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| I'm not really sure that this is a tourdion, but it does look good fun. |
It was usually preceded by the much slower basse-dance, such at the "Semie basse-dance" that I blogged a few days ago. I was stimulated to examine the tourdion following a suggestion by correspondent Aaron who sent me this link of a fine performance on tenor performance by Daniel Estrem:
https://youtu.be/l4Q4i8U1280
Structure
“Tourdion” is based on two Renaissance grounds (chord sequences).
Passamezzo antico
i |VII |i |V |
III |VII |i,V |i ||
Romanesca
III |VII |i |V |
III |VII |i,V |I ||
In “Tourdion” these become, in the same format:
i |VII |i |V |
i |VII |III ,VII,i,V |I |
(Divisions)
III |VII |III |V |
i |†VII,III |III, V |I ? ||
We do seem, however, to be half a bar short. The piece as published is only 31 bars long, equivalent to 15 and a half bars in the format in which the grounds are formally laid out above. My guess is that, in the bar marked † above, one bar of Le Roy’s tabs (i.e. half a bar in the format above) is missing; one would expect it to be be VII (the chord of G) throughout, if it followed the Romanesca model. Calmes ignores this defect; EGA1 extends the last note to fill out the final bar, which sounds a bit empty when played. I have taken the liberty of adding a new bar (28) to tidy things up in the last few bars – surely necessary in a dance. If you don’t like bar 28, just ignore it.
Here is my revised last line:
i |VII |III, V |I ||
The variations regard i (Am) as almost synonymous with its relative major III (C).
Fingering
I have included all of Le Roy’s fingering indications, along the lines described here. He used the simple but elegant system of inserting dots under a single unaccented note to indicate plucking with a finger (preferably the index), and under 2 or 3 notes to indicate the use of the fingers only (no thumbs). I have spelled these out using the p-i-m-a system.
Sources
Guitar arrangements have been published in
Calmes, Guitar Music of the 16th century, page 94. Time 3/8.
Wolzein & Bliven, EGA1, page 89. Time 6/4.
(Just to be different I have set the piece in 3/4 time, which might be incorrect.)
A facsimile can be seen here:
Tiers livre de tabulature de guiterre, contenant plusieurs préludes, chansons, basse-dances, tourdions, pavanes, gaillardes, almandes, bransles, tant doubles que simples le tout composé par Adrian Le Roy, Paris, 1552.
Royal Holloway Digital Repository, permanent url: http://purl.org/rism/AI/L2045
The transcriptions are available to download freely in the following formats:
Guitar arrangements have been published in
Calmes, Guitar Music of the 16th century, page 94. Time 3/8.
Wolzein & Bliven, EGA1, page 89. Time 6/4.
(Just to be different I have set the piece in 3/4 time, which might be incorrect.)
A facsimile can be seen here:
Tiers livre de tabulature de guiterre, contenant plusieurs préludes, chansons, basse-dances, tourdions, pavanes, gaillardes, almandes, bransles, tant doubles que simples le tout composé par Adrian Le Roy, Paris, 1552.
Royal Holloway Digital Repository, permanent url: http://purl.org/rism/AI/L2045
The transcriptions are available to download freely in the following formats:
Hope you enjoy playing it!
