La Guitare Baroque Part I
Angelo Michele Bartolotti, sa vie, ses oeuvres et l'adaptation de ses oeuvres choisies en ré majeur pour la guitare moderne
Université de Montréal
Par Amir Houshangi
Présenté à l'examen général de doctorat
Novembre 2021
Acknowledgment
I would like to thank the following people who have helped me during this
research:
Professor Sylvain Bergeron, from whom I learned so much and whom this
research would not have been possible without his presence
My Director and Co-director, Professors Mathieu Lussier and Andre Rodrigues,
for their consistent support and guidance during this research
And My family for their love and support throughout my life
Introduction
As an ancestor of the modern classical guitar, baroque guitar music has a significant role in developing this instrument throughout history.1
Although in recent decades, with the help of scholars such as Richard Pinel, James Tyler, Monica Hall, Gary Boye, and many others, various obscure points in the history of guitar music, such as interpretive issues, neglected figures, and the instrument's process throughout history, has become apparent.
However, their achievements seem to be more prevalent among historically informed performers rather than modern instrumentalists.
In addition, various reasons, such as the little attention paid to the history of the baroque guitar and its repertoire, the differences between historical and modern notation systems, and the characteristics of these two instruments, made the search path more difficult for modern instrumentalists.
As a classical guitarist, knowing the roots of this instrument, getting acquainted with its performing traditions in different eras, discovering historical repertoires and arranging it for a modern instrument has always been part of my interests and this interest multiplied as I became acquainted with the works of an Italian composer, Angelo Michele Bartolotti.
Initially, this study was intended to adapt several of Bartolotti's works for modern guitar by explaining how to interpret the Italian notation system (Italian tablature) into modern notation. But as the research progressed, it became clear that this research could not achieve the desired results without providing sufficient information on history, schools, and other important content on baroque guitar features.
1 . Tyler, James, A Brief Tutor for Baroque Guitar, Chorus Publication, Helsinki, (p-6) 1984
Rationale and motivation
There is not much research on the history of the baroque guitar and its school, and this has left even some of its influential figures less well known Among the many influential figures in this instrument's history, perhaps only two or three, such as Robert de Visée and Gaspar Sanz, are known, and still, names like Bartolotti, Corbetta, Granata, Campion & many others are not known, except to those who are involved.
Among the names above, Bartolotti may have been more overlooked than his influence.
Here I ought to mention some of Bartolotti's music characteristics that led his selection for the portion of this study. Bartolotti's works are of great historical and musical value, as many scholars and specialists have praised his importance and music.
Musicologist James Tyler believed that Bartolotti displays a level of artistic skill and creativity not previously encountered and researcher Jeffrey Lawrence George about his position in the history of the guitar, stated: "There is much in evidence to conclude that Angelo Michele Bartolotti was among the most influential composers of early guitar music and one of the leading Italian guitarists of his time." 2
However, his music seems to have been neglected compared to his contemporaries; perhaps one of the reasons is the complexity of his style; as Jeffrey Lawrence George explains: "The complexity of Bartolotti's music may partially account for his relative obscurity. Much of it is so complicated that it is unlikely that many players had the technical ability to perform his works adequately.” 3
Probably another reason for this lack of attention is his harsh handwriting described by researchers as rough-looking tablatures.!4 Moreover, there is no official recording of his works by classical guitarists, and the number of albums recorded by historical performers is little. Therefore, putting the above together plus my interest in baroque music history maximized my motivation for research on the era in which Bartolotti lived, his instrument, his life and his works.
2 . George, Jeffrey Lawrence, "ANGELO MICHELE BARTOLOTTI ": A Performance edition of his 13suites from the publication of Secondo Libro di Chitarra of 1655 ", Arizona State University, 2005(p-39)
3 . Ibid
4 . George, Jeffrey Lawrence, "ANGELO MICHELE BARTOLOTTI ": A Performance edition of his 13suites from the publication of Secondo Libro di Chitarra of 1655 ", Arizona State University, 2005(p-25)
Research Objectives
The present study consists of two main parts. In the initial section of the first part, to better understand the guitar music atmosphere in the baroque period, this research gives a brief description of the history of this instrument, its schools, and the figures who influenced it.
In the second section of the first part, to acquaint the reader with the instrument, we will examine the baroque guitar characteristics, its feature, types of tunings and notation.
In the initial section of the second part, this essay examines the life and the legacy of one of the influential but neglected figures of the baroque guitar, Angelo Michele Bartolotti (1615-1682), And in the last part, by examining the style of his work, studying his performance instructions and explaining the challenges of the adaptation process.
As a result, as an example, in the conclusion part, this study would provide a rewritten tablature version of Bartolotti's Passacaglia and a final version of the same piece in modern notation interpretation notes of some other pieces.
According to the above, the objectives of the research can be summarized as follows:
1- Giving the reader an overview of the history of the baroque guitar, its schools and influential figures.
2- Presenting the reader to the different notation and tuning systems of the baroque guitar along with their functions
3- Introducing the life and works of Bartolotti and most importantly, examine his compositional style, executive instructions and inform the reader of the challenges of the adaptation process
4- Present a sample of rewritten tablature and a modern notation as a result.
Part I: Historical review
1. Concise History of the Baroque Guitar
1.1. The Rise of the Baroque Guitar
To understand the position of the baroque guitar in music history, one must first start from the middle of the sixteenth century; in that era, the first signs of the guitar presence were seen in Spain as the renaissance lute vihuela music began to decline.
As the music scholar Stanley Yates states: "The earliest notated music for the guitar is to be found as an adjunct to the vihuela repertory in mid-sixteenth-century Spain. This small group of pieces, consisting of a few fantasias, intabulated mass movements and a setting of the Romanesca ground ( Guardame las vacas), is cast in the same polyphonic style as the vihuela music proper, around the same time, music for the guitar began to appear in France and Italy.5"
The guitars from that era had four courses (double strings) known as Renaissance guitars.
Apart from the mentioned set of pieces by Yates, there are other collections all published between 1550 and 1560 in France consisting of twelve works by four composers such as French Adrian le Roy (c.1520-1598) & Guillaume Morlaye (1510-1558), the Bavarian Gregoire Brayssing (fl, 1547-1560) and the Italian Simon Gorlier (fl, 1550-1584).
Nevertheless, these Lute-Vihuela music repertoires for the guitar were short-lived. The guitar now had five courses and was becoming widespread. At the same time, the renaissance lute and vihuela were about to fall out of fashion a6s the last publication of vihuela music was published in 1576 by Esteban Daza.
5 . Yates, Stanley “THE BAROQUE GUITAR: LATE SPANISH STYLE AS REPRESENTED BY SANTIAGO DE MURCIA IN THE
SALDIVAR MANUSCRIPT (1732)”, Doctoral dissertation, University of north Texas, 1993, (p-2)
6 . Ibid
Initially, the practice of baroque guitar seems to have been opposed by the elite in that era as in his Tesoro of 1611, the Spanish Lexicographer Sebastian de Covarrubias states: "Guitar: An instrument well known and practiced much to the detriment of the music.
Vihuela: Up to the present, this instrument had been most esteemed ...but after guitars were invented, there are, but few who dedicate themselves to the study of it ...and now the guitar is no more than a cowbell, especially in the strummed style, that there is
no stable-boy who is not a musician on the guitar." 7
Nevertheless, comments such as the one above indicate that the popularity of the baroque guitar was increasing significantly in that era.
The first known printed work for the baroque guitar is a collection of pieces by the Spanish composer Joan Carles Amato (1572-1642), is from 1596. Although Amato was a medical practitioner who also held many government posts, with the publication of this book, his service to the art of music, especially guitar music, seems to be more enduring than any of his other services.
The book title is "GUITARRA ESPAÑOLA, Y VÁNDOLA," and it consists of various Spanish songs accompaniment along with the twenty-four Paseos in all the major and minor keys. To explain the notation technique of this book, Yates states: "The notational system employed consists only of a series of numbers, each representing a particular chordal disposition of the left-hand fingers on the fingerboard of the guitar.8"(Fig.1)
(Fig.1. Amato's Chords table, this system was known as "Catalan Cirfras" by that time)
7 . Covarrubia,Sebastián de , “Tesoro del lengua Castellana o Española” (Madrid, 1611),
http://fondosdigitales.us.es/fondos/ libros/765/16/tesoro-de-la-lengua-castellana-o-espanola.
8 . Yates, Stanley “THE BAROQUE GUITAR: LATE SPANISH STYLE ASREPRESENTED BY SANTIAGO DE MURCIA IN THE
SALDIVAR MANUSCRIPT (1732)”, Doctoral dissertation, University of north Texas,1993, (p-3)
As can be seen from the contents of these mentioned works, albeit there are few, it is evident that the primary function of the guitar was to employ it as an accompaniment instrument; this tradition grew further in Italy in the early seventeenth century.
1.2 The spread of the Baroque Guitar in Europe:
Primary "Battuto" (strumming) style Sources in Italy and France
Since, except for one source published in France and written by a Spanish musician, which we will discuss in the next section, there is not much substantial evidence of guitar music from the other countries in Europe; Italy was the first country to become the baroque guitar's cradle in the first half of the seventeenth century.
Guitar music in Italy emerged in Florence in the early seventeenth century with the publication of "Nouva Inventione." by Girolamo Montesardo (active in Florence 1606-1620) in 1606.
It seems that his intention in publishing this book was to facilitate playing the guitar as an accompanying instrument, as the complete translation of the title of his book shows:
Newly invented tablature for playing balletti on the Spanish guitar, without numbers or notes: by means of which anyone will be able to learn without a master.9
The notation system Montesardo has used is somewhat similar to Amato's approach, except that alphabet letters are used instead of numbers. Each letter presents a particular chord indicated by the Italian tablature. (Fig.2)
In terms of chord durations, the upper case stands for half-notes, and the lower case stands for quarter notes; the dot beside each letter means the performer must add half of the current valuation to the chord.
. Montesardo also has instructions on "Battuto Style" (strumming the chords) as he explains: "when you see letters which are placed below [the line], the stroke is given downwards with the right hand, and when you see letters which are placed above [the line], the stroke is given upwards."10
9 . Hall, Monica, “3-Girolamo Montesardo”, (p-1)
10 . Hall, Monica, “3- Girolamo Montesardo”, (p-4)
(Fig.2, Montesardo's Chords table, later known as Alfabeto System)
Scholars are still not sure if Montesardo was the inventor of this system, as he did not claim in the book the invention of this method; however, this version is the first and oldest available source in which this system has been used.
At the beginning of the 1620s, three other sources were published that contributed to the development and completion of Montesardo's style:
Intavolatura facile… per la chitarra alla espangnuola…opera terza (1620), Il primo libro d’intavolatura per la chitarra spagnuola (1622) by Benedetto Sanseverino and Intavolatura di chitarra spagnuola (1620) by Giovanni Ambrosip Collona.
The modifications that Sanseverino and Collona made to Montesardo's method led to the completion of this structure. It can almost be claimed that it did not change significantly afterwards and was used by the next generations. This method of notation, later known as the "Alfabeto," would play an essential role in solo and accompaniment music of the baroque guitar.
By any means, the only non-Italian source from that era is a printed work by Luis de Briceno (fl. 1610-1630). Luis de Briceño introduced the Spanish guitar style in France by publishing his method “Metodo mui facilissimo para aprender a tañer la guitarra a lo español” (Very Easy method to learn to play the guitar in the Spanish style) in Paris 1626.
This method includes accompanied dance songs villano, sarabanda, folias, chacona as well as
some instrumental pieces “pasacalle, gallarda romanesca and espanoleta. 11
The interesting point about this method is that, unlike Montesardo's system, Luis de Briceño has used numbers and a few symbols and letters such as +, P, I and G instead of the alphabets to represent the chords. He has also used French tablature to indicate the fingers placed on the fingerboard. According to Monica Hall & June Yakeley, this system was known as "Castilian Cirfras," a similar version to the "Catalan Cifras" system, which Amato previously used.12 (Fig.3)