Economic situation yes, but the fact that almost no new material came out
is
telling. And indeed, the genre of self accompanied canzonette seems to
have
disappeared. Together with that, alfabeto probably has lost much of its
attraction.
I don't think so. The relationship between what is printed and what and how
people play is far more complex than that.
The point is that these books may have been printed in
the first 30 years of the century but we don't know how large the print runs
were or how long they remained in print. And once poeple had bought them
they didn't necessarily discard them after a few years.
Just two examples Sanz writing in the 1670s. had clearly seen and possibly
owned copies of books by Foscarini, and Kapsberger as well as at least one
of Corbetta's and Granata's. The Gallot manuscript includes excerpts
copied from Foscarini and Carbonchi.
Assuming that the printer produces 2000 copies he wouldn't expect to sell
them in one or even five years. Printing music was and is a long term
investment.
The fact that some of the books were reprinted even in the 18th century
suggests that there was still a market for them.
I did not mean to say that the accompaniment of Matteis (and others) is
without strumming. The idea is that once we refrain from playing battuto
the
guitar is much lower in volume and no longer a very practical companion in
an instrumental ensemble.
But was it ever a practical companion in an instrumental ensemble?
As far as England is concerned Matteis is the only guitar book known to
have been printed during the whole of the 17th century - probably for
economic reasons . You can't
arrive at any conclusions based on just one book.
The same is true in France - I believe Grenerin's is the only one to include
bc eexamples.
Which raises another point. Players in France and England were probably
able to obtain copies of books printed in Italy - and therefore didn't need
home grown publications. They either travelled abroad themselves or were
able to have books sent to them.
Music publishing is and probably was in the 17th century an international
activity - because music is a universal language. And educated French and
English players were often fluent in several languages. Charles II
certainly spoke French and learnt Italian.
I have been searching rather diligently for evidence
for
such a practice but no examples of purely strummed realization of figured
bass from France or England come to mind.
That is probably because the instrument was less popular in England and
France than it was Italy and Spain.
Yes. It is 'his present design to make it company for other instruments'.
With many plucked chords. Is there anything to confirm that this has lead
to
success?
In England? Probably not. However, although the surviving copies of
Matteis were printed in England the book is mostly written in Italian and
had previously been published abroad I think.
> 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.
And that is indeed a sort of an answer to my question: in how far does
historical
information support the modern practice of including the guitar (and
all-battuto performance) in all different kinds of music?
If that was your original question I don't think the historical evidence
does support the modern of including the guitar in any shape or form in
every conceivable kind of music....It just happens to be very trendy today -
perhaps because it is easier to play and transport by plane across the
globe!
We agree on that? Wow!
Yes, the situation in Spain may have been different. Yet, for ensemble
performance Sanz and de Murcia considered it necessary to learn to play a
proper BC from a figured bass.
I don't think that either Sanz or Murcia say what purpose their exercises
are to be put to. They are more likely to have intended them to be used to
accompany vocal music than large ensemble music.
In the Marin songs there is no strumming at
all.
The songs in the Marin manuscript were not specifically composed as songs
with guitar accompaniment. The guitar part is just someones' realization
of a pre-existing bass part which he probably elaborated in performance. It
is intended that the appropriate passacalles should be played between
verses - probably not in lute style.
Is there information about purely strummed accompaniment (from cifras
or alfabeto) that was used in Spain in instrumental ensembles?
I believe June Yakely did find some violin music with cifras.
I'm not so sure that Spaniards didn't need instructions on strumming an
accompaniment. As we can learn from the many defective harmonies in
Italian
alfabeto songs, finding good harmonies in a composed repertoire (as
opposed
to the stock dance genres of the ruggiero, canario or ciaccona) was not
everybody's skill.
Well - it all depends on what you mean by "defective harmonies".
MOnica
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