[CITTERN] Re: Virchi's music book

[Andrew Hartig]

Hi all,

A listing of all modern and facsimile editions 
(known to me) is available on my site: 
http://www.cittern.theaterofmusic.com/editions/ . 
Please let me know if there's something I've missed!

To my knowledge there is no modern edition of 
Paolo Virchi's work. There is some information 
about his work in Ivan Francis Waldbauer's 
dissertation, "The Cittern in the Sixteenth 
Century and its Music in France and the Low 
Countries" (Harvard U. 1964) both in Chapter 3 
under the subsection "The origins of the refined 
Italian cittern" and in Appendix B, "Music for 
sixteenth century citterns other than the French 
cittern." There is also an article (which I have 
not read) by Dinko Fabris, "Il primo libro di 
Tabolatura di Citthara di Paolo Virchi (1574)," 
Liuteria e musica strumentale a Brescia tra 
Cinque e Seicento. Salò (1990), ii, pp.65-89.

Some info on Girolamo Virchi, father of Paolo 
Virchi, can be read here: 
http://www.liuteriabresciana.it/ait031.htm?it=virgirolamo

There is also info on a possible relative, Benedetto Virchi, here:
http://www.liuteriabresciana.it/ait030.htm?it=virbened

Virchi is somewhat of a latecomer to the 
cittern/cetra scene in Italy. While I have not 
seen all of the extant 6 course manuscripts, his 
seems to be the only print/manuscript to survive 
with his advocated tuning, aside from P.P. 
Melii's work for 9 course "citara tiorbata" that 
uses Virchi's tuning for the first 6 courses. The 
other 6 course works that are for a chromatic 
instrument (again, I have not seen *all* of the 
surviving manuscripts) seem to be for a cittern 
tuned like Kargel's "Toppel-Cythar".

However, 3 of Virchi's pieces ended up in Matthew 
Holmes' cittern manuscript (CUL Dd.4.23), so his 
works were known abroad. It is interesting to 
note that Holborne mentions in his Cittharn 
Schoole that he wished to write a future book for 
6 course cittern. Given the predominance of 
Holborne's works in the Holmes MSS and a possible 
Oxford connection between them, it may not be too 
far-fetched to think that Holborne may have had a 
cittern of Virchi's tuning in mind, if not in hand.

-Andrew




At 04:46 AM 4/1/2008, Damien Delgrossi wrote:

Good afternoon,

I am looking for the music book written by 
Virchi about cetra/cittern. Dies it exist a 
modern edition? Does anybody has ever read his 
method and tablature? I am very interested to 
know Virchi to have a better idea of the history of cetra in Italy.

Thank you very much for your help and your informations,

Regards,

Damien Delgrossi








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