(First of all, I'll ignore all the Gogolesque talk
about missing thumbs...)
t4, i2, m1, i3 makes perfect sense. This way,
the arpeggio ascends from bass to treble in the
correct order. However, what if the arpeggio does not
involve these strings? In that case because of the
re-entrant tuning, the order of the notes will not
always proceed from low to high. Therefore, do we
know whether Kapsperger and Piccinini are trying to
say that a)arpeggiated chords should ALWAYS ascend
from low to high in proper musical order or that b)the
theorbist should ALWAYS use the same right hand finger
order regardless of the musical result? (...and I
know that "always" is a dangerous word.) If I recall
correctly Paul O'Dette seems to opt for option B in
his recording of the Arpeggio Toccata. Is this his
take on it, or is there clearer historical evidence of
the practice?
Chris Wilke
--- Howard Posner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Tom Leoni wrote
>
> > Someone told me
>
> Someone? You're listening to Someone? What does
> Someone know? If this
> guy's so smart, how come he doesn't even have a real
> name?
>
> > that Kapsberger's preferred 4-note arpeggio
> pattern was: t4 i2
> > m1 t3 :||: (using the first 4 strings as an
> example). I find this rather
> > straightforward in spite of the jump of the thumb
> as it strikes the fourth and
> > first notes of the pattern - but I got used to it
> pretty quickly. It becomes
> > a little harder when the first note of the pattern
> is one of the lower orders,
> > although it is still manageable.
> >
> > Does anyone know whether I got this right -
> especially as pertains the music
> > of Kapsberger?
>
> I believe Kapsberger's instructions were to use the
> index finger on the
> fourth note, since the last note of the arpeggio is
> on the third or fourth
> course, even when it isn't the highest note.
> There's a discussion of this
> in the first pages of chapter 10 of Nigel North's
> continuo book.
>
> In general the thumb should stay home as much as
> possible; it's too easy to
> get lost if it goes roaming. Then you have to call
> the police and make a
> missing thumb report, which, frankly, is really
> embarrassing and
> occasionally dangerous. I live in Los Angeles, and
> the last time I reported
> my thumb missing, an overzealous police officer
> attacked it with a
> flashlight.
>
> Howard Posner
>
>
>
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