Indeed - and, truth be told, I sometimes do it myself (ie adjusting the
bass line) when wanting a particularly strong chord not practicable
with the bass as found - especially when playing theorbo continuo in
opera, large cantatas and the like where there is usually at least one
other instrument playing the bass line alone (eg a bass violin or
similar).....
MH
__________________________________________________________________
From: Christopher Wilke <[email protected]>
To: R. Mattes <[email protected]>; Monica Hall <[email protected]>;
Lutelist <[email protected]>; Martyn Hodgson
<[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, 25 February 2014, 13:28
Subject: Re: [LUTE] Re: Bartolotti's continuo treatise
Martyn,
I agree that seicento pluckers often played "harmony below the
bass." This is another way of saying that they recognized and used
chord inversion even though musicians weren't "supposed" to be aware of
root equivalency at the time. However, we know that guitarists
certainly did with alfabeto, in which identical finger shapes resulted
in harmonic units that would change position dependent upon the tuning
used.
Lute and theorbo players did as well. For example, in the songs
with bass lines and written theorbo parts in Castaldi's "Capricci a due
stromenti...", he often inverts chords to make the part idiomatic to
the instrument. There's a passage in "Al mormorio" in which the bass
line steps down, A-G-F#. In the written out thoerbo part, Castaldi
harmonizes the A with a root position minor chord on the 6th course,
but then unexpectedly places a root position D major chord UNDER the
F#. Tellingly, he then omits the G because its role is to provide
smooth voice leading between the A and F#. As Castaldi has an F natural
8th course, his whole reason for introducing the change is to
accommodate some type of harmony on the F#. He could have simply played
a 6/3 chord on the F# by placing it in a upper octave, but this would
have resulted in a thinner, less resonant sonority. It is extremely
interesting to note, therefore, that he feels free to alter the chord
position where needed to make the part more satisfying according to the
resources of the instrument.
This sort of practice must be what Caccini had in mind when he
enigmatically stated in the preface to "Le nuove musiche" that, "I have
made use of counterpoint only so that the parts would agree [on
paper?]". He also says that an aria or solo madrigal performed in this
manner, "will delight more than one which has all the art of
counterpoint." In other words, the bass line may function in much the
same way as the chords on a jazz lead sheet: as a generator of notes
that a player may potentially re-arrange according to dramatic context
or idiomatic needs of the instrument.
Chris
Dr. Christopher Wilke D.M.A.
Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer
www.christopherwilke.com
--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 2/25/14, Martyn Hodgson <[1][email protected]> wrote:
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Bartolotti's continuo treatise
To: "R. Mattes" <[2][email protected]>, "Monica Hall"
<[3][email protected]>, "Lutelist" <[4][email protected]>
Date: Tuesday, February 25, 2014, 4:52 AM
Thank's for this.
I can't actually see that inverted 7
6 sequences dictate a non
re-entrant tuning - the low tessitura one
sometimes has is just part
and parcel of the instrument. And I agree
with the anonymous author of
the Facebook article you mention who
wote:
' ........in the second section of the
example bars 3 and 4 show
this. The 7 6 chain shown gets very low
and dark, the 7 6 from 2nd to
4th course would be v odd with a higher
octave 2nd course.
I personally accept harmony below
the bass with 2 reentrant strings as
a pleasant sonority. the bass played with
the thumb stretched out and
the fingers v close to the bridge
ameliorates the effect to me.
Further, when realising accompaniments I
do think there's a modern
tendency to be overly concerned about
considerations of part writing
and of ensuring a particular line doesn't
jump the octave. A concern
not always shared by early players: some
of the few intabulated
realisations we have don't often
seem too bothered about jumping
around or being focused on maintaining the
integrity of an upper
line. For example passages in Kapsberger's
1612 'Libro Primo di
Arie.....' As I see it,
the theorbo is principally an instrument for
producing a bass with, where possible,
straightforward harmony to
accompany others. A good example of this
is Corradi's 1616 'Le
Stravagaze....' which generally exhibits
simple block chords played
with the bass with little or no
independent contrapuntal lines.
'Going up the neck' is necessary if one
has a re-entrant tuning (single
or double) and a high bass note which you
wish to play at the notated
octave together with some harmony (altho
of course there's no
prohibition on taking notes/sequences of
notes an octave down). For
example, with a double re-entrant
instrument in nominal A tuning: a d
just above the bass clef must be taken on
the fourth course (rather
than the third) if one wishes to play some
harmony above it (say a f#
on the third or on the first course). With
non re-entrant one could
simply play the bass on the third course
and the 3rd and, indeed, a 5th
on the second and first
respectively. Hence why 'going up the neck'
suggests a re-entrant tuning.
MH
__________________________________________________________________
From: R. Mattes <[5][email protected]>
To: Martyn Hodgson <[6][email protected]>;
Monica Hall
<[7][email protected]>;
Lutelist <[8][email protected]>
Sent: Monday, 24 February 2014, 17:23
Subject: Re: [LUTE] Re: Bartolotti's
continuo treatise
On Mon, 24 Feb 2014 08:29:00 +0000 (GMT),
Martyn Hodgson wrote
> I don't have this work either - I
think.......
@Monica: are you by any chance refering
to
[1][9]https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.441553512620558.1073
741827
.253474818095096&type=1
(Bartolotti continuo and solo similarities
- from
[2][10]https://www.facebook.com/Tiorba)?
BTW, there's an image of page 52. or me
this example works _much_
better in a non-reentrant tuning (N.B: Ms.
one has an error: the
second chor should read dfbflat). Why
would Bartolotti start thist
example with horribly wrong conterpoint?
In reentrant tuning the 7-6
would transmogrify into a perfect fifth (f
c) "resolving" to a forth
(f bflat) [1]. To be followed by a chain
of 2nd chords ... Yes, we all
know that a 7-6 chain can be inverted
(double counterpoint) into a 2-3
chain but we also know this doesn't work
with a third voice running a
third above the bass (since the fith
between this voice and the 7th
would invert into a (false/wrong) forth.
We know our counterpoint -
Bartolotti didn't? This all does not
happen with a non-reentrant
tuning. The one problematic spot for a
non-reentrant tuning is Ms.13 -
here the 7th (e natural, second string)
would resolve into a 6th (d,
fifth string), a problem easily solveable
by playing the resolution on
the third string. That spot makes much
more sense in an reentrant
tuning (moving from an open string g in
ms. 10 to same note fretted on
the second string, third fret ms. 11).
> And I'm not quite sure what you mean
in the page 6-7 example. But
> doesn't the use of higher positions
suggest a re-entrant (single
> or double) tuning rather than
the reverse, since it still allows
> for some harmony to be played
above the bass line?
No. Once you are an the highest string
(string 3 for an reentrant
tuning) the strings "above" will actually
be below. That's exactly
what would happen on page 52. Going up the
neck is as common on a
archlute as it is on a theorbo.
Cheers, RalfD
[1] Yeah, that's why the called him " ...
without doubt the most
skillful upon the theorbo".
--
References
1.
[11]https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.441553512620558.107374182
7.253474818095096&type=1
2. [12]https://www.facebook.com/Tiorba
To get on or off this list see list information at
[13]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. mailto:[email protected]
2. mailto:[email protected]
3. mailto:[email protected]
4. mailto:[email protected]
5. mailto:[email protected]
6. mailto:[email protected]
7. mailto:[email protected]
8. mailto:[email protected]
9. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.441553512620558.1073741827
10. https://www.facebook.com/Tiorba
11.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.441553512620558.1073741827.253474818095096&type=1
12. https://www.facebook.com/Tiorba
13. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
