Hello, Ed!

I don't have the facsimile of Gianconcelli's book, but I
do have five of his suites in the transcription by
Chilesotti (Lautenspieler des XVI Jahrhunderts; I notice
also that one of the Contrapuncti by B.M. is in the
book).  I think you should remember there are two
traditions at work here.  One is the strain/varied
reprise structure which you have observed in some
dances by Galilei. The form was widespread and used by
many others, including Elizabethan composers, as you
and most readers of this list know:

Strain A/Reprise A-Strain B/Reprise B-Strain
C/Reprise C.

There is also the practice of Dance/After Dance, in
which the After Dance is a variation of the principal
dance, e.g., Passamezzo/Saltarello.  It was also in
Gianconcelli's time that the Italian partita came into
being. Usually each of the several dances in a partita
was based on the same harmonic/melodic materials.
You can see remnants in some Bach partitas.

So the Spezzati may be in the tradition of the variation
suite."Spezzata" means broken, and refers to breaking
up of the block chords in the previous dance. Reprises
usually use divuisions for variation. Perhaps,
if you wish, you could compromise and alternate the
phrases between the Gagliarda and Spezzata in the manner
of the Strain/Reprise structure. (To quote a favorite
phrase of
one of my students, "In 200 years, who'll know and
who'll care?")

I wouldn't be concerned about the incorrect repeat bar.
The printer may have run out of the correct ones, or
just made a mistake.

Did you know that Gianconcelli's Bergamasca with
a Tasteggiata is used in Respighi's Second Suite
of Ancient Airs and Dances?  It's a strong piece, in
my opinion.  Respighi repeats the bergamasca variations
and inserts the tasteggiata between the two. But Paul
correctly uses it as a prelude.

And Bill Kilpatrick is correct in pointing out that
the term tasteggiata has a connotation of being
quiet and delicate.

ajn
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ed Durbrow
To: Arthur Ness ; [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2005 2:53 PM
Subject: Re: [LUTE] Re: tastegiata

On Aug 18, 2005, at 9:15 PM, Arthur Ness wrote:
Now Gianconcelli also has movements called "La sua
spezzata" following gagliardas and correntes.  What does
_that_ mean.   Most of them take the previous gagliarda
or corrente and present it in a broken chord
figurations.  So it seems to be like the French stile
bris/e, which I think originated in Italy.

The interesting thing is that typically he has a two
part movement with repeats for both parts and then does
the sua spezzata also with what look like repeat marks.
First, I find it an interesting contrast to say, Galilei
who writes out a strain and then writes it stille brise
without even a double bar line, then treats the B
section the same way. Second, I just noticed that the
"repeat" marks at the end of the piece are in exactly
the same form with dots on the side where there is no
music, that is: two dots, two lines, two dots  :||:
So, I'm wondering if these are indeed repeat marks.
cheers,




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