Philippus Thomassinus (Filippo Tomassini): Conserto Vago: Introduction and Ballette

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.

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.

The first line in the original

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF FILE OF 'BALLETE' FOR FREE

Edit log.

9/3/23 ToC added