Dear Martin,
I commonly use the Kapsberger appregiation in continuo playing (as well
as in these solos); it is also a useful way of articulating particular
notes. Almost always I would play the first pattern she gives in your
bar 6 example ie p i m i even where the 'melodic line' crosses. Indeed
the quickly passing dissonance is a valuable effect.
Just to extend this slightly further, I also sometimes use the later
'baroque lute' backward (upward) rake with the first finger (followed
quickly by second) tho' this practice seems strangely little used even
on the lute these days (despite being well documented in early
sources)....... Does she mention this technique?
rgds
Martyn
--- On Sun, 28/2/10, Martin Eastwell <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Martin Eastwell <[email protected]>
Subject: [LUTE] Theorbo arpeggiation
To: "Lute Net" <[email protected]>
Date: Sunday, 28 February, 2010, 21:38
Hi!
Looking through Francesca Torelli's excellent theorbo tutor (published
by Ut
Orpheus Edizioni), I was a little surprised by two of her
recommendations
for right hand arpeggiation. She explains (p 23)the technique in which
4
note arpeggios, for example, are played p i m i, with the index finger
playing the highest note of the chord last, on the third course. So the
first bar of Kapsberger's Toccata Seconda Arpeggiata becomes...
----------- |-------------
----------- |-------------
---0------- |-0------------ repeated 4 times
---3------- |----------3---
---3------- |----3---------
---2------- |-------2------
./. p i m i
However, she suggests that once you have played the second note, you
should
rest the index finger on the third course ready to play the final note
of
the 4 note pattern. I don't play this way myself (though I can make it
work)
and wonder if other people do. Also, if there is any mention of this
"rest
stroke" technique in the original sources.
On p 24, she prints the above mentioned Toccata, with the
recommendation
that the student should vary the RH fingering patterns so as to ensure
that
all the notes in each chord are played in ascending order. The trouble
with
this recommendation is that very often in the piece, the notes on the
first
and third courses have a melodic function as well as an harmonic one.
The
pattern in bar 6, for example, is notated as follows;
-------- ----------------
---2---- which could be realised either as ---2------------ or as
-------- ----------------
---0---- ------------0---
---3---- ------3---------
---3---- ---------3------
./. p i m i
------------------
-----2------------
------------------ if you follow Torelli's suggestion
-----------0------
--------3---------
--------------3--
p m i m
Or perhaps-p i i m ?
The result is that the melodic move Bb-A is reversed.
She admits that "This technique may seem complex and difficult in the
beginning..." ! To my ear, it also alters the piece significantly, in
this
bar and a number of other places. What do people think? I wonder if
anyone
can think of passages like this in the Italian theorbo repertory where
the
arpeggiation is written out in full, thus giving us a hint?
Best wishes
martin
To get on or off this list see list information at
[1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
