The main piece of evidence for unison stringing on the lute in late 16th
century Italy is the statement (where? can anyone help? I think it's an
English source) that Fabrizio Dentice introduced it. And does Vincenzo
Galilei mention it? For what it's worth, Caravaggio's paintings seem to
Thank you Martin
Unison stringing on the 6th (and lower) course has, of course, been
mentioned by a number of writers and, as you say, the previous belief
that the vihuela had unisons (based on a misreading) has now been
seriously questioned. I think I'm more interested/puzzled
However his reasons for recommending the re-entrant tuning for elaborate
solo music like that of Bartolotti
Sanz's solo music is by far not as elaborate as Bartolotti's. Most of Sanz's
pieces in the 'modern style' (not the Italianate passacalles) are charming
little tunes exclusively to be
Hello Lex,
With regard to what Sanz says about strumming the D minor chord and the
resulting 4/6 position (the A in the bass): a considerable portion of his
text is about how to play basso continuo on the guitar, and in accordance
with his advice to use bourdons for that his tablature examples
With regard to what Sanz says about strumming the D minor chord and the
resulting 4/6 position (the A in the bass): a considerable portion of his
text is about how to play basso continuo on the guitar, and in accordance
with his advice to use bourdons for that his tablature examples show only
I forgot to add that, given that rule 1 says in this one [the punteado] the
thumb strikes the number that corresponds to the base, the plucked versions of
the examples definitely seem to call for bourdons on 4 and 5, it seems somewhat
unlikely that Sanz did not have bourdones in mind also for
Thank you for your kind words, Peter.
Yes, you are right of course. The very first example gives the alfabeto
chords and the bass notes to which they belong. We find similar instructions
in almost every tutor from the time. But after having done that Sanz gives
many examples in staff and
Lex,
The more I think about it I tend to agree that it is not obvious that Sanz'
comment about the D minor chord in 4/6 refers to basso continuo. Which brings
me back to question that has been nagging me for a while, what on earth is Sanz
on about?? Any ideas?
Peter
- Original Message
I like thinking about the evolution from 4 to 6 strings. I'm sure we
can only speculate, unless there are explicit statements made at the
time that we can uses as guides. Monica and Lex, you both use words
like perhaps and likely...
I'm not convinced that the requirement of barre
Many thanks to all of you who replied. I couldn't quite see how the
grasshopper could produce a string! But the noise that it makes might
enhance many a performance!
Monica
- Original Message -
From: Peter Kooiman pe...@crispu.com
To: Monica Hall mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk
Cc:
There are a couple of points here.
First of all, Sanz's music may be less complex than Bartolotti's, although I
would question this assumption. But the main point is that his book is
intended as an instruction book with at least some material for beginners.
The other point is that all the
Apart from the general information he provides, I would doubt if the actual
works and the basso continuo are for beginners. Bartolotti has also given
information for beginners (!) but hasn't included any instructions for
accompanying. Neither has Pellegrini. Of Lorenzo Fardino, also on the
[Perhaps] we should have a closer look at the early use, 1600 - 1620, of
the five-course guitar and the choice of alfabeto chords that we find there.
The number of barre's is very limited, and there seems to be a clear
preference for 'open' chords, including unfingered strings. The other point
Considering the nature of alfabeto, a system with only triadic harmonies,
this seems not all too obvious.
I don't think this is as obvious as you might think. Triadic harmony is
much more flexible that you seem to think.
There is an interesting example in Alex Dean's dissertation which I
[It's likely] I would not argue that point at all. I'd say it
indicates that there was not a physical limitation of the hand in
taking on a more varied repertoire. It's the later stage I'm talking
about, in comparison to the earlier stage. The theoretical
difficulties were
Yes, Alexander Dean's dissertation is a very good read. You can download it
here:
https://urresearch.rochester.edu/institutionalPublicationPublicView.action;jsessionid=FEA663FAC81002C4A93F225435EB74D8?institutionalItemVersionId=10524
As I understand it, certain chords (dimished 7th, for
What we don't know [but can think of nevertheless], is how many of the 24
were used in practice. The _early_ sources we have (Of cifras: Briceno, for
instance. Of alfabeto: many) generally make use of just a limited selection,
mainly in first position.
Lex
- Original Message -
[perhaps] for eclectic guitar?
L
- Original Message -
From: Martyn Hodgson hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk
To: Vihuelalist vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu; Lex Eisenhardt
eisenha...@planet.nl
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 3:27 PM
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: stringing and performance
I
Thanks, Monica. So as far as the vihuela is concerned, we have evidence
for a unison 4th course but no evidence at all about the 5th and 6th
courses?
The surviving music for vihuela dates from a time when the lute was
commonly strung in octaves on courses 4-6, and from a string technology
They were certainly used by Amat and by anyone who read his book. That
is the whole point of his various tables - to allow you to transpose pieces
and if necessary when accompanying a song.
And Millioni also includes a table
Tavola delle lettere corrispondenti con le quali ciascuno se ne
Quite a few of the pieces in Foscarini's third book (1632) include passage
just shifting up and down the fingerboard - usually with chord N and chord
M.
Monica
- Original Message -
From: Martyn Hodgson hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk
To: Vihuelalist vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu; Lex
They were certainly used by Amat and by anyone who read his book. That
is the whole point of his various tables - to allow you to transpose
pieces and if necessary when accompanying a song.
It's not my wish to deny that the trick of transposing by using barre chords
was completely
It's not my wish to deny that the trick of transposing by using barre
chords was completely unknown. But Amat is rather pedantic about his
invention, and eager to prove his right.
I don't know what you mean by that. What he says is quite simple and
straightforward and works perfectly well in
But Amat is rather pedantic about his
invention, and eager to prove his right.
I don't know what you mean by that.
I was thinking of his report of his meeting with the singers in the pub.
Seems to have been a self-satisfied exraordinary narrow pedantic guitarist.
What he says is quite
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