I agree as well. Arthur has look at more original sources of lute and other early music than I will get to in this lifetime. I love his contributions. Nancy Carlin
>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 Visee, 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 > >> Comp=E8re), 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 pi=F9 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 > > > > > > > > Nancy Carlin Associates P.O. Box 6499 Concord, CA 94524 USA phone 925/686-5800 fax 925/680-2582 web site - www.nancycarlinassociates.com Representing: FROM WALES - Robin Huw Bowen, Crasdant, Telyneg with Robin Huw Bowen & Eiry Palfrey, Sian James, Rhes Ganol, Neil & Meg Browning"s Never Mind the Bocs & Carreg Lafar, FROM CORNWALL - Dalla, FROM ENGLAND - The City Waites, Jez Lowe, & Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies FROM FRANCE - Gabriel Yacoub, FROM DENMARK - Ph=F8nix Administrator THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA web site - http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org --
