Hello Alain: While many interpretive approaches are perfectly valid, the 'Dump' seems to have filtered into our collective lute-playing consciousness via certain recordings by certain prolific lutenists. I'll name names here because it's both entertaining and worth the trouble to step back and look at extremes of recorded interpretation and they may have affected our own ideas. Paul O'Dette recorded the piece as 'Dump philli (Philip's Dump), Philip van Wilder? (d. 1557)' on Electra/Nonesuch LP 9 79123-1, recorded 1985, timing 3:58. Christopher Wilson recorded the piece as Arthur's Dompe - Philip van Wilder (c. 1500 - 1553) on the 1987 LP, CRD 1148, timing 6:12. Differences abound. The interpretations range from O'Dette's forward-leaning pulse that pushes the piece ahead whether it wants to or no. Wilson takes his time, favoring the center of each and every note to the point that you know its life story before it's finally gone away. Extreme ends of the spectrum in attribution, pacing, style and interpretation: One is almost gleeful and the other quite doleful. But both players make an event of the missing music, which they omit simply because it wasn't there in the score. The best information available today points to the definition of 'dump' as a reverie of sorts, which doesn't necessarily preclude a little faster interpretation but it's probably not meant to be aggressive. However, I tend to agree with John Ward's reckoning in Music for Elizabethan Lutes. 2 vols., Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1992, Volume one, page 4, that 1) the piece is probably not to do with Philip van Wilder, and 2) the missing music is a copyists' mistake, and the ground is meant to have a more formal proportion. In the Elizabethan world, proportion was important, which is a little difficult for our modern minds to grasp. We seem to like things that are different and kicky. But while you could likely find some examples of irregular grounds (French baroque chaconnes, for example) a ground is a ground because it's predictable. I think the missing music is a mistake in copying and prefer a pulse and tempo that translates as wistful, or perhaps nostalgic, but not interminable. RA > Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2012 23:53:08 -0700 > To: [email protected] > CC: [email protected] > From: [email protected] > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Philip or Arthur's Dump > > Hi Ed, > I checked the facsimile of the Marsh lute book and the break in the > pattern is definitely there -- I tend to agree with the "Maybe it is not > a mistake" theory. It could be an intentional echo effect - the melodic > pattern of the second half of the bar is repeated a fourth up in the > first half of the following bar. It might be intended to wake up the > audience in a fairly long and repetitive piece and as you indicate > prepare them for the final recap of the theme. Maybe Philip Glass could > help here? It is worth noting that the piece appears twice in the book, > the first time left obviously unfinished with a page and a half left > blank immediately following, i.e. enough space to finish the > transcription later. The scribe however finally recopied the piece at > the very end of the book from the beginning all over again. There are no > scratches or corrections of any kind in the second version. > Another interesting aspect of this piece: it is not doleful. > Alain > > > On 6/9/2012 1:04 AM, Ed Durbrow wrote: > > I got a modern printout recently of Philip or Arthur's Dump - from Marsh, I believe. About 16 m. before the end there appears to be a missing measure or three. That is, the alternating C-G pattern breaks and there are two measures based on G. > > I also saw mention on the lute society site catalog of a duet version. Is this the same version as Marsh? I thought I had Marsh, but I don't, I think I mixed it up with Mynshall. > > I wonder if the 'missing' measure was a mistake and is in Marsh or a concordance, or perhaps someone famous has reconstructed it. > > Maybe it is not a mistake? Magnus Andersson certainly plays it convincingly: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVuhbBhYCl0 > > If I were the composer, I would have put that two bars of G bit right before the 'recap', where he brings back the opening theme at the end. > > TIA > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > >
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