If Corbetta had left the fifth course open (no letter, no dot), like he
did
with so many other chords, most guitarists would probably not have
considered to include the fifth course (like they would not in all those
other situations).
Corbetta has explained the purpose of the dots and given an example in the
French preface as follows:
Follow [esuitez = ensuitez] as much as you can the dots marked thus [ex.]
which you will see on the strings so that you avoid the dissonances, and
chose with the thumb precisely the letters notated. [dots on strings
indicate that they are omitted].
Interestingly this passage and the example are omitted from the Italian
preface.
Putting in the dots is a French practice. The earliest example seems to be
Francois Martin who puts crosses on the lines. The problem is that there
aren't any other earlier examples in French tablature printed before La
guitarre royale (1671).
Corbetta presumably thought that this was a good idea but hasn't made up his
mind when it would be most helpful to include them.
> It is true that you have to leave out the course with the dot (in this
case
the fifth course) so that we can say that the right hand is instructed.
But
it begs the question why Corbetta found it necessary to give this
instruction just with the incomplete N and not with so many other chords
patterns.
I'm not sure that is true. He is just inconsistent. In the first
Allemande - in B minor - he puts dots in several places but not when the 5th
course is to be omitted from chord N or its equivalent e.g. on the 2nd
stave, 3rd bar, 1st chord where he has omitted the 5th course from from
Chord A because of the passing note which follows on the 4th course and
again at the end of the 1st stave on p.2.
It could be a signal for players coming from the Italian tradition (like
Corbetta himself) who were used to finger the fifth course in N.
I don't think so or he would have explained it in the Italian preface.
As the
example of the two versions of the Brando shows, this is one of the
differences between mixed tablature and French tablature. We don't know
from
which example de Castillion has copied his version in B Lc Ms. 245. It is
striking though that it has dots in the N's, just like Corbetta himself
has
included in so many occasions in LGR1671.
Yes - the point is that we don't know where Castillion copied the pieces
from but one reason why the 5th course is often omitted from chord N is
because it is easier to play like that. Chord N involves a wide stretch
and you have to be very careful to keep the inner course clear when stopping
the 5th course.
This is the crux of the matter. As Stuart pointed out with Foscarini
shifting from one chord to another is often rather clumsy. Leaving out the
5th course in particular results in more elegant and economical fingering.
Chord N without the 5th course is very common in Italian sources which
don't
put in dots anyway. Bartolotti uses it so frequently (and it's a 6/4
chord
as well) that I'm surprised that he didn't think to include a letera
tagliata for it. That would have saved him or his engraver a lot of
trouble.
The interesting thing is really that Bartolotti seems to have quite much
avoided this incomplete N, unless in certain cadential situations. Maybe
exactly because it is a 4-6?
I haven't counted them - and I'm not going to - but he leaves out the 5th
course primarily so as to introduce the 7th of the chord as a passing note -
as for example in the Corente on p.53 on Book 1. On the 4th stave, bar 4
he has chord N at the 5th fret followd by passing notes. The 1st chord of
the previous bar is a clearly notated 6/4 chord. If he was the least bit
bothered about 6/4 chords he wouldn't have indicated that the open 4th
course is to be included in the chord. He could have made it a root
position chord stopping the 4th course at the 5th fret but then he wouldn't
have fingers at the ready for the passing note.
I think we should get this quite clear once and for all - Bartolotti leaves
out the 5th course from chords to facilitate left hand fingering. He
doesn't leave it out to avoid 6/4 chords. The truth is that it hadn't
occurred to you that there was a different explanation for his lettere
tagliate until I pointed this out to you and since this seems to be central
to your theories about" limitive notation" etc. you are not willing to
accept that you (and Garry Boye) were mistaken over his intentions.
Monica
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