Dear Jean-Marie,
One really doesn't need to be a 'professional' to read from early
MSs and printed editions - it's really not difficult and does a
disservice to many, if not most, lute and guitar players by
underestimating their abilities.
Where I do believe modern tablature editions have a valued place
is in the production of complete editions (with scholarly notes too)
of a particular composer's work or of a particular work set by
various composers (as well as Anon). John Robinson is, in my view,
the principal torch bearer for much fine modern work in this line..
regards
Martyn
On Sunday, 22 December 2019, 12:31:19 GMT, Jean-Marie Poirier
<[email protected]> wrote:
Although I have a marked preference for original manuscripts or
editions, we must keep in mind that not all players are professionals
used to reading original stuff from the sources, and some may be
discouraged by the same sources we enjoy reading from, we must pay a
well deserved tribute to the previous and very competent work of people
like Sarge Gerbode and Doug Town. Thanks to their generous attitude we
have a much easier access to lots and lots of music otherwise difficult
to find, very valuable resources for pro and amateur alike.
A very grateful thank you to them hoping they do keep up the good work!
Jean-Marie Poirier
> Le 22 déc. 2019 à 00:49, Frank A. Gerbode, M.D.
<[1][email protected]> a écrit :
>
>  As a major purveyor of modern lute editions, I feel I need to
answer
> the question of "Why do it?", in the era of readily available
> facsimiles.
> Of course, when I started, some decades ago, facsimiles were not
> generally available online, if at all, so there was no choice except
to
> do editions of stuff I happened to be able to get my hands on. Even
> now, some facsimiles are only available in very expensive printed
> editions. By and large the expense places these out of reach of most
> lutenists, including myself, so creating an online modern edition is
> the only way to make that music available at all.
> My mission, in my musical life, is to make as much free lute music
in
> playable form available to as many people as possible. and the only
way
> to do so is electronically. In 2014, the LSA Quarterly, v.48, I
wrote
> my "[1]manifesto" on the subject, and I won't repeat myself here.
Some
> book and a few MS sources are so clear that it is not, perhaps,
> necessary to make modern editions of them. I have tended not to
> prioritize these sources in making my editions. Apart from that,
here
> are some reasons for making modern editions instead of relying on
> facsimile sources.
> 1. Readability
> The point of making modern editions like those put out by the LSA
is,
> quite simply, to make it easier for modern lutenists to perform the
> music. If we look at editions of mensural music, almost all of them
> use the standard modern style. Unusual or unfamiliar clefs, key
> signatures, meter notations, and note shapes are almost universally
> replaced by modern symbols, because these are easily readable by
modern
> players, most of whom are not fluent in reading the old symbols. I
> believe no information vital to performance is lost in these
editions.
> Similar reasons apply to lute tab, where French tab serves as a
"lingua
> franca". Few, for instance, would want to perform from German or
> Neapolitan tab sources and many are not fluent in Italian or Spanish
> tab either. Ideally, too, the layout of a particular piece should be
> conducive to arranging the printed version on a music stand to avoid
or
> minimize page turns. When you perform, you want all of your
attention
> going to actualizing the music, not on turning pages or trying to
> decipher material that is difficult to read. Manuscript lute sources
in
> particular are often hard to read because of poor or careless
> penmanship, inconvenient page turns, or because notes and rhythm
flags
> are often indistinct, blotted out, or missing.
> 2. Correction of errors.
> Lute music sources, books and manuscripts alike, particularly those
> containing Renaissance music, are in general rife with errors.
> Performers do not want to be having to mentally correct the errors
on
> the fly as they play. That is part of the editor's job. If errors
are
> corrected, while still making it unobtrusively clear in the edition
all
> the changes one has made, it makes for an easily performable edition
> that performers can always mark up if they disagree with the
editor's
> decisions. Also, attributing the precise source in facsimile and,
> ideally, making it easily available, can be very helpful.
> 3. Dealing with scribal or publisher idiosyncrasies
> There is no historical standard for tab notation. Each source has
its
> own idiosyncrasies, and one of the main things necessary is to learn
> what the peculiarities are of a particular scribe or publisher.
> Sometimes there are several scribes within a MS, which makes it even
> more challenging. This is especially true for German tab sources.
> Sometimes, also, it takes awhile to suss out what a scribe intends,
> because of poor penmanship or defects in the MS. For instance in the
> [2]Fabricius Lute Book, my current project, it is often impossible
to
> differentiate the German tab c from the e and from the o, so one has
to
> make decisions based on context. Sometimes a dot is omitted over a
> note, or a dotted rhythm is rendered by three rhythm flags with
notes
> under the first and third. Something that looks like a repeat sign,
a
> double bar with two or three dots on either side, sometimes does
seem
> to mean a repeat of the prior section, but sometimes it is just a
way
> of separating sections. An editor can punt by simply using a double
> bar in such instances; I usually prefer to make decisions about such
> matters, which the performer may disagree with.
> I have not personally run across instances where writing style or
> spacing in the original appears to reflect differences relevant to
> performance, but I am not that experienced in editing Baroque lute
> music, and such things might be relevant there. It would always be
> possible, however, in a modern edition to note such instances.
> --Sarge
> --
> Frank A. Gerbode, M.D. ([3][2][email protected])
> 11132 Dell Ave
> Forestville, CA 95436-9491
> Home phone: 707-820-1759
> Website: [4][3]http://www.gerbode.net
> "The map may not be the territory, but it's all we've got."
>
> --
>
> References
>
> 1. [4]http://gerbode.net/making_lute_music_accessible.docx
> 2.
[5]http://gerbode.net/sources/DK-Kk_royal_library_copenhagen/ms_thott_8
41_40_fabricius_lute_book_1607
> 3. mailto:[6][email protected]
> 4. [7]http://www.gerbode.net/
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> [8]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. mailto:[email protected]
2. mailto:[email protected]
3. http://www.gerbode.net/
4. http://gerbode.net/making_lute_music_accessible.docx
5.
http://gerbode.net/sources/DK-Kk_royal_library_copenhagen/ms_thott_841_40_fabricius_lute_book_1607
6. mailto:[email protected]
7. http://www.gerbode.net/
8. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
