I don't think that anyone has made a transcription of the whole of
Foscarini - it would indeed be a labour of love! I looked at Gavin's
transcription - but he hasn't given the page number so that I can compare it
with the original. Also I am not in favour of inverting the tablature in
this way. Myself I would never play from anything other than the
original - which is presumably what players did in the 17th century.
I would not like to talk you through the piece that you have reproduced
on your web site. But I play the Capriccio on p.93 which is very
similar. It takes a lot of time and thought to arrive at a satisfactory
solution but it is possible.
I have been studying Foscarini's notation in detail recently and was
thinking of writing an article on the subject - perhaps for the Lute Society
if they can be pursuaded to continue taking an interest in the baroque
guitar.
The most intractable problem is the complete absence of bar lines, and the
erratic notation of rhythm. One thing in particular is his use of dots -
these sometimes indicate the ends of phrases rather than augmentation of the
notes to which they are attached. The arrangements of lute pieces are
often problematic in the same way. It does beg a few questions about
Foscaini's level of musical literacy!
On the other hand we should take into account all the problems which
guitarists faced over getting their work printed - and the fact that the
notation was evolving to accommodate changes in the styles of music written
or arranged for the guitar.
I am sceptical about the idea that there is a "definitive" version of any
baroque guitar music. To a considerable extent it is left to the player to
decide on a lot of things - including the tuning - which may not be much
help to us today.
As far as the tuning is concerned, Foscarini does include advice on how to
tune which implies that there is octave stringing on both 4th and 5th
courses. However these instructions appear in his earlier 1629 book -
which is substantially a plagiarized edtion of at least one of Colonna's
earlier books and Foscarini has almost certainly copied the tuning
instructions from another earlier book and simply reproduced them in all
subsequent editions. It is debatable how much of what he says in the
preface applies to all music in the later volumes.
Personally I play his music with the "French" tuning - as I do everything
else - and I make no apologies for that.
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stuart Walsh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Monica Hall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2007 10:28 PM
Subject: Re:Calvi - Foscarini
I don't think that Calvi's music is very like any other 5-course guitar
music myself. It is different even from - for example - Foscarini's
arrangements of lute pieces.
James Tyler positively gushes about Foscarini. His music is 'infinitely
more sophisticated' than that of his contemporaries. 'Exceptional
composer', 'daring and original'...
I got a microfilm of some music by Foscarini from the British Museum a
long time ago - and, just like other bits and pieces of Baroque guitar
music I've gathered, I have a go at Foscarini from time to time. James
Tyler recorded a couple of pieces on an old Saga recording. And they
sound very nice too. I think one of them was an 'Alemanda' (dedicated
to?) Christopher Minelli -which is 'almost' playable as it stands.
But, my God, the music is a mess. Is there even one piece that is
straightforwardly playable? If some of these pieces are arrangements of
known lute music, it must be possible to give a definitive reading. Or
maybe there is a 'satisfactory modern edition' as Tyler hoped for back in
1980?
Gavin Emery's has put some Foscarini pieces on his baroqueguitar.net
site - including a different version of the Alemana notes above (in
'upside down' modernised tab):
http://www.baroqueguitar.net/PDF_files/Foscarini_alemanda%20variationi.pdf
I imagine he spent hours trying to get something coherent. I wholly admire
his effort - and to make the stuff accessible to modern-tab reading
classical guitarists. But I still don't feel completely convinced.
Is there a modern edition of Foscarini?
If there isn't and anyone would like to see the problem, here is an
example - chosen fairly arbitrarily:
http://www.tuningsinthirds.com/Foscarini/Foscarini.jpg
There are definitely some very strange things going on here. I really
don't know how to cope with this. And there's no hint of campanella so
maybe the fourth and fifth courses should have octaves (if at all) as on a
lute.
Stuart
To get on or off this list see list information at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
