Is someone issuing a collection of Bach's works properly improved and corrected? (In fact, is David's email a mischievous allusion to something going on in the world of musicology?) Stuart
On 15 November 2012 21:27, Arto Wikla <[1][email protected]> wrote: Well, you know the holy Dowland - as the holy Bach ... ;-) Arto On 15/11/12 23:12, WALSH STUART wrote: Well, isn't anyone other than Dan going to reply to this? I was expecting a huge response! Stuart On 13 November 2012 20:33, David Tayler <[1][2][email protected]> wrote: Most of Dowland's lute solos come down to use a sketch--two outside lines, a few chords, and some "noodly appendages"--ornaments added by lutebook owners or their copyists. Many conclusions can be drawn, but the basic question remains, what to do with all of these sources? Obviously, performing them "as is" is one solution, and perfectly fine--a snapshot in time of what a lute player of the time would have played. Absoutely OK, and there it is, in the ms. But suppose there is more? The other path is to add inner voices and strip out the noodly appendages. I've given this quite a bit of thought over the last twenty-five years, and I have a few simple guidelines. 1. Eliminate parallel fifths and octaves. Dowland never wrote bad counterpoint, so these have to go. Famous example is the version of Lachrimae with the parallel fifth in the opening phrase, even though Dowland's published version is different. 2. Strip out "orbiting" noodly appendages. One sure sign of cookbook, color-by-number ornaments are those that present a set of added melodic sequences that start and end on the same note. Accomplished composers rarely use these, they are intended mainly for students. By returning to the same note, you mostly avoid the problem of parallel octaves and fifths, thus, an amateur who could not read music and did not study counterpoint could provide "correct" counterpoint in simple ornaments. Ornamentation treatises mention this trick as a way to dive in to ornamentation: nothing wrong with it, but it is for beginners--not Dowland. 3. Make sure cadences have leading tones somewhere in the bar, and end chords with thirds in the harmony. Although you see open fifths in mid century lute works, by 1590 you mainly see full harmony. A skilled player would not play G Major with a third and C "Major" without the third just to avoid fifth position, and you see this in the ms sources. Whether these open chords were simply sketches, or intentionally left to the play to fill in, foreshadowing later works such as Visee, these need leading tones. 4. Inner parts. Dowland's works at an absolute minimum always support a tenor or alto part, or both. If they are missing, they need to be supplied. There are a myriad of examples in the lute solos and lute songs, and they follow simple rules of counterpoint. If you study the chromatic fantasies, you can see complex inversions and imitation, but ta simple, well-written line will do. After analyzing all of the works, I can see that they were composed with inner parts in mind--that is, there are no works that paint contrapuntal corners where inner parts are not possible, which you see in other composers. Following these rules, I have created a very simple example. In one place I changed the harmony to make sure the form was "rounded," that is, a sort of mini refrain but the rest is pretty straightforward. [2][3]http://youtu.be/Pr7jtlXk-OU?hd=1 I'm interested in new ideas going forward, before I tackle some of the more complex works. Please feel free to make suggestions. dt -- To get on or off this list see list information at [3][4]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. mailto:[5][email protected] 2. [6]http://youtu.be/Pr7jtlXk-OU?hd=1 3. [7]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. mailto:[email protected] 2. mailto:[email protected] 3. http://youtu.be/Pr7jtlXk-OU?hd=1 4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 5. mailto:[email protected] 6. http://youtu.be/Pr7jtlXk-OU?hd=1 7. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
