ANONYMOUS PIECES - Sources P - W
The Pickering Lute Book (fx = folio x)
Some pieces in Pickering are attributed; where the attribution is unclear or doubtful I have included them here.
Mal Sims (f26) [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] ?Hassler Grade 07
Arrangements of this tune are common in the lute literature; Mal Sims is thought to be a girl’s name, Mal being a form of the English name Molly. This version is attributed in the source to the German composer Hans Leo Hassler (1564 - 1612). This attribution seems unlikely to me; he was a keyboard and choral composer; though some of his music was intabulated for lute by others he seems unlikely to have composed for the lute.
Allemande (f29) [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 05
Allemande (f40r) [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 07
Allemande (f45v) [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 08
Allemande (f46) [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 05
Courante (f39) [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 06
Courante (f44) [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] ?Gaultier Grade 05
(see note below on Gaultier)
Hornpipe (f51) [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 05
Jig (f50v) [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 05
Nightingale (f48) [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] ?Gaultier Grade 07
I’m puzzled by the attribution of this piece to Gaultier. Craig-McFeely (2000) lists it as by Gaultier and Gerbode (lute music.org) attributes it to Ennemond Gaultier. However it is not at all like Gaultier’s piece Rossignol found in the French Barbe lute manuscript. So is it, perhaps, by Jacques Gaultier (no relation) who was for several years a lutenist at the court of King Charles. The tablature, as it appears in Pickering seems incomplete; to remedy this I have added 5 bars of music at the end of the piece.
Sarabande (f46) [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 05
Sarabande (f46v) [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] ?Pinel Grade 05
In this case the attribution in Pickering is to the French lutenist Germain Pinel (1600 - 1661)
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L) Varietie of Lute Lessons Varietie of Lute Lessons was one of the first English printed collections of lute solos. It was compiled by Robert Dowland (son of the lutenist John Dowland) and published in 1610. More about…
Guilforde's Almaine [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Grade 08
M. Saman, his Coranto [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Grade 08
First Queen's Maske [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Grade 07
Second Queen's Maske [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Grade 07
Third Queen's Maske [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Grade 08
The mask, or masque was: “A genre of entertainment that developed in England during the 16th and 17th centuries around a masked dance. Based on allegorical or mythological themes and involving poetry, music and elaborate sets, it's finest achievement was in the court masques of the poet laureate Ben Jonson and stage architect Inigo Jones from 1605 to 1631. A lesser-noted but nonetheless important type was the theatre masque of the same period, which survived the demise of the court masque and reached its highest development in the dramas and semi-operas of the Restoration (1660–c1700), especially in the works of Dryden and Purcell.”
Lefkowitz (2001). These pieces are presumably music that was used in masques.
Volte 1 [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Grade 08
Volte 2 [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Grade 08
Volte 3 [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Grade 08
Volte 4 [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Grade 07
Volte 5 [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Grade 07
Volte 6 [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Grade 07
Volte 7 [PDF] [MIDI] [XML] Grade 07
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The Willoughby Lute Book
Alman 13 [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Anon Grade 05
This Alman, unique to the Willoughby Lute Book, is atypical in having four sections with varied repeats rather than the three more usually found.
The Anthony Pavan Anon Grade 08
3 version, Guitar [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Lute Tablature [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI]
4 version, Guitar [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI]
This piece may be by Anthony de Conti or perhaps Anthony Bassano (Ward 1992). There is an excellent (lute) recording by Paul Odette on “The Royal Lewters”, Harmonia Mundi HMU 907313. I made an initial arrangment from Ward’s grand staff transcription and then looked at the tablature, which Ward reproduces in facsimile. The piece illustrates some of the problems in transcribing lute music. The tablature is divided into sections, but not otherwise barred; the irregular lengths of the sections make it difficult to be clear what rhythm is intended, though the title 'Pavan' leads one to think that it should be four in a bar. Ward bars it mainly in 4, but with some bars in 2 and some in 6. In doing this he assumes that the scribe has made some rhythmical errors in the tablature. This is a common finding in tablature sources. Often it is possible to compare different sources of the same piece and correct errors, but this is the only known source of this piece. However the piece is written clearly and in a neat hand (even where the scribe has crowded tablature on to the end of a line) so my approach has been to assume that the scribe was being reasonably careful but that the piece is metrically irregular. As well as this, a discussion with the lutenist Lynda Sayce led me to try barring the piece in 3 and I have therefore presented versions in 3 and 4 as alternatives (including a lute tablature copy of the version in 3). The version in 3 is (to my ears) less convincing, but assumes less scribal errors. The following assumptions are made about scribal errors: 1) Version in 4: In bar 16, the note values in the short figure at the beginning of the bar are halved (by analogy with bar 22); bar 23 is taken as beginning with two quavers rather than semiquavers (notation unclear in the original); a rhythmic error is assumed in bar 32, the quaver of the second beat appearing as a crotchet in the original; bar 29 begins with 2 crotchets rather than two quavers; bar 32 ends with a crotchet - in the original this is the equivalent of a minim. It is necessary to begin first strain variation on the 4th beat of a bar, despite the first strain itself ending on beat 4. The other strains run on from each other without irregular barring, though only between the second strain and its variation is this explicitly suggested by the tablature. Wrong note in bar 24 (E in the guitar version corrected to F). 2) Version in 3: The basic structure of the piece seems to be 8 bars long, though the sections vary between 9 and 7 bars. Bar 29 is taken as ending with two quavers rather than semiquavers (notation unclear in the original). A rhythmic error is assumed in bar 32, the quaver of the second beat appearing as a crotchet in the original. A rhythmic error is assumed (minim instead of crotchet) in bar 42. Wrong note in bar 31 (E corrected to F).
Brewster's Pavan [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 08
The name Brewster’s Pavan may refer to the composer, but this is uncertain and nothing is known of his identity.
Fansie (Fantasy) [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 06
Galliard 15 [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 07
This galliard is straightforward in structure, but the required fingering is tricky in places; for example where a short phrase in G sharp major modulates to C sharp major (such as bars 15 to 16). Here the best solution seems to be a barre at 4 followed by a move to position 1. Alternatively, tune the guitar in lute tuning, with the 3rd string tuned down to F sharp.
Hall’s Galliard [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 05
Hawles galliard (in the original spelling), like the Anthony Pavan, is a piece exclusively found in the Willoughby MS where it is described as ‘set out by Richard Green’ (spelling modernised). Green was a lutenist in the household of Francis Willoughby; he was one of the scribes of the MS but it is unclear whether he was the composer of the piece.
Militis Dump In G [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 06;
in A [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 06
This Dump appears in several English lute books including the Willoughby Lute Book but the meaning of its title is obscure (?Milady’s). I initially posted a version in A, but later decided it plays better in G and I have added this version.
A New Almaine [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 06
Quando Claro, Quando Claro [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 07
This arrangement is made from a grand staff transcription in Ward (1992). The piece is unattributed in the manuscript. Craig McFeely, in her detailed work on English Lute Manuscripts Craig-McFeely (2000) lists it as by Guillaume Morlaye a French lutenist and composer born around 1510 (Dobbins 2005) but Ward distinguishes this work from a similar version by Morlaye found elsewhere and regards it as superior. It is very clearly a version of Conde Claros a ground of Spanish origin deriving from a 15th Century ballad. This is known in versions by Luys de Narvaez, Alonso Mudarra, Diego Pisador and Enrique de Valderrabano (Hudson 2005). To my ears the present version is particularly fine. It differs from Narvaez and Mudarra by being in triple time, though the Narvaez version does break into triple time for the last section. (I haven’t seen the other two versions.)
