On Jan 14, 2008, at 10:45 AM, damian dlugolecki wrote: > I should have been more clear that I was interested more to know > why publication of lute songs in France > suddenly cease when the d minor tuning emerges. > > It's curious don't you think? All those volumes by Ballard and > then nothing, in spite of the fact that there is some publishing of > lute tablature in the 'accord nouveau'
Here are my thoughts, from a recent review in the LSA Quarterly about the CD Proba Me Deus, which included music from Constantijn Huygen's Pathodia sacra et profana occupati (Ballard in 1647): > Huygens wrote the songs with tablature accompaniment, but in > November 1646 the edition's editor wrote to Huygens to say that > Ballard wanted "all the basses to be continuo and that none of them > should be in tablature," and to ask that Huygens send continuo > parts. The usual conclusion drawn from this is that Ballard, a > publisher who had been publishing books of French songs with lute > tablature for years and was himself a lutenist and composer for the > lute, had concluded that the era of lute-specific songs was ending, > making November 1646 a Significant Moment in the Decline of the > Lute. Of course, other explanations might be that by mid-century > lute tunings were changing and no longer standard, making tablature > publications impractical, or that Ballard was unimpressed with > Huygens' tablature parts, which are lost. Continuo was new in the early 1600's, and some publications of music included elementary instructions. By mid-century continuo skills would more widespread, and it probably made commercial sense to publish songs in a form that allowed instruments other than lutes tuned in a specific way to accompany them. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
