I guess everybody knows that, when Vivaldi was asked to add continuo figures to his work, he accepted, but added the comment "per li coglioni", which is definitely not a nice way to define "not experienced continuo players" ;-) David Tayler on 05/09/10 21.11 wrote:
I have pondered this very question, including specifically whether the 10s and so on are a way of indicating voices in single or reentrant tuning. The 10s are often in the wrong voice for good counterpoint. My feeling is as follows: 1. it is possible the the compound figures may have a special meaning for lute, but hard to prove. There could have been a style of descant accompaniment with a wider ranging "right hand" 2. The sharps, sharp 3's, etc are just sharps. 3. And, lastly, the figures are not the composer's intent. I truly believe, based on supporting evidence, that house figures were intended for amateur musicians who could not harmonize at sight. At best, they are a snapshot of a possibility for a realization, not standard continuo practice. In this regard, the figures are like Alphabet notation--they simplify the possibilities. I don't use these figures, except on a basic awareness level. Unfigured bass is the standard for 17th century music. I did once have someone ask me after a concert, facsimile in hand, why I had changed a figure in Caccini--I changed a # to a 4-3--and after I explained that the figures were not intended for experienced continuo players, I got a very long, cold stare. So be careful! :) dt At 03:25 AM 9/5/2010, you wrote: I am working on some (father and daughters') Caccini songs. Sometimes they use the figure #3 and sometimes just #. In Le Nuove Musiche (1601/1602) it appears the rule is #3 if preceeded by 4. To distinguish from 11 #10, presumably. And just # when it's a chord that has to have a major third. In Nuove Musiche e nuova maniera di scriverle (1614) I fail to see consistency in this rule. Daughter Francesca in her Libro Primo (1618) seems to be following the rule I would tentatively distill from Le Nuove Musiche: 4 #3 to prescribe melodic suspension/release, to distinguish from 11 #10 in the other octave. And just # to mark a major third in the chord. Any thoughts on this? I will check with Einstein and Freiberg in a minute, but am hoping for more recent studies and players' points of view. David -- ******************************* David van Ooijen [1]davidvanooi...@gmail.com [2]www.davidvanooijen.nl ******************************* To get on or off this list see list information at [3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html References 1. mailto:davidvanooi...@gmail.com 2. http://www.davidvanooijen.nl/ 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
