Hello Ron and Matthew, I haven't mentioned before:
I always played the "e" on the 5th course instead of the "c" and then I noticed that it is a "c". I am talking about my copy and the cnrs edition. The facsimile is too small for me. I only use it for proof reading.
Hi Rainer and Ron, I suspect that you are right Rainer in wanting to change the letter 'C' to the letter 'E' on the 5th course in bar 52, producing an E note in the bass rather than a D. The indication of the 3rd finger to play the note still remains problematic as it is not very practical to hold the bass whilst playing 'a' on the first string with the 2nd finger (first beat of the following bar).
I have now entered more than 40 pieces into Fronimo and have the impression that sometimes the fingering is quite smart and sometimes it is - by modern standards - ridiculous. Anyway I do not use it nor enter it into Fronimo since the tablature gets overcrowded. By the way I noticed something very strange: Sometimes Vallet uses hold lines/slurs on an empty string. It might be worth checking this - perhaps the engraver should not have engraved an "a" here. To my ear the passage in bars 35-36 sounds just fine as it
is. I do not understand Ron's comments about a d-minor harmony and a suspended 'g'. I see no f to constitute the minor third and resolve the suspension. Furthermore, I think that we should still be looking at voice leading in this music and not just reasoning in terms of modern harmonies.
Well, there is certainly very little voice leading in the courantes and voltes. These are obviously in style brisé. Anyway, I do not accept the prolonged note proposed by Souris/Rollin. There is no hold line/slur and Vallet adds them wherever he thinks they are necessary. Some pieces are overcrowded with them.
Another question Ron: why do you qualify Vallet's left-hand fingering indications as 'irritating'? On the contrary, I consider them to constitute precious information about how the music might have been played (and can even give an indication of the qualities of the instruments lutenists were playing at the time). Left and right-hand fingering indications are regrettably few and far between. I have notably found those of Robinson, Vallet and Mouton to be wonderfully informative, along with others to be found in the Barbe and Saizenay manuscripts.
I wonder whom Vallet had in mind when he added all those left/right hand fingerings and hold lines. He even indicates Barrée. Most pieces are far too difficult for beginners. Has anybody read that article about Vallet's left hand fingering? Rainer PS I am even mad enough to check the concordances in Terpsichore and Philidor (this is NOT the famous chess player). To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
