----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Andrico" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
(One issue with Francesco' 'La Compagna' is that the piece may not really be his after all, coming from a much later source.) ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Victor Coelho's theory was throughly knocked down at the Francesco conference in Milan by Chris Wilson. A third source has surfaced for the "Compagna" ricercar, likewise attributed to Francesco. The Siena MS has works from throughout the 16th century, including one of the first works by Francesco to appear in print. It was printed in 1529 in a corrupt version, and the correct version appears 50 years later in a retrospective anthology of Italian lute music, the Siena MS. Nothing in between. The Siena lute book is perhaps the single most important Italian source of the century. Its contents range from music from the Petrucci era through the 1590s, in readings that are eminently superior to almost every other source. It has lots of pieces from the early quarter century, and surely we wouldn't attribute them all to composers from the end of the century just because there is no earlier extant copy. That a "lute virtuoso from the hills of Tuscany" was composing works for lute and putting Francesco's name on them is utter nonsense. Victor's theory about Leonardo da Vinci's beard is ingeneous, but it just doesn't fly. Plop! I have already commented just a few days ago on how literally tons of lute music have disappeared, and so lack of an early printed edition is not sign that the work is not by Francesco. Manscripts and prints which may have contained it are simply lost. Elsewhere I commented on the Casteliono Book II that Mdme Thibault let me use. La Compagna may very well be in a first Casteliono (Book I), which has not survived in a currently accsessible public collection. If there was a print with No. 34 from about 1547, that is probably where it was (is?). Rumor has it that . . . Victor himself has admitted he was mistaken in "unattributing" "La Compagna" from Francesco's works. Nice theory. Rest assured lutenists can ignorre Leonard da Vinci's beard and all that, and once again safely attribute No. 34 to Francesco da Milano. =====AJN (Boston, Mass.)===== Free Download of the Week Wagner's Siegfried Idyll performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Christopher Seaman, conductor. For this week's free download from Classical Music Library go to my web page and click on Alexander Street Press link: http://mysite.verizon.net/arthurjness/ =================================== To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
