Monica Hall wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: Monica Hall
To: Martyn Hodgson
Cc: vihuelalist [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 3:58 PM
Subject: Re: [LUTE] Re: tablature, alfabeto and BC
Well - the short answer is no!
The guitar does feature in the Florentine Intermedii. It is just
possible that it was used in Landi's opera Sant Alessio as this includes
a duet for the two humourous characters which is also included in one of
Landi's song books with alfabeto.
It does make an appearance in Lully's La Galanterie du temps - played by
Corbetta - but that is French. And of course in the music for Calisto
again with Corbetta.
If it was used in Italian opera it would probably have been in very
specific contexts - humorous, gipsies and the like I guess.
Not very helpful that...
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: Martyn Hodgson
To: Monica Hall ; Lex
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 2:44 PM
Subject: Re: [LUTE] Re: tablature, alfabeto and BC
Monica,
Related to this: are you aware if any lists of players at the
17thC/early 18thC Italian Opera Houses listing theorbos, harpsichords
players also showing guitarists.?
Martyn
Monica Hall wrote:
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: tablature, alfabeto and BC
these are my thoughts ...
>> Lex Eisenhardt wrote:
>>
>> There is an interesting parallel to the rapid decline of alfabeto
song
>> after
>> 1630. At about the same time the first instructions appeared for
the use
>> of the guitar in BC (Foscarini, Corbetta).
>> Should we suppose that the practice of an all-battuto (alfabeto)
>> accompaniment style has survived?
>> There are (almost) no books with alfabeto from any other country
>> than Italy, and the Italian alfabeto manuals from the second half
of the
>> 17th century are poor, rehashed versions of earlier editions,
almost
>> without
>> exception. They were only printed in Rome and Venice, probably in
small
>> numbers, serving a local demand. Alfabeto (in print) clearly was
past its
>> prime.
>
The short answer to that is that what has survived in print is only a
tip
of the iceberg. And what is printed commercially reflects the
economic
situation at the time and place. Italy was apparently in economic
decline
in the second half of the 17th century. Also it may have been that
the
kind
of songs which are included in these books had gone out of fashion
rather
than the manner of accompanying them. Surely this same is true of the
songs
which don't have alfabeto?
And if you have been reading Cory Gavito's dissertation I wouldn't
read too
much into what he says as it is based on a very small statistical
sample.
The exercises in the books by Corbetta et al include examples showing
which
alfabeto chords match the the notes of the bass part e.g. The Regola
per
sonar sopra la parte on p.70 on Corbetta's are surely intended to
help
the
player devise a strummed accompaniment. It is also self-evident that
the
accompaniments to the vocal pieces in Corbetta's Guitarre royale of
1671 are
intended to be mostly strummed. Why else should he put the note
values
on
the stave rather than above it?
The same is true of Matteis - the first lesson which Schollars ought
to
learn by heart - simply the standard chords and some of his
accompaniments
and exercises are mostly strummed. that on p.23 for example.
>> However, some players may have been able to realize an
accompaniment,
>> departing from the bass (and losing considerably in volume, while
>> plucking
>> part of the harmonies).
Of course but that doesn't mean that they didn't vary the kind of
accompaniment which they provided.
>>
>> Matteis (1680): 'The guitar was never so much in use & credit as
it
is at
>> this day, & finding it improved to so great a perfection, it is my
>> present
>> design to make it company for other Instruments. Every body knows
it to
>> be
>> an imperfect Instrument & yet finding upon experience how
agreeable
a
>> part
>> it bears in a consort I have composed severall Pieces both for ye
>> practice
>> &
>> information of those that would make use of it with ye
Harpsichord,
Lute,
>> Theorbo or Bass-Viol.'
>
Note that he suggests that it should be used with the bass viol
amongst
> other things.............
>>
>> Campion (1716): '.
Campion is writing a whole generation after Corbetta...
one is not prejudiced against the guitar without reason.
>> I
>> acknowledge, along with everyone, that it is not as strong of
harmony as
>> the
>> harpsichord or the theorbo. However, I believe that it is
sufficient to
>> accompany one voice.'
>
That is the point - the guitar is more suitable for accompanying the
voice
or in small groups. I would agree with Martin today that the guitar
is
often added to the continuo groups inappropriately.
> I have even heard it included in Handel!
>>
>> They both did not include all-battuto accompaniments in their
>> instructions, and the BC manuals from this time (Sanz, Grenerin,
de
>> Murcia)
>> take the bass as the main reference.
>
Murcia wasn't printed until 1714. The point is that they didn't need
to
include instructions on how to strum an accompaniment. Spaniards
didn't
need this kind of instruction. Their objective was something
different.
There are large numbers of manuscripts with Castilian or Catalan
cifras.
Note also that the each of the tonos in the Cancionero de Marin is
preceded
by a note indicating the passacalles to be (presumably) strummed
between the
verses. If you have only seen the modern edition you may not be aware
of
that.
>
> It seems that using the guitar for
>> plain battuto had become quite much a matter of genre, kept for
old
>> exotic
>> dances (ruggieros, ciacconas etc.) and a very specific (mainly
archaic)
>> song
>> repertoire.
>
> I wonder if it did come to mind at all to add the strumming of
>> a
>> guitar to ensemble performance. Just like this was not usual in
Church
>> music
>> (well, in Spain and South America of course they did...). There is
a
>> tantalizing lack of notated examples, eye-witness reports and
iconography
>> from the second half of the century, with regard to the role of
the
>> guitar
>> in ensemble.
>>
>> Today it is often supposed that the guitar was added to
>> ensembles, for rhythm and colour, with reference to unwritten
traditions.
>> What solid historical information is there to support this?
>
This depends on how diligently you have searched the surviving
documentation.
Monica
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> To get on or off this list see list information at
>> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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