The oldest transcriptions from German tablature I know date from 1848 to 1852 and were probably made by Robert (de) Pearsall. He transcribed D-Bds 40588 from German tablature to old fashioned guitar notation. This original manuscript was then in the library of the Wildegg castle 25 km from my home. http://www.ag.ch/wildegg/en/pub/ The transcription is here: Burgerbibliothek Bern, Ms.Hist.Helv.XLIV.135. Later, in 1876, Anselm Schubiger wrote: System der Lauten. Aus einem Manuscript vom Jahre 1532 [!], in: Monatshefte für Musikgeschichte 8 (1876), Nr. 1, S. 6-7. He clearly refers to the same source.
About the Judentanz tuning: The first person who realized the splitted tuning of the 4th course was IMHO Michel Podolski: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Podolski-Michel.htm Michel Podolski: Le Juden tantz. Analyse et transcription, in: Revue Belge de Musicologie XVII, 1963, pp. 29ff. In tablature equivalent notation, this is ffh(e/a)h, in a-tuning: a1 e1 e1 b1 b1 (g#1 e) ee aA (not used, only supposed). Podolski reads the tuning instruction as follows: Tune the 5th course with its octave string to the 2nd course. Tune the 4th course to the same note. The octave string of the 4th course has to correspondent to the 2nd courses 4th fret. The 6th course is not used, but supposed to be at the (second) octave from the first course. This tunings speciality consists of the octave string of the 4th course being tuned to another note than the bass string. Andreas Am 27.07.2011 um 02:19 schrieb A. J. Ness: > With all due respect, G. Crona, practically everything you have > written here about the Judentanz is erroneous. > > > > Don't you feel an obligation to check the accuracy of your facts before > posting to this list? > > > > I sense a need to set the record straight, lest such misformation reach > a larger audience. > Nor should I permit the memory of one of the most eminent pioneering > scholars of the lute > and its music, Adolf Koczirz, to be maligned. What G. Crona says about > him and > Willi Apel is especially ugly because it is so farfetched. > > > > G. Crona wrote: > >> Especially funny to read about the Newsidler "Judentanz" that > had >> musicologists baffled in those early days because they > couldn't read the >> German tablature properly (dash above cipher) and therefore > totally >> misjudged the piece as an atonal <sic: recte: bitonal> piece > >> centuries ahead of its time. >> >> Luckily, thanks to David Munrow <sic> who was there on > recorder, they were able >> to put things straight. But they still bowed to contemporary > musicologist >> knowledge and recorded a faulty atonal <sic> version as well. >> >> Shows you never to put too much trust in your contemporary > musicologists! > >> He-he ;) > > > > <<Huh? Koczirz, d. 1941: Apel, d. 1988; Morrow, d. 1994; Munrow, d. > 1976>> > > I fear the only person baffled around here is G. Crona. In 1911, the > first modern publication > > of the Judentanz appeared in Koczirz's edition of Austrian lute music > issued as volume > > 37 of the monumental Denkmaeler der Tonkunst in Oesterreich (Jarhg. > XVIII). > > It was but one of hundreds of transcriptions he made and published from > German and > > other tablatures. A volume of lute music in the DTOe was even > assembled from his papers > > and published posthumously, indicating the extent his work was revered > by his colleagues. > > He was a student of Guido Adler at the University of Vienna. > > > > The Judentanz was later published and its notation explicated by Willi > Apel in his > > famous book on the notation of polyphonic music before 1600. Later > Apel printed the > > Newsidler Judentanz in his widely available [Harvard] Historical > Anthology of Music (HAM), > > No. 105b. Interestingly, he did not publish his own transcription, but > rather in a bow to his > > distinguished predecessor, he publisher Koczirz's. > > > > (HAM seems to be the fake book used by John Renbourn, judging by the > > titles of many tracks on his CDs.<g>) > Koczirz and Apel were eminent professionals who could properly read > German tablature, and > > well understood the meaning of a dash over a tablature cipher, and > other special signs. > > Apel's book on the notation of polyphonic music before 1600 even > includes a chapter on > > German lute tablature, with extended graphic examples showing how to > transcribe it > > (including a correct explanation of the ciphers with dashes!) . G. > Crona's notion that Koczirz > > and Apel couldn't read German tablature correctly is absurd. THIMK! > > > > As a matter of fact, the Koczirz/Apel transcriptions are absolutely > correct > > renditions of the piece according to the tablature and tuning > instructions > > published in Hans Newsidler's 1544 book. If you examine the editions, > > and compare them with the printed tablature (see below for facsimile), > > you will discover that theirs were NOT FAULTY READINGS, as > > Crona would have the readers of this newsgroup believe. > > > > AS PUBLISHED IN NEWSIDLER'S 1544 TABLATURE BOOK, > > THE JUDENTANZ IS A BITONAL* WORK.<Hee-hee> > Actually the dance is partially bitonal, because the cadences > are tonally stable. > > So the piece dips in and out of bitonality, but is rooted in one tonal > center, D. > > > >>>>> To be continued<<<< > > > > -- > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --
