Because of the dedicatee in Bohemia, and the popularity of mandora amongst noble amateurs in that region of the world, Eric Liefeld (an occasional to this list) also speculated that they may have been performed on a mandora in D (see Liefeld, E. 2002/2003. Pondering Vivaldi's Leuto. LSA Quarterly 28(1):4-8.).
I also like that there was a 5- to 7-course Italianate equivalent to mandora in the 18th c. that shared a great many construction features with mandolino, only being much bigger. As has been discussed here, naming such a thing "leuto" is not a difficult stretch given there was still an "arcileuto" active in Italian places at the time. Because of the solo parts' notation in violinist's short hand (single line on the treble clef), some have speculated that Vivaldi's leuto is a 5- or 6-course mandolino. In spite of playing mandolino, I don't think that's a very satisfying sound for the works to designate "leuto" (especially considering Vivaldi also designated other works "mandolino"). Personally, I really suspect Vivaldi didn't really care how the pieces were realized, especially since he wrote in simple melodic lines, leaving performer to flesh them out with whatever instrument s/he had on hand. A quick survey of a few efforts of which I'm aware: Lindberg with the Drottingholm Baroque Ensemble, Galfetti with Il Giardino Armonico, and Paul O'Dette in recent performances I've seen all use archlute. Julian Bream and his consort recorded it with his incarnation of renaissance lute and I've seen Ronn MacFarlane give an excellent performance of RV 93 on his. Oddly, when Paul O'Dette recorded these years ago, he opted to play the "leuto" works punteado on mandolino. Frankly, in spite of the excellent performance, the solo line sounds odd in to me in that octave. Enjoy, Eugene > -----Original Message----- > From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On > Behalf Of Fabio Rizza > Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 1:30 PM > Cc: Lute List > Subject: [LUTE] Re: RV93 materials? > > Il 03/01/2011 18:15, t...@heartistrymusic.com ha scritto: > > I have heard many recordings of the guitar version with full orchestra, > and I havealso > > performed the piece on guitar with full orchestra. Guitars and lutes > were not designed for > > this. Even then I wanted a facsimile of the original, but was unable to > locate one. > > Now that I am dabbling in the lute world I would like to re-visit > this piece. > > Questions: > > 1. Given the time period, would it be most historically accurate to > perform this on a baroque > > lute in baroque tuning? Or could one get by with an 8 course > renaissance instrument? > > > Vivaldi uses the word "leuto" Vivaldi to indicate an instrument able to > realize the continuo. See, for example, his "Concerto per la solennità > di san Lorenzo" RV 556. In my opinion (and in that of Rossella Perrone, > who wrote a detailed preface to my edition of Vivaldi's works for lute > and mandolin) that instrument was the archlute, i.e. the Italian baroque > lute. But I guess that Vivaldi wouldn't mind if someone played it on the > German baroque lute -- or even on the mandora, as Pietro Prosser > suggested a few years ago. > > In her preface, Rossella Perrone writes: > "In writing almost certainly for the «leuto» that he knew, that is, the > lute in use in Italy or the archlute, Vivaldi left the Bohemian patron > or his lutist the task of adapting the part. In any event, it is > significant that the three compositions dedicated to Wrtby, together > with the concerto RV 540, can be played on both types of instrument and > the keys of the works (C major in RV 82, G minor in RV 85, D major in RV > 93 and D minor in RV 540) are comfortable for the archlute and the lute > in D minor alike. > "Moreover, in the three compositions dedicated to the Bohemian count, > considering the fact that the pieces were certainly destined for a > chamber group, the lute part, unlike the concerto RV 540, in which the > richer order of the score allows an explicit doubling of the roles of > the instruments (as support for the basses in the ripieno and for the > solista in the solos), is notated only in the treble clef without > employing the bass clef. Nevertheless, since the lute part in score is > always in the middle, between the violin and the bass, with the > exception of the Larghetto of RV 82 (highlighting, with such an > arrangement, > the derivation of the violin part from the «leuto» part), one can put > forward the hypothesis that the lutist of the period read from his own > line and the bass line at the same time, perhaps playing both the > melodic line as well as the basses for harmonic support. > "Ever since the publication of these compositions, as we were saying, > the problem of the type of «leuto» employed by Vivaldi has come up. The > confusion arose because of Vivaldis use of the treble clef. However, > from the autograph RV 540, where the notes in the treble clef are > written an octave higher and the basses on the true notes, we learn that > the parts of the three compositions dedicated to Wrtby (all in G clef), > were to be played by the archlute an octave lower and not on a small > lute with > a register that could go as high as D5". > > > > 2. Would Vivaldi have written standard notation that a lutenist would > then have entabulated > > according to the instrument in their possession at the time? > > > I guess so. There are some examples of this "modus operandi" in the lute > literature of that time. There is an interesting article written by > Pietro Prosser (in Italian, sorry): > http://riviste.paviauniversitypress.it/index.php/phi/article/view/05-02- > INT04/44 > > > > > 3. For correct volume and tonal balance, what would be the most > appropriate (and > > historically correct) number of violins, etc.? String trio? Two per > desk?... > > > The Concerto RV 93 is scored for two violins, lute and "basso". > > > Best regards, > Fabio > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
