Chris said.......What specifically about 18th century compositional context
makes a 6/4
chord acceptable at the end of a piece? Are there historical sources that
discuss the procedures you mention?.........
Monica.....I knew this would provoke a reaction...
But from the early 18th century there is Nassarre (a theorist rather than a
practical musician) who in 1724 wrote...
"It is true that when formed with the bass by itself it (the interval of a
perfect 4th) does not have the same degree of sonority as the others
(intervals) and for this reason it is included among the dissonances.
Nevertheless this is not sufficient reason (for excluding it) when
experience shows us that on some musical instruments it is used in the bass
in place of the perfect 5th. This is true of the guitar and some others."
Rather earlier Doisi de Velasco wrote
"Whichever way it (the guitar) is strung, some chords will have fourths
between the lowest voices [i.e. will be six-four chords]. These will not
matter when playing rasgado. ..."
and also
"Because there are many examples in ancient compositions, which make
unqualified use of the fourth, some [theorists] maintain that it is not only
a consonant (as a complement to the fifth in the same way that other
consonances are complementary.. but is even more perfect than the fifth as
Zarlino explains at length."
Chris said.......As far as I know, all contemporary
theory writers classify the chord as a dissonance in need of resolution.....
Me....I am not sure which contemporary theory writers you are referring to
but of course official theory is often different from actual practice.
That was really what I was trying to say. Six-four chords are acceptable
in the context of baroque guitar music even as late as Merchi who writes
six-four chords at the final cadence in staff notation. And other
instruments with practical limitations.
My "modern" ears have nothing to do with it. It depends on the context.
Stuart mention the violin - but because it is tuned in fifths in my
experience music for unaccompanied violin doesn't go in for six-four chords
very much and certainly not at cadences.
Monica
www.christopherwilke.com
--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 9/18/13, Monica Hall <[email protected]> wrote:
Subject: [LUTE] Re: G.B. Noferi: Largo c.1775
To: "WALSH STUART" <[email protected]>
Cc: "Lutelist" <[email protected]>
Date: Wednesday, September 18, 2013, 7:52 AM
Ayeee! It ends with a six-four
chord unless my ears deceive me! I believe
that is acceptable as the lowest part remains
stationary. It is even more
acceptable if the lowest part simply moves back and forward
by step which is
why six-four chords in baroque guitar music are not the
problem which the
uninitiated seem to think.
A very nice little piece and nicely played.
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: "WALSH STUART" <[email protected]>
To: "lutelist Net" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2013 11:28 PM
Subject: [LUTE] G.B. Noferi: Largo c.1775
> The little wire-strung guitar/guittar of the second
half of the the 18th
> century was almost always tuned to a C major chord. And
almost all of
> the music written (or arranged/adapted) for it is in...
C major.
> Occasionally there will be pieces in C with sections in
C minor and A
> minor. After C major, the second most common key is F
major. Pieces in
> keys other than C or F are rare. And pieces exclusively
in minor keys
> are rarer still.
>
> (The seven-string Russian guitar, tuned to a G major
chord, is quite
> different - with pieces in a range of keys and
many pieces, including
> virtuoso pieces, in minor keys. Perhaps this is
because it has gut
> rather than wire strings.)
>
> But there are very few pieces for the wire-strung
English guitar in
> minor keys. Rudolf Straube, who was harmonically the
most adventurous
> for this instrument, didn't write any pieces in minor
keys in his 1768
> collection (but there are minor key sections within
major key pieces.)
>
> Maybe minor keys don't work well on a wire-strung
instrument tuned to a
> major chord (I think Rob Mackillop has suggested this).
Well here's one
> in D minor by G.B. Noferi. I'm playing this on an
original instrument
> with peg tuning and the fretting of that time - not a
modern instrument
> with ET.
>
> Interestingly, at the end of each section of the piece,
the final chord
> (F major at the the first, D minor at the second)
doesn't have the root
> of the chord. There are no technical difficulties in
playing the lower
> note F or D - but Noferi conspicuously omits
them, leaving the final
> chord as an inversion. (Suggesting his background as a
violinist?)
>
>
>
>
>
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2MukVuk1Os
>
>
> Stuart
>
>
>
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