Dear Arthur, for me has ever been a pleasure to read yours truly informative e-mails, on every subject and in all occasions. I hope that you will continue to spend part of your time wrinting on this list.
Best wishes Paolo Declich > In the present discussion it is important to understand > the essential difference between an ARRANGEMENT and a > TRANSCRIPTION. Thames misses the point completely when > he equates the two (see below). The terms are not > interchangeable, when used according to their proper > meaning. > > When I studied privately with Julius Gold in Hollywood > as a teenager, I recall one of his watch words: "Fit > the music to the instrument." Likewise an arrangement > takes a pre-existent work, say one by Giulio da Modena, > Byrd or Couperin, and adapts and re-works it into an > idiomatic piece for another instrument. You "fit" the > music from one > instrument to another, especially when dealing with a > complex instrument like the lute or guitar. Master > lutenists such as Melchior Newsidler, Holborne, Cutting, > Dowland, de Visée, da Crema, Francesco, Gauthier, and > the like, often made such works. The new work for lute > is > created from, say, a keyboard or vocal composition, or > even instrumental ensemble partituras (e.g., ricercars > and > fantasias by Giulio da Modena done up by da Crema and > others). > > If done well, these are as valid as are works originally > conceived for lute. And it is wrong to accord them > second class status, as Thames > does. Several lutenists on this List have already > testified to the beauty and effectiveness of such music. > > (Denys, "O bone Jesu" is by Antonio de Ribiera (not > Compère), a Spanish musician in the papal chapel during > the time of Francesco's tenure as chamber musician. It > does have > that sultry mood of Spain. A manuscript in > Tarazona calls it "il più bel motetto del mondo." It > surely represents another effective work arranged for > lute. You should publish your arrangement for voice and > lute in the Lute News. Alla Wm Birde.<g>) > > In contrast a TRANSCRIPTION is simply a re-writing from > one system of notation to another. In the FWVB, Byrd > made transcriptions, NOT arrangements. In this > instance, lute music is not "fitted" > or adapted to the keyboard instrument. It is just simply > transferred directly from one notational system > (tablature) to another (grand staff). Byrd's labor was > no different than that of a modern transcriber/editor of > lute music. > > Byrd's transcrptions made available lute music on the > grand staff for keyboard players who could not read lute > tablature, and for those lutenists who preferred to play > from pitch notation. > > Thames's assumption that notation on > the grand staff miraculously changes lute music into > keyboard music is just as invalid as his notion that > lutenists cannot read pitch notation. There are > examples of lute music in pitch notation back to the > 15th century, and of course modern > editions of lute music have for a century used the grand > staff, with usually a nominal G tuning. The standard > way of notating lute music. > > Judging from the inclusion of elementary instructions in > many early lute tablature books, tablature was > originally intended > for novice players. But it was easy to print, and > survived because of the many scordatura lute tunings in > the 17th century. > Somone counted 28 of them. Pitch notation would make > that jumble of tunings a real mess for even the most > skilled player. Tablature was a practical solution. > > Oh yes, there's a lot more lute music by Byrd than I > indicated before. There are a whopping 182 works with > lute in the Paston Books alone, albeit many adapted for > lute from vocal music (as I said when I first mentioned > the Byrd works). Over the years Paul O'Dette and Julian > Bream have explored some of this repertory, so it is > hardly uncharted territory. Stewart McCoy has published > some editions of the songs with lute. Of course, no one > has yet studied the dance pieces to determine whether > they were > done up first as lute or as keyboard music. Byrd studied > with Ferabosco, after all. > > **Of course much lute music was conceived in pitch > notation, most likely on the grand staff or in > partitura. See Jessie Owens excellent study, _Composers > at Work: The Craft of Musical Composition 1450-1600_ > (OUP). There are very few surviving examples of lute > music sketched in tablature. I can list them (page byu > page) on one > hand. Composition with all the correction was first > done on erasable tablets of various sizes, so the > evidence disappeared. > > ajn > P.S. I have not read any further remarks from > Thames on this and other matters. For the first time > in all the years on the List, I have had to place a > a person on a"kill list." I will have no use for an > individual who is abusive in his public and private > communications. > ==================================== > Michael Thames wrote > Auther, > Transcriptions of original keyboard compositions to > the lute, are NOT > original lute pieces, and transcriptions of original > lute pieces to the > keyboard, are not keyboard pieces, they are what we > "village idiots" refer > to as ARRANGEMENTS, or transcriptions, or neither, just > popular tunes of the > time, played on what ever instrument was hanging around. > <<snip>> > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > ____________________________________________________________ 6X velocizzare la tua navigazione a 56k? 6X Web Accelerator di Libero! Scaricalo su INTERNET GRATIS 6X http://www.libero.it
