Thomas: Both of Donington's books have essentially the same relatively limited information: The only specifically French reference is Charles Masson, Nouveau traité de regles de composition de la musique, Paris 1699, "the sarabande is taken gravely (gravement)" Mace, 1676, says "Serabands are of the Shortest Triple-Time; but are more Toyish, and Light, than Corantoes; and commonly of Two Strains" Philips, The New World of Words, in 1658 defines Saraband as Lesson or Air Musick going with a quick time. The fifth edition (1696) of the book omits the tempo indication, and the copy of the first edition in the British Museum has a handwritten correction (possibly from around 1719) where the word "quick" is crossed out and changed to "slow."
The general impression is that the tempo slowed late in the 17th century. Regards, Daniel -----Original Message----- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Thomas Walker Sent: 15 December, 2014 14:03 To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Subject: [LUTE] those sarabands Greetings all-- I know the sarabande was originally a lively ditty which morphed pretty thoroughly by the late 17th century. I have a question about the middle ground, in particular the sarabandes found in Ballard's prints from the 1630s, though. Many seem to "work" whether played lively or stately, and I know of an old Bailes recording where he positively burns through a sarabande by Mesangeau. I also have played sarabands in ensemble works by Jenkins et al that demanded a lively reading. The question is, what textual evidence do we have for expected tempi of sarabandes of the French school 1610-1640? Thank you kindly, Thomas Walker, Jr. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
