Thanks, Monica, for this summary. I have come across this novelty in the late music by François Campion in the 1741-47 additions to his 1705 "Nouvelles decouvertes sur la guitarre." This seems to be the earliest notated example. Please allow me to share what I wrote about it in my LGV edition:
The 12th-fret natural harmonics, so familiar in classical guitar music, may have had their origin in a piece by Campion. Not to say that he discovered natural string harmonics. Pythagoras (6th c. BCE) must be credited with that discovery, illustrated by the monochord (which he is credited with inventing). Neither was Campion the first to employ octave harmonics in music for latter-day string instruments. The French violinist-composer Jean-Joseph C. de Mondonville was the first to discuss natural harmonics and to compose with them in his "Les Sons Harmoniques, Sonates à violon seul avec la basse continue", Op. 4, published about 1738 in Paris and Lille. In 1739, Mondonville was appointed violinist of the royal chamber and chapel. Thus, Campion had ample opportunity to study Op. 4 and even to become acquainted with Mondonville himself. Apparently, however, Campion was the first to apply natural harmonics to the guitar. In Fugue No. 1, he writes the following at the bottom of ms. p. [93] and the top of [94]: [In Campion's hand:] "pour la suite, il faut enforcer un peu les doigts de la main gauche -- sur les cordes necessaries dans la rose À la rose, si la guitar est d'un bon diapason, et bien mor??ée de cordes justes." (For the following, it is necessary to gently press the fingers of the left hand on the appropriate strings near the rose, if the guitar is well tuned and furnished with true markings. ) The tablature then shows each octave (12th) fret harmonic as a "0" on its string with normal rhythms above. Then it goes on in normal French tab. We do not know if Campion conveyed this technique to any other guitarist, and his personal copy of Nouvelles découvertes was shut up in the Royal Library after his death. In his book, the harmonics are a novelty. However, they forecasted an expressive effect that would have vast consequences in later guitar music. ----- Granted this is pretty late in the history of the Baroque guitar. I think there is a good chance that guitarists were playing (but not notating) harmonics before this -- if for no other reason than maybe a party trick. Michael ____________________________ LGV Publishing, Inc. Michael Fink, Ph.D. Executive Editor mich...@lgv-pub.com ____________________________ -----Original Message----- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Monica Hall Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2010 3:50 AM To: Nelson, Jocelyn Cc: Vihuelalist Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: guitar publications with harmonics It is not a published work but one of the pieces in manuscript added probably in about 1741 to Campion's book uses harmonics. It is the first fugue. It's on p.117 in the facsimile edition. Monica ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nelson, Jocelyn" <nels...@ecu.edu> To: "Monica Hall" <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>; "Martyn Hodgson" <hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk> Cc: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2010 10:07 PM Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: guitar publications with harmonics > Hello early guitarists, > > I just received a query: Do you know the earliest publications for lute > and/or guitar in which harmonics were used? > > Any thoughts? > > Thanks, > Jocelyn > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
