On Friday, September 19, 2003, at 05:34 PM, Stewart McCoy wrote: > Dear All, > > It fell on a summer's day is a well-known song by Thomas Campion - > naughty but nice - published as No. VIII in Philip Rosseter's _A > Booke of Ayres_ (London, 1601). It presents a problem towards the > end. This is how the voice part ends: > > > _h__e__f_______e__e_f_h_f_c_____a___ > _____________|________________|____|| > _____________|________________|____|| > _____________|________________|____|| > _____________|________________|____|| > _____________|________________|____|| > > > and the lute tablature has: > > _c__a__a_______a________________a___ > _e__a__c_____|____e_c_e_f___e_|_a__|| > _f________c__|____f_______d___|_c__|| > ____c________|________________|_c__|| > _c_____a__e__|____c___________|_c__|| > _____________|________________|_a__|| > > > It has always troubled me that the first bar of my extract ends with > a chord of E minor on the lute, while the singer is singing c". I > might be tempted to change the b natural (tab c3) to middle c'(d3), > to have a chord of C major (1st inversion) instead, yet I can't do > that, because the lute chord rings on into the next bar, where the > singer has b' natural. I don't think B's and C's clashing against > each other is an option, so something needs to be done. I propose > changing the c3 at the end of the first bar to c4, to produce a > chord of e (e5) and g (c4). These two notes are common to C major > and E minor, so will sound well with the singer's part. I know of no > other sources of this piece to offer inspiration, but having a > tablature letter on the wrong line is a common and plausible error. > > In a word, I propose the following for the lute: > > > _c__a__a_______a________________a___ > _e__a__c_____|____e_c_e_f___e_|_a__|| > _f___________|____f_______d___|_c__|| > ____c_____c__|________________|_c__|| > _c_____a__e__|____c___________|_c__|| > _____________|________________|_a__|| > > What do people think?
I'm not sure what you're hearing: are you saying that the e and the b in the lute part are the root and 5th of an Em chord, and the c in the vocal part is an added discordant note? Harmonically speaking, e, b and c are more likely to function as a C Major 7th chord. But in 1601 we're not quite there yet. So, if you're listening for chord progressions, then "B's and C's clashing against each other" are going to sound a wee bit heretical for 1601. I think that at the point you're referring to in the music, the lute part isn't supposed to make sense as a chord progression. The b and c seem to me to be a point of intersection between voices that are moving, not static chords. I think if you want to hear chords, that's what you'll hear; but that's no reason to change the music. If you have to change it, try putting middle c in the 3rd chord of the lute part. Then you have a descending line (d, c, b) that makes sense polyphonically. Regards, David Rastall
