The Piva which is definitely for a high 5th, The Colascione could
work for low or high 5th course. The Arpeggiata a low 5th would be best.
The Arpeggiata is such a well-loved piece among theorbo players (I
enjoyed it when I played theorbo, anyway) that I thought it would be
fun to try to arrange it.
Given that there are so many compromises taken, I almost think of as
an etude and ear stretcher and a way to visit an old friend (and,
though I don't mean to be disrespectful, the piece is a bit bruised
in the end!). I felt I should try to push it into B with your comment
about the keys of the Foscarini pieces.
This is much easier on theorbo! I play through it at a very relaxed
tempo. I can play all of the stretches, though I am sometimes
resorting to half-bars, and in one place a bar across 3 strings with
my fourth finger. I imagine a BB DD tuning would certainly make it a
bit more theorbo-like. In my arrangements the first note is always
the bass, but sometimes in order to squeeze in one more note to a
chord I have pulled in a high octave note on the 5th course.
You would enjoy hearing it on theorbo. I think there is an
interesting ebb and flow of harmonic tension and color (not so much
melodic) that creates the opportunities for giving the piece
"direction" (not quite sure if that the best word, but I can't think
of another) through dynamics and timing.
Feel free to change the plucking order. I'm already seeing some
places I might change.
There are a number of nice chromatic pieces (or sections of pieces)
originally for guitar that are fun to play. The opening of the
Prelude in A minor from the Murcia Saldivar Codex comes to mind.
-- Rocky
On Aug 18, 2008, at 3:27 PM, Stuart Walsh wrote:
Wow! I've been looking at Kapsberger_Solos2_rsm.pdf. I don't know
this music and I'm really surprised at all the harmonies. (I don't
know anything about this but I thought that continuo at this time
was mostly major chords, minor chords, 6-3s and 4-3s).
I've just looked at the first two (the two versions of the one
piece) and they are quite a bit too difficult for me. Do you play
them? Also I've got my two lower courses (in the alternative
tuning) bB dD and I think you'd really need BB DD. Were you
thinking of all the notes on the lower courses as unambiguously
low? Even with a rock solid right hand technique on those arpeggios
it must be quite difficult to give these pieces direction?
I enjoyed the video of Antonello Lixi.
Stuart
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