Osborn Commonplace Book: English Renaissance guitar music

Transcriptions for ukulele of eight English Renaissance guitar pieces from around 1560. 

Revised version, July 2022 (original Sept. 2019)

It is fortunate that the guitar, then often called the gitterne, was tuned the same way as the modern ukulele, but with paired strings on the 2nd and 3rd courses, and octaves on the 4th course. Once you get used to the renaissance conventions of recording this music you can make a stab at playing the pieces on the uke directly from the MS.

I have recently been playing through the tablature books of Renaissance (4-course) guitar pieces published in the mid-1500s.  The composers / arrangers are French (Le Roy, Brayssing, Morlaye and Gorlier) and Spanish (Fuenllana and Mudarra). By the way, many of these have been transcribed in modern, classical guitar notation by Keith Calmes (see Resources page via tab above).

The Renaissance guitar began to be imported into England about 1550, and was regarded as something exotic and fashionable amongst the élite (Christopher Page, 2017: see image below). It also seems to have become popular with persons of the "middling sort" and possibly also with "common" people. (Well, this was a very class-conscious age, an attitude that has not entirely disappeared, just kept under cover.) The guitar's popularity seems to have waned towards the end of the century, and it became superseded by the 5-course Baroque guitar in the 1600s.

The learned publication from which I have derived all of the historical information in this blog, and quite a bit of the musical insight too. My descriptions of the individual pieces, except where sources are cited, are largely my own, and rather more fallible.
Published by Cambridge University Press, 2017 (pbk).

The only English music for Renaissance guitar seems to be in manuscript, the main source being the Osborn Commonplace Book (c1560) from which Page prints a number of transcriptions. Fortunately, the book, now in Yale, has been made available online here. It includes 8 pp of music for 4-course guitar, as well as lute music, recipes, lyrics and letters. Each page carries 2 different numbers, but here I use the page label in the pdf facsimile (e.g. f 42 v) to discriminate between pieces having the same name.

Since my original post I have acquired the learnèd John M Ward's Sprightly and cheerful musick: notes on the cittern, gittern and guitar in 16th- and 17th-century England. (Lute Society, 1983). It contains transcriptions of all the Osborn gittern pieces (pp 112 – 119), which I have used to revise parts of my own (less learnèd) versions, bearing in mind that Page is not convinced of their total accuracy. I have added Ward's serial numbers to my transcripts.

To get to grips with the style and the (generally very neat) calligraphy in the MS, I used Page's transcriptions as worked examples alongside the facsimiles. Then I went solo and transcribed a few more. Some transcriptions were straightforward: clear writing, fully barred, and with all the note lengths adding up to the correct total. Others were not fully barred, the bars being used only to separate sections, and I could not always make the note lengths add up. My comments for individual pieces point out what I have done.

Some of the pieces, of which I present only two ('Morisco gallyard' and 'Hedgynge haye'), are basically strums which were presumably used to accompany songs and dances – a rôle reminiscent of that of the ukulele today. 

'The hedgynge haye' in the Osborn Commonplace Book, f 40 (pdf, ignore the page no. on the MS).
Very clear calligraphy (except the title). Note how concise, and paper-saving, this layout is. The bar separates the two lines in the tune.  

One piece ('Pasy measure') is basically an arpeggiated strum, using the chord sequence of the Passamezzo antico, and followed by a piece called (unconvincingly) a galliard. The other pieces are more fully developed and mostly fall under the fingers whilst a chord is held – most convenient. They include divisions (diminutions) based mostly on scale fragments. In 'Pavan f 42v', §A'', there is some running up and down the first string, as was the style of the time. Today we would play in position.

Page points out that the Renaissance lute was played (by plucking with the fingers) mainly in an élite academic style, derived from ecclesiastical polyphony, and was not normally strummed. Chords arose as an overlapping of the different voices. The Renaissance guitar, however, had two rôles: as a "mini-lute" for formal music, and as a (presumably) strummed instrument for accompanying songs and dances, as was the cittern. Most of the other transcriptions that I post are inevitably of the "posh" genre, as that is most of what has survived.

The strumming style could represent the continuation of earlier popular music, played on wire-strung instruments such as the citterne, which was carved from a single piece of timber and had the strings fixed to the bottom edge of the body rather than gut strings to the bridge. The music seems to be based on ("vertical") chords rather than "horizontal" lines.

And now a few general comments on the harmonies and chord voicings. I am aware of the pitfalls of applying modern harmonic terms anachronistically to this music.

1. In the strummed pieces all four strings are played, providing chord inversions or, in 'Morisco', a drone on the 4th (which in the guitar would be octave Gs).

2. In the other pieces the chords are rooted; i.e. the bass note is the root (lowest) note of the chord.

3. In 'Morisco' and 'Pavan f 40', both in the key of C, the chord of Bb is prominent, which I find unexpected, although it is characteristic of the passamezzo antiqua. I must do more research to see if this was a common usage.  The Bb also occurs briefly in 'Pasy measure', in the key of D(m).

4. The chord of A in the key of D(m) is often voiced without the 3rd (A5 in modern symbols), so it could in some places be Am. Is this a hark back to times when harmonies consisted only of root and 5th?

5. In some pieces, this A5 chord is played twice in a cadence (e.g. 'Pavan f 42v', bar / measure 3), separated by a low G. This sounds very Medieval modal to my ears.

6. Pieces and sections in a minor key finish with the tonic major: the tierce de picardie. It was apparently considered bad form to end on a minor chord.

The transcriptions

1. Morisco gallyard

Piece no. 8.

Transcriptions: Christopher Page (2017) p. 123; tabs JM Ward (1983) p. 117.

I have followed Page’s transcription quite slavishly, but have changed it from 6/2 to 3/2 time as it’s easier to read, and have adjusted some note lengths to those actually achievable on the instrument, or sound like when played.

He explains that this piece employs a style of simple strumming that harks back to earlier times, quite unlike the academic works of highly educated Spanish and French composers. Indeed, he says that the piece is a “blatant example” of the older style and is “seemingly designed to resist any but a vigorous and raking performance”. The hemiola patterns in bars 7 & 8 give, he writes, a “supposedly Moorish abandon”.

The block chords can be strummed or “gripped” (plucked with thumb and fingers): I quite like to strum the first 10 bars (the “ground” or basic chord sequence), and pluck the development in the second 10 bars. There is much opportunity here for building one’s own variations on the ground, as doubtless players did in the 1500s.

It’s all reminiscent of an example in a beginners’ ukulele tutor, but with unusual (to us) chord changes.

The chord sequence doesn't seem to fit any of the common grounds:

bVII  | bVII  |bVII · I   | V          |
bVII  | bVII  |I · IV · V | I · IV · V | I · IV ·V | I     ||  × 2

2. The hedgynge hay

Piece no. 2.

Transcriptions: Christopher Page, p. 58; tabs Ward p. 113. 

The hay was a simple rustic dance, and this basic chord sequence tune was probably strummed as an accompaniment – not all Renaissance guitar music was in imitation of the lute! Whether you strum with the thumb or the back of a finger nail depends on what sounds best your instrument: on the banjo using the back of the nail (even to pick individual notes) is called “frailing”. The 4th string acts as a drone, possibly harking back to earlier music. I imagine that the piece served as an accompaniment to a melody instrument such as a pipe or fife.

The chord sequence (ground) is that of a passamezzo moderno in C major (see next post).

A coincidence: I was trimming a recalcitrant thorn hedge whilst listening to a radio programme on dances mentioned in Shakespeare, when the meaning of “hay” was described. It is derived from the French word “haie” meaning hedge: just as when hedge-laying one weaves the stems in and out, so in dancing the hay the dancers weave in and out. This could be the “hey” of “hey nonny nonny no”.

3. Passy measure (Passamezzo antico) and 4. its Galliard

Pieces no. 17 & 18.

Transcription: Christopher Page, p 124; tabs Ward pp. 124 – 126.

PASSAMEZZO (or “passy measure”) was a fairly dance popular during this period. It could be in 4/4 or 6/4 time. Passamezzo antico was a ground on which variations were made (see next post), and had this basic chord sequence:

i     | VII   | i      | V    |

III   | VII   | i · V  | i    || 

This piece follows the pattern exactly (in Dm) in the first statement, except for the D major harmony in bar 8 – the tierce de picardie yet again. 

In the development, however, we have a variation thus:

i ·  IV  |  VII  |  i · vi  |  V   |

i ·  IV  |  VII  |  i · V   |  I   ||  [Fine]

An interesting lesson in the development of a standard harmonic sequence.

The "galliard"  consists of two similar variations based on the passamezzo grounds, and apparently an adjunct to “Passy measure”, but not particularly in the form of a galliard.

It agrees quite closely with the standard form, with the following harmonies:

i   |  VII  | i · II  |  i · V  |
i   |  VII  | i·  V   |  I      ||    x2

The only deviation is the use of II (E) in bar 3.

It's not an exciting piece: each bar starts with a statement of the chord (most in root position) followed by bog-standard divisions.

5. Saltarello and 6. Gallyard

Pieces no. 14 and 15.

Transcription of 'Saltarello' (notation for classical guitar): Christopher Page (2017), p. 5. Tabs: Ward pp. 122 – 123.

I used Pages transcription to make the current version, but with the following changes:

a) Time changed from 3/2 to 4/2 as there are 8 crotchets (quarter notes) to the bar, and my setting software insists I make the adjustment.

b) Lengths of notes adjusted to what is achievable on the instrument.

c) I have indicated repeats by labelling the sections, rather than by either inserting repeat bars (a fiddle as the section boundaries are mid-bar) or adding by “bis” as in the MS.

I have transcribed the 'Galliard to the Saltarello' directly from the rather confusing (unbarred) MS facsimile. I have made “corrections” to make the structure similar to that of the Saltarello (but in a different rhythm), although there are only three rather than four sections. Not perfect, but the best I can manage. An alternative version after Ward (1983), p124 is also given.

The MS was probably no more than an aide-memoire to the scribe, who knew what he wanted it to sound like.

HARMONIES: an exercise in the three chord trick (G C D).

'Saltarello':

§A :  IV · I · IV  |  V         |  I · IV · V · I  |  I        |

§B :  V            |  V · I     |  I · VI · V      |  I · V    |

§C :  IV · V · IV  |  V         |  I · IV · V      |  I        |

§D :  V            |  V         |  I · IV · V      |  I        || ∥[Fine]

'Galliard':

Very similar: §§ A, B, D (no § C)∥

7. Pavan (Pardye)

Piece no. 4.

Facsimile: The Osborn Commonplace Book, f 40r; tabs Ward p. 114.

Not an easy piece to transcribe, as there were only two “bar lines” in the whole MS, probably delimiting sections (which I have indicated by double barring in the score). 

There were some timing discrepancies, I believe, mostly where the scribe has forgotton to insert a third beam, as in (e.g.) bar 5, when compared with the similar bars 9 and 13. I am unhappy about the final 4-bar section, which sounds like a coda, and have omitted two semi-quavers from bar 19 to make everything fit: weird, but playable. The last few bars have been modified after Ward.

 I imagine that this MS was just an outline, and the performer would have played his own version as he saw fit.

This transcription does not show all notes to their full lengths, as the piece consists of block chords followed by runs of notes. I imagine that the player would have held the chords for as long as possible whilst playing the top line, but I have not indulged in notational trivialities to show all the detail.

The first 16 bars of this piece are based on the passamezzo antico pattern, but in the major key (C) and are:
I  |  I  | VII | VII | I  | I  | V | V   |
I* |  I* | VII | VII | I  | V  | I | I   ||

(In the standard passamezzo, the key would be minor, and the starred chords III not I.)

8. Pavan (Queen Marie's Dump)

Facsimile: The Osborn Commonplace Book, f 42v (pdf); tabs Ward p. 57.

This is a nice clear MS, and fully barred, though I have divided each of the original bars into two.

There are three sections set in Dm, the first a statement and the others variations on it.  The very simple harmonies, involve only Dm, C, and A, but with and unexpected B♭ in bar 6, and with each section ending on D major. 

i   | i   | VII   | VII   | i   | VII · VI  |  V   |  V   |

i   | i   | VII   | VII   | i   | V         |  I   |  I   ||    x3

It looks rather like a variation on the passamezzo antico:

i   –  VII  –  i    –  V
III –  VII  –  i, V –  i  or I

In §A’’ there is some running up and down the first string. I have added a version with position playing at the 5th fret.

Downloads 

I originally combined all the pieces in one pdf, but this made editing difficult, so I now list the pieces individually below:

• Morisco Galliard
• Hedgynge Haye
• Passy Measure
• Galliard on passy measure
• Saltarello & Galliarde
• Pavan Pardye
• Pavana Queen Marie's Dump

If you would like the TablEdit files or MIDI versions, please let me know.

Have fun!

Le Roy: Pavane and Galliarde "De la Guerre"

A pair of pieces from Le Roy's Third book of tablature for guitar. It was usual at the time to play a piece in two versions:
a pavane, which was a rather stately dance in duple time, followed by
a galliard, a lively, gay dance in triple time, often with a skip in the middle of alternate bars (here the odd-numbered ones).

A gay military band.
From Wikipedia.

The warlike title suggests that the pieces be played in an appropriate style. Each is made up of four sections repeated. The repeats occur mid-bar, as was the space-saving style of the time.

If you have the skills it would be good to add some variation to the repeats. The most military-sounding part is in §D of the galliard, where one can hear the notes of a bugle call.

Yours to download free in the following formats:

• pdf (compendium of both pieces, with on-the-line and between-the-line tabs, and notation)
• TablEdit pavane
• TablEdit galliarde
• MIDI pavane
• MIDI galliarde

Enjoy!


Erratum in the pdf file: In the notes to the Pavane, the third sentence should read "This piece precedes Galliarde de la guerre". Sorry.

Le Roy: Fantasie Seconde

I've recently been playing a lot of pieces from Adrian Le Roy's books of Renaissance guitar tablature. Remarkable as they are in achieving so much on a 4-course instrument, they can get a bit boring: many are set in G or Gm, and the same cadences and phrases occur time after time. Here we have a piece set in F (mostly), which is not a popular key for the instrument as the root note is a whole-tone lower than the 4th string. Le Roy got round this by using the first inversion, with A on the 4th string, which may have been breaking the rules of the time, when chords were usually voiced in root position. (Mudarra solved this problem by retuning the 4th to F.)

The first page of Le Roy's tablature. The dots under certain notes indicate that they are to receive less emphasis, and to be played with the first (or possibly the second) finger, but not by the thumb.

This piece, being a fantasia, is not divided neatly into 4- or 8-bar segments, unlike an air or a dance. In fantasias the first few bars often contain a main theme, which is repeated with variations or as a canon. As far as I can see, this does not happen here.

I once read a description of Renaissance fantasias as "meandering amiably", but in this fantasia there is a fairly obvious structure. One can discern the rise and fall of overlapping voices (the style being derived from polyphonic ecclesiastical music), and the challenge is to bring them outseamlessly  in the playing.

HARMONIC ANALYSIS. As noted above, the piece is mainly in F, and whilst the chords are not fully voiced once can speculate that there is much reliance on I (of course), IV and V; IV is sometimes substituted by ii, and V by vii. The final cadence goes: I, ii, III (briefly) and ends, surprisingly, on VI (here, D major). Perhaps it’s the relative minor, but with the “tierce de Picardie” applied.

FINGERING. As you can see from the image above, the unaccented notes are marked by a dot, indicating that they are be to played with the index (or possibly middle) finger, rather than the thumb. Generally these are on the "&" when you count "1 & 2 &". To avoid cluttering, I have not indicated them in the score. Where this rule does not apply (as in bar 2 line 3 in the above image), I have indicated with an i the unaccented notes for the whole bar.

I should say that there seem to be different opinions amongst the cognoscenti as to whether the middle finger counts as a strong note digit, and whether a dot under a chord means "pluck using fingers only" or "strum up with the index finger". The 4th string seems to have been played mainly with the thumb.

SOURCE. Transcribed from the original tablature of: Premier livre de tabulature de guiterre, contenant plusieurs chansons, fantasies, pavanes, gaillardes, almandes, branles, tant simples qu’autres le tout composé. Par Adrian le Roy. Paris, 1551.
Facsimile online at: https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/36992e38-4a04-c705-affa-253d7b309c67/1/
(Permanent link: http://purl.org/rism/BI/1551/23)

Available to download freely in the following formats:

• pdf (notation + tabs between the lines)
• pdf (notation + tabs on the lines)
• TablEdit
• MIDI

Le Roy Revisited: Neuf Branles de Bourgongne

When I first started transcribing and arranging Renaissance music for the ukulele, I used Adrian Le Roy's books of tablature for the Renaissance guitar (published in the 1550s) as a model of what is possible on a 4-course instrument. One of my earliest posts was of some of his Branles de Bourgongne: music in the style of the rather robust dance, known as a brawl in English.

I recently took delivery of one of the ukulele's ancestors: a reproduction Renaissance guitar. It is tuned the same as a ukulele but has paired strings on the lower three courses. The tuning means that I can play most of my uke arrangements directly on it. One small problem is that the scale length is 54cm (a tad over 21"), so it's rather longer than my tenor uke, and reaching from the first fret to the fifth or sixth can be more of a stretch than I'm used to.

Reproduction Renaissance guitar by Stephen Haddock

Anyway, to the subject of this post. The new instrument meant that I revisited Le Roy's branles, and decided to re-transcribe them, with the knowledge I have gained over the last two years or so. I have mentioned in many posts that tablature tells you where to put your fingers, and when to pluck, but not normally how long to hold the note. I have played these transcriptions through as I make them, bar by bar, and I have opted for the most practical treatment.

Facsimile of the first branle (Royal Holloway College)

In addition, I have bought myself a copy of Keith Calme's Guitar Music of the 16th Century [details: click on Resources tab above], in which much of the contemporary tablature available is transcribed into notation for the modern classical guitar. This is convenient for me as I can read guitar notation better than uke notation. I can then compare his (learned) versions with my own (amateur) ones, and make adjustments when I think his are better than mine. 

Incidentally, I have found as many as four versions of these branles (see below), and they are very divergent, so I feel quite content where mine disagree with those of more qualified hands. 

Downloads

You can download the files (notation + tabs) freely here:

• pdf version (between the line tabs) 2.9MB
• pdf version (on the line tabs) 3.1MB
• TablEdit version

Detailed notes 

SOURCE. Transcribed from the original tablature of: Premier livre de tabulature de guiterre, contenant plusieurs chansons, fantasies, pavanes, gaillardes, almandes, branles, tant simples qu’autres le tout composé. par Adrian le Roy. Paris, 1551. 

Facsimile online at: https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/36992e38-4a04-c705-affa-253d7b309c67/1/

(Permanent link: http://purl.org/rism/BI/1551/23)

I have retained the original spellings of the titles.

Diverse versions of these pieces appear in: 

• Page The Guitar in Tudor England: No 5, in 2/2 time. (See notes on Branle 5 below.)
• Calmes Guitar Music of the 16th century: Nos 1 – 9, in 2/4 time.
• Wolzein & Bliven http://www.earlyguitaranthology.com: Nos 1 & 5, in common time.
• Noad The Renaissance Guitar: No 3, in 2/4 time. (A badly named book: it contains mostly transcriptions of lute and vihuela music for the modern guitar.)

I have used 2/2 time in these arrangements, as I find it easier to read.

VOICES. The authors differ in places as to interpretation of voices: I have plumped for what sounds most sensible when playing on my instrument. Le Roy often added an unaccented note (if one counts “1 & 2 &” it is on the first “&”), the first example being the D on string 3 in the second bar of the first piece. It often seems to be an orphan, being part of neither the upper nor the lower voice, just a punctuation: I have usually given it a down stem, especially where Le Roy shows the lower voice extending beneath; I have not packed it out with rests.

REPEATS. In most of these pieces Le Roy did not fill the final bars with notes, but I have done so. If you decide to play repeats, you will have to make minor adjustments. In “Troisiesme” the repeat is either side of the middle of bar 9.

R H FINGERING. Le Roy indicated by dots (points or pricks) under a note that it was to be unaccented, but authorities differ as to what this means: Poulton and MacKillop say that it means use the (weaker) index finger only (not the thumb or middle finger), Page that it means use any convenient finger. Similarly, a dot under 2 or 3 notes may mean “strum up with the index finger” or “use fingers but not thumb” I think the main thing is to emphasise the stressed notes of these tunes in the way that feels comfortable, in order to get a rowdy dance feel.

NOTES ON INDIVIDUAL PIECES

PREMIER BRANLE

a) A 4-bar theme, repeated with variations; harmonised with I and IV.

b) A 12-bar theme, repeated with variations; harmonised with I, II, IV and VII.

SECOND BRANLE

a) An 8-bar theme; harmonised with I, IV, V.

b) An 8-bar theme, repeated with variations; harmonised with I, IV, V, vi, and VII.

c) A 3-bar coda.

TROISIESME BRANLE

a) Bars 1 to 9 (first half), to be repeated.

b) Bars 9 (second half) to 19, to be repeated.

Set in G, harmonised with I, IV, V and transient ii and iii.

The motif appearing first in the second half of bar (and then throughout) 3 gives a syncopated or skipping feel to the dance. In much of the piece (except for bars 2, 7, 8, 10, 15 and 16) the index finger can remain anchored to the 2nd fret of the 3rd string.

QUARTIESME BRANLE

A short, 16-bar piece, set in Gm. Harmoniesd with i, ii, iii, IV, V (briefly) and VII; ending on I (the tierce de Picardie).

The Gm voicing fingered “5 1 x 3” [starting with fret on 1st string, x = not sounded] can be a stretch on a large instrument, but can be voiced identically by the fingering “5 x 5 3”. In bar 5, the E and F can be played on string 2.

QUINQUIESME BRANLE

Set in G. Harmonised with I, i, IV, iv, V, VII.

*   Christopher Page has made insightful comments on this piece, which I précis below (with my comments on the harmonies):

Bars 1 – 4: a stabilizing beginning

Bars 5 – 8: a running ornament

Bars 9 – 12: a duet, with a change to minor harmonies

Bars 13 – 14: block chords with major harmonies

Bars 16 – 21: an ornamented version of the duet, the harmonies moving from minor to major.

Page summarises the piece as multum in parvo – squeezing a lot of ideas into 21 bars and 4 strings. An eye-opener into the structure of an apparently simple piece.

SEXIESME BRANLE

Can be viewed as being in 5 lines of 4 bars each, the 4th line being a variation on the 2nd. Harmonised in I, IV, V, VII.

SEPTIESME BRANLE

a) A 4-bar theme, repeated with minor variation.

b) Another 4-bar theme, repeated.

c) A 7-bar coda.

Set in Gm; harmonised with i, ii, IV, v, VII, ending on I.

HUITIESME BRANLE

a) A 6-bar theme, repeated.

b) A final 12-bar section, in which bars 18 – 20 are echoed bu bars bars 22 – 24.

Set in Gm; harmonised with i, II, IV, V, VII, ending on I.

NEUSYESME BRANLE

a) A 4-bar theme, repeated.

b) A 4-bar theme, repeated.

Set in G, harmonised with I, IV, iv (briefly), VII, (but, unusually, no V).

Morlaye: Galliarde "Les Cinque Pas"

A jolly galliard, and not too difficult to play. The "cinque pas" refers to the choreography of the galliard, with five steps in the space of six beats (of one 6/4 bar, or two 3/4 bars).

I have only recently discovered Morlaye's work here on the Delcamp Guitar website: grateful thanks to them for making such clear facsimiles available. The original book is not paginated: this galliarde is item 19, on pp 40 – 42 of the pdf file.

Morlaye's "Galliarde Les Cinq Pas"(first 16 bars) from his Le Premier Livre de Galliardes, Paris, 1552.
The r-shaped annotations represent c's, or fret 2 - in the Secretary hand, which was used in music MSS in this period.

This is quite a syncopated piece, which in part is achieved by using the RH strokes indicated by the composer.

In the transcription I have shown where Morlaye indicates that chords should be played with an upward strum with the RH index finger, as explained at the top of the score. (In the original he used dots beside the fingerings, as in bar 8 above.)

He also shows (with a dot) specifically where pluck with the index finger, which was conventionally considered to be weaker, for unaccented notes. To include these marks would clutter up the transcription; the general rule is when counting say “1 & 2 & 3 &” use the thumb and/or second finger on the beat, and the index finger for the “&” between the beats. (I'm finding it difficult to re-programme my fingers to play like this.) In a few places, I have indicated (by an “i” in the score) where Morlaye specifies that this rule does not apply and that the index finger should be used ON the beat. NB: another opinion of the dot notation (Page) is that the dot means use any finger(s) but not the thumb. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

In the facsimile, as you can see in the image above, a later hand has filled out the chords by adding extra notes, especially an A on the 4th string for the 2nd position D-major chord. I have ignored these additions, but you might want to try including some, especially on a repeat.

ANALYSIS

The piece is strongly anchored to the key (and chord) of G major, like many other compositions for the Renaissance guitar in the mid-1500s.

There are three themes of 8 bars, each followed by a variation. The piece ends with a 4-bar coda.

The outline chord sequence below shows the harmonic structure and substitutions:

1:   |G Am |G     |D G Am |G    |G    |G    |D    |G   |
1’:  |G    |G     |D      |G    |G    |G    |D    |G   |

2:   |G    |D     |G A    |D    |D    |C    |D    |G   |
2’:  |G    |D     |G A    |D    |Am   |G    |C    |G   |

3:   |G    |Am F  |F      |G    |G    |C    |D    |G   |
3’:  |G    |Am F  |F      |G    |G    |Am   |D    |G   |

Coda:|F C  |D Gm F|C D    |G    ||

The brief modulation into A major in bars 19 and 27 adds a nice original touch, as do the I - ii - bVII - I sequence in the third theme and the unexpected accidentals in the coda.

All in all, a simple piece, but more interesting than I had thought at first sight.

You can download the arrangements in the following formats:

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

Sanz: Folias

Another piece from Sanz' Libro segundo de cifras sobre la Guiterra (1675), plate 3.

The folia is a harmonic progression used in the 17th century on which variations were developed. The chords were i - V - i - VII - III - VII - i - V. In this arrangement the chords in the first 8 bars follow the pattern so: Gm - D - F - Bb - F - Gm - D. The progression is then repeated throughout the piece.

Sanz' Folias: You can see a facsimile here.

   Sanz’ Baroque guitar was tuned rather like the modern guitar, but with the 4th and 5 courses (of paired strings) an octave higher – the re-entrant tuning.  This means that there wasn’t really a bass line when played on a period instrument. Looking at the original tabs, however, the notation for the "lower" strings often gives the impression of a bass line. This transcription is an experiment to see what happens when, where appropriate, they are treated as such – as if this were a piece for lute or vihuela.  Not what Sanz intended, of course, but it results in a perfectly acceptable arrangement.

    In other places in the piece, the "lower" strings obviously contribute to the melody line. It was a peculiarity of Sanz’ tuning that the third course might have had a “requinta” string an octave higher than its “normal” partner, which could be preferentially plucked when contributing to the melody. All very confusing, and lots of scope for interpretation.

    The Baroque tuning provides the opportunity for “campanella” playing, where successive notes are played on different strings and held down to give a ringing sound. Sanz used this approach in some places, but certainly not throughout the piece: in many bars a line of notes is played on a single string. You will see that I have tried to set some campanella-style passages where they fit the low-G ukulele, but they are not necessarily where the composer put his.
 
    Interpretation of graces follows James Tyler, p. 32. They may be omitted if desired.

   You can find more information on the transcription process in my post here.

    There are four sections. Section A is arranged in “lute style”. In section B, the first 8 bars show the “high voice” option, the second 8 bars the “low voice” option. Section C emphasises the campanella style, so you will want disregard the shown note lengths and hold them for as long as possible. In section D, bar 53 is set high and bar 56 low.

   It's not too difficult an arrangement, and in many places could be made easier (if not quite so good) by playing F on the 2nd string rather than on the 3rd.

   You can download the arrangements in the following formats:

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

   By the way, Rob MacKillop has written a fine arrangement for re-entrant uke, with much use of the campanella style, in his 20 Spanish Baroque Pieces. Strongly recommended.

Transcribing Baroque guitar music for low-G ukulele

This is an expanded version of the preamble to my first post of a piece by Gaspar Sanz: Passacalles sobre la D. I thought I'd write this post, because I recently came back to Sanz after over a year and couldn't remember what I had done previously. 

I recently bought myself Rob MacKillop's excellent 20 Spanish Baroque Pieces by Gaspar Sanz (Mel Bay, 2011). I was particularly entranced by this Passacalles in his book, which he arranged in campanella style for re-entrant uke. It was fascinating to see how following the tabs (whose appearance bears little similarity to the shape of the music) produced such a charming sound when played. 

Fig 1. Facsimile of Sanz's original engraving. The score is very clearly etched, by Sanz himself, but "inverted" i.e. with the bass string at the top and so on.
Mordents are indicated by ⏑ under single notes, trills by T, and vibrato by inclined #-symbols.

Being an inquisitive type, I wanted to see for myself Sanz' original for 5-string Baroque guitar (Fig. 1), and fortunately found both a transcription and a facsimile of the original. From this, it was but a small step to making my own transcription of the piece, but for the low-G or linear tuning. This article explains how I did it, the problems encountered, and compromises that have to be made.

I freely admit that this process negates one of the main charms of the Baroque guitar - its re-entrant tuning, but it does add another string to the bow of the low-G ukulele player. (Sorry: I cn never resist a pun.)

I have not included references in the text, but there is a reading list at the end of the post.

Tuning

Fig. 2. Common tunings for the Baroque guitar.

In the Baroque period, a number of tunings (Fig. 2) were used on the 5-string guitar; they were similar to the first 5 strings of the modern guitar, but

(a) with double strings for each course, except normally the first; and 

(b) with the lower two courses strung an octave higher (re-entrant tuning). 

The re-entrant tuning (Fig. 2, stave 1) will be familiar to the ukulele player.

In another tuning variant (Fig. 2, stave 2) the 4th course was tuned in octaves, with the high string (requinta) nearest the 5th course, and the low string (bourdón) nearest the 3rd course. This means that to emphasise the high string one can use the thumb, and to emphasise the low string use a finger. 

Other tunings (such as octaves on courses 3 and 5) were used, but were rarer. Gaspar Sanz seems to have had octave stringing on course 3, and would emphasise the higher (requinta) when it formed part of the upper voice, and pluck both otherwise. (I have tried octave tuning for course 3 on an 8-string ukulele. It means that the requinta is higher pitched (C5) than the 1st course (A4). It explains how Sanz' music works, but I found it difficult to play properly.)

This arrangement of strings contrasts with the tuning of the lute and vihuela, which also had octaves on the lower courses, but with the requinta nearest the higher courses, meaning that the bourdón was the string that sounded most strongly whan plucked by the thumb. It seems that octave stringing was originally used because the necessarily thick gut strings were rather muffled in sound; the requinta was added to provide the higher harmonics.

I have yet to find an account of how the re-entrant tuning came into being. Perhaps being used to having a requinta on the lower courses, players came to like the higher brighter sound, and the bourdóns sounded too heavy for the instrument. It does not really lend itself to the lute / vihuela style of composition in which one can detect distinct voices. (The problems this causes in transcription are dealt with below.) It would, however, have been perfect for the campanella style, in which successive notes are played on different strings, and held as long a feasible, to give an overlapping bell-like or harp-like effect. The arrangements of Sanz' pieces by Rob MacKillop for re-entrant uke are cunningly even more campanella-like than the originals, and show its beauty to the full.

There is a third, chordal style, which involves strums of 4- or 5-note chords, interspersed with single-note playing. This gives chords a very close harmony, with notes on the upper courses sometimes being duplicated by those on the lower courses: a "wall of sound", with no obvious harmonic root.

Spanish / Italian Tablature

This tablature format uses numerals to represent the frets (Fig. 1). It looks rather like modern tabs, but the courses are "upside down", with the bass at the top and the treble at the bottom. 

Because of the peculiarities of the re-entrant tuning, tablature is the only realistic way of representing the music in a playable format. If you used normal (mensural) notation you would have to insert all those little numbers in circles to indicate the strings.

Timing is given by small notes (♩, ♪, etc) above the tablature, which stay in force until a new note length is shown. The note lengths show how long to wait before you play the next note, not (as in modern music) how long the first note is to sound for. There is no indication of voices, such as bass and treble.

Chords, especially in strummed pieces, were shown in the abecedario system (Fig. 3), a shorthand in which a large upper-case letter represented a particular chord shape, mostly in nut or first position. These letters seem totally arbitrary, with A representing the chord of G major on the guitar, B = C major, C = D major, and 🞧 = Em. Players of the Baroque guitar have to learn them; I just look them up for my transcriptions. You can find my concordance for abecedario for the uke player here. 

Fig. 3. The abecedario system in practice. 
The symbols in order of appearance are: O = Gm, M = Eb, H = Bb, I = A, F = E, C = D. 
The tiny ticks on the bottom line show the direction of strum.

Graces (twiddly ornaments) are indicated by symbols in the text. I have made a reference table of how to interpret them derived from James Tyler's Guide, and posted it here. I must admit that I tend to ignore graces when I first play a piece, as they can involve convoluted fingering.

Transcribing for the ukulele, low 4th

Fig. 4. Various tunings for the ukulele. The re-entrant is perfect for the campanella style and strumming. The linear tuning (low 4th) gives theopportunity for playing a bass line. The imaginary ukulele is the one I visualise when transcribing from Baroque guitar music. The 8-string ukulele tuning is one I am exploring for trying out the re-entrant 4th course.

As noted above, the re-entrant tuning of the Baroque guitar will be familiar to the ukulele player. The instruments are tuned to the same intervals, but with the ukulele 5 semitones higher (Fig. 4, stave 1). This means that one can get a rough idea of how a piece sounds on a re-entrant ukulele by ignoring the 5th string, especially if you have a "right-way-up" guitar transcription, and playing away, meanwhile trying to fit the 5th string onto the uke 3rd by moving up 2 frets. A good mental exercise.

When transcribing, I try to imagine that I have a 5-string ukulele tuned as in Fig. 4, stave 3. This helps especially in getting the 4th and 5th courses properly notated.

But ... following this procedure rigidly when transcribing for the uke makes a very lumpy, jumpy piece. Apparently this was acceptable at the time, but I find it jarring to have a melodic or bass line suddenly jump an octave. I have therefore applied the following rules to my transcriptions for low-4th uke:

• The note positions on the Baroque guitar 1st – 3rd courses are transferred directly to the uke tabs. 
• The note positions on the guitar 5th course are raised an octave for the uke transcription. As a rule add 2 to the 5th course position and play it on uke string 3 if available.
• The notes on the 4th course are raised an octave on the uke if this would lead to a smooth scale fragment in the melody.
• The notes on the 4th are maintained in the lower octave if they make a sensible bass line, especially when the piece is in lute style.
• Anything can be modified to make the piece easier and more enjoyable to play and listen to.
• The 5-string guitar chord shapes can give an incomplete chord voicing when transferred to the (4-string) uke, so I try to include all the notes where I can.

In conclusion: I admit this procedure is a compromise between what the composers intended and what fits on a uke with a low G string. Nevertheless, I hope that you enjoy playing the arrangements.

References and Sources

James Tyler's A guide to playing the Baroque guitar (Indiana University Press, 2011) has become my go-to reference for this music

There is an article describing Sanz' work and tuning here...

and a much fuller analysis of Baroque guitar tuning here.

Rob MacKillop's 20 Spanish Baroque Pieces by Gaspar Sanz (Mel Bay, 2011) has some lovely arrangements for re-entrant Uke, with an emphasis on the campanella style.

A facsimile of Sanz' original plates is available here ...

and a "right-way-up" transcription here.

An interesting analysis by Clive Titmuss is here.

A whole collection of Baroque guitar pieces can be found here.

A masterclass on strumming chords (battuto) by Rob MacKillop can be seen here.