A rare work for the Lute-based Theorbo. Below is the programme note from the com...(+)
A rare work for the Lute-based Theorbo. Below is the programme note from the composer.In July 1998 I decided that I would use a theorbo in Havoc a piece I was writing for the 1999 Proms (premiere September 8th 1999). Since my knowledge of the instrument was negligible I contacted David (The Orbo) Miller and appealed for help since I knew he would be playing in the Proms piece. He kindly and with admirable patience showed me how the instrument worked and I began writing groundwork as a technical exercise - hence one meaning of the title. The other is that it is a set of variations over a ground bass.Since the theorbo possesses eight diapason bass strings - whichare plucked like those of a harp not stopped with the left and - it seemed sensible to use these for the ground bass which consists simply of a rising eight-note scale using all diapason strings in turn. This ground is stated at the beginning and developed through 16 variations. Nos 1 to 7 are straightforward except that some of them compress the ground into itself. Nos 8 to 16 are in stretto: they are gradually overlapped with each other the new ground beginning one note earlier each time. The climax of the piece comes at variations 10 to 11; variations 12 to 14 bring it gradually down to earth; no. 15 is quiet and puts the decorated ground in relaxed canon with itself (in octaves using the top and bottom strings of the instrument). Variation 16 strips the ground of decoration putting tight scrunchy chords over it and the piece ends with the lowest diapason string (G) a quiet raspberry ripple of the other seven diapason strings and a final harmonic G to tell us that our little journey is over. I hope you enjoy the scenery.Giles Swayne
Traduction Doc Rossi Compositeur : Damiani Andrea Instrumentation : Lu...(+)
Traduction Doc Rossi Compositeur : Damiani Andrea Instrumentation : Luth Publication Date: 1999 Series: Teoria e Didattica della Musica (Theoretical and Educational Texts) Pages: pp. 208 CONTENTS * Preface * Introduction * CHAPTER 1. TUNING AND TABLATURE Tuning - Tablature (French tablature - Italian tablature - Rhythm symbols - Fingering and other symbols) - Stringing and doubling - Tuning practice (Practical advice on tuning - Tuning problems) - Strings * CHAPTER 2. BASIC TECHNIQUES Posture and position of the lute - Right-hand position - Right-hand functions - Sound production (Positioning p - Forearm movement - Attack - Positioning i) - Alternating p and i - Finger articulation for polyphonic passages (Positioning p - Positioning i) - Preparatory exercises - Differences from guitar technique - Body control * CHAPTER 3. THE RIGHT HAND Forearm and accentuation - Fingering * CHAPTER 4. THE LEFT HAND General principals - Preparatory exercises - Avoiding stiffness - Differences from guitar technique - Hand coordination * CHAPTER 5. SCALES Right-hand scale technique (Forearm movement - Finger articulation - Integrating the two techniques) * CHAPTER 6. EXERCISES FOR TWO LUTES Exercises on a ground bass - Contrapuntal exercises - Articulation - Dances and ground basses * CHAPTER 7. SHIFTING LEFT-HAND POSITIONS Fundamental principals - Position changes using the same finger - Position changes by substitution - Position changes by jump * CHAPTER 8. EXERCISES FOR TWO LUTES WITH POSITION CHANGES * CHAPTER 9. RIGHT-HAND TECHNIQUE IN POLYPHONIC MUSIC p-i articulation - Positioning m - Rest stroke with p - Left-hand positions and movement - m-i articulation - Combining p, i and m - Easy pieces in two voices - Two-voice scales * CHAPTER 10. COUNTERPOINT Voice progression and intervals - The species - Florid counterpoint - Imitation - Syncopation - Suspension * CHAPTER 11. CONTRAPUNTAL PIECES IN TWO VOICES * CHAPTER 12. THREE VOICES The right hand - Combining chords and single notes - Repeated chords and monophonic passages - Arpeggios - Chords and counterpoint * CHAPTER 13. CONTRAPUNTAL PIECES IN THREE VOICES Technical aspects: three-voice scales, the barre - Contrapuntal pieces in three voices * CHAPTER 14. CHORDS OF FOUR OR MORE NOTES The ring finger (a) - Five- and six-note chords - Chords played with p * CHAPTER 15. IDIOMATIC LUTE COMPOSITIONS Chords and divisions - Characteristics of lute composition * CHAPTER 16. TRANSFORMATION OF LUTE TECHNIQUE DURING THE 16th CENTURY Evolution of right-hand position - Exercises for m-i alternation * CHAPTER 17. TECHNIQUE Scales (Full-length scales in all keys - Scales with divisions) - Speed - Left-hand legato and ornamentation - The barre (Preparatory exercises - Barre exercises) - Scales in two and more voices (Two-voice scales - Three-voice scales) - Polyphonic patterns - Right-hand exercises * CHAPTER 18. RENAISSANCE PERFORMANCE PRACTICE Interpretation (Rhetoric - Sound quality - Rhythmic inequality) - Ornamentation (16th-century sources - The first half of the 16th century - The second half of the 16th century - The first half of the 17th century - The Elizabethans) * CHAPTER 19. TEMPERAMENT Meantone temperament - Equal temperament
Par MUHLY NICO. Berceuse with seven variations is constructed around a cycle of ...(+)
Par MUHLY NICO. Berceuse with seven variations is constructed around a cycle of twenty-four chords, spaced with maximum distance between the lowest and highest notes. Each variation explores various paths through this cycle, but always keeping the idea of a cradle-song, a berceuse, in the background. Some of the variations treat this music subtly and calmly, and other times, exploding the chords into fast-moving notes found at the extremes of the instruments. The piece ends with the chords dispersed, inverted, and made gentle again. ? NICO MUHLY / Date parution : 2022-09-20/ Répertoire / Théorbe
