I have an alto (instrument) part (17th century) written (rather strangely) in C1 and C4 clefs. I assume the C4 should be transcribed as C3 clef in a modern edition. What about the C1 clef? Can I put it in treble clef?
Thanks,
Dennis
Hi, Dennis. Nothing strange in the use of moveable clefs in the 17th century, or the 18th or 19th, for that matter. Bach used the C1 (soprano) clef for his soprano choral parts and often used it for the right hand in his keyboard music. They were taught the 9 moveable clefs and they routinely used them all when they were appropriate.
The answer to your second question is, yes, the normal practice is to transcribe soprano clef into treble clef.
The answer to your first question is not a cut and dried, because it depends on what specific instrument you intend for it to be played by. C4 (tenor clef) was routinely used for tenor voice parts and is still used today in trombone, bassoon, and cello music above the beginning band level. C3 (alto clef) is only used routinely today in viola parts, although symphony 1st trombonists have to know how to read it because it was used for 19th century 1st (alto) trombone parts. And historical instrument players (recorder, viol) routinely read from a tenor G clef (treble clef with an 8 below it indicating that it sounds an octave below treble clef). When I'm transcribing early music for my consort, I often have to provide both tenor G clef parts (for recorders, crumhorns, viols) and alto clef parts (for violists).
It's always safe to transcribe those C4 parts into bass clef, but that will be very hard to read if the tessitura is high in the alto range.
John
-- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
