Martyn Hodgson wrote:
> David, > > Thank you; I've known and debated with Eph for many years and am copying him > into this. Whether or not his identification of yr string remnants is > correct may be open to question. I can see his thought processes but would > like a little more justification fr his opinion. > > I'm interested that you haven't used a key mechanism; I wonder if any modern > serious player has? I'm particularly interested whether the published Sonatas > etc cld be reasonably played by amateurs with this arrangement. > > Finally, I wonder if we are right to associate 17thC cittern music with the > Enlightenment approach to music, especially by young ladies, in the mid > 18thC? > Well, after I got the fragments back I just binned them... bad practice but I assumed they were easily identified as what they were. The Enlightenment approach to music? Black Jock and Portpatrick etc in Bremner? The Scots - young ladies included - had about as much of an Enlightenment approach as anyone in terms of philosophy, science, art, etc but it didn't stop them letting rip when singing and dancing. I think Bremner is a lowest common denominator - the wee book you get in the case with your cheap grade guittar to learn with. But that actually indicates what people wanted. It is entirely full of pop songs and dances with a couple of mock-military rants to keep young blades happy. It's very much good-time music. What you say is a bit like suggesting they had an Enlightenment approach to sex or alcohol, or eating. While 17th c cittern music was undoubtedly out of fashion, countless publications during the 18th c show that popular use of 17th c tunes continued (Beggar's Opera, Gentle Shepherd, Musical Museum - the name says it all). I have a copy of Calvert's 'Music of Kelso' (commonly called) from my own town, printed in 1799, which is single line melody for fiddle mainly and reveals a taste for reels and jigs. The guittar was very popular in Scotland and Ireland and of course I'm biased. But the more I learn about the 18th century the less I see the facade. Jack Campin's interactive music CD 'Embro, Embro' is the most entertaining and amazing resource - get this, and you will NEVER see the 18th c (or indeed, Scotland!) in the same light: http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/embro/ Apart from the amazing tune resource, his researched stories show a society far removed from today's and a musical taste which was robust. David To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
