> > What I don't understand is why Alfabeto would need another chord > > before the > > A, and why that should be E minor. > > Most people in Europe at that time were heavy duty Christians and so > they deemed that it was right and proper to begin with the cross.
Actually this is not the case. The original sequence of chords in Castilian cifras and alfabeto is as follows: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 + P A B G H E D F C I As you can see alfabeto uses the first 9 letters of the alphabet/ Castilian notation uses numbers 1-7 with+ and P. The basic sequence includes only two minor chords - D minor and A minor. Chord + is not included in the earliest sequences because it is in fact not used very much. Most early baroque guitar music is based on I IV V I or i iv V i in a minor key. The folia and romanesca also use chord III and VII but these are always major chords. The E minor chord can only be used as i in E minor or as iv in B minor - not a key much used in guitar music until later. It is not first in Montesardo. He puts it after F. The first person to put it first would be perhaps be Millioni (1627) or Sanseverino but I don't have copies of these at home. Monica To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
