Sanz: Maricapalos (Marizápalos)

María Inés Calderón, known as 'La Calderona' and 'Marizápalos' (1611 – 1646).
She was a mistress of Philip IV of Spain, and later forced into becoming a nun.
Gaspar Sanz, who was tutor to her son, wrote a saucy romanca (ballad) called Marizapalos,
about a priest's niece, who falls for a young man.
They may not be the same person, but it's reason enough to show her image here.
Taken from Wikipedia.

Here is a nice jaunty little tune, and not too difficult to play if you (temporarily) ignore the ornaments. I chose it because Clive Titmuss in this article identified it as one of Sanz' better pieces. The spelling with a "c" is that on Sanz' original plate, but that with a "z" seems to be the more modern version.

There are seven sections, each divided into two sub-sections of 8 and 10 bars. The piece is mostly in 3/4 time, but each sub-section begins with a bar in 2/4 time, so it is easily spotted.

The whole piece approaches the "lute-style" or, I suppose, "vihuela-style" of writing. Unlike other Sanz pieces, there are no obviously campanella or strummed passages, and no slurs are specified. Even the abecedario N9 chord (A maj on the uke) in bar 80 is not shown with a strum indicator.

After the statement of the melody in §A, §§B, F and G are composed of (almost Renaissance?) divisions (diferencias) in the form of scale segments.

In the transcription I have probably been optimistic in specifying the lengths of some of the fingered notes: I just hold them down for as long as I can (tenuto). This gives a hint of the campanella sound.

The graces have been interpreted following James Tyler's recommendations in A guide to playing the Baroque guitar, summarised here. Incidentally, the trills are generally played as inverted mordents, but if occurring at the end of a section should be prolonged: I have indicated this by an additional "tr" after the mordent. Vibratos, indicated by “vib”, were apparently at this time used as an ornament, and not used throughout a piece as we might nowadays.

You can find the transcriptions here:

• pdf (quick preview)
• pdf (auto download)
• TablEdit
• MIDI 

Colista: Passacaille dite Mariona

Johannes Vermeer: The guitar player (1672)
I couldn't find an image of Colista, or a facsimile of the original,
so here's probably the most famous painting of a baroque guitar

Here is another foray into the transcriptions, expertise and learning of James Tyler in his A guide to playing the Baroque guitar (see Resources page). The mariona of the title was a sort of raunchy, body-popping dance popular in the Spanish theatre; consequently, we are enjoined to play the piece with panache.

The graces, dynamics and accent marks are those recommended by Tyler. In particular, the hemiola rhythms (in effect, altering the beat in short passages from 3/4 to 2/4) are shown partly by accents, and partly by the relative strengths of the down strokes (strong) and the up strokes (weaker). The stokes are usually made with the backs of the finger nails, but a circled T indicates a softer down stroke with the pad of the thumb.

There are twenty 4-bar variations based on the harmonic movement I, V, vi, IV, V, I (C, G, Am, F, G, C). At first I thought that this looked like a fairly easy piece, but played at the speed recommended by Tyler I can assure you that some of the variations certainly aren't.

I must admit that I do find it difficult to enjoy even the easier parts of this piece, but it does come with the recommendation of Tyler; furthermore the composer, Colista, was highly regarded by Corelli, Sanz and Purcell – so who am I to judge? It seems to me like a series of worked examples of all the things that a Baroque guitar could do: well-spaced notes, rapid short notes, strumming, altered rhythms (hemiola), syncopation, and campanellas (which I have tried to reproduce as accurately as possible.)

My problem may be that the variations are only 4 bars long, and each whizzes past before you can get a mental grip on it. I find it helps to repeat each variation before moving on to the next. In the print copy I have made the lines 4 bars long, to make the structure more obvious.

Anyway, see what you think.

You can find the transcriptions here:

• pdf (quick preview)
• pdf (auto download)
• TablEdit
• MIDI 

James Tyler: Baroque guitar graces

In his book A guide to playing the Baroque guitar, James Tyler gives an invaluable account (pp 18 – 20) of the kind of ornaments or graces used on the guitar at the time. Graces were known in Italy as abilimenti or tremoli; in France as agréments; in Spain as habilidades or affectos.

I have made myself this useful reference table from his considered opinions.

Ornament	Common symbols *	Examples of how played †	Comments
Vibrato	# ♯	Thumb off neck, hold finger tip down and jiggle	Vibrato was not played throughout a piece as we would now, just as an ornament
Slur	︶ ︵ (joining 2 or more notes)	C h D (h E ...) E p D (p C ...)	Produces dynamic rhythm effects as 1st note louder than the rest
Arpeggio	:∕:    ⋅/⋅	Hold chord and play notes in pattern ad lib	You need to see Tyler's book
Trills	t   T   •   x   ∙/∙		(It: trillo, tremolo. Es: trino, aleado)
— main note trill (It)		C h D p C ...	Normally 3 notes (when it is the same as an upper mordent); at cadences continue the pattern; used in Italian music
— upper note trill		D p C h D p C ...	(Fr: tremblement) Normally 4 notes; at cadences continue the pattern; used in French music
Mordent	|  v  +    ‿   ##	C p B h C	(Fr: mortellement or pincé) Also lower mordent
Appoggiatura			(Es: esmorsata, apoyamento, ligadur. Fr: cheute)
— descending app.	t    x   )   , ︶   ︵	D p C
— ascending app.	︶ ︵	B h C	? play more languidly

* As you can see, symbol use is a minefield. Also, some composers used a general purpose symbol meaning "use any grace you fancy". One just has to rely on the learning of the editor.

† Explanation of the examples:

1. Assume key of C major

2. Notes written in the score are bold red (e.g. C),

3. The first note in a sequence is plucked, the rest are rapidly hammered on (h) or pulled off (p), to form a clear unit.