Please read: What to do if the links to transcriptions don't work

😩 All the links embedded in posts before 1 August 2020 are broken.

As a workaround, please go directly to my repository on Google Drive  (please click). There you will find all the files in alphabetical order, in these folders: 

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI 

Please let me know if you can't access them.

All posts after and including 1 August 2020 will have direct links to files in folders on Google Drive.

I have also, I hope, put the files before 1 August 2020 back where they were (although the links embedded in the blog posts don't work): https://sites.google.com/site/renaissanceukulele/home. So, you could try that too.


One step forwards, two steps back ...

P S: I would be eternally grateful if you could tell me of any problems you have, through the e-mail link (see "Contact me" below right). 

Btw, I have closed the Comments section due to a large number of (presumably) young ladies offering services unrelated to the ukulele, though possibly not to the Renaissance. The e-mail still works, though.

Cheers.

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

Dowland: A Fancy (P 73a) plus All in a Garden Green

  And now, something to get your teeth into  

One of my first posts was this arrangement for ukulele of the traditional song 'All in a garden green'. I didn't realise it then, but John Dowland beat me to it by about 400 years. Had I known, I wouldn't have dared.

Actually, Mr D just used the first few notes as a basis for his genius flights of fancy, and then he was flying.

Our garden green in July

I'm afraid to say that this isn't the easiest piece that I have transcribed, especially when you know that Dowland wrote for the 7-course lute and used the very low diapaison. This arrangement is notated following Poulson & Lam's (1995) transcription for keyboard. I'm so glad that I didn't have to do it from the MS.

Despite the challenges in performance the piece has many memorable passages – real ear-worms.

I include
(a) The original song,
(b) A simplified version of the first statement including the melodic line, with simplified versions of the other voices sufficient to make a playable piece.
(c) The full arrangement is as complete a transcription as I can fit onto the ukulele. Bars 35 – 38 are challenging, with  rapid scale fragments, but I have yet to find a way to simplify them. The subsequent bars are equally rapid, but in a repetitive format which makes them not too difficult. (The notation format I used is not academically correct but, I think, easier to read.)


LYRICS
(from https://www.chandos.net/chanimages/Booklets/BT0083.pdf)

All in a garden green / Two lovers sat at ease,
As they could scarce be seen  / Among the leafy trees.
They long had loved y-fore, / And no longer than truly,
In the time of the year / In the time of the year
Cometh ‘twixt May and July.

Quoth he, ‘Most lovely maid, / My troth shall aye endure;
And be thou not afraid, / But rest thee still secure.
That I will love thee long / As life in me shall last;
Now I am young and strong, /  Now I am young and strong
And when my youth is past’.

She listed to his song, / And heard it with a smile.
And, innocent as she was young, / She dreamed not of guile.
Nor guile he meant, I ween, / Since he was true as steel,
As was thereafter seen /  As was thereafter seen
When she made him her weal.

The arrangement is available for free download in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI

Good luck!

Robinson: Fantasia 4

A charming fantasia, originally written for cittern

I have made this arrangement from a piece for 14-course (!) cittern by Thomas Robinson, transcribed into keyboard notation by John M Ward: Sprightly and cheerful musick, The Lute Society, 1983, p.55. Ward distinguishes up to four voices, which is easier done on two staves than on a single stave.

This gamut of the original (C2 to E4) means that the lowest voice has been raised an octave where possible in this arrangement. There have necessarily been some compromises, but I have tried to make the lines coherent.

The arch cittern, for which this piece was written, was tuned (according to Wikipedia) 

e’, d,’ g, bb, f, d, G, F, E, D, C, BBb, AA, GG;

alias (I think) 

E4, D4, G3, B♭3, F3, D3, G2, F2, E2, D2, C2, B♭1, A1, G1.

The lower 8 courses must have been diapaisons – open strings that were not fretted. When you think that the lowest note on the modern guitar is E2, they must have been very heavy, very long, or very slack strings. Or, perhaps, I have mis-read.

In comparison, the low-G ukulele has a range G3 to about F5. 

My reason for transcribing a piece for cittern was to find a composition that did not necessarily have those voicings, frequently found in renaissance guitar music, that fall so easily under the fingers. This means that some passages are not very convenient to play, but not impossible. You may not find it feasible to hold a few of the notes for their full lengths. Nevertheless, I have kept as close as possible to the original, and leave it to the player to make any appropriate adjustments.

I have inserted the names of the chords, but this could well be inappropriate. The fantasy is somewhat reminiscent of the polyphonic vocal style, where the chords arise not as blocks of notes, or as part of underlying grounds, but as the consequence of overlapping vocal lines. In other words, composed horizontally rather than vertically.

I have played the piece back on MIDI using the simulated flute, and it sounds almost ecclesiastical. Ward, the transcriber, wrote:

“The style of writing is not so consistently imitative as Holborne’s [a contemporary composer], the integrity of the voices is less rigorously observed, the sequence of musical events is not so predictable. Characteristic of the composer are the scraps of cantus-firmus* like melody combined with more lively voice parts, and the change of time and texture midway through the piece.”

[*Cantus firmus refers to a melody with long, slowly moving notes used as the basis for a composition, and was built on and decorated by successive voices. Perhaps Ward is referring to upper line of the first 8 bars.]

The most obvious pattern that I can see is that bars 1 to 5 are repeated with minor variation (and some omission of the upper voice) in bars 9 to 13.

A common motif in the lower voices are rising scale fragments:

• D-E-F-G-A (starting in bars 1, 10, 23)
• A-B-C-D-E (bars 3, 12, 20) 

and descending fragments:

• E-D-C-B-A-G-F (bar 14)
• A-G-F-D-B (bar 8, 25)
• A-G-F-E-C#-B (bar 24)

There is a slight crunching of the gearbox during brief changes from minor to major (e.g. bars 7 & 8): at first I kept thinking I had fingered the wrong note. You get used to it, though.

I hope you enjoy playing it, and can keep the lines flowing.

Available to download in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI

Osborn Commonplace Book revisited: English renaissance guitar music.

Update

I have revised the transcriptions of English renaissance guitar music that I posted last September.

You can find the new versions here, and three more pieces here.

Happy hunting!

Robinson: Passamezo pauan

Another piece based on the passamezzo antico, this one originally written for cittern

The publication from which I made this arrangement.
The author seems to have been particularly fond of the cittern, which we can see being played in the cover illustration. Unlike the renaissance guitar, the cittern had wire strings fixed not to the bridge (which was moveable) but to a tailpiece attached to the body,

I made this arrangement for ukulele from a piece for 4-course cittern by Thomas Robinson in New citharen lessons (1609), transcribed into keyboard notation by John M Ward: Sprightly and cheerful musick, The Lute Society, 1983, p. 66 (see fig.).

Ward distinguishes up to four voices, which is easier done in 2-stave format than on a single stave. I have done my best.

My reason for transcribing this piece was to find a composition that did not necessarily have those voicings, frequently found in renaissance guitar music, that fall so easily under the fingers on the ukulele. This means that a few of the chord shapes may be unfamiliar, but I have not re-worked them to fit into the guitar/ukulele idiom. Feel free to modify them as you wish.

The “standard” version of passamezzo antica is:
i     | VII  | i   |  V  || III | VII | i, V     |  i    ||

This piece follows it closely, with some elaborations:
i,V,i | VII  | i,V |  V  || III | VII | V,I,IV,V | I,V,I ||

The first section is mainly chord plus melody, the second is more developed and contrapuntal with duets, and the third greatly elaborated and syncopated. Pieces with lots of divisions can sound, at best, workmanlike, just masses of notes, but this one is quite tuneful and fun to play. In places I can hear echoes of John Dowland’s lute piece “Go from my window”, which I have posted here.

Available for free download from the following links:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI