A simple fantasy from Le Roy's guitar tutor
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| 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!
(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.
