Dear Christopher,
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher Wilke" <[1]chriswi...@yahoo.com>
To: "A. J. Ness" <[2]arthurjn...@verizon.net>;
<[3]baroque-l...@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 8:34 AM
Subject: [BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: D# Minor Suite
> Arthur,
>
> --- On Sun, 10/30/11, A. J. Ness <[4]arthurjn...@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> But one wouldn't transcribe it in D# minor
>> (SEVEN sharps), as Eklund does, but
>> rather as Sterling indicates in E flat
>> minor (only six flats<g>).
>>
Dear Christopher,
>
> I agree that the key signature of 7 sharps is rather cumbersome to
read, but there is precedent for it in the baroque. In Book 1 of the
Well Tempered Clavier, Bach pairs a prelude in E-flat minor (key sig, 6
flats) with a fugue in D# minor (7 sharps). (A very complex fugue, by
the way, with much ingenious use of stretto.) In Book 2, both prelude
and fugue are written in D# minor.
<<AJB>> I have an even better one for you. In the chaconne composed by
Tomasso Vitali, one variation has the violin in D# minor and the basso
continuo in E flat major. (It--incidentally--is by Vitali: the
original 18th-century manuscript is in the Dresden Landesbibliothek;
his father also wrote wierd music--a kind of 18th-century Chas. Ives &
Son.)
<<AJN>> The second suite in the manuscript (Uppsala, Instr. mus hs
20:13) is in Gis
dur. That would require 8 sharps (F gets two sharps, = double sharp),
and
surely the composer intended A flat major. Consistency would suggest E
flat minor for the first suite. I find Ekland's arguments for Dis moll
to be rather weak. He doesn't understand that the key designations are
derived from the scale for German keyboard tablature.
> As for the major mode pieces occupying the space between D and E,
Bach writes all of those in E-flat major (3 flats).
<<AJN>> I'm afraid you're confused, Christopher. In German keyboard
tablature the spelling of the note between D and E is Dis, not Es (E
flat), as you write. Recall the Eroica in Dis. Only B is indicated
with a "flat" in
German keyboard tablature. Otherwise keys with flats are "spelled" with
the
enharmonic sharp spelling. You need to reread my explanation. That's
the questrion that started this thread. The ciphers for various
keyboard tablatures are diagramed in my article "tablature" in the New
HDM.
> In the end, I think the issue is moot when dealing with a piece
notated in tablature since sources like Burwell and the concerti of
Radolt show that various pitch levels were used for different sized
"baroque" lutes.[*]
<<AJN>> We are discussing pieces with a specified key identified in
the source with
ciphers used in German keyboard tablature. With lute of different
sizes the key is specified, regardless of the actual
sounding pitch. Naming the "key" as a kind of title provides guidance
to the player. The
fingerings for scales, chords, etc., in A flat are going to be
different
from those for E major. So it's not moot. The rubrics in Daza's
tablature book (1576?) serve a similar purpose in orienting the player
and singer to the mode.
*Also take care. Sometimes it is the voice part that is to
be transposed!!!!!
AJN.
> Chris
>
>
> Christopher Wilke
> Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer
> [5]www.christopherwilke.com
>
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> [6]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. mailto:chriswi...@yahoo.com
2. mailto:arthurjn...@verizon.net
3. mailto:baroque-l...@cs.dartmouth.edu
4. mailto:arthurjn...@verizon.net
5. http://www.christopherwilke.com/
6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
