Dear Peter, Campion's "Fire, fire" is similar to "My sweetest Lesbia", in that both have changes of meter. Here I think the dotted minim of the words "Come Trent and Humber" is the same as the minim of the preceding section, and the same as the minim of the following section, "And if you can". It would be wrong to keep the crotchet constant throughout.
The use of C and C-slash, and "3" and "3/2", was often pretty vague, and often one simply has to use one's common sense, bearing in mind always, that it is usually the slow pulse which remains constant, rather than the value of specific notes. In fact Campion's "Fire, fire" is a good example of their cavalier attitude towards mensuration signs. The first and third sections are both marked with "C" in the Cantus, and C-slash in the Bassus. The lute happens to have C-slash, but it could as well have had either or neither. When changing from duple time to triple time you generally have a choice of tripla and sesquialtera: 1) Tripla: You have three times as many notes as you had before for the same pulse - three new minims last the same amount of time as one old minim. 2) Sesquialtera: three new minims last the same amount of time as two old minims. Strictly speaking you would have "3/1" for tripla, and "3/2" for sesquialtera, but more often than not they simply put "3", and you have to make your own mind up whether they meant tripla or sesquialtera. Confusion with regard to the use of these signs prompted Thomas Ravenscroft to publish _A Briefe Discourse of the True Use of Charact'ring the Degrees_ (London, 1614). At the beginning of the book are dedicatory verses, including one by Thomas Campion and one by John Dowland. I rather like the one by Dowland. When he says "Perfect" and "More", he means dividing notes into three (e.g. one semibreve = three minims); when he says "Imperfect" and "Lesse", he means dividing notes into two (e.g. one semibreve = two minims). His "Number, Circle, and Poynt" refer to the various mensuration signs which had evolved over the centuries. Here is Dowland's dedicatory verse: IOHN DOWLAND Bachelar of Musicke, and Lutenist to the Kings Sacred Maiestie, in commendation of this Worke. Figurate Musicke doth in each Degree Require it Notes, of severall Quantity; By Perfect, or Imperfect Measure chang'd: And that of More, or Lesse, whose Markes were rang'd By Number, Circle, and Poynt: but various use Of unskild Composers did induce Confusion, which made muddy and obscure, What first Invention fram'd most cleere, and pure. These, (worthy RAVENSCROFT) are restrain'd by Thee To one fixt Forme: and that approv'd by Me. -o-O-o- Best wishes, Stewart. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Nightingale" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Stewart McCoy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Lute Net" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 5:06 PM Subject: Re: My Sweetest Lesbia > Dear Stewart, > > I understand what you are saying and it makes sense. As a matter of fact, > this is precisely how I count Campions' Fire, Fire (Third Book of Ayres, > XX). However, there is a difference: Fire, Fire goes from C to 3 and, > whereas My sweetest Lesbia goes from 3 to C-slash. The implication is > that there is no difference between C and C-slash. Or do you have a > different solution of Fire? > > One of the possibilities I mentioned, which would have made C and C-slash > different, was to play the C-slash section twice as fast as you suggest. > However, in terms of the music and the lyrics this makes no sense at all: > according to my taste, "night" might be longer than "sleep", "paine" and > "loue", or the same, but not shorter. > > Thanks and regards, > Peter. > > PS If anyone is interested, I have tab versions of both songs.
