Craig,
The correct modern Italian spelling of the word would
be "ricercare." Different spellings of the same word
were common in Renaissance Italy. Until the early
part of the 16th century, the Italian language was a
fragmented collection of vernaculars that were all
slightly different (not to mention dialects, which are
a totally different ballgame). Then, the linguistic
revolution spearheaded by the Venetian poet and
humanist Pietro Bembo unified the language under the
banner of the Tuscan idiom, typified by the prose of
Boccaccio and the poetry of Petrarca. Still, this
revolution took time to implement, and the truly
Italian "koine dialektos" was fully formed only around
the last decades of the 1500's (roughly).
As for the musical meaning of "ricercare" - as Tony
suggested - it is a "meditation" of improvisatory
nature at first, and then it becomes a genre of its
own, with counterpoint, imitations and the whole
compositional arsenal of the time; by the mid-1500's
ricercare and fantasia are words pretty much used
interchangeably.
This is my take on the issue - I am sure that the
professionals can shed even more light on this
interesting topic.
Tom
--- Tony Chalkley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Dear Craig,
>
> The word is a cognate of "research" (recercar,
> rechercher). I have always
> taken it to mean an exercise or a doodle, "looking
> for something nice to
> hear", somewhere between a "tastar de corde"
> (checking the thing's in tune)
> and a committed "fantasia" (a palpable hit).
>
> Yours,
>
> Tony
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2004 4:20 PM
> Subject: Pronunciation and meaning
>
>
> > Greetings Scholars,
> >
> > I have for some time been puzzling over the
> pronunciation of a word that
> is
> > common to our music. Finally I dug out my copy of
> Webster's New World
> > Italian Dictionary and looked up the word
> ricercare. Now I have seen this
> > word spelled riceracr and ricercare, but the
> dictionary only had
> ricercare,
> > so I am guessing that the different spellings are
> simply variations of the
> > same word. At any rate I was rewarded with a
> phonetic breakdown of the
> word
> > which rendered it's correct pronunciation for me.
> However, in looking up
> > the word another puzzle presented itself, and that
> is what the word means.
> > The dictionary's definition runs thus;
> >
> > ricercare [rit(a symbol representing sh as in
> sheep)er'kare] transitive
> > verb (onore, gloria) to seek; (successo, piacere)
> to pursue; (motivi,
> > cause) to look for, try to determine; e ricercato
> dalla polizia he's
> wanted
> > by the police. (NB: Naturally I don't believe
> either the music or the
> > composer is wanted by the police, though with some
> itinerate musicians one
> > can never tell.)
> >
> > What does this word mean with respect to the music
> of the lute? How do I
> > interpret this word when interpreting the music as
> I play it? I think this
> > is important, but I'm at a loss as to how to
> define it in terms of the
> > music. I've been going through Dick Hoban's
> booklet of 16 ricercars from
> > the Siena Lute Manuscript (which is what prompted
> me to finally look up
> the
> > pronunciation) and I think having a better
> understanding of the word itsel
> f
> > in terms of the music will help me in
> understanding how to better
> interpret
> > that music. I've got the companion CD to this
> book, but I have not yet
> been
> > able to hear any sense of seeking or pursuit in
> the pieces played. Maybe
> > I'm missing something essential.
> >
> > As always, your greater experience and wisdom is
> appreciated.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Craig
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
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