Guitar Solo
SKU:
IS.G6760EM
Composed
by Silvio Leopold Weiss.
Arranged by Ben Beuming.
Plucked - Guitar.
Metropolis Music
Publishers #G6760EM.
Published by Metropolis
Music Publishers
(IS.G6760EM).
ISBN
9790365067602.
This
sonata (WeissSW No. 50,
Dresden) is one of a new
series of eight sonatas
by Silvius Leopold Weiss
arranged for the first
time for guitar and
published by Metropolis
Music. Sonata XXVII comes
from a set of tablature
manuscript volumes in the
Sächsisches
Landesbibliothek in
Dresden (Ms. Mus.
2841-â?V-â?1).
There are five volumes
with a total of 34
sonatas of Weiss for solo
lute. The sonatas are
ordered by key and
further sorted by size or
complexity. Sonata XXVII
is a large and mature
piece, composed in
Weissâ??s late period,
around 1730. The Sonata
has six movements:
Introduzzione (an opening
movement in Italian style
with elements of an
Allemande and Prelude),
Courante, Bourrée,
Sarabande, Menuet, and it
ends with a Presto. The
use of tempo indications
for French dance
movements is
characteristic for the
later work of Weiss.
Originally, the Sonata is
written in B flat major,
a key often used by Weiss
as it is appropriate for
playing the lute, but
rather awkward with the
guitar. For ease and
effectiveness of playing,
I have transposed the
Sonata a minor third
lower to G major. To
create more concordance
with the baroque tuning
of the lute, the G string
is lowered by a semitone
to F sharp. I suggest
using a capodastro to
achieve the original
pitch. Based on the
present standard of A at
440 Hertz, the capo
should be placed at the
3rd fret. However, during
Weissâ??s lifetime, it
was more common in many
parts of Germany to use a
standard of A at 415
Hertz -â? a semitone
lower. So, to hear the
pitch heard by Weiss and
his contemporaries, the
capo should then be
positioned at the 2nd
fret.
