A strong ditto here. It's a long difficult puzzle to see the ingenuity and scope of the lute in its many centuries. I know that if Arthur does make conjectures he has, at least, done the research to back it up --and, more often than not, among the primary sources.
And now I feel a little out-of sorts having had to give the author of the Complete Works of Francesco a letter of recommendation. Sean On Jul 23, 2005, at 11:58 AM, paolo..declich@@libero..it wrote: > 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 > > > >
