A transcription for low-4th ukulele from the original tablature for lute in Conserto Vago... Facsimile at: Museo internazionale e Bibl. della musica, Bologna (I-Bc): V.156
Please see my post of 13 Feb for further info.
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| The first line of "Balletto" in "upside-down" tabs |
A charming piece and good practice at playing successive 3-note chords.
You can download a free pdf of the transcription here.
I hope that you enjoy playing it.
A transcription for low-4th ukulele from the original tablature for lute in Conserto Vago...
Please see my post of 13 Feb for further info.
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In an earlier post I was rather grudging about the first pieces in this compilation, but on mature consideration I find them to have some interesting fingerings that one doesn't normally find in uke music. So, a good exercise in playing shapes that don't "automatically" fall under the fingers.
You can download a free pdf of the transcription here.
This "Ricorcata" is the fifth and longest of five pieces for Renaissance guitar in Concerto Vago ... , described in my post of 13 February 2023.
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I am not sure exactly what the title means, possibly "Variations on (or explorations of) the song", but what song? One would have expected a song entabulation to have sections of the same length, but these are 22, 23 and 18 bars long.
Nevertheless, its a pretty ingenious piece with up to three voices squashed into the 4-course instrument. It is a good puzzle to disentangle and represent the voices as they come and go, and you will have your own opinions on this. When you see how much variation there is in transcriptions of a single piece of tablature (by e.g. Le Roy) published by qualified musicians, I think you will agree that any reasonable interpretation is fair game.
In general Concerto Vago... has a pretty low rate of errors, but whoever was making the plates must have been tired when cutting this, the last piece in the book. You will see from the notes at the bottom of the score that I had to make a number of editorial decisions.
Envoi
Finally, thanks again to Gilles T for drawing my attention to this book. My next task is to transcribe and arrange the greater number of lute pieces that start the book. I have done the first two, which are not half so interesting as "Ricorcata". But, since the tabs have fingering indications, I guess that the book was intended as a tutor.
By the way, I have not reproduced the fingerings in the guitar pieces in the present transcriptions (mostly single dots, occasionally double) because they don't seem to mean the same as those that were conventional in the Renaissance: see my earlier post for a full description.
This "Gagliarda" is the fourth of five pieces for Renaissance guitar in Concerto Vago ... , described in my post of 13 February 2023.
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| The first two bars of "Gagliarda" Facsimile at: Museo internazionale e Bibl. della musica, Bologna (I-Bc): V.156 |
This piece, although entitled "Gagliarda", is not what I had expected a galliard to sound like (metre: 1 2 3 | 1 &3) but is set in 3/2 time following the original. In effect, 3/2 alternates with 6/4. Gilles T has pointed out to me this is known as hemiola, which I now remember encountering when transcribing Gaspar Sanz' pieces for Baroque guitar. (Incidentally, the more I read about hemiola and sesquialtera – are they or are they not synonymous? – the more confused I become.)
This "Corrente" is the third of five pieces for Renaissance guitar in Concerto Vago ... , described in my post of 13 February 2023.
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| The first few bars of "Corrente" Facsimile at: Museo internazionale e Bibl. della musica, Bologna (I-Bc): V.156 |
The corrente was a lively ("running") dance in triple time, whereas the French equivalent, the courante, was rather more complicated and measured in pace.
I have nothing to say except that it's not too challenging, and good fun to play.
This "Volta" is the second of five pieces for Renaissance guitar in Concerto Vago ... , described in my previous post. Like all the others it uses the temple viejo tuning: i.e. with the 4th string tuned to F3.
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| The first few bars of "Volta" Facsimile at: Museo internazionale e Bibl. della musica, Bologna (I-Bc): V.156 |
It is set in 3/2 time, which at this period apparently implied something like a slow waltz tempo.
The piece is reminiscent of Spanish music published 100 years before. It seems to me to involve both chordal and polyphonic styles, and to have up to 3 voices – quite an achievement on and instrument with such a tonal range. It was a challenge to indicate these in the setting.
There are seven unequal sections of 8, 8, 8, 4, 5, 5 and 8 bars.
You can download a pdf version of "Volta" here
Update: See also a plainer version posted 7 March 2023
Introduction: the book
I have been stirred from my musical slumbers to start posting transcriptions again, all thanks to the knowledgable Gilles Tordjman (alias Gilles T. of a number of early music fora).
He kindly sent me a facsimile of music for lute, theorbo and chitarrino (4 course Renaissance guitar). I am gradually working through the transcriptions.
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| Facsimile at: Museo internazionale e Bibl. della musica, Bologna (I-Bc): V.156 |
I have tried to translate "Conserto Vago" but most suggestions online are of limited help; the nearest relevant translation I can guess is "collected wanderings", but a language scholar will know better.
Google Translate, assuming modern Italian, translates the blurb as follows:
Conserto Vago of ballets, vaults, current, and vigorous choirs of their song in the French style. Newly brought to light for playing together with lute, theorbo and quarter-string guitar a la Napolitana, or pieces ad arbitrarily, and the delight of virtuosi and noble professors or scholars of these instruments, composed by a good but uncertain author.
Not a bad attempt attempt at translation after almost 4 centuries. At least we know that the composer is Anon.
I was surprised to see music for the Renaissance guitar published as late as 1645, well into the early Baroque era.
The tuning in the book is one that I haven't encountered before, since the bass string is lowered a whole tone to F3 (or f in Helmholz notation).
Gilles points out that this is known as temple viejo tuning in Spanish. This is presumably is what "alla Napolitana" on the title page refers to. (The interval between 4th and 3rd strings that will be familiar to banjo players using the "C tuning".)
All six pieces are set, not surprisingly, in the key of F, not the easiest key to make transcriptions for in the usual 4th-to-G tuning. I want to explore further the possibilities that this tuning offers.
You can read an article by Michael Fink on Renaissance guitar tunings, including temple viejo and nuevo, here. (I am not sure that this is the original site.)
As you will see from the facsimile below, the book is set in "upside-down" tabs, the convention used in Italy and Spain. I have tried playing directly off the facsimile, with little success – hence these transcriptions.
When transcribing and adapting for guitar or uke from lute tablature I do not keep too closely to the fingering, but modify it to aid performance. With 4-course guitar tabs, however, I try to keep closely to the original, and indicate in footnotes where modifications such as position playing might be advantageous.
Contents table of Conserto Vago
This is a progress report on my transcription activity, and blog dates for the RG and Uke arrangements. I will try to keep it up to date.
Title of piece * | Instrument | Page | Transcribed /Arranged for † | Blogged for RG and Uke |
Balletto | Luto | 4 | Lute, RG, Uke | 28/2/23 |
Volta | Luto | 5 – 6 | Lute, RG, Uke | 27/2/23 |
Corrente | Luto | 6 – 7 | RG, Uke | 7//3/23 |
Gagliarda | Luto | 7 – 9 | Lute, RG, Uke | 9/3/23 |
Canzone franzese | Luto | 9 – 12 | Lute, RG, Uke | 10/3/23 |
Balletto sopra listesso sogetto | Tiorba | 13 – 14 | Lute, RG, Uke | 11/3/23 |
Volta | Tiorba | 14 – 15 | Lute | |
Corrente | Tiorba | 16 – 17 | ||
Gagliarda | Tiorba | 17 – 18 | ||
Ricercata sopra la canzone | Tiorba | 19 – 21 | ||
Ballette | Chitarrino | 22 – 23 | RG, Uke | 13/2/23 |
Volta | Chitarrino | 23 – 26 | RG, Uke (3/2, 3/4) | 14/2/23, 7/3/23 |
Corrente | Chitarrino | 26 – 28 | RG, Uke | 15/2/23 |
Gagliarda | Chitarrino | 28 – 30 | RG, Uke (3/2, 3/4) | 16/2/23 |
Ricortata sopra la Canzone | Chitarrino | 30 – 36 | RG, Uke | 17/2/23 |
* Original spellings retained
† Renaissance guitar (RG) is tuned the same as low-G Uke
The first piece
I will be posting the five Renaissance guitar pieces over the coming days. Here is the first, "Ballete". I hope you enjoy playing it, and seeing if you can find any hint of post-Renaissance forms.
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| The first line in the original |
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF FILE OF 'BALLETE' FOR FREE
Edit log.
9/3/23 ToC added