After the Milan discussion which I enjoyed a lot, I'd like to bring up again my question, which I would love to be discussed in the same manner as the Milan controversy (which really wasn't one, granted).
As you all know, the first prints were of pieces by one "Francesco Spinacino", about whom we know practically nothing. Some say, these pieces are of, erm, mediocre quality. (Lukas Henning dedicated a whole video to the "bad compositions") Personally, I think many of them are not so bad, and the gimmicky ones like the one in all modes, and the ricercar with cadences on all 12 notes are particularly original. When looking for the oldest lute pieces, I played through Pesaro Ms. (the heart shaped one), Bossinensis, and also the Capirola Lute Book. What I noticed was that the Capirola pieces are stylistically most similar to Spinacino's works. (also the "Benedictus" quotes in Ricercars of both composers) Playing both just "feels" like the technique of the same person or at least the same approach. (Of course, maybe Capirola just learned his lute playing on the basis of the Spinacino albums) I talked with Lukas Henning about that, and he said that Capirola is so much better, therefore the two can't be the same person. I disagree with that view, because the Books are 10 years apart, and there is no argument against the development of better compositional skillz, especially by an amateur like Capriola. Maybe he just learned some things during that decade... My thought was: what if "Francesco Spinacino" is the pen name of Capirola, who as a nobleman in early 16th century did not want to publish music under his real name, because musicians were still considered kind of "low life" (which changed a few years later, when it was considered fashionable to make music, see: Il Cortegiano) Why did Petrucci publish this music and not that of more praised composers? I am sure they would have been delighted to see their music printed. If Capirola was involved, maybe he financed the print? Since this would have to be the first lute music printed, there was a certain risk if it was successful or not. No one knew if lutenists would buy those books. If it was sponsored it would have been a good market test with no risk. Are there any records of the early Petrucci company? When I told a friend who speaks Italian fluently about "Spinacino", she immediately laughed. "You know this means something like "Spinach guy", was he a spinach farmer?" Surely he wasn't a sailor... If anyone knows anything that would corroborate or contradict this idea, please go ahead. Last time this came up, there wasn't much sensible response. Thanks! To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
