Interesting- to (some) modern players- both HIP and non-HIP; by the way-
that "well played" has to automatically be synonymous with "fast enough".
- And Ralf, thanks for the info concerning falsas, ficta, and the
hexachords.
I never heard that Mudarra was mocking Ludovico, rather instead that he
was honoring the great harpist's ability to throw in some chromatic
(well, falsa/ficta fun) notes playing a diatonic harp. Another theory
(or actual fact?) was that harpists would indeed have a string in f# in
one octave and an f natural in another, to cope with the need for such.
Dan
On 1/15/2017 3:28 PM, Ralf Mattes wrote:
Am Sonntag, 15. Januar 2017 22:37 CET, Mathias Rösel <[email protected]> schrieb:
and he wants to say that the false relations sound fine if played fast enough.
There are no "wrong" notes.
Wait, wait! Nowhere does Mudarra mention speed at all. It's an easy to fall in
trap to claim to know
what an author "wants to say", esp. if you are ignoring what he wrote -
"Algunas falsas tañiendo se bien
no pareçen mal"
Indeed, and it was Mudarra himself who wrote those words concerning "false
notes" in his fantasia.
I'd even be reluctant to translate "falsas" with "false notes" (Mathias, is
that why you put it in quotes?)
"Musica falsa" was a well established alternative term for "musica ficta", i.e.
notes that are generated from
hexachords other than the standard three. So, as an alternative (possible)
translation one might read:
" from here until the end you find some (disjunct) hexachords that, when played well
appear to sound good."
Not nearly as good a story as that about Mudarra making fun of Lodovico's
skills as a harp player but actually
rather convincing when you look at the music. And it give us valuable
information on techniques used on
diatonic harps to cope with the increasing needs of raised tones in cadences.
Cheers, Ralf Mattes
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