Dowland: Preludium (P 98)

 A simple beginning, but later ... 

SOURCE: Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland, Edn 3. Faber Music, London. 

The original is in the Margaret Board Lute Book (c. 1620), f. 29, a didactic MS. She was taught by Dowland, and judging by the second half of the piece she must have been a pretty good player. 

I have included the original indications of RH fingering and of graces (relishes) from the transcription of the MS. I have replaced the original dot-grace with a ˚ because of the constellation of dots. The kinds of grace referred to by the symbols are not known. 

The dots under the notes specify where the 1st and 2nd RH fingers should be used. Following the MS not all bars are fingered, but those that are notated specify this pattern: the stronger notes are played with the second finger and the weaker with the first. The same pattern was presumably used for the other bars. The thumb is usually used for the bass voice.

You can hear a brilliant version played on lute by “Luthval”, by searching on YouTube; he plays at about 38 bpm, which sounds slow at first, but proves to be a sound choice.

Available for free download in the following formats:

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Dowland: An Almand (P 96)

•   A lively dance  

Arranged for ukulele from the transcription in Poulton D, Lam B, Eds, 1995, The collected lute music of John Dowland, Edn 3. Faber Music, London. The original is in the Margaret Board Lute Book, f. 13, c. 1620, a didactic MS. 

Margaret Board was taught by Dowland and must have been a pretty good player. 

I have included the original indications of RH fingering and of graces (relishes) from the transcription of the MS. I have described the Renaissance fingering convention here . 

For the grace symbols I have replaced the original dot with a ⸰ because there are so many other dots. The kinds of grace referred to by the symbols are, however, uncertain. 

The first two lines of the piece in the Board Lute Book, showing the fingerings and graces. 

It's an attractive little piece, which Nigel North plays at a cracking 80 bpm. Good luck!

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Dowland: Lady Hundson's Puffe (P 54)

   A lively dance  

 A “puffe” was a vigorous dance that put you out of breath, which indicates how this piece should be played. It is arranged for ukulele from: Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland, Edn 3. Faber Music, London. 

Lady Hundson
painted by Nicholas Hilliard

Elizabeth Spencer, Baroness Hundson (1552 – 1618) married George Carey, 2nd Baron Hundson (a grandson of Anne Boleyn’s sister) in 1574. She was a scholar and a patron of the arts, including John Dowland. She survived her husband, a diplomat and soldier, who died of VD and mercury poisoning in 1603. She was painted by Nicholas Hilliard (c. 1547 – 1619)

The different Mss that P&L examined vary in the barring and in the dispositions of the four strains. The version they chose is barred in 4/4 time, but another has it in 2/4 time, and this is what I have done here as I find it easier to read. In P&L we have strains A, A’ (8 bars each), B (6 bars), C (8 bars), D (10 bars), but another MS ends with a reprise of C. So, it’s up to you.

Strain B begins with a version of the first bars of A, but built on F (on the ukulele) rather than G. It seems to be 2 bars short, but I have checked with facsimiles and it seems to be thus.

The use of the chord of F, VII in the key of G, occurs in bars 6, 14, 18, 20 and 36. It is reminiscent of the beginning of the passamezzo antico sequence, and adds to the charm of the piece. Indeed, Diana Poulton mentions “most attractive”, “charmingly fresh melody”, and “shapely and elegant”. I would add that it’s also good fun to play. I have tried to get a good movement in the lower voice, although it has been raised an octave, and in places if feels like a duet.

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Cutting: The Wood so Wild

 Well, it starts off easy ... 

"The Wood so Wild" was an air popular in Tudor times, despite which the words are mostly lost. It is based on very simple and familiar chords, but sounds rather strange to modern ears because it is in a mode (Lydian or Myxolidian) that is uncommon nowadays. For more information see https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Woods_so_Wild_(The).

Frolics in the wild wood

It was arranged for lute by Francis Cutting (c 1550 – 1595) from a version by William Byrd, and also by amateurs in The Ballet Lute Book (ukulele arrangement appended) and in the Lodge Lute Book (which is beyond my powers of transcription).

 If you search on YouTube you will find a fine version played on lute by the late Julian Bream. To follow his example it should be played energetically, with a strong pulse.

Sources: A transcription of the lute version of Cutting’s piece is published on Sarge Gerbode’s incredible website, but I can’t find its provenance. The very basic piece is from the Ballet Lute Book Trinity College Dublin, Ms 408/2, f. 84.

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Cutting: A Galliard

  A piece by one of Dowland's circle 

Francis Cutting (1550 – 1595) was about 13 years older than John Dowland, who admired his compositions. This piece, referred to elsewhere as “the Bray Pavan” based on a piece by William Byrd, which to my eyes it does not ressemble in the slightest. In the book it is labelled “A pavin for the lute” at the beginning, and ”A galliarde by Fr. C” at the end. It is obviously a galliard.

William Barley (1596) A new book of tabliture for the Lute and Opharion, London.
The galliard is on pp 76 – 78

It is made up of three strains, each with a repeat in variation. Some bars have a 6/8 rather than 3/4 feel, and I have formatted the notes appropriately. It is a relatively easy piece, with a few challenges – good luck!

I am not happy with bar 18 (in strain A’): it should be a variation on bar 8 (in strain A), around the chord of Am, but is based mostly on the chord of Bb or Gm. Meanwhile, the rest of A’ is close to A. I prefer to play bar 8 (or an elaboration of it) rather than bar 18. My unhappiness is supported by John Dowland’s complaint that Barley had not only plagiarised his lute solos, but also that they were corrupt.

A facsimile at Royal Holloway College can be seen here: http://purl.org/rism/BI/1596/20/1. 

A sometimes clearer facsimile of presumably another printing, is here: http://www.lutemusic.org/facsimiles/BarleyW/A_New_Booke_of_Tabliture_1596/f4.png

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Lodge & Le Roy: Three Passamezzos

 Three more easy ones 

It was common practice in the Renaissance for musicians to make compositions based on the grounds (or more, accurately, harmonic sequence) of the Passamezzo Antico. I have discussed these grounds in an earlier post, with examples. Various dance vrhythms could be used, such as the galliard and pavane.

In England they would be called various forms of the word "passamezzo".  

Here we have three easy versions which I have garnered from the excellent 58 Very Easy Pieces for Renaissance Lute, pub. The Lute Society, 1999. 

• Pasa Mesure Galiarde (the Lodge Lute Book)
• The Pass a Measures Pavion (Lodge)
• Passamezze (Le Roy)

A typical Passamezzo Antiqua would be a version of the following ground (chord sequence):

i       | VII    | i      | V     |

III     | VII    | i, V   | I     ||

 Each bar may be represented by several bars, or just part of a bar.

The three examples here follow the pattern quite closely, but with the III replaced by i. All the originals are set in C-minor which, when transcribed for the ukulele with fingerings as close as possible to the lute original, results in D-minor. This rather restricts the options for including the bass line. Therefore, I have also included versions in Gm, so that we can use the low bass string; this gives a setting closer to the original, but with a few small challenges.

Sources

1 & 2. The original pieces can be seen here in a facsimile of the Lodge MS at the Folgar Library, Washington.  https://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/view/search?search=SUBMIT&q=v.a.159&dateRangeStart=&dateRangeEnd=&sort=call_number%2Cmpsortorder1%2Ccd_title%2Cimprint&QuickSearchA=QuickSearchA

3. Original in Adrian Le Roy’s (1568) Lute tutor:  A briefe and easye instruction … The original French edition can be seen here https://stimmbuecher.digitale-sammlungen.de//view?id=bsb00072004, but does not incluse this piece.

_________________

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Trad (Dallis): Canson Englesa, or The Lusty Gallant

  A really easy one  

A very simple piece, strongly rooted in the key of D-minor. It has an insistent drone, which is emphasised in this arrangement as I have added a low A-natural to the Dm chord. This is the approach adopted fro tablature of similar pieces for the ukulele's ancestor, the Renaissance guitar.

It has the feel of an abandoned rustic dance, and quite unlike the more “cultured” pieces of Dowland, Le Roy and their contemporaries. 

There is a strong temptation when playing to fill in many of the chords and strum them. There’s also space to add ornaments if you wish.

Adapted for low-G ukulele from 58 Very Easy Pieces for Renaissance Lute. The Lute Society, 1999. The original is in the Dallis Lute Book, MS 410/1, at Trinity College, Dublin. The online facsimile is, unfortunately, not currently available.

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___________________

Lusty Gallant lyrics

Fain would I have a pretty thing, 

To give unto my lady;

I name no thing,

And mean no thing

But as pretty a thing as may be.

Twenty journeys would I make,

And twenty days would hie me;

To make adventure for her sake,

To set some matter by me.

Some do long for pretty knacks,

And some for strange devices;

God send me what my lady lacks,

I care not what the price is.

Ballet (Trad): Lost is my Lyberty

 At last, an easy piece ...

My recent posts have been of John Dowland's lute solos, which can be quite challenging. In a search for easier pieces I have been mining the entertaining 58 Very Easy Pieces for Renaissance Lute (1999) published by The Lute Society, from which I made this adaptation. 

I imagine that the lost "lyberty" of the song was not so extreme as this poor bloke's.

The original is in the William Ballet Lute Book, 1595 – 1610, in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, MS 408/2. Ballet was an amateur player, and his lute book was written by several hands. It is the second most searched for item in Trinity College Library, after the Book of Kells! (I have not been able to find a facsimile of the original, as the digital library is under reorganisation.)

This simple piece consists of one strain of 15 bars, repeated in variation. Although largely, an exercise on the chord of D major, it takes some unexpected turns in melody, harmony and rhythm. It is fascinating to see what can be done with such simple materials.

The (unusual) chord sequence is:

I       | I      | I      |

I       | I      | I      |

II      | II     | I      |

bIV     | bIV    | bIV    |

I       | V      | I      || × 2

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Good fun!

Dowland: A galliard without name (P 35)

A jaunty galliard

A galliard in three strains, each repeated, the first two with variations. The third strain has some echoes of the third strain in Dowland’s “Lachrimae”. Nigel North plays it on lute at a brisk 75 bpm.

SOURCE: Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland, Edn 3. Faber Music, London. 

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Dowland: Mignarda

 A galliard

“Mignarda” translates, in modern French, as “cute”, which Diana Poulton thinks refers to a particular way of dancing a galliard, as it is certainly not a cute piece. Nigel North gives the alternative title “Henry Noel’s Galliard”.

It comprises three strains of 8, 16, and 8 bars, each repeated in variation.  The piece seems to be a homage to the cadence motif, first appearing in bar 7, that I think of as “diddle-iddle-iddle-oodle thud”, followed by (quite pedestrian) conclusions. Not a piece I would put in Dowland’s top ten.

SOURCE: Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland, Edn 3. Faber Music, London. 

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Dowland: Semper Dowland semper dolens

  Ever Dowland, ever sorrowing: a lamentation 

Cheer up, the worst is yet to come!

Arranged from the transcription in Poulton D & Lam B. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland. Faber Music, London.  The beaming of the notes follows P&L closely.

[Note on 6 Nov 2020: bars 33 – 35 revised.]

I normally transcribe from the lute tablature, rather than from the notation, as the fingering on the upper strings is quite similar to that of the ukulele. This meant that, for this piece, the arrangement was in E, and entailed some awkward fingering. However, once I transposed to D, the actual key of the original, all fell into place.

The pavan comprises three strains. Bars 17 – 18 are strongly reminiscent of bar 45 in Dowland's "Farwell" (P 3), but which is the earlier I don't know. Diana Poulton describes the passage in bars 22 – 25 thus: "... its broken and repeated falling phrases ... is a particularly moving expression of a poignant and deeply felt emotion." I think, though, that from bar 27 I can detect a certain optimism.

The lute part in a consort version by Dowland has a much sparer ending, which is appended. Since it ends on an F#, I have done the same with the main piece here. You might want to use the alternative ending anyway, as it is more desolate, and possibly more suitable to the ukulele’s limited range.

In the MIDI file I have taken the stately tempo of 35 bpm from Nigel North’s performance on the more sonorous lute. The sprightliness of the uke does, however, make it difficult to sustain the lines and suggest an appropriate melancholy. A good test of your playing! (It sounds more melancholy on the Renaissance guitar.)

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Dowland: Dr Case's Pavan (P 12)

Let the voices sing!

A subtle pavan that looks quite easy at first glance, but is a challenge to play musically and sustain the voices. At least we have only two musical lines to follow: the lutenist has three, but I have simplified the lower voices without, I hope, losing the spirit of the piece. 

I have followed closely the musical format in the transcript (Poulton D, Lam B. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland. Faber Music, London), which does help to bring out the musical lines. Setting the temporary change of tempo to triple time in the second half of bars 12 and 13 was a bit of a challenge, so I hope it makes sense to you.

If I were a better sight reader I would be able to anticipate the fingerings well in advance, and use the most efficient ones – but as I'm not, I have pencilled notes on my printout. I have not included them here as you may well have your own solutions. At least a pavane is played at a slow tempo, which does help.

You will probably find that the motif in bars 2, 3 and 11 is the cadence that occurs in Le Roy's "Fantasia" (a generation earlier) and in many Dowland pieces, including "Solus cum sola". 

It's one of those pieces where the more you play, the more you hear.

Dr John Case, surrounded by mementi mori.
(Apologies to Latinists for converting "memento" into a noun.)
You don't often get a child's skeleton in a portrait – all a bit creepy.

The eponymous Dr John Case (c 1540 – 1600) was a Tudor polymath who wrote on Aristotelean logic, ethics, sociology and physics, as well as on music, praising Dowland. He was qualified as a medical doctor (hence, presumably, the bones). He was suspected of RC sympathies, which may have adversely affected his career, as it did Dowland’s. (Biography here.)

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Dowland: Round Battle Galliard (P 39)

 Is this a solo or a consort part?

Another piece (aka 'Doulands rounde battel galyarde') made indirectly from the Matthew Holmes Lute Books in Cambridge University Library. I have used the transcription in Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland, Edn 3. Faber Music, London. I had almost missed it, until I noticed that Tony Mizen had published a fine version for re-entrant uke. Here it is for the low-4th tuning.

Diana Poulton comments that 

"it may have been played as a solo, and indeed it sounds quite well that way. On the other hand it fits very convincingly with the remaining parts in the Cambridge Consort Books."

This got me to thinking and fossicking, and I found that The Lute Society had published the Consort parts online here. All hail to them for making available something so inaccessible.

So, as well as making a transcription for uke of the lute score, I have mashed together the lute and viol parts to make a playable version with the viol line in the upper voice, and much of the lute part down below. I have, however, kept the first bar/measure of the lute part, as it sounds more like a call to arms. 

DP didn't think that the piece contained much "battle material", but I'm not sure that I agree with her there. Anyway, see what you think.

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Dowland, Robinson, etc.: "Robin" compendium

 Four pieces for the price of one click

These arrangements are built on a song popular at the end of the 16th century, entitled variously "Robin", "Sweet Robin", "Bonny Sweet Robin" and "Robin Hood is to the Greenwood Gone". It is unfortunate that the lyrics are lost, although Ophelia mentions it in Hamlet.

The song may not refer to the Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest, but I can't resist this anachronistic woodcut.

Dowland sticks more closely to the original melody than he does in some of his song adaptations. It can be difficult in his wonderful version to hear at first where the upper voice (melody) lies, so I have made two simple versions, as a kind of primer. 

The first version is basically chord + melody, a style that was found in the more earthy pieces entabulated in in the Osborn Commonplace Book, and other MSS for Renaissance guitar around 1600.

The second includes a second voice, but maintains the melody without ornament or variation. The harmonies are taken from Dowland, as are some of the phrases, often in a simplified form.

The arrangement of Dowland's lute piece "Robin (P70)" fits in all the voices I can, which gives you the option of simplifying. Often the lower voices have been combined, but I have tried to make an interesting line. (Poulton & Lam, 1981. The collected lute music of John Dowland, p 247. Faber.)

The arrangement of Thomas Robinson's "Robin is to the Greenwood Gone" is made from made from a piece in Schoole of Musicke (1603), f.i2v, encoded and edited by the indefatigable Sarge Gerbode. Robinson's harmonies provide an interesting contrast with Dowland's.

ANALYSIS

The structure of the song is simple: a strain (A) of 4 bars, repeated, then followed by a strain (B) of 8 bars, also repeated.  In all arrangements other than the first, the repeats are elaborated. In the Dowland piece, the whole song is repeated twice, with variation.

The arrangements are available as a compendium in the following formats:

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Dowland: Tarleton's Jig (or Tarleton's Willy)

A fairly easy piece, and good fun to play 

This is the partner to another jig, also named for the clown musician and dancer Richard Tarleton (or Tarlton) (d. 1588) that I posted ages ago here.

Richard Tarl(e)ton

It is pretty close to Dowland's lute version, but with some of the bass notes raised an octave or substituted with other notes in the harmony. I hope you enjoy it!

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Dowland: The Shoemaker's Wife (P58)

A "toye"

And now for a bit of fun, with a jaunty piece in 6/8 time. It's made up of three strains, each repeated with elaborations. 

The shoemaker's wife off on her delivery round.

According to Diana Poulton, in the early modern period there was a kind of mystique about the shoe-makers’ trade – “a shoemaker’s son is a prince born” –  but the inspiration for this piece remains unclear.

All I have to say is "just enjoy playing it".

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Dowland: The King of Denmark's Galliard (P 40)

 Dowland's third battle galliard: quite a challenge! 

You can find arrangements of Dowland's other battle galliards in the two previous posts.

The piece is also known as known as “The Battle Galliard” and “Mr Mildmay’s Galliard”. Poulton says that this is the definitive version which Dowland himself prepared for publication.

Christian IV of Denmark, who was quite the party animal.
Dowland was appointed lutenist at his court in 1598, and stayed for several years, until they fell out.
Image: www.frederiksborgslot.dk

There are three 4-bar strains (a, b, c), each derived from published battle tunes (Poulton). Strain a is played once (a1), followed by a variation (a1’), then b1 and b1’, c1 and c1’. The whole process is repeated three times: a2, a2’ ,…, c4, c4’. I have labelled the score accordingly.

The piece has a strong rhythmic and melodic line. It is not difficult to understand, but very hard to play to tempo. It is not really possible to hold some of the notes in the lower voice for their full value, so I just do the best I can. I can't really see a way to get over this problem on a 4-course instrument.

I have transposed the piece to G major (strain a) and Bb major / G minor (strains b and c) to take full advantage of the range of the instrument. In particular, in strain a there is a diapaison drone on the lute, which the open 4th string of our little instrument can attempt to emulate. This does, however, mean you have to go up to the 14th fret – praise be for tabs!

(When the lute fingering is followed as closely as possible on the ukulele, strain a is set in E major, and b & c in G major. E is unfortunately not a key sympathetic to the uke, as we cannot root the E major chord, whereas the lutenist has its equivalent available on an open (low) diapaison D string. We have to make do with B on the 4th string, which is represented in the original, so is not too disconcerting. It is interesting to note that composers for the Renaissance guitar (which was tuned the same as a ukulele, but with double strings) do not seem to have used the key of E, and wisely set mostly in G, A, C and D. They did, however, seem blasé about the lack of roots, so we’re in good company.)

The basic chord sequences for the three strains are given below, transposed from the voicings in the lute original. There are only small variations in harmony between variations.

a:    G      | G       | G   D    | G         |
b:    Bb     | Bb      | Bb  F    | Bb        |
c:    Bb C D | Gm      | C   D    | G5       || 
G5 indicates a chord with no 3rd, and hence neither major nor minor. In the final bar (variation c4’) there is an unambiguous G major chord, but ending rather abruptly with D in the upper voice.

SOURCES
Music: Poulton D, Lam B. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland. Faber Music, London, pp 117–119.
Commentary: Poulton D. 1982. John Dowland. London: Faber & Faber, pp 139–142.

DOWNLOADS

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Good luck!

Dowland: Mr Langton's Galliard (P 33)

 The second of Dowland’s battle pieces  

The other battle pieces are P 20 (my last post) and P 40 (fingers crossed, my next post).

The structure is unusual, having §A of 16 bars, followed by a variation with divisions plus closing bar (§A’), and then a section (B) of 34 bars, of which the final 14 bars are repeated. You might want to avoid §A’, which is quite challenging.

Most of the piece, it being a galliard, is set in 3/4 time, but bars 33 – 37 are set in 3/2 (a hemiola?). It is fortunate for me that P & L had sorted this out in their transcription.

There is a strong feeling of horses galloping into battle in the 3/2 segment, which is reminiscent of strain C in “The King of Denmark’s Galliard, P 40”.

Not quite a battle, I admit, but hunting is probably the nearest some toffs got.
This woodcut shows Queen Elizabeth I at the kill.

The percussive start of §B is very similar to the opening of P 20, and probably derived from the same original.

You will notice that there are excursions up the neck, as far as the 14th fret. This is in the original lute version, and not the result of my trying to squeeze in as much music as I can.

SOURCE

Poulton D, Lam B. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland. Faber Music, London, pp. 117–119.

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Dowland: Dowland's galliard (P 20)

A battle piece, in one easy and two more challenging versions

The galliards are arranged for low-G ukulele from the transcriptions for keyboard in Poulton D, Lam B, 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland. Faber Music, London.

Version P 20 is made from the transcription on pp 87 – 88 in P & L, which was derived from MSS at Cambridge University Library (Dd.2.11.(B), f. 7v) and the Thysius MS at Leiden (f. 22).

Version P 20a is taken from the Editorial Notes (p. 323) in P & L, and was transcribed from the Tollemache Lute Book, f. 6v. The 22nd bar seems to have been duplicated and I have omitted it.

Both versions have been transposed from Em (corresponding to the original lute fingering) to Gm, to make full use of the limited range of a 4-course instrument. (Em is not the most playable key on the uke.)

P & L say that the piece “contains material derived from the 16th-century genre of compositions in which the sounds of battle were imitated." A bit of a stretch for a small instrument – we can but try. Some of the chords can be filled in and strummed ad lib to give a more percussive effect.

This is the nearest that JD gets to the “strum and twiddle” format that I have described in posts on the Osborn Commonplace Book and other English guitar MSS, etc. I do not understand why this militaristic piece should be given the composer's name, as he doesn't seem to have been particularly warlike.

There are two more companion pieces on the battle theme, P 33 and P 40, which are included in this blog. The opening 4-bar strain in P 20 is found in P 33 (§B) and P 40 (strains a and b). A similar militaristic piece, from about 50 years previously, is Le Roy’s “Galliarde de la Gamba”.

The structure is simple: three 4-bar phrases, each followed by a variation, often using divisions. I have laid out the score with 4 bars to the line to make this clear. The divisions are easy to understand but not so easy to play to speed, so I have included a simplified arrangement, in which we have §A from P 20 followed by §A from P 20a, and so on, but no fancy divisions.

The harmonies involve
§A:  i, V, resolving on I
§B:  vii, III, i resolving on V
§C:  iii, iv, V resolving on I
This does not appear to be based on familiar Renaissance grounds, unlike the Le Roy galliarde which was underlain by the later folia progression, although both use similar harmonies.

Available to download free from the following links (now on Google Drive):

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Please let me know if the links do not work.

Please read: What to do if the links to transcriptions don't work

😩 All the links embedded in posts before 1 August 2020 are broken.

As a workaround, please go directly to my repository on Google Drive  (please click). There you will find all the files in alphabetical order, in these folders: 

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Please let me know if you can't access them.

All posts after and including 1 August 2020 will have direct links to files in folders on Google Drive.

I have also, I hope, put the files before 1 August 2020 back where they were (although the links embedded in the blog posts don't work): https://sites.google.com/site/renaissanceukulele/home. So, you could try that too.


One step forwards, two steps back ...

P S: I would be eternally grateful if you could tell me of any problems you have, through the e-mail link (see "Contact me" below right). 

Btw, I have closed the Comments section due to a large number of (presumably) young ladies offering services unrelated to the ukulele, though possibly not to the Renaissance. The e-mail still works, though.

Cheers.

Dowland: A fantasie (P 1a)

 A challenge! 

The fantasy is arranged from the notation in keyboard format of Poulton & Lam The collected lute music of John Dowland (1995), pp 7 – 12, which I have followed closely.  This is Dowland’s revised version, as published by his son Robert in Varietie of Lute-Lessons (1610).

P & L  distinguished up to four voices which we cannot really reproduce on the ukulele, but I have tried to indicate as many as possible. The upper voice is always there, and the lower three voices compressed. Some of the bass notes, which on the lute are played on the open strings, have to be fingered and it may not be possible to hold them for the specified time. They are one or two octaves higher than in the original.

The first notes of this piece were also used in Dowland’s (simpler) “Fancy P74”, my previous post.

A fantasia has the feeling of an inspired improvisation, with no rigid structure, in which a main motif and subsequent ideas are freely developed. To help myself I divided this one into eight sections, repesenting a change in idea or treatment, and often heralded by a distinctive cadence. 

I can do no better than quote Diana Poulton on this piece (my section letters).

“It opens with [a] lovely serene passage.” § A. (The main theme is in bars 1 – 4, with a partial repeat an octave lower starting at the end of bar 10.)

“The theme [is] worked through a complex contrapuntal section.” §§ B, C, D.

“A series of short phrases, each with its echo at the octave. Here Dowland makes great play with the device of resolving the leading note an octave … below.” § E

“A swiftly running section.” § F.

“A display of virtuosity for the player.” § H. (The section is set in 12/8 time, following Poulton and Lam, but as I find this difficult to read, I have added intermediate broken-line bars in the middle.)

Available for free download in the following formats.

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI

NB These are the first links to Google Drive rather than to my file depository site. If nothing works, please let me know. Thanks!

Dowland (?): A Fancy (P 74)

A short fancy, less challenging than the previous post

This fancy, P 74, is arranged from the keyboard notation of Poulton & Lam The collected lute music of John Dowland (Faber, 1995), pp 236 – 7, which I have followed closely – including the grace notes and right-hand fingering. They distinguished up to four voices which we cannot really reproduce on the ukulele, but I have tried to indicate as many as possible.

The original MS, from a facsimile at the wonderful Sarge Gerbode repository of lute music:
http://www.gerbode.net/facsimiles/GB-Lbl_British_Library/ms_Add_31392_1595/24.png
The date of the MS is about 1605.

This piece may not be by John Dowland, but Diana Poulton thought it had many hallmarks of his style, and that’s good enough for me.

“Fancy” was a contemporary word for “fantasia”, but I get the impression (not necessarily correct) that a fancy was lighter in tone and content. They involved the composer starting with a theme, and then developing it as he saw fit, with no rigid structure.

This one is not too complicated, and although the sight of long runs of divisions often fills me with dread or ennui, the divisions here are engaging. Note that JD changes from major to minor and back again.

As regards the graces and ornaments, there is no certainty as to their meaning. The + and # signs obviously meant specific but different things to the scribe, but what they were … well, I leave it up to your skill and judgment to play them, or just ignore them. (In the MS and P&L's transcription they are placed before, after or under the note, but I have put them all in front.)

The dots under notes were there to indicate a lesser stress, probably by using the weaker index finger rather than the thumb: it helps to get a distinct rhythm going. I have written a blog post about the different interpretations of the little dots, by players vastly more knowledgeable than me.

The presence of fingering indications may indicate that this was intended for an amateur, so I have reproduced them rather than converting them to "i"s (I’m a learner too).

The first notes of this piece were also used in "Fantasia P 1", which I will transcribe soon, although it is 95 bars long.

Available to download free (from Google Drive) in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI

Dowland: A Fancy (P 73a) plus All in a Garden Green

  And now, something to get your teeth into  

One of my first posts was this arrangement for ukulele of the traditional song 'All in a garden green'. I didn't realise it then, but John Dowland beat me to it by about 400 years. Had I known, I wouldn't have dared.

Actually, Mr D just used the first few notes as a basis for his genius flights of fancy, and then he was flying.

Our garden green in July

I'm afraid to say that this isn't the easiest piece that I have transcribed, especially when you know that Dowland wrote for the 7-course lute and used the very low diapaison. This arrangement is notated following Poulson & Lam's (1995) transcription for keyboard. I'm so glad that I didn't have to do it from the MS.

Despite the challenges in performance the piece has many memorable passages – real ear-worms.

I include
(a) The original song,
(b) A simplified version of the first statement including the melodic line, with simplified versions of the other voices sufficient to make a playable piece.
(c) The full arrangement is as complete a transcription as I can fit onto the ukulele. Bars 35 – 38 are challenging, with  rapid scale fragments, but I have yet to find a way to simplify them. The subsequent bars are equally rapid, but in a repetitive format which makes them not too difficult. (The notation format I used is not academically correct but, I think, easier to read.)


LYRICS
(from https://www.chandos.net/chanimages/Booklets/BT0083.pdf)

All in a garden green / Two lovers sat at ease,
As they could scarce be seen  / Among the leafy trees.
They long had loved y-fore, / And no longer than truly,
In the time of the year / In the time of the year
Cometh ‘twixt May and July.

Quoth he, ‘Most lovely maid, / My troth shall aye endure;
And be thou not afraid, / But rest thee still secure.
That I will love thee long / As life in me shall last;
Now I am young and strong, /  Now I am young and strong
And when my youth is past’.

She listed to his song, / And heard it with a smile.
And, innocent as she was young, / She dreamed not of guile.
Nor guile he meant, I ween, / Since he was true as steel,
As was thereafter seen /  As was thereafter seen
When she made him her weal.

The arrangement is available for free download in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI

Good luck!

Robinson: Fantasia 4

A charming fantasia, originally written for cittern

I have made this arrangement from a piece for 14-course (!) cittern by Thomas Robinson, transcribed into keyboard notation by John M Ward: Sprightly and cheerful musick, The Lute Society, 1983, p.55. Ward distinguishes up to four voices, which is easier done on two staves than on a single stave.

This gamut of the original (C2 to E4) means that the lowest voice has been raised an octave where possible in this arrangement. There have necessarily been some compromises, but I have tried to make the lines coherent.

The arch cittern, for which this piece was written, was tuned (according to Wikipedia) 

e’, d,’ g, bb, f, d, G, F, E, D, C, BBb, AA, GG;

alias (I think) 

E4, D4, G3, B♭3, F3, D3, G2, F2, E2, D2, C2, B♭1, A1, G1.

The lower 8 courses must have been diapaisons – open strings that were not fretted. When you think that the lowest note on the modern guitar is E2, they must have been very heavy, very long, or very slack strings. Or, perhaps, I have mis-read.

In comparison, the low-G ukulele has a range G3 to about F5. 

My reason for transcribing a piece for cittern was to find a composition that did not necessarily have those voicings, frequently found in renaissance guitar music, that fall so easily under the fingers. This means that some passages are not very convenient to play, but not impossible. You may not find it feasible to hold a few of the notes for their full lengths. Nevertheless, I have kept as close as possible to the original, and leave it to the player to make any appropriate adjustments.

I have inserted the names of the chords, but this could well be inappropriate. The fantasy is somewhat reminiscent of the polyphonic vocal style, where the chords arise not as blocks of notes, or as part of underlying grounds, but as the consequence of overlapping vocal lines. In other words, composed horizontally rather than vertically.

I have played the piece back on MIDI using the simulated flute, and it sounds almost ecclesiastical. Ward, the transcriber, wrote:

“The style of writing is not so consistently imitative as Holborne’s [a contemporary composer], the integrity of the voices is less rigorously observed, the sequence of musical events is not so predictable. Characteristic of the composer are the scraps of cantus-firmus* like melody combined with more lively voice parts, and the change of time and texture midway through the piece.”

[*Cantus firmus refers to a melody with long, slowly moving notes used as the basis for a composition, and was built on and decorated by successive voices. Perhaps Ward is referring to upper line of the first 8 bars.]

The most obvious pattern that I can see is that bars 1 to 5 are repeated with minor variation (and some omission of the upper voice) in bars 9 to 13.

A common motif in the lower voices are rising scale fragments:

• D-E-F-G-A (starting in bars 1, 10, 23)
• A-B-C-D-E (bars 3, 12, 20) 

and descending fragments:

• E-D-C-B-A-G-F (bar 14)
• A-G-F-D-B (bar 8, 25)
• A-G-F-E-C#-B (bar 24)

There is a slight crunching of the gearbox during brief changes from minor to major (e.g. bars 7 & 8): at first I kept thinking I had fingered the wrong note. You get used to it, though.

I hope you enjoy playing it, and can keep the lines flowing.

Available to download in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI

Osborn Commonplace Book revisited: English renaissance guitar music.

Update

I have revised the transcriptions of English renaissance guitar music that I posted last September.

You can find the new versions here, and three more pieces here.

Happy hunting!

Robinson: Passamezo pauan

Another piece based on the passamezzo antico, this one originally written for cittern

The publication from which I made this arrangement.
The author seems to have been particularly fond of the cittern, which we can see being played in the cover illustration. Unlike the renaissance guitar, the cittern had wire strings fixed not to the bridge (which was moveable) but to a tailpiece attached to the body,

I made this arrangement for ukulele from a piece for 4-course cittern by Thomas Robinson in New citharen lessons (1609), transcribed into keyboard notation by John M Ward: Sprightly and cheerful musick, The Lute Society, 1983, p. 66 (see fig.).

Ward distinguishes up to four voices, which is easier done in 2-stave format than on a single stave. I have done my best.

My reason for transcribing this piece was to find a composition that did not necessarily have those voicings, frequently found in renaissance guitar music, that fall so easily under the fingers on the ukulele. This means that a few of the chord shapes may be unfamiliar, but I have not re-worked them to fit into the guitar/ukulele idiom. Feel free to modify them as you wish.

The “standard” version of passamezzo antica is:
i     | VII  | i   |  V  || III | VII | i, V     |  i    ||

This piece follows it closely, with some elaborations:
i,V,i | VII  | i,V |  V  || III | VII | V,I,IV,V | I,V,I ||

The first section is mainly chord plus melody, the second is more developed and contrapuntal with duets, and the third greatly elaborated and syncopated. Pieces with lots of divisions can sound, at best, workmanlike, just masses of notes, but this one is quite tuneful and fun to play. In places I can hear echoes of John Dowland’s lute piece “Go from my window”, which I have posted here.

Available for free download from the following links:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI

Mulliner: Pavan on passamezzo antico

 Simple variations on a Renaissance ground

A pleasure to transcribe. The MS is clean and (I think) almost error free – and what's more all the notes add up. (Mulliner did vary his system of writing: mostly with single "flag" note stems, but sometimes with the "grid-iron" format, as in the final two notes shown below.)

I have used Mulliner's barring, which means that the piece is in 4/2 time; since I don’t find this easy to read, I have inserted dashed bar-lines at the mid-points.

The Mulliner Book: the first two lines of the pavan in the MS, folios 120v – 121v. (The book was ruled for a 6-course instrument.)
The small + signs indicate some kind of ornament; I have not included them in the score.
Facsimile at the British Library:
 http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_30513_fs001r. 

The first statement is mainly a single note melody with chordal accompaniment, the chords being in their lowest positions. The second is very similar in concept but with extensive divisions based on scale fragments, particularly in the second half of each bar.

This is more developed than some music for gittern and cittern, which involved little more than strums with simple runs on the upper strings: you can see these in pieces I have blogged from the Osborn Commonplace Book. If you feel like a strum, just add 4-note versions of those chords that have fewer than 4 notes, and bash away, at least for the statement.

You may have noticed that I am collecting pieces based on the passamezzo antico ground (chord sequence). This one keeps very closely to the format, but it is set in C minor rather than the usual G minor. The only small quirk is the inclusion of an F chord (IV) in the penultimate bars.

Available to download freely in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI

Mulliner: Chi passa

A Tudor or Jacobean guitar piece based on an Italian song

This piece occurs in MS in The Mulliner Book (very approximately 1650), Folios 119v – 120v, in the British Library.

Folio 119v of The Mulliner Book  (very approximately 1650), in the British Library. Facsimile at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_30513_fs001r. (Folios 119v – 120v.)
Note the word "gitterne" at the top left: most of the arrangements in the MS are for cittern.

The original song was ”Chi passa per sa strada” by Filippo Azzaiolo. I found a neat and helpful transcription at http://stcpress.org/miscellaneous/chi_passa/chi_passa.pdf

This transcription has been made from the facsimile, with a few modifications noted in the score. Section A was informed by the transcription by Page (2017); in particular, his bar 8 was added to maintain the structure of the original song (here it is bar 7).

There are a few disagreements between the original song and Mulliner’s gittern arrangement, so some adjustments would be needed to perform the two together.

I have transcribed the piece into 3/4 time, but Page uses 6/4 time, which is probably more correct, and the song is in 6/2.

In the MS the first line of the tabs is barred regularly, as I have transcribed it here, but later becomes erratic. I have done my best to tidy things up. Bars 6, 15, 26 and 37 seem to be written in a hemiola rhythm, and I have barred them in 3/2 time. In the midst of fairly orthodox divisions, bar 13 is particularly inventive and attractive.

Page describes the piece as

“… an essentially two-part idiom, punctuated by four-note chords … the result is a lively and even bravura alternation between running, ornamented passagework on one hand and plucked or strummed chords on the other.” 

It’s not difficult to play, and you can make different effects on the block chords by plucking or by the more percussive strumming.

There are ornaments (of obscure meaning) marked in the MS, but I have not shown them here.

The harmonic structure of the original song (set, almost inevitably, in Gm) is:

§A:   V   |V        |i            |i           || (bis)

§B:   VII |VII i ii |III  iv  VII |iv  V |i  V  i  iv  V |I   || (bis)

This seems to be a variation on the later folia ground below (I have split the sequence onto two lines to make the agreement clearer):

V   | i   |

VII | III | VII   | i V  | i or I  ||

The harmonies of this gittern version follow the same broad pattern, but with more movement, and with i (Gm) often disguised as III (Bb).

It's good fun to play, and you can download the arrangements in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI

Spignall: Cydippe Pauan

Cittern music transcribed for the ukulele

I recently treated myself to a copy of Sprightly and Cheerful Music by John M Ward (Pub: Lute Society, 1983). A most erudite publication, covering music in MS and print for the cittern and gittern/guitar in 16th and 17th-century England.

My main aim was to mine it for music to play, preferably obscure.

There is a lot of uncertainty about what was a gittern and what a guitar. Ward implies that a gittern was a cittern tuned like a guitar. I get the impression that he preferred the cittern.

Ever curious, I decided to transcribe a cittern piece, and see how it played on the ukulele (and Renaissance guitar).

Jan Vermeer: Lady with a letter (and cittern)

I have never seen a cittern. It differed from the guitar in having a teardrop-shaped body, and paired wire strings that went over a free bridge, and were attached to the base of the body. It had a longer existence than the 4-course guitar (which was replaced in the 1600s by the 5-course Baroque guitar) and carried on into the 18th century.

In the Tudor period they were tuned in a number of ways, which must have been very confusing. The commonest was:

1st  E4
2nd D4
3rd G3
4th B3

So, it was re-entrant, and difficult to get my head around. Fortunately, the music setting software I use (TablEdit) let me create a virtual cittern, and enter the tablature directly from the transcription in Ward, pp 52 – 53). This gave me both tabs and mensural notation. It was then possible to intabulate for the Ukulele from the notation. Both instruments being tuned in G (at least notionally),  this was not too difficult. Below you can see the first 4 bars of Ward's transcription ...

Ward 1983, p. 52.
The fingering positions: a = nut (open), b = fret 1, c = 2 ... y = i = 8, and so on.

 ... and the same bars in the TablEdit editing screen ...

From the top: Cittern notation and tabs, low-G ukulele notation and tabs

Cydippe (Ancient Greek: Κυδίππη, Kudíppē) could have been one of a number of Greeks in classical times, including one of the Naiads (water nymphs). I don't know to which one this piece was dedicated.

The arrangement fits pretty well on the uke, despite the weird tuning of the cittern. I have tried to keep as close as possible to the original, although some chords might be easier on the ukulele if other inversions are used.

I have changed the first chord in bar 11 to D major (sus 2) as the original chord sounds horrible. It then forms a bridge between the previous chord (A) and the next (G). The original discordant version is appended to the arrangement, for your delectation.

There are 3 strains of 8 bars (4 + 4), set in G, D and G. The harmonies can change rapidly, and the whole piece feels that it is an elaboration of grounds (block chords). In Ward’s book, many of the cittern pieces given as tablatures are obviously strums with single-string work, played using a quill as a plectrum. I chose this piece as it seems more suitable to finger-style.

This being the blog of someone learning as he goes along, I shamelessly follow Ward’s scholarship, and append a strummed consort version of the same name (almost) by John Farmer, which Ward transcribed from a publication (Rosseter 1609). Bar 17 in the published transcription contains enough notes for 2 bars, so I have split it, which also brings the total neatly up to 24 bars. The harmonic structure is broadly similar to that in more elaborate version (the three sections set in G, D and G), but the whole is much simpler and practically all chords are in nut position.

Available to download free in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit (including both cittern and ukulele scores)
• MIDI (Basic; watch out for the horrible chord between pieces.)

Have fun!

Le Roy: Petite fantasie

A simple fantasy from Le Roy's guitar tutor

A popular music combo of viol, guitar (gittern) and a small lute (it's not a cittern as the strings are attached to the bridge), some years after the tutor was published
From Ward, JM (1981) Sprightly and cheerful musick. The Lute Society

This charming fantasy is built on a tuning exercise. The first few bars are missing due to damage. I have added the original exercise to the end of the setting, in case your curiosity is tickled – it could be used as an introduction to the fantasy.

As the piece is taken from a tutor, and as I still have so much to learn, I have rather emphasised the didactic content. It has been transcribed from remnants of Adrian Le Roy (1569) An instruction to the Gitterne, London, and shown in facsimile in Page (2017) The Guitar in Tudor England, CUP, pp 92 – 93 with a transcription for modern guitar on p 105. Most of the learning in this account is therefore second-hand. at least!

You will find that there are several compositional forms in the fantasy: following some simple scale work, we see:

 (a) a counterpoint of overlapping scale fragments (e.g. bars 16 – 24);
 (b) duets (e.g. bars 25 – 31, 49 – 52); and
 (c) responses between voices (e.g. bars 46 – 50, 54 – 58).

As Page points out, the piece shares some motifs (bars 48 – 52, 58 – 61) with Le Roy’s own “Fantasie première” (previously posted here on this blog), for which it serves as a perfect primer.
 
Le Roy indicated unaccented single notes with a dot (prick) beneath, meaning that they were to be played with the index (or possibly middle) finger rather than the thumb. Other (accented) single notes would have been played with the (stronger) thumb, and possibly the middle finger. This emphasises the rhythmic pattern. (There is some diversity of opinion on exactly how the dots were interpreted.)

Most of the paired notes are played as a duet with thumb and finger, but Le Roy indicated where pairs were to be played with the fingers only. I have expanded every marked (pricked) note(s) using the p-i-m-a system.

I have also expanded on the other rules, but only in the first bar in which they are relevant. At the risk of over-egging the pudding, I have also included the pricks into the tabs as, once one gets used to the system, it is easier to read than p-i-m-a when playing.

In the MIDI version I have tried to represent this by applying the following simple rules:

(a) The first beat in each bar is set at ff.
(b) All other notes are set at f (though possibly the second minim (half-note) should be set at 1.5 × f.
(c) Previous rules are overwritten by the pricked notes, where all notes are set at mf.

Not very subtle, but it gives an impression.

 Downloads

Available to download free in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI