So, it appears, Orff had no reference to any of the staffless neumes in
the
original ms.
He probably wouldn't have been able to understand them if he did!
As a side note, in 1981, Telefunken released an LP of music
from the ms. Not being a medievalist, I have no idea how the performers
were
able to interpret the staffless neumes.
I think the original medieval performers would have known the tune and the
"unheighted neumes" are simply an "aide memoire".
A quick read of the relevant page in John Caldwell's book "Medieval music"
reveals that it is not possible to reconstruct the melodies unless they
survive in other versions. But apparently quite a few of them do. One
example he mentions is that the song "O admirabile Veneris idolum" which
shares the same melody as "O Roma nobilis". He actually gives a
transcription of another piece "Fas et ne fas" which apparently also
survives in a polyphonic version in a Florentine ms.
Monica
-----Original Message-----
From: bill kilpatrick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 10:31 PM
To: lute list
Subject: [LUTE] reply from SCHOTT MUSIC GmbH
just received a reply from the legal and copyright department of
SCHOTT MUSIC GmbH that states the music in some "tempus est iocundum"
videos on youtube - mine included - was composed by carl orff and is
copyright protected.
how they came to this conclusion eludes me. -!i do not read music - i
play by ear. -!in some degree it's flattering that my warbling and
wizardry on the oud should conform to a composer of orff's renown.
as stated previously, i learned the tune from someone who learned it
from the ex-director of our group ... who subsequently writes that he
transcribed the music from the codex catalog buranus CB 179, using
modern notation.
i've subsequently learned that in the original manuscript, the tunes -
as such - were indicated by neumes or "breaths" - with the melody
being merely suggested. i don't know if neumes are present for the
"tempus" folio but i understand that orff is believed to have composed
the music for his "carmina burana" all by himself - without any
reference (i would assume) to these original neumes.
you've no-doubt played this piece a thousand times. i've not been able
to hear any other transcription of the piece (binkley's in particular)
but i wonder how different these versions can be?
whether the melody i used is accidentally orff's or not is beside the
point (imho) as the copyright will expire in 30-something years and as
a 60-something optimist ... i WILL be there!
more than anything else i think it's sad that SCHOTT has stooped to
snooping on the amateurs of youtube for big league copyright
infringement.
- bill
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=billkilpatrick
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