Note written over 2 years later (Sep 2019). These transcriptions were among the first that I made, and with experience and the reading of more learned transcriptions (for guitar) I have now revised them, and made them into a new post here: https://renaissance-ukukele.blogspot.com/2019/09/le-roy-revisited-neuf-branles-de.html.
If you have the earlier versions, please delete them and download the new ones. Thanks.
Adrien Le Roy was a prolific French fretted instrument player and music publisher who flourished in the second half of the 16th century. These pieces were written for the Renaissance 4-string guitar, so all I had to do was transcribe the tabs from a, b, c ... to 0, 1, 2 ..., but for the notation I had to guess at the duration of the notes. The branle was originally a French rustic dance ('branle' means 'sway') which was adopted by the toffs. In English it was called a 'brawl' (typical boozy Brits), and was referred to by Shakespeare and Pepys.
These pieces fall easily under the fingers, and provide plenty of practice in the key of G; a lot of the bass lines include the open third and fourth strings. They sound a bit ploddy and predictable at first, especially when played on MIDI, but they were meant for dancing to so I suppose that puts a burden on the player to bring them to life: try imagining a load of pickled peasants hopping around in a barn.
I have posted a quick preview of the tabs below. As usual, links to these transcripts in various formats can be found via the links in the right-hand column.
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| Contents page of Le Roy's Premier livre de tablature de guiterre. |
These transcripts were made from a facsimile on that excellent resource
Early Music Online.
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| Transcription for low G ukulele of Branle de Bourgongne by Adrien Le Roy |
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| Transcription for low G ukulele of Branle de Bourgongne by Adrien Le Roy |
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| Transcription for low G ukulele of Branle de Bourgongne by Adrien Le Roy |
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| Transcription for low G ukulele of Branle de Bourgongne by Adrien Le Roy |
