Philippus Thomassinus (Filippo Tomassini): Corrente (from theorbo original)

 A transcription for low-4th-to-F ukulele from the original tablature for 11-course theorbo in Conserto Vago...  

Facsimile at: Museo internazionale e Bibl. della musica, Bologna (I-Bc): V.156 

Please see my post of 13 Feb for the ToC and further info.

This is the third version of "Corrente"for uke, which I have already blogged in versions from Renaissance guitar (14 Feb) and for Lute (27 Feb).

The theorbo has the upper 2 courses tuned an octave lower than you might expect, so its harmonies tend to be voiced as block chords, sometimes with notes doubled. It is quite a deep-toned instrument.

To transcribe the piece into ukulele format is therefore a bit of a stretch. I think the original may have been intended as an accompaniment, so I have played (via MIDI) the RG-to-uke and Thiorbo-to-uke arrangements simultaneously, and they compliment each other quite well, but with the occasional clash where different passing tones occur. The RG-to-uke transcription sounds better against the deeper mellower tones of the MIDI-theorbo version.

If you want to try out the theorbo-to-uke version you can download it here.

Adrian Le Roy: A Plaisir (Mon Dieu Vostre Pitié)

 Following on from my previous post, here is the other piece set in the low-F tuning.

The melody line of the song. See previous post for more details.

The transcription plays more like an accompaniment than like a stand-alone piece. I have therefore made two versions, with and without the melody line included.

Download pdf with melody

Download pdf without melody

If you would like a MIDI file of the melody (played by synth recorder) please get in touch using the contact form in the column on the right.

Adrian Le Roy: Branle Gay (Maintenant c'est vn cas estrange)

It's a while since I posted a piece by Adrian Le Roy. Recently, however, I noticed mentioned on the wonderful Early Music Muse website that Le Roy had published two pieces in the low F tuning (temple viejo or corde avallée), and I thought "why not have a go?"  I have after all, been transcribing and posting pieces by Thomassinus (see post of 13 Feb 2023) set in the same tuning.

Here is the first. It was a simple piece to transcribe, and in the book was accompanied by the melody (below), and as far as I can tell by the antique notation, the top voice of the tabs follows the melody

The melody and first verse of the chanson. The meaning of the black diamonds had me stumped, but I have guessed that it means "fill the rest of the bar with this note". 
Source: Adrian Le Roy, 1555, Second livre de guiterre, Paris
.Facsimile: Early Music Online. Persistent url: http://purl.org/rism/BI/1555/7

The chord sequence is:

I    ♭VII    iv     V (repeated)    I     iv       iv     V (repeated)

The use of the ♭VII (here B♭) is reminiscent of the major form of the passamezzo antico.

You can hear and see a spirited performance on violin and classical guitar here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYw2wjtDKQQ

If you want to try the piece out, you can download the free pdf here 

... or a version including what I hope is an accurate transcription of the melody here.

PS Don't forget to tune your 4th string to F3 (Helmholz f)!

Philippus Thomassinus (Filippo Tomassini): Balletto sopra listesso sogetto (from theorbo original)

 A transcription for low-4th ukulele from the original tablature for 11-course theorbo in Conserto Vago...  

Facsimile at: Museo internazionale e Bibl. della musica, Bologna (I-Bc): V.156 

Please see my post of 13 Feb for the ToC and further info.

The digits 7 and × just touching the top line indicate that the 7th and 10th (unfretted) strings are to be plucked whilst the digit 3 crossing the top line indicates that the 6th course should be stopped on the 3rd fret. It took a little while to work this out!

 The title means something like “Ballet on the same subject”, possibly referring to the previous (lute) piece “Canzone franzesca” (see my post of 10 March 2023).

According to James Tyler, the %-like symbols (annotations?) below the tabs indicated that chords were to be played as an arpeggio rather than as a pluck or strum. It was probably more impressive on the theorobo.

The theorbo was tuned like a lute (often pitched a whole tone higher) but with extra unstopped bass strings (diapaisons), and sometimes single-stringed courses. The first two courses were tuned an octave lower than expected, a re-entrant tuning. 

When I played back a transcription of the theorbo version using MIDI, the chords sounded heavy and solid, perhaps more appropriate to accompanying a singer. Indeed, this piece feels rather like an accompaniment even on the ukulele. See what you think.

You can download a free pdf file of the transcription for uke here.

Philippus Thomassinus (Filippo Tomassini): Canzone franzese (from lute original)

 A transcription for low-4th ukulele from the original tablature for 8-course 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 the ToC and further info.

This is the final piece for lute in Conserto Vago. The title translates as "French song", but I do not know whether it is a new composition in French style or is an entabulation or variations on an existing song. The beginning reminds me of Le Roy's "Fantasias".

You can download a pdf version for free here.

Philippus Thomassinus (Filippo Tomassini): Gagliarda (from lute original)

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 the ToC and further info.

A relatively simple piece, even in the 8-course lute version. I imagine that it was the basis for improvisation and decoration. I leave it up to you...

You can download the pdf file here, for free.

Philippus Thomassinus (Filippo Tomassini): Volta (unvoiced version)

 This is an alternative version of a transcription of "Volta" (originally written for Renaissance guitar) that I posted on 14 Feb 2023. 

The earlier version of 14 Feb.

In my earlier version I tried to discriminate 2 or 3 voices, but playing it through after a few weeks decided that I was being over-academic in the setting, and that it could be played in "campanella" style. 

I therefore removed all the voicing, simplified the note lengths to the minimum necessary for playing, and added the instruction: hold the notes for as long as possible, to achieve the campanella effect. 

Also, I changed the tempo from 3/2 to 3/4. This enables me to use beaming on the notes to indicate where the (?hemiola) rhythm count changes from 

1& 2& 3&

to

1&a 2&a

Some bars were, however, rather ambiguous, and I leave the interpretation up to you.

The new simplified version

It always surprises me how many ways one can notate relatively simple tabs.

You can try it out by downloading the tabs for free here.

Philippus Thomassinus (Filippo Tomassini): Corrente (from lute original)

 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 ToC and further info.

The first line of "Corrente" in upside-down format

A lively little piece with a skipping tempo. As usual I have had to take some liberties with the lower voice in adapting from an 8-course to a 4-course instrument.

You can download a pdf of the arrangement here.