----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean-Marie Poirier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "lute" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 8:52 AM | Dear collective wisdom, | | Could anyone on this list give me some precisions about the attribution of some pieces in Galilei's Fronimo (1584 edition), namely 1 ricerecar and 2 Contrapunti at the end of the book, to a certain "Bernardino Monzino". The table indeed gives the initials "B.M." for these pieces, but nowhere does a complete name ever appear. How did some people (Paul O'Dette and Hopkinson Smith among them) reached the equation BM = Bernardino Monzino ? | If you have clues on that mysterious attribution I would be very grateful for your help. Arthur... ??? ;-) | | All the best, | | Jean-Marie | oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Dear Jean-Marie,
I've been busy, so have had to put off responding to your question. The attribution Berdanrdino Monzino for pieces by "B.M." in Galilei's "Fronimo" pieces comes from the duet LP that Paul and Hoppy released in 1979. I do not have it, so I do not know the thinking behind the attribution to "Bernardo Monzino", Francesco da Milano's brother. (Francesco was also known as "Monzino," after his birthplace, Monza in Milan, and some pieces of his are attributed to "F.M" which could mean Francesco Monzino.) Pieces attributed to a composer with the initials "B.M." also occur in the Siena Lute Book and in the de Bellis Manuscript. On folio 24 of the Siena manuscript is a piece attributed to "Monzino," which could refer to Francesco or to his brother. The piece is included in the HUP Francesco edition, as Appendix No. 26. Now a few folios earlier (folio 19v) is a piece attributed to "B.M." and it _appears_ to be the Monzino piece. For that reason Hoppy and Paul may have concluded that the "M" of B.M. refers to Monzino, hence Bernardo (or Bernardino) Monzino. But it is only the first few measures of the two pieces that are alike, and both continue differently after measure 12. In other words, the two works are likely parody ricercars based on the same model. So the attribution to a person named Monzino is questionable. Thanks to Franco Pavan we now know a bit about Bernardo's biography. Francesco's family was associated with the French faction in Milan, and Bernardo traveled with the Parisian composer Jean Conseil and was in Rome with him, when he was in the Pope's private chapel, but otherwise Bernardo seems to have resided in Milan. He succeeded Francesco as canon at the basilica of San Nazaro in Broglio, when Francesco married. I can find no reference to Bernardo ever being in Florence, except fleetingly. Certainly he was not there long enough to be considered a Florentine. Galilei described "B.M." as being a "gentiluomo fiorentino," and that would exclude Bernardo being "B.M." A Florentine gentleman might disguise his name, since the occupation of musician was beneath his station. Mariagrazia Carlone in a forthcoming article in JLSA suggests a member of a prominent Florentine dynastic family as being "B.M., which would surely fit the sobriquet "Florentine Gentleman." Dinko Fabris (iirc) has suggested another name, but I cannot find the reference. And one must remember that there were surely a great many Renaissance gentleman-lutenists with those initials. But until the evidence is stronger, I would suggest the Fronimo pieces be designated "B.M., Florentine Gentleman." It is always dangerous to make attributions based on shallow, speculative evidence. =====AJN (Boston, Mass.)===== This week's free download from Classical Music Library is Brahms' Academic Festival Overture in C minor, Op. 80, performed by the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine; Alain Lombard, conductor. To download, click on the CML link here http://mysite.verizon.net/arthurjness/ My Web Page: Scores http://mysite.verizon.net/vzepq31c/arthurjnesslutescores/ Other Matters: http://mysite.verizon.net/arthurjness/ =================================== To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
