Nicolas Vallet (c1583 – 1642 [or later])
Netherlandish lutenist and composer of French birth. His lute music mostly appears in the two parts of Secretum Musarum (1615–16) [also referred to by its French title Le Secret des Muses] and includes fantasias, dances, variations on popular tunes and a set of lute quartets for lutes in d,A,G and D (relative tuning). A facsimile edition of Secretum Musarum has been published by the Dutch Lute Society (Burgers and Grijp,1986,1992). More information about Nicolas Vallet can be found in the Grove Music article by Tollefsen and Grijp.
The following two arrangements are from book 1 of Secretum Musarum
Les Panatalons [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Vallet Grade 07
This piece is a set of variations on the Bergamasca ground. The tablature source is in French renaissance tuning and a straightforward transcription to the guitar fretboard would give a piece in D major with F# tuning and the 6th string dropped to D. I felt a better guitar arrangement would result from transposition to E major, though in doing this I have revoiced some of the chords.The title, presumably refers to Pantalone, the character from the Commedia dell’Arte.
Mal Simmes (or Mal Sims) [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Vallet Grade 06
This is a tune that appears in several collections by different composers (eg Giles Farnaby) and is presumably a song setting (Mal being a version of the name Molly).
Prelude [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Vallet Grade 06
This piece comes from Regia Pietas (1620) a volume that contains settings of all 150 psalms (apparently sponsored by wealthy Amsterdam merchants). I arranged it from a tablature version from the Mignarda Editions site https://www.mignarda.com/editions/.
The following two arrangements are from book 1 of Secretum Musarum
Les Panatalons [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Vallet Grade 07
This piece is a set of variations on the Bergamasca ground. The tablature source is in French renaissance tuning and a straightforward transcription to the guitar fretboard would give a piece in D major with F# tuning and the 6th string dropped to D. I felt a better guitar arrangement would result from transposition to E major, though in doing this I have revoiced some of the chords.The title, presumably refers to Pantalone, the character from the Commedia dell’Arte.
Mal Simmes (or Mal Sims) [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Vallet Grade 06
This is a tune that appears in several collections by different composers (eg Giles Farnaby) and is presumably a song setting (Mal being a version of the name Molly).
Prelude [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Vallet Grade 06
This piece comes from Regia Pietas (1620) a volume that contains settings of all 150 psalms (apparently sponsored by wealthy Amsterdam merchants). I arranged it from a tablature version from the Mignarda Editions site https://www.mignarda.com/editions/.
