Dear Ed,
Why
_f___|___efefre_|_f_||
_r___|__________|_r_||
_____|_f________|___||
_e___|_r________|___||
___f_|__________|_a_||
_____|__________|___||
and not
_f___|___efefre_|_f_||
_r___|_a________|_r_||
_a___|__________|___||
___a_|_r________|___||
_____|__________|_a_||
_____|__________|___|| ?
Perhaps because
1) Bar 1, first event: using e4 instead of a3 maintains the octave
stringing (and hence tone colour) in the bass line;
2) Bar 2, event 1: using f3 instead of a2 enables the bass note c4
to be held until the end of the bar, and reduces the chance of the
note at a2 being dampened by a wayward finger not accurately placed
on every note of the 1st course.
3) Having the left hand first finger as a barr� throughout the
passage saves a lot of unnecessary movement.
I agree that a large lute, not to mention other factors like a small
hand, may force a player into making compromises.
Vance Wood makes an interesting point that a composer's choice of
where to play a note might sometimes be influenced by tuning. An
example would be Albert da Rippe's preference for
___
_a_
_a_
___
_g_
_h_
instead of
___
_a_
_a_
_b_
_c_
___
at the end of a piece, presumably to finish with a sweet D major
chord, with f# at g5 instead of g flat at b4.
Another example would be the frequent use of
___
_g_
_h_
_g_
_e_
___
instead of
_b_
_c_
_c_
___
_e_
___
for the sake of an E major chord, with g'# at g2 instead of a' flat
at b1. There are implications about equal and non-equal temperament.
My impression is that lutenists tend to avoid playing "in position"
high up the neck, as modern guitarists so often do. It may be
because the neck of the guitar is longer and the strings more
parallel than on the lute; it may be to do with the quality of
strings. I wouldn't like to say.
An example of lute music not played in position comes at the end of
Francesco da Milano's "La Compagna", f.59v of the Siena Lute Book
[Ness, No.34]:
|\
|\
|\
|
-0---------------|------------------|----
-----------------|------------------|----
-----------------|------------------|----
-----------------|------------------|----
---0-2-4---------|------------------|----
---.---.-0-2-4-5-|-7-0-2-3-5-7-9-10-|-12-
. . . . . .
However, there are exceptions, for example, in the Board Lute Book
setting of John Dowland's "The kinge of Den[mark] his gall[iard]" on
f.17v:
_____ _____ __
|_|_|_| |_|_|_| |__|
|_|_|_| |_|_|_| | |
| | | | | | | | | |
_h___________h_k_l_.c___
_______h_y_l___.____._|_
___y_l_.___.__________|_
___.__________________|_
______________________|_
______________________|_
/a
John Johnson's single-line divisions often take us across the neck
of the lute (playing in position) rather than up and down it. This
is from "The New Hunt is Up" in Cambridge University Library,
Dd.3.18, f.13v:
_ _ _____ _ _____
|_| |_| |\ |_|_|_| |\ |_| |_|_|_| |\
| | |_| |\ |_|_|_| |\ |_| |_|_|_| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
___k_g_h_k__k_h_g_______________________
_h________________k_|_h______g_h_k_g_h_|_
____________________|____h_k___________|_
____________________|__________________|_
____________________|__________________|_
____________________|__________________|_
Playing in position in this last example is no doubt just a
technical matter: it is easier to play, if you stay in the same
position.
Elsewhere one wonders if John Johnson's use of the lower strings was
for the sake of the special tone colour you get from octave
stringing on the lowest three courses of six. Here is an extract
from his divisions on "Goodnight", from p.158 of the Marsh Lute
Book. First we hear the "point" (= melodic theme) on the first two
courses:
_ _ _____ _____
|\ |\ |_| |\ |_| |_|_|_| |_|_|_| |\
| |\ |_| |\ |_| |_|_|_| |_|_|_| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
_f__f__d_f_d__c_a_c_a_c_d_c_a_________
______________________________d_c_d_|_
____________________________________|_
____________________________________|_
____________________________________|_
____________________________________|_
This is followed immediately by the same point nine notes lower:
_ _ _____ _ _____
|\ |\ |_| |\ |_| |\ |_|_|_| |_| |_|_|_|
| |\ |_| |\ |_| |\ |_|_|_| |_| |_|_|_|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
___________________________________________
__________________|________________________
__________________|________________________
_f__f__e_f_e__c_e_|_f__e_c_a_______________
__________________|__________d_c_a_______a_
__________________|________________d_c_d___
Using f4 and e4 maintains the tone quality of octave courses, which
would be lost if b3 and a3 were used instead. All this is
understandable for the sake of the point - the echo effect - but
Johnson keeps using the lowest courses in the next variation, even
where there is no imitation. He just seems to like the sound of
those low courses. This is how the next variation ends:
_____ _____ _____ _
|_|_|_| |_|_|_| |_|_|_| |\ |\ |_| |\
|_|_|_| |_|_|_| |_|_|_| | |\ |_| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
__________________________________________
_________________________|_____________||_
_________________________|_____________||_
_f_c_e_f_h_f_e___e_f_h_e_|_f_f__e_c_a__||_
_______________h_________|_____________||_
_________________________|_____________||_
An interesting change of heart with regard to where a note should be
played comes in "Reades 8 Paven" on f.29v of Dd.3.18. The scribe has
written an impossible c1 instead of a playable h2. Later he realised
his mistake, and marked c1 with a # to show that a mistake had been
made. One imagines that he intended to change c1 to h2 later on. (We
have Rainer aus dem Spring to thank for discovering that the # in
Matthew Holmes' manuscripts can indicate a mistake rather than an
ornament. See his edition of Holborne's music published by the Lute
Society.) Here is the bar in question:
_ _ _ _____
|\ |\ |_| |\ |\ |_| |_| |_|_|_|
|\ |\ |_| |\ | | | | | |_|_|_|
| |\ | | | | | | | | |_|_|_|
|. | | | | | | | | | | | | |
_l__y__h______c____l___h_________f_
____.____l_y_____a_._|___h_y_h_y___
_________.___________|_____________
______________#______|_____________
_____________________|_____________
_____________________|_____________
I assume from this that the scribe was probably working from an
exemplar in staff notation, and was intabulating it for the lute as
he went along.
If lute music were notated in staff notation, we would have to
decide ourselves where notes should be played on the fingerboard.
Tablature makes these decisions for us, and by and large I think we
should respect what is in an original source. However, I agree with
you that we shouldn't become "a slave to the tab". It is wrong to
assume that the source is always right, or offers the best way of
playing something, because, after all, there are places where
sources differ one from the other. For example, The "De la tromba"
intabulation in the Jane Pickeringe Lute Book, f.7r starts in 2nd
position (what guitarists call "C II"), moves to 5th position, and
stays there before going on to 7th position:
_____ _____ _____ _ _
|_|_|_| |_|_|_| |_|_|_| |_| |\ |_| |\
|_|_|_| |_|_|_| |_|_|_| |_| |\ |_| |\
|_|_|_| |_|_|_| |_|_|_| | | |\ |_| |\
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |\
_f_c_d_f_h___f_h___f___f_h_f_f____h_y_l_
___________y_____|___y_________h________
_________________|______________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
The same passage in the Brogyntyn Lute Book, p.26, starts in 2nd
position, moves to 4th position, and hops back to c1 before going on
to 7th position:
_____ _____ _____ _ _
|_|_|_| |_|_|_| |_|_|_| |_| |\ |_| |\
|_|_|_| |_|_|_| |_|_|_| |_| |\ |_| |\
|_|_|_| |_|_|_| |_|_|_| | | |\ |_| |\
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |\
_f_c_d_f_h_e_f_h___f_e_f_h_f_f_c__h_y_l_
_________________|______________________
_________________|______________________
_________________|______________________
_________________|______________________
_________________|______________________
As it happens, the same passage in the Sampson Lute Book, f.10v, is
the same as Brogyntyn, with the addition of dots for the right hand
index finger. Who can say which of these sources is "right" or
"better"?
Best wishes,
Stewart McCoy.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed Durbrow" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "lute list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, September 17, 2004 2:53 AM
Subject: DALZA - Perhaps of interest
> At 10:22 AM +0900 9/17/04, Vance Wood:
> > However in some situations where there seems to be a more
logical way of
> >playing a particular passage the more difficult fingering is not
just to
> >show off but to take advantage of how the notes play in that
register or,
> >and more importantly, sometimes they are not quite in tune when
played
> >somewhere else. This is not always the quickest or most logical
way of
> >playing something, but it may be the only way of playing it in
tune. If you
> >have been following this list for a while you are probably aware
that one of
> >the major discussion to come up around here is the issue of
tuning the Lute.
>
> It is interesting to speculate why a composer/scribe chose a
> particular fingering. Like Vance says, it may be for tuning. I
think
> it is natural for someone to write down the way that works best
for
> himself on his particular lute with the strings he has at that
> particular moment. That may change. An odd fingering could have
> something to do with octave stringing, a certain timbre, bad
string
> or the player's hand.
>
> An interesting case is the ending of the piece Laudato Dio p. 56
> (last piece?) in Dalza's book. In French tab it is:
>
> _f___|___efefre_|_f_||
> _r___|__________|_r_||
> _____|_f________|___||
> _e___|_r________|___||
> ___f_|__________|_a_||
> _____|__________|___||
>
>
>
> But why not
>
> _f___|___efefre_|_f_||
> _r___|_a________|_r_||
> _a___|__________|___||
> ___a_|_r________|___||
> _____|__________|_a_||
> _____|__________|___||
>
>
> ?
> On my A lute, the original sounds great. Try it on a large lute
> though and you would probably change it to the second version.
>
> IMHO, one shouldn't feel a slave to the tab. As long as you aren't
> pulling a 'Segovia', you would be perfectly authentic to change
> fingerings, notes, ornaments and anything else to make a piece
your
> own. After all, how often do you see the same piece in two
different
> sources turn out to be exactly the same?
> cheers,
> --
> Ed Durbrow
> Saitama, Japan
> http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/
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