Interesting Ernst ! Two (very small) remarks nonetheless : there is no point calling Merville "Nicolo" (or is it a typo ?) as he was a Parisian born and such a typical French lutenist, especially as you call him properly "Nicolas" a little further down in your text. The second point is about the transmission of the French repertoire to England : as you noticed Reymes was a student of Mésangeau at first, and as Mésangeau more or less let him down, he turned to Merville and was very satisified with his teaching. Do not forget that Cherbury was in Paris too from 1619 to 1621, at a timme when Merville and Mésangeau and dozens more were active in Paris as lute players. Remember too that John Evelyn, the diarist, says that he took lessons in Paris from Mercure (Jean, so-called "John" after his long saty in England) in 1647. Old Gaultier and Mésangeau visited the English court in the 1630s and played for the monarchs, queen Henriette-Marie being French, a sister of Louis XIII. All this points to an intricate network of influences and contacts between French and English musicians until the Commonwealth took over, and the English court found refuge at the French court until the Restoration in 1660 or about. It is very logical to find a Chaconne / Sarabande like this in an Engllish source like Egerton 2046, also known as Jane Pickeringe Lute Book.
This repertoire and period really deserves more attention. I have a recording project under way of some of the lesser known repertoire... Well done and all my best wishes Ernst, Jean-Marie -------------- >Dear lute friends, > >Thank you to all of you who helped me exploring a Sarabande (or Chaconne) in >connection with the manuscripts F-Pcnrs Ms. sans cote [Bullen Reymes Lute >Book], MS Egerton 2046 (British Library, London), A-KR MS L81 (Kremsmünster, >Austria), etc. Extra big thanks to Peter, Anders, Bernd, Hubert, Anders, >Matthay, Jean-Marie, and many others from the lute community. Please find >below a short summary of my resume: > >This Sarabande has been attributed to Nicolo de Merville (1600 - 1643) a >French lutenist and composer. In the manuscript MS Egerton 2046 (British >Library, London), this piece consists of seven movements, each is a >variation of the basic scheme. > >Very similar pieces, with and without title and attribution towards >Merville, are included in various manuscripts, such as A-KR MS L81, B-Br Ms. >II 276, CZ-Pnm Ms. IV.G.18, D-Mbs Mus. Ms. 21646, F-Pcnrs Ms. sans cote >(“Bullen Reymes MS”), F-Pn Rés. Vmb. ms. 7 Ms. Barbe, GB-En Ms. 9452 >(Panmure House Music Book Nr. 5), GB-Ob Ms. Mus. Sch. E. 411, RA-BAn Ms. 236 >R, RF-Span MS O.N124, US-Rm Ms. Vault M140 V186S. > >Interestingly, each piece differs from the other manuscript, new movements >have been added or other have been modified. This shows the highly >variability and vitality of lute playing at this time, and the result of >music traveling from one instrument to the other and from country to >country. > >I was wondering about the where about and provenance of this piece in the MS >Egerton 2046 (British Library, London): I learned that the English diplomat >in Paris Mr. Bullen Reymes (1613–1672) took lute lessons in Paris by both >René Messangeau and Nicolas de Merville (musicien ordinaire du roi) between >1632 and 1633. Thus, it was in Paris that Mr. Reymes learned the up-to-date >French lute repertoire, and actually he is one of the original writer of the >F-Pn Rés. Vma ms. 1404 (Paris, France), one of the richest source of music >by Messangeau, Merville and other composers. It is known that Mr. Reymens >used his manuscript during social events and that he entertained the English >ambassador Sir Isaak Wake. I assume that Mr. Reymes imported this piece to >England following his return to London. > >Here I present the amateur home recording of the Sarabande in g minor from >the MS Egerton 2046 ( https://youtu.be/pvSx5NQ5C7k ) which comes in the >Accords Nouveaux tuning "Flat French" (f’,d’,b,g,d,A,G,F,Es,D,C), and I >added two more movement each one from the manuscript US-Rm Ms. Vault M140 >V186S and F-Pcnrs Ms. sans cote (“Bullen Reymes MS”). The “Flat French >Tuning” was very fashioned at this time and represents the authentic way to >play the lute during the early 17th century both in France and England. > >Thank you, Ernst >Biochemist in Vienna > > > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
