I'm just wondering why more people dont produce modern editions that are hand written? I've made many transcriptions of keyboard music for lute and for me all I need is blank tab paper and a hard pencil. I compose too and my manuscripts are in the tradition of the old lute composers. I should also add that I practice copperplate calligraphy with a quill pen and produce lute music that way (so perhaps I'm just weird! )
Susan -------- Original message -------- From: Jean-Marie Poirier <[email protected]> Date: 12/22/19 5:31 AM (GMT-07:00) To: "Frank A. Gerbode, M.D." <[email protected]> Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Subject: [LUTE] Re: modern lute editions 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. <[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][email protected]) > 11132 Dell Ave > Forestville, CA 95436-9491 > Home phone: 707-820-1759 > Website: [4]http://www.gerbode.net > "The map may not be the territory, but it's all we've got." > > -- > > References > > 1. http://gerbode.net/making_lute_music_accessible.docx > 2. http://gerbode.net/sources/DK-Kk_royal_library_copenhagen/ms_thott_841_ 40_fabricius_lute_book_1607 > 3. mailto:[email protected] > 4. http://www.gerbode.net/ > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
