Dear Rainer,
OK I'm a fan of Occam's razor too. But we can't do experiments on the
past, the only evidence we have is what we have, and that is deeply
unsatisfactory, I agree.
So according to the evidence, Vallet didn't notate vibrato before 1620
because he didn't use it, then suddenly he started using it and
therefore included it in his scores.
I think it's more likely that after the 1615/16 books, he realised that
it would be possible to help his readers even more by giving a special
sign showing where vibrato (already part of the repertory of ornaments
for many years) was used.
The "hold marks" showing holding of bass notes (and others) are a
feature of lute tablatures from Capirola to Galilei to Dowland and
beyond, but what they usually show is the theoretical voice-leading, not
the places where you can actually physically hold the notes in question
(Capirola's signs are actually more subtle than that, but that's another
story). I can provide numerous examples of this if required.
Vibrato is discussed by many authors (Piccinini, Mersenne, Mace,
Burwell) and most of them describe it as good but to be used in
moderation, and being something of a relic of earlier times, when people
used it too much. When were those "earlier times"? I suggest that
there is evidence in the Board lute book (lachrimae, and the Almain by
Robert Dowland) that Dowland may have used a cluster of little dots as a
sign for vibrato. This is not seen in any other lute manuscript, but do
we think that Dowland never used vibrato except when he was teaching
MB? Very few English lute manscripts have any ornament signs at all -
does that mean that the scribes of those manuscripts never used ornaments?
Given the apparent tendency of most lute composers to use open strings
whenever possible, when you see a note played high on a lower course
rather than in lower positions, you might suspect some kind of special
effect, sometimes it might even be a vibrato. I took the hint in my
attempt at the "tremolo" fantasia
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjY9wDOecwM). There are notated
examples in Barbe, for instance, at a time when (according to the
sources) vibrato was somewhat out of favour check out "L'amant
malheureux" by Gallot (Barbe, facsimile p.36-7).
OK, I'm going off to play a few (hypothetical) "tuts".
All the best,
Martin
On 21/02/2017 19:42, Rainer wrote:
Dear Martin,
???????????
So you say,
there is an undocumented and invisible ornament that cancels the
meaning of the hold "slur" and indicates vibrato?
As evidence you offer a book published 5 years later and books by
others - published later.
I would propose to apply Ockhams razor: this is an error.
Rainer
With large hands it can be played on a 59cm lute - if you use the 2nd
finger instead of the 3rd.
On 21.02.2017 18:10, Martin Shepherd wrote:
Dear Rainer,
Bar 7 is unplayable on a lute of any size if you try to hold all the
notes. In fact I think it's likely that he intends a vibrato on the
first note of the bar. There are no signs for vibrato in this book,
but there are in the 1620 book (Regia Pietas), and the vibrato sign
associated with notes in high positions where we might have expected
the same note(s) in a lower position. Have a look at Psalm 135 on
p.135. Piccinini and M.Galilei do the same thing (without any signs).
Martin
On 21/02/2017 17:26, Rainer wrote:
On 21.02.2017 16:28, jo.lued...@t-online.de wrote:
Dear Rainer,
agreed, when we take the pinky for the fifth finger, but where's
the problem (unless one trie to play this on a 67 cm scale)?
Addendum: Bar 7 IS unplayable on a 67cm lute - at least for my hands.
Why doesn't he use the 7th course for the A?
Rainer
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