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| A woodcut illustration from the book in which this organ piece was published. The organist looks very laid back with his stockinged leg and uncomfortably long sword. |
I transcribed this piece for low-G ukulele from an arrangement by Paul-Gustav Feller for organ, from the original in Orgel oder Instrumant Tablatur, Pub. Leipzig 1571. I believe that the original was written in a kind of tablature.
Elias Nikolaus Ammerbach (c 1530–1597), according to the brief article in Wikepedia, was a German organist and arranger who worked in Leipzig.
This arrangement contains:
(a) two simple versions of the passamezzo (4/4 time);
(b) a rather more difficult but fuller passamezzo;
(c) a reprisa, which is mostly simple block chords;
(d) a saltarella (3/4 time)
According to my musical dictionary, a passamezzo ('half-step') was a fairly lively dance in duple time, popular in the late 16th century. The bass line (in Gm) of passamezzo antiqua was: Gm | F | Gm | D | Gm | F | Gm :D | Gm (or G), and passamezzo moderna was similar but with G-major and F replaced by C. So, the first section in this piece looks more moderna than antiqua – or am I showing my ignorance here?
The saltarello or saltarella was a kind of after dance played following a passamezzo, in triple time, with a jerky, syncopated feel, so perhaps the dancers had to do a bit of jumping (saltere = to jump). Some regard it as a kind of galliard.
The arrangement is available in various formats here:
pdf (quick preview)
pdf (download)
TablEdit
MIDI (rather slow and expressionless)
Footnote.
Passamezzo antico
i
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VII
|
i
|
V
|
III
|
VII
|
i V
|
i
|
Passamezzo moderno
I
|
IV
|
I
|
V
|
I
|
IV
|
I V
|
I
|
