Back to the slippery "do"- While Renaissance theory and concepts of "moveable do" may seem counterintuitive, arcane & complicated to us, for the 16th - 17th century music consumer they were rendered incredibly simple and user friendly by the publications. In Willaert's 1536 edition of Verdelotto's madrigals intabulated for voice and lute, the singer's first note is indicated by which tabulature figure in the lute part gives him/her that note- e.g., "El Canto a tre Tasti della Sottana" that is, 3rd fret of the second course. Second madrigal "Al quinto del Canto" (5th fret, 1st course). So right off the bat if someone assumes a "fixed do" system we already need an "A" lute and an "E" lute. This system was used all over Europe at least up into the 17th Century French "Airs de Cour".
For Mudarra's "Tres Libros de Musica..." we "need" vihuelas in A, B, D, E, F, F#, and G to comply with a fixed do tyranny. (no "C" vihuela- how about that?) That was what drove poor old Emilio Pujol crazy- in his 1949 transcription he dutifully transcribed each and every vihuela intabulation into the literal "key" so indicated by the singer's first note and fret conjunction, no matter what pitch level the vihuela would then be at, thereby bestowing seven sizes of vihuela on a grateful posterity. "D'oh!" indeed! Dan >Certainly good points. >However, a renaissance musician used a transposing system, therefore >they did not transpose in the modern sense because they were already >transposing. >Although there is not a handy modern analogy, unless you play the >bass clarinet, it would be like saying a person who was sight-singing >using "moveable Do" instead of "fixed Do" >should use "moveable Do". They would say, I always use "moveable Do," >what do you mean? > >(Substitute "moveable Ut" if you are a purist, although Ut is by >definition moveable) > >The most difficult part about renaissance theory--aside from the >Formschneider codex--is that the lute is currently in a "fixed Do" >space, but historically was in the "moveable Do" space: > >"G Lute" = fixed Do space >"Lute in Sol" = moveable Do space > >Does it matter? Sure thing! Endless confusion otherwise about keys, >pitch, performance, etc. >dt > -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
