If you are saying that as a general principal you might not always include
all 5 courses in a chord when repeating it on the upstroke then I have no
problem with that. However when Foscarini puts a stroke mark under a
single figure following a chord or in between two chords I
think he has made it clear in Rule 4 that usually a single note should be
played. To repeat what he says again...
"These must be played singly; that is to say you must pluck neither less nor
more strings than those which are shown. In this way the true effect of
the ornamental notes will be felt and the parts will follow clearly one
after the other which is what I intend."
His reasons for saying this are perfectly clear. It creates a coherent
melodic line.
The fact that he puts in the note values a well (although he doesn't always
do so) is another matter. These are necessary to indicate the rhythm.
What he is doing is combining two different practices. The earlier
practice of indicating the single notes between the chords with upstrokes
whilst following the later practice of omitting stroke signs from more
extended passages in lute style.
Indicating single notes or longer passages only by means of note values must
have been a recent innovation - possibly even his idea.
As far as the Corrente on p.60 is concerned he has specifically mentioned
this piece as being one where the passing notes should be treated as single
notes.
The reason why in the first few lines there are up and down strokes is
probably because he is imposing on the piece the stroke pattern which would
be appropriate if the piece consisted solely of 5-part chords which are to
be strummed.
We are at least in complete agreement over the barre question. I am afraid
Lex does not know what he is talking about. Brizeno includes the equivalent
of Chords G and H as well as other barre chords. James Tyler has included a
transcription from the Bologna manuscript - one of the earliest (1680s) with
alfabeto and this calls for the use of chord G. There is a hidden agenda to
all this. He wants to prove the guitar always had octave stringing on both
the 4th and 5th courses. The idea that the 6th course wasn't added until
quite late because the guitar had a re-entrant tuning doesn't fit in with
his theories.
Regards
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: "Martyn Hodgson" <hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk>
To: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>; "Monica Hall"
<mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
Sent: Monday, September 06, 2010 9:11 AM
Subject: [VIHUELA] Partial strums in Foscarini (was Foscarini/Gallot)
Dear Monica,
Yes, indeed, the passacaille on f72v if of Italian origin - which is
precisely why I choose it to demonstrate the point that having single
notes both with flags above the stave AND single notes with slashes
(strokes) on the stave showed that this source expected partial
('discriminatory' as I prefer to call it) strumming when only single
notes are shown after a chord.
I think the light it sheds on Foscarini is that some of the
slashes(strokes) on single notes after a chord in his works might be
equally well played with a partial strum as well as just single notes
which is, of course, my point from the outset. And, as you'll know,
Foscarini himself shows single note play both by slashes AND by above
stave flags in the same piece (random search produces many - the first
is on p 19 of first book). It's pleasing that we seem to be approaching
some measure of agreement over this.
I think some of the confusion may have been because you were responding
to Lex's somewhat different points at the same time as responding to
mine.... Re communications with Lex, my only input into this was to
point out that, contrary to a stated view that the 'barre' only became
widespread (especially in higher positions) with the advent of the 6
string guitar, in fact early practice was to be very fluent with the
use of 'barre' in movable alfabeto chords and gave examples from
Valdambrini's (1646) use even up to fret 11!
rgds
Martyn
--- On Sun, 5/9/10, Monica Hall <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
From: Monica Hall <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: Foscarini/Gallot
To: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Cc: "Martyn Hodgson" <hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Sunday, 5 September, 2010, 16:24
Sorry I only just got around to this. The passacaille on f72v and many
of the other pieces seem to have been copied by Gallot or his servant
Monnier from a source in Italian tab.and converted into French. In
this particular piece the alfabeto chords have been left in place
rather than converted. But the Chaconne on f.78v most of which is
actually by Corbetta is all in French tab. Gallot seems to be rather
inconsistent in the way he notes the strums sometimes using the French
way putting the note values on the stave with tails up or down, in
others putting stroke marks down or up from the top line. He does
fairly clearly put the note values above the stave when these are
played as single notes. Clearly some of the strummed chords consist of
less than 5 courses.
There are places where auxiliary/passing notes are added and resolved
over the same chord e.g. the cadence at the end ot the second variation
where a 4-3 suspension is added to Chord I . In the fourth variation
there is a b on the first line following Chord D which is a passing
note which could either be included in Chord D as it is repeated (it is
just possible) or played as a single note. But he doesn't seem to do
this very often.
I am not sure that this really sheds any light on Foscarini as he
doesn't always make a very clear distinction between chords to be
strummed in full and single notes. He has clearly said that passages
like that in the Corrente on p.60 are to be played as single notes.
If you are going to insist that because he has put in stroke marks some
how or other the chords must be strummed then I don't really agree.
There are other legitimate reasons why he has put in stroke marks. A
better example of this is the Aria di Firenze on p.16. To quote Gary
Boye
"Here single notes are attached to upstrokes even though they are to be
plucked not strummed. The use of the upstroke symbol can be explained
be the need for horizontal separation of the numbers".
The music would sometimes be unintelligible without the stroke marks.
And there are lots of places where it does help to have them. It
makes the music easier to read. The stroke marks may be used for
purposes other than to indicate strumming.
Regards
Monica
You also ask 'What sort of evidence is there for this sort of
discriminatory play anyway?'. Which is rather begging the question -
if
it were crystal clear we'd not be joined in debate over this very
issue.
As far as I'm concerned it is the original sources which are the
starting point which is the start and a good source is the de Gallot
MS. Numerous pieces intabulate chords followed by single letters
with
an up or down slash on the top line as in the Foscarini we discussed
(a
down or up strum/brush I suggest) but in the same piece one can also
find a chord (with slash) followed by tablature with the flag ABOVE
the
stave - whiich I suggest certainly does mean play this alone as
single
notes. In short the same piece will often contain both
strummed/brushed single notes with accompanying chord and single
notes
played alone. Numerous examples - eg Pasacaille on page 72.
As already said, Corbetta's stricture also indicates strumming of
such
passing notes with part of the accompanying chord was not unkown
Martyn
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