plagiarism?
That is the most obvious explanation although there could be others. I
think very little of Carre's work is original.
I don't think there is much doubt that Corbetta's book is earlier than
Carre's.
I don't see why we should believe that.
As I have explained several times the licences of Corbetta's La guitarre
royale are dated September 1670 which means that he had assembled the book
and was seeking permission to publish it. Carre was not granted a licence
until 1671.
I really don't see the link between the two, the repicci and the
'harmony', required for his sonatas.
There seems to me to be an obvious link. The repicco variations are
sequences of chords which are played including some or all of the strings.
Immediately following his remark on stringing he has gone on to refer to the
continuo exercises at the end of the book. Strange that if he thought that
a bourdon on the fifth course was necessary to make sense of these he opted
for a
"rapprochement" or
"compromise-concession" to French guitarists"
Is it 'which my sonatas also require' or 'as also my sonatas require'?
The wording makes no difference. However it is possible that
he is
saying "my sonatas require the same thing as other peoples". In the
context I think that is a less likely explanation.
Maybe we need the help of an Italian native speaker. (I do)
You are always saying that but unfortunately there is always an element of
ambiguity in language. You are trying to read into these things more than
they can actually tell us.
A native speaker is no more likely to be able to
offer a definitive answer and unless they are familiar with the subject they
can't be regarded as any more authoritative than the rest of us. I am a
native English speaker but I would be at a loss trying to explain
technicalities in e.g. an English source of keyboard music about which I
know very little.
Unfortunately a lot of translations are made by people who have no knowledge
of the subject they are translating.
Do composers usually compromise?
Some certainly do. Corbetta probably had a colourful life. Gambling,
intrigues etc. He was cunning enough to survive.
I don't think that is relevant. Gesualdo murdered his wife, Gombert was
sent to the galleys for molesting a choirboy. That tells us nothing about
the way their music should be performed.
I do not know of
anyone apart from Lex who has claimed that the tablature charts found in
some Italian books are only applicable to one method of stringing.
Since the
publication of Gill's 1975 article and Tyler's book from 1980 the usual
solution has been to drop the bourdons (or actually just one....)
It was actually Richard Pinnell who first came up with the idea. Perhaps I
should quote Gary Boye to you...
"Whilst these soures are reasonably clear in their explanations, the large
majority of battuto tablatures make no distinction between unisons and
octaves in their tuning instructions, perhaps to allow performers to decide
on either stringing method."
As far as I know there are no unambiguous references to
dropping bourdons from the 17th century (also not Sanz?), for such
reasons.
The reasons for dropping them seem to have been primarily practical. but
we have been
over that so many times.......
Nearly all of the music in Corbetta's first book is in alfabeto. The
tradition which fits into is that of music which is entirely strummed.
But there are also the pieces with treble and bass.
There are a small number of rather experimental pieces which are rather
different from those in his later book.
To me the 'accordatura' and 'prova' charts
from this book are quite clear. If you would like to interpret them in 'a
more general sense', go ahead.
Once again - you want to read into these things more than they can tell us.
But If they used different stringing, sure one would be with bourdons
(Sanz).
Not necessarily e.g. Carre. How do you know he didn't get the idea from
Corbetta?
Do we know many references from guitar books, to using a second guitar for
accompaniment?
We have been over this before. Not necessarily a second guitar - a second
instrument capable of reinforcing the bass line. It is fairly obvious that
the consort pieces in Grenerin are meant to be performed by a group of
instruments.
Monica
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