Stuart, I've just read your interesting essay, and, if I may, I'd like
to say a word or two...
The two parts you highlight in red in the Con Spirito of Serenata II
are very easy to play in C Major tuning - Oswald has many such passages
- they fit easily under the fingers. What is difficult about the
interval d-f? That works out to be the 2nd fret on the 6th string, and
the 1st fret on the 5th string. I can't for the life of me understand
why you call that "awkward, quite difficult to play, and doesn't sound
very well".A
There are many moments in the Serenatas which sound more like Oswald's
Divertimentis than "lots of other guittar music of the time". Compare
the octave passage in the Con Spirito with the 7th Divertimenti of
Oswald, for example. And compare the Largo opening with Divertimento
11.A
I must have played through literally hundreds of pages of guittar
music, and can say with some confidence that the composer of the 12 and
18 divertimenti haunts the 12 Serenatas.A
And why did you quote at length the worst biography of Oswald ever
compiled? That "Blagger's Guide" does not help your case, I'd say. But
your point is that Oswald was "a chancer" - a bit crude, but I tend to
agree. He knew what sold. But he also wrote some of the finest guittar
music. The best biography of Oswald is by Dr John Purser, and
accompanies his CD-Rom publication of Oswald's Caledonian Pocket
Companion.A
No matter, I welcome your essay, especially as we seem to arrive at the
same conclusion, that Oswald did write these pieces.A
If anyone wants to see the scores and hear the guittar music of Oswald,
they are welcome to visit my website devoted to the
instrument:A [1]http://scottishguittar.comA - there is much on the site
already, and much more to come.
Rob MacKillop
On 16 December 2014 at 23:37, WALSH STUART <[2]s.wa...@ntlworld.com>
wrote:
I had a go at writing a sort of blog post using WordPress.
Although the topic is an obscure publication for the 18th century
wire-strung guittar it's an intriguing little enigma and still not
resolved.
[3]http://www.tuningsinthirds.com/blog/
Stuart
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References
1. http://scottishguittar.com/
2. mailto:s.wa...@ntlworld.com
3. http://www.tuningsinthirds.com/blog/
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5. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
