute in e.g. the Weiss period. Sure Weiss
indicated explicit at certain passages the use of vibrato, but how much more
was it in use? When playing Weiss' music more often you get the 'inner
feeling' to 'vibrate' at certain spots, etc. In "Performance on Lute, Guitar
and Vihuela" (ISBN 0-521-45528-6) I can't find any directions/explanations
on this matter. Impressions on this aspect are very welcome.


  Henk Pakker


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Jorge Torres
Associate Professor of Music       
237 Williams Center 
Lafayette College
Easton, PA 18042
(610)330-5365
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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