Dowland: A fantasie (P 1a)

 A challenge! 

The fantasy is arranged from the notation in keyboard format of Poulton & Lam The collected lute music of John Dowland (1995), pp 7 – 12, which I have followed closely.  This is Dowland’s revised version, as published by his son Robert in Varietie of Lute-Lessons (1610).

P & L  distinguished up to four voices which we cannot really reproduce on the ukulele, but I have tried to indicate as many as possible. The upper voice is always there, and the lower three voices compressed. Some of the bass notes, which on the lute are played on the open strings, have to be fingered and it may not be possible to hold them for the specified time. They are one or two octaves higher than in the original.

The first notes of this piece were also used in Dowland’s (simpler) “Fancy P74”, my previous post.

A fantasia has the feeling of an inspired improvisation, with no rigid structure, in which a main motif and subsequent ideas are freely developed. To help myself I divided this one into eight sections, repesenting a change in idea or treatment, and often heralded by a distinctive cadence. 

I can do no better than quote Diana Poulton on this piece (my section letters).

“It opens with [a] lovely serene passage.” § A. (The main theme is in bars 1 – 4, with a partial repeat an octave lower starting at the end of bar 10.)

“The theme [is] worked through a complex contrapuntal section.” §§ B, C, D.

“A series of short phrases, each with its echo at the octave. Here Dowland makes great play with the device of resolving the leading note an octave … below.” § E

“A swiftly running section.” § F.

“A display of virtuosity for the player.” § H. (The section is set in 12/8 time, following Poulton and Lam, but as I find this difficult to read, I have added intermediate broken-line bars in the middle.)

Available for free download in the following formats.

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI

NB These are the first links to Google Drive rather than to my file depository site. If nothing works, please let me know. Thanks!

Dowland (?): A Fancy (P 74)

A short fancy, less challenging than the previous post

This fancy, P 74, is arranged from the keyboard notation of Poulton & Lam The collected lute music of John Dowland (Faber, 1995), pp 236 – 7, which I have followed closely – including the grace notes and right-hand fingering. They distinguished up to four voices which we cannot really reproduce on the ukulele, but I have tried to indicate as many as possible.

The original MS, from a facsimile at the wonderful Sarge Gerbode repository of lute music:
http://www.gerbode.net/facsimiles/GB-Lbl_British_Library/ms_Add_31392_1595/24.png
The date of the MS is about 1605.

This piece may not be by John Dowland, but Diana Poulton thought it had many hallmarks of his style, and that’s good enough for me.

“Fancy” was a contemporary word for “fantasia”, but I get the impression (not necessarily correct) that a fancy was lighter in tone and content. They involved the composer starting with a theme, and then developing it as he saw fit, with no rigid structure.

This one is not too complicated, and although the sight of long runs of divisions often fills me with dread or ennui, the divisions here are engaging. Note that JD changes from major to minor and back again.

As regards the graces and ornaments, there is no certainty as to their meaning. The + and # signs obviously meant specific but different things to the scribe, but what they were … well, I leave it up to your skill and judgment to play them, or just ignore them. (In the MS and P&L's transcription they are placed before, after or under the note, but I have put them all in front.)

The dots under notes were there to indicate a lesser stress, probably by using the weaker index finger rather than the thumb: it helps to get a distinct rhythm going. I have written a blog post about the different interpretations of the little dots, by players vastly more knowledgeable than me.

The presence of fingering indications may indicate that this was intended for an amateur, so I have reproduced them rather than converting them to "i"s (I’m a learner too).

The first notes of this piece were also used in "Fantasia P 1", which I will transcribe soon, although it is 95 bars long.

Available to download free (from Google Drive) in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI

Le Roy: Fantasie première revisited

Continuing the process of revising my earliest posts, now that I know (a little) more about the music, here is an improved (I hope) transcription of the first piece published in Le Roy's first book Premiere livre de tablature de guiterre, ff 1 – 2.

You can download the transcription freely here:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI

SOURCES

Facsimile online at: https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/36992e38-4a04-c705-affa-253d7b309c67/1/
(Permanent link: http://purl.org/rism/BI/1551/23)

Having transcribed these pieces from the Renaissance guitar facsimilie above, I was informed by the fine transcriptions for classical guitar by Keith Calmes in Guitar music of the 16th Century, 2008, Mel Bay Publications. I have not, however, followed his version slavishly, but have taken much from it.

Another excellent and learnèd publication is “Early Guitar Anthology, I, The Renaissance, c.1540-1580” by Charles Wolzien, music edited by Frank Bliven, available to download here: http://www.guitarlessonz.com/earlyguitaranthology/EGA_Renaissance-I.htm. As well as many musical scores, they provide useful essays on the music of the period. In some places have followed their version.

ANALYSIS

As with all music in French tabs, which were less prescriptive than modern notation, there is much scope for interpretation. For example, does an unoccupied place after a note represent a continuation of the note (sometimes ligatured across bars) or a rest?  Rather than agonise over this, if one follows the rule “hold a note down as long as physically possible” I don’t think one can go far wrong. (See footnote below.)

The piece is set in a counterpoint of two or three voices. The first voice makes a statement of the first motif in bars 1 – 2, the second voice repeats it a 4th below in bars 2 – 3, and a third voice (with doubled-length notes) starts on the open 4th string (an octave lower than the first voice) in bars 4 – 6.

In bars 7 & 8 we have a theme very similar to that often used by John Dowland about 50 years later (e.g. in “Solus cum sola”), partially echoed in the middle voice in the next two bars and leading via a kind of duet to a cadence in the dominant (D major).

The next passage, bars 20 – 44, includes a sequence of arpeggiated chords, in which one can detect a hint of the campanella style – depending of course on how long the notes are held. Bars 45 – 61 include a seriest of overlapping scalar fragments (counterpoint) leading to a high G-major chord.

There is then (in bars 65 – 69) a duet high on the fingerboard, repeated an octave lower (bars 70 – 73). After another chordal (campanella-like) passage, the piece closes in a very familiar way.

Such a lot going on in the narrow scope of four strings! The challenge is to first identify the voices, and then to bring them out in the playing as they move from string to string - I have coloured them in on a printout, as part of my self-tuition. The more you look the more you see.

FINGERING

For interpretation of the right hand fingering indications, see this post.

_________________________________
* FOOTNOTE

One difference between the published transcriptions (see refs above) is whether they maintain certain notes for as long as possible or insert breaks. In bars 32 – 41, as in Calmes, I have maintained a continuous upper voice (dotted minims), whilst in bars 76 – 83 I have followed Wolzein and Bliven and inserted rests in the upper voice. Unlike these authors, I am no expert, so it must be a matter of choice. To be quite honest, with a plucked instrument having little sustain it makes not a deal of difference to the listener. In any case, the choice is yours.

Le Roy: Deux Préludes

The first bars from Adrian Le Roy's Prélude from Tiers livre de guiterre, Paris, 1552.
The index finger dot indicators can be clearly seen.
Facsimile at https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/music/research/earlymusiconline/home.aspx

Here are two pieces which are rather shorter than the fantasies I published recently, but still quite discursive. 

It is clever how Le Roy manages to fit in up to three voices with such a limited range. I have set the middle voices mostly stem-down, but a few look better stem-up; this should not affect their interpretation. 

There are some quite fast runs in the second half of the first prelude, so it might be a good idea not to start playing too rapidly. As these aren't for dancing or singing to, the player is free to change tempo at will.

FINGERING

Until recently I have ignored Le Roy’s indications of right hand fingering. Since, however, they were intended to emphasise the dynamics of the rhythm, I thought that I would have a go at including them.

The very simple system was to indicate (with a dot) only that the weaker notes were to be played by the (weaker) index finger (i). The other (unmarked) notes were stressed and played with the (stronger) thumb (P) and/or middle finger (m). 

Runs of single notes would often have been played P-i, even on the top string.

When two notes are played together, the dot under the lower note means, I think, use i-m rather than P-i or P-m. Three-note chords were generally played P-i-m, and four-note chords either P-P-i-m or P-i-m-a (or even P-i-i-m). There was therefore normally no need to show the dots.

When I tried to use the more modern “P-i-m-a” system for the RH digits it made the score very cluttered and hard to read, so I have kept to the old dot system. It is unfortunate that this is not 100% compatible with on-the-line tabs.

I have gleaned much of this information from lute tutors written by Diana Poulton and Rob MacKillop, but it should apply also to Le Roy’s guitar works as he was originally a lutenist, and would probably played guitar in a similar way.

Available for free download in the following formats: 

• pdf (between the lines)
• pdf (on the lines)
• TablEdit

("Between the lines" means that, in the tabs, the spaces between the lines on the stave represent the strings, as in the Renaissance French system, which was used also in the UK. "On the lines" means that the lines represent the strings, which is the modern system. I find that the numbers are clearer in the former system, but fully understand that they are harder to play from if you're used to the latter. Hence, I've now started posting pdfs of both formats. If you have access to TablEdit, you can format as you wish.)

Le Roy: Fantasie Première

Note on 25/9/19: Now revised yet again, and posted HERE.

This was one of my first posts, but here is an improved (I hope) version. You can download it free in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI

Being a fantasia, this piece (unlike an air or a dance) is not divided neatly into 4- or 8-bar segments. For ease of reference I have divided the 91 bars (note the prime number) into sections A to K, according to where I see a new idea emerging. You may hear the sections differently.

The first page of the original tablature: of "Fantasie Première" in Premier livre de tablature de guiterre, ff  2 – 3.

From a facsimile at  Early Music Online

The piece consists mostly of two lines or voices (counterpoint), based mainly on overlapping scale fragments; these lines tend to start and stop at different places. There is also the occasional base note to add rhythm.

The key seems to vary at whim from G major to G minor (note the B-flats and F-naturals).

As with all music in French tabs, there can be problems in assessing whether an unoccupied space before or after a note represents a continuation of the note (sometimes ligatured across bars) or a rest. I have made a comment about this:

     (a) between bars 33 and 41 (§ E), where I have inserted a rest in the bass at the beginning of each bar; and
     (b) between bars 76 and 81 (§ J), where I have I have opted for the ligature in the top voice.

Either option could be chosen, but the rest is obviously easier to play, and on an instrument such as a ukulele which has no great sustain, there is little difference in sound. There are other occasions in the score where this confusion occurs.

It is interesting to note that bars 7 to 9 are very close to what I have described elsewhere as John Dowland's "Solus cum sola motif", which appears in a number of his works about half a century later. The only difference is that in Dowland's version the third note on the top string (a D) would not be sounded, and the previous note would be held.

I am sure that a professional musician could interpret this piece at sight, but I find it helps to sit down with the score and mark out where the voices lie. The difficulty in performance is to maintain the lines when two lines are moving from fret to fret and string to string. The image below shows my own markings on an early draft of the tabs: you may have a different opinion. Incidentally, in some sections I can detect a hint of the campanella style.

My notes on an early draft of the first page of the tablature.
The upper voice is in red, the others in blue and green. There is much scope for different interpretations throughout the piece: for example, I missed the lower voice starting on the 4th string in bar 4.