I have just posted the eight fantasias of 5 parts by Michael East. An interesting note about East, besides his individual style and ability to get his music into print, is that he named all his works! Because if this, the Viola da Gamba Society elected to not assign numbers to his works. The Roman numerals are those found in the printed editions.
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If all works of a specific type by a composer have been posted, I have added the annotation (complete). For example, there are twelve known Fantasias à 6 by John Jenkins, so that is marked as (complete).
If you do not see this, you will know that other works of that type exist by that composer. For example, there are six duets for two alto recorders by Georg Philipp Telemann available here, but it is not marked as (complete), as there are at least twelve other duets that I know of. I would especially value hearing from you if you know of some additional works that I am unaware of! I have included, when I can find them, links to comprehensive lists of works by a composer. I suppose they could be called Easter Eggs. The term "Easter Egg" has come to be used to mean a message, image, or feature hidden in some electronic medium.
For example, on the Giovanni Gabrieli page I have included a link to a comprehensive list of his compositions. Some of the entries contain additional information, such as this entertaining description of his Canzon No. 1 (La Spiritata): "On the highest feast days in Renaissance Venice, the Doge himself, with all the Signoria of the city, was required to participate in the Cathedral's religious ceremony. Permeable boundaries between church and state dissolved, as the ceremonial head of the Venetian government united with the people in ceremonial worship. And by the turn of the seventeenth century, the wealth of the Venetian mercantile state had become an intrinsic part of the same worship services. When Giovanni Gabrieli prepared music for the Cathedral's celebration of Christmas, for instance, he could not only muster the large instrumental and vocal forces of the Cathedral's regular musical establishment, but could also supplement them with extras; in 1603, for instance, he paid four cornettists, five trombones, one basson, two violins, and a violone player to add to the splendor of the ceremony. Yet the vibrant musical life of the Venetian state can be reflected even in his instrumental works of more modest character. A "simple" four-voiced canzona such as Gabrieli's piece known as "La spiritata" elegantly portrays the effervescent life of the Carnival city. Gabrieli's Canzon "La spiritata" was published in a 1608 anthology of Venetian music, though a keyboard version of his piece exists from as early as 1593. It achieved the epithet "the spirited," despite its unique character as the only Gabrieli canzona in this collection written in a minor key. Right from the opening measures, however, the composer tinges its minor key with positive highlights by a sprightly, more ebullient rhythm the usual canzona dactyls. Though the opening motive is subject to strict paired imitation, the counterpoint remains generally simple throughout the piece, in the spirit of the French chansons then popular in Venice. After a long yet contrapuntally straightforward exposition and a quick stretto, the first section comes to a complete cadence from which a more homophonic triple-meter passage emerges, its dance-like character also belying the minor mode. In the third and final section of the piece, Gabrieli introduces the most complex rhythms, though both harmonic and textural simplicity still reign. In fact, the two principal motor-rhythms of this final passage both derive directly from the opening rhythm, and only outline simple triadic motions and cadential gestures. The passage repeats, and a predictable but emphatic extension of the final cadence closes the work in a continued character of high spirits." Enjoy! The practice of composing canzoni intended for instrumental ensembles began around 1570. The earliest instrumental canzoni were usually for four voices and typically consisted of clearly defined sections, organized in some repetitive pattern, such as ABCA or ABCDD. Imitative counterpoint was the order of the day, although chordal sections were occasionally used. I have posted several of these works for you to explore, namely the
As I noted in an earlier post, I have listed these as recorder music, but as with much of the music of this period, any quartet of instruments with suitable ranges will enjoy playing this lively music. After learning of Floriano Canale (1550-1603) I came across Adriano Banchieri (1568-1634). His “Canzoni alla francese a quattro voci” remind me a LOT of Gabrieli’s canzons. They are light-hearted and fun for everyone to play, as the parts are equally interesting.
Many of these pieces begin with the trademark of a canzona, namely a long-short-short motif on a single note. I present all eleven of his four-part canzons as recorder music, but as with much of the music of this period, any quartet of instruments with suitable ranges will enjoy playing this lively music. As it turns out, Adriano Banchieri was one of the most important and prolific musical figures in the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque periods. He came into contact with Gioseffo Guami during his stay at the monastery in Lucca in 1592. Guami had been a colleague of Giovanni Gabrielli at San Marco in Venice. The titles of some of these canzonas likely refer to surnames of individuals or families to whom Banchieri wanted to pay his respects. I have often wondered about the titles of some works I have encountered because they didn't translate into words of the language of the composer. Another mystery solved! When I encounter a particularly challenging passage, I find I must repeat it many times, often quite slowly. Through the accumulated familiarity my fingers come to know the combinations and patterns.
MIDI files allow great flexibility in controlling the playback. In particular they allow you to loop a passage so you can practice it in a concentrated way. This capability is built right into MuseScore. Next to the play/stop button is the loop button (see the image below). All you have to do is select the passage, click the loop button and then play! The image below shows a passage in the last movement of Telemann's trio sonata TWV42:g9 which is quite exposed and technically challenging. To select the passage, simply click at the start, then Shift-click at the end of the passage. To turn on looping click the loop button. Now click play (or hit the space bar to play/stop). The tempo can be easily changed via the Play Panel: click View in the main menu, then Play Panel. Move the tempo slider up or down to whatever tempo you wish. The scoring of music in the Baroque period was rather fluid. Composers would often designate the instrumentation with weak nominations such as "two violins or the like". Anthony Rowland-Jones said it very well In the article "The baroque chamber-music repertoire" in The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder: "Playing the music well, in a lively, committed and persuasive manner, was more important than what instrument it was played on..."
In the early 17th century Venice was the center of the development of the canzona francese, so-called because its form was derived from the French chanson. In his Primo Libro delle Canzoni (1628), Frescobaldi said that his canzoni were "to be played by all sorts of musical instruments". The 17 Canzoni of Canale that I posted today are fine examples of this form and work well on recorders, so I present them as music for recroders, although a quartet of any instruments with suitable ranges will also enjoy exploring these works. Today I posted a Telemann trio sonata for alto recorder, oboe and B.C. (Basso Continuo) which is a favorite of mine (TWV42:c2). It occurred to me to say something about what Basso Continuo means, as it was certainly a new concept to me not all that long ago.
If you watch a video of this or any other trio sonata on YouTube you will see 4 players, but it is a trio, so what is that about? Well, Telemann wrote out 3 parts, one for recorder, oboe and a bass line; hence it is a trio. However, the bass line is what is called a "figured bass" (also a thoroughbass); there are figures under some of the bass notes that indicate the chord that is in effect at that moment. There must be an instrument capable of playing chords to "realize" the figured bass; that is, to play the music as conceived by the composer. The bass line is often played by a bass viola da gamba or sometimes a bassoon. The fourth instrument (usually a harpsichord, but any instrument that can play chords will work), reads the figured bass line and fills in the chords extemporaneously according to the rules for a figured bass. This skill is not common today and so contemporary music will include a keyboard part, called a "realization of the figured bass", written by someone for the publication. If you look for a piece on IMSLP that has a Basso Continuo part, it will not include a realization of the figured bass. This is because the composer did not provide one; it was expected that the keyboard player would improvise it, very much like a contemporary jazz musician! It was a common practice for Quantz, Telemann and others to present a piece of music so that it could be played by either recorder or transverse flute players. By indicating the clef and key signature for each, a single piece of music works for both! This was a clever business device, as it allowed a single piece of music to be sold into two different markets. The clef and key signature on the left are used by recorder players, and the clef and key signature on the right are used by transverse flute players. In the piece below, the recorder player uses the so-called French violin clef with 2 flats, and the flute player uses the standard treble clef with 1 sharp. The French violin clef is little used today so it is likely that many recorder players are unfamiliar with it. The treble clef sign is also called a G-clef because the line that the curly-cue circles is where the G-note is (in fact, the treble clef sign is just a stylized G!). Notice that the French violin clef is just a treble clef sign centered around the bottom line, so the bottom line is a G.
It might seem a daunting task to learn the note names associated with this new clef until you realize that it is the same as bass clef! If you are familiar with the bass clef you are already familiar with the French violin clef, as the note names are the same. For example, consider the key signature on the left. The first flat sign is on the fourth line down, so it is a B♭. The second flat sign is on the second space down, so it is an E♭. If you are a recorder player, you can use this device to play any piece of flute music: add 3 flats to the key signature and read the notes as if the clef is a bass clef. It might seem like the change of key will be difficult, but a lot of flute music is in sharp keys, so adding 3 flats actually makes it into a recorder-friendly key. Perhaps you have seen how enthusiastic I am about the free music notation program MuseScore. A couple of the most significant reasons are that you can easily play MIDI files and also print out the sheet music parts. Because it is such a full-featured program the number of controls, menus, etc can be daunting, but the basic features are available with just a click or two of the mouse. Face your fear and you will be handsomely rewarded! The first order of business is to download and Install MuseScore (Windows, MacOS, Linux, BSD). There are many Tours and Tutorials, in case you wish to delve deeper, but for now... To play a MIDI file do this:
To print out a part do this:
If you run into trouble or have any questions, I will be glad to help out!
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Formerly a successful software engineer and then Mathematics instructor, I am now retired and keep busy as an amateur musician of early music. Archives
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