If I may presume to respond: Adapt is one writer's counsel. Coelho, Victor Anand. "Authority , autonomy, and interpretation in 17-century Italian lute music. Pp. 108-141. In: Coelho, Victor Anand. Performance on Lute, Guitar, and Vihela. CUP: Cambridge, 1997.
Pp. 125-126 "Garsi's famous Gagliarda della Marchesa di Sala, for example, is one of the many pieces that comes down to us in versions for different-sized instruments. In the Floretine manuscript 49932 (ca. 1600-10), the piece is written for 6 courses. In Krakow 40032 (1590-1611), a reliable source of Santino's music, Paris 941 (1609-16), Paris 29 (ca. 1610-20), and Pesaro b. 14 (ca. 1610-25), a seventh course is present, and in Rome 570 (ca. 1608-15) and Krakow 40153 (1620-1), the last-named source copied in the hand of Santino Garsi's son, Donino, ten courses are required. Many other examples of adapting the music to the instrument can be found in these sources, and they reveal the autonomous decisions made by lutenists in the context of their own needs. "Unfortunately, doctrinaire notions about 'authenticity' have convinced most modern players that similar compromises or adaptations are inappropriate. To invoke such orthodoxy as playing Francesco only on a 6-course lute or Piccinini only on a fourteen-course archlute contradicts the practices of lutenists in Italy during the seventeenth century. While the 'correct' instrument as designated in a print is always preferable and often unequivocal, the use of a different lute and the occasional t ransposition of a few bass notes are in no way violations of seventheenth-century preformance practice; rather, these adaptations are well within the tradition of the time. Moreover, it is not always clear, even in professional prints, what instrument ws intended by the composer. While there is little doubt about what is meant when specifiying the arcilituo or tiorba, the word 'lauto' could mean many things at the beginning of the seventeenth century. In his Libro primo di lauto (Rome, 1611), Kapsberger calls for an eleventh course, which, given his professional status, might suggest an archlute strung in the disposition of 6 ... + 5 .... But the eleventh course (B-flat) is used only once in the entire print, and both O'Dette and Smith use ten-course lutes in their recordings. Moreover, with a few small adaptations, almost all of the pieces in the book can be accommodated easily and convincingly to an 8-course lute with the seventh and eighth courses tuned to F and C, respoectively (rather than F and D), which is one of the 8-course configurations used by Pietro Raimondi in the amateur anthology Como. Twenty of the 32 pieces in Kapsberger 1611 can be played on such an instrument, requiring no change at all to the music. ... (7 pieces) require the transposition of only one or two bass notes which have no impact whatsoever on the voice-leading. In sum, all but 5 pieces from Kapsberger's Libro primo can be played on the same 8-course Renaissance instrument one uses for Molinaro, Dowland, or Laurencini." He goes on for a few paragraphs more. Typos are my own. I'm sure that at least somebody will disagree with Coelho. He seems reasonable. Tim B. At 03:46 PM 4/2/2005, you wrote: >Already in the early 16th century there were some pieces being written >for 7-course lute. Since at that time most lutes were 6-course this >could have been a problem. Is there any eveidence of how players dealt >with playing 7-course (or 8-course) music on a lute with only 6 courses? > >-- >Stephen Fryer >Lund Computer Services > >************************************************** >The more answers I find, the more questions I have >************************************************** > > > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
