Dear List
I am afraid that this dispute is not going to go away quietly.
There are a few points which I now feel I should make following
on from
Lex's comments on my short article in Lute 2008.
Lex said
"As a matter of fact we don't know what tuning Carre had in mind for his
second book (with Corbetta's music). The reference to French tuning is
in his first, and he could well have changed his mind after that."
Lex is evidently unaware that Carre's first book (1671) also includes music
by
Corbetta.
The sarabande on p.23 is from Corbetta's 1648 book - on p.37 with minor
variations.
The Chacone in C major (p.2-6,) also incorporates passages (b.37-41 and
b.45-53)
from a Chaconne attributed to Corbetta which survives in two manuscripts
copied by Jean-Baptiste de Castillion.
Furthermore the third variation of Carré's Chaconne in G major (p.25)
incorporates a variation which resembles the opening bars of a Ciacona in
Bartolotti's Secondo libro di chitarra (ca.1656, p.17).
To suggest that Carre may well have changed his mind between 1671 and 1677
seems to me
just a tad disingenious.
Lex also says
"And who can tell if Castillion was a composer or not?"
If he was he kept pretty quiet about. He copied three large manuscripts -
in about 1706, 1730 and between 1730-40 and hasn't claimed that any of the
pieces are by himself.
Whether or not he was a composer is however a bit beside the point.
What Lex has said in his article is
"In 1730 Castillion quotes de Visee's advice on tuning in his own
words.......but says that he himself now uses a bourdon on the 5th course as
well. Perhaps Corbetta had taken a similarly inconsistent position half a
century before."
It is not inconsistent to quote what someone else has said and then to say
that you disagree with it or do something different. In the introduction
to his 1730 manuscript
Castillion has copied information from various sources and added his
comments
on it.
Corbetta is not quoting what anyone else has said or commenting on it. In
the
prefaces to "La
guitarre royale" (1671) he is writing about his own music and explaining how
it should be played. His motive for "formulating his widely discussed
advice on tuning" is surely fairly obvious. What possible motive could he
have other than to explain how the music should be played? Perhaps Lex
can suggest one.
Lex claims that he has "given a number of reasons why the usual
interpretation
of what Corbetta says in his prefaces to his 1671 book is open to
debate."
In fact he has quoted only the French preface which is not very clearly
worded.
He has ignored the Italian preface which is more explicit and Donald Gill's
interpretation of it.
Which brings me to my final point for the time being. I don't know how
many people have read Lex's "Bourdons as usual" but it is not a
straightforward article setting out his own ideas on the stringing of the
guitar. It is a survey of what everyone else (inlcuding myself) has said
on the subject with
his comments on it. In my view it is highly selective and rather partisan
which is why I asked if I could comment briefly on some of the things he has
said in it..
Only other people can judge whether my article offers any new insight.
Regards to any of you who have got to the end of this message.
Monica
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