Much more intrigued than bored. No tears yet. Eugene
At 11:13 PM 09/22/2003 +0100, Monica Hall wrote: >As Lex has drawn attention to his web site presumably he is inviting comment >upon it. > >It is only reasonable to point out that most of what he says is supposition, >unsupported by any evidence and some of it is inaccurate.. > >1. Very few Italian books give any indication as to whether or not the 4th >and 5th courses were strung in octaves. Those that do are Montesardo, >Sanseverino and Foscarini in the introduction to Il primo, secondo e terzo >libro (ca.1629) reproduced in subsequent editions of the books. I have not >seen Banfi or Pesori, but will take Lex's word for it. It should be >emphasized however that many Italian books are just re-hashed versions of >earlier books, including introductory information. Even Foscarini has taken >some of his introduction from Colonna. Some of the information is of >questionable value. > >2. The tuning charts which Lex refers to are the same as the example from >Foscarini, but none of the other books includes Foscarini's octave check. >The suggestion that this type of tuning chart should most likely be >understood as an instruction to compare courses in unisons is bending the >evidence to support a particular point of view. Taken literally they imply >no treble strings on the 4th and 5th courses. It would be more honest to >admit that they are ambiguous and cannot therefore be regarded as evidence >in favour of one method or another. However, I should point out that the >tuning check at the beginning of the scordatura pieces in Corbetta's 1648 >book (p.58) if interpreted as unisons indicates a re-entrant tuning and the >instructions for tuning 4 guitars of different sizes to play together in his >1639 book imply only treble strings on the 4th and 5th courses. He is just >as likely to have used the re-entrant tuning for his early work. > >3. The fact that only Valdambrini's two guitar books explicitly describe the >re-entrant tuning and that they were printed in Rome proves nothing at all. >We have no way of telling how representative of contemporary practice >surviving books are. It is impossible to say how widely the re-entrant >tuning was used in Italy. > >Bartolotti's "Lettere tagliate" do not indicate the tuning with a low A >string. They are actually when passing notes are introduced between the >chords. Alternative symbols are given for the chords G (F major) P (F >minor), and F (E major) from which the note on the fifth course, the fifth >of the chord is to be omitted, but not for + (E minor), C (D major) or E (D >minor), which are also six-four chords. This is because of a difference in >the left hand fingering. They are really just a convenient shorthand >device to save the trouble of writing out different chords in full. > >4. Valdambrini's books also include sections of instructions for >accompanying a bass line which are no different from those of Corbetta and >other Italian books. There is evidence that different methods of stringing >were used for accompanying and the bass line would in any case have been >supplied by another instrument. > >5. Few people would now regard the comment on stringing in the Italian >preface to La guitarre royale as uncertain or as indicating anything other >than that a low octave or bourdon should be put on the 4th course which was >usually strung without one - that is to the re-entrant tuning. There are >several other sources besides de Vis�e and Carr� which clearly refer to >this method of stringing. "Picciol" refers to the quality or guage of the >string to be used for the bourdon. The most likely scenario is that this was >the method of stringing preferred by Corbetta and adopted by his younger >French contemporaries. > >6. La Guitarre royale is not the first book Corbetta published after >twenty-three years. He had published at least two, possible three other >books between 1648 and 1671 which have not survived, although much of his >music which has survived in the Gallot manuscript and the manuscripts copied >by Jean-Baptiste de Castillion is probably from these missing books. > >7. Finally Corbetta left Italy in about 1650 and spent the rest of his life >in England and in France. Much of the music in Guitarre royale is dedicated >to different members of the English royal family (the book itself is >dedicated to Charles II) and would have been composed between 1660-1670 >whilst Corbetta was living in England. One must assume that Corbetta was >already using the "French" tuning by this time even though it is not >mentioned in print until 1671. Not surprisingly this is the tuning >mentioned in English sources. > >I haven't read the second part of Lex's article yet, but I've probably bored >everyone to tears already! > >Cheers > >Monica > >----- Original Message ----- >From: Lex Eisenhardt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Friday, September 19, 2003 8:12 AM > > > > > > Dear Luto's > > > > I uploaded some parts of an long paper to a new, provisory website. I did >not find the time to learn HTML yet..... > > > > L:\> > > > > > > The Secret of Francesco Corbetta's notation. > > Look at: > > http://home.planet.nl/~eisen073/ > >
