Piece of the Month - November 2010

Any suggestions, corrections or other comments will be most welcome: just email martin@luteshop.co.uk.  Downloadable files are provided in Fronimo, Tab and PDF.  To hear my own recording of one or more of the pieces just click on the MP3 files.

Rogero
Rogero or Ruggiero is an Italian ground bass which was popular from at least the middle of the 16th century (and on into the 17th) as a basis for sets of variations and songs.  There are several versions for solo lute in English manuscripts, of which two are presented here.  A duet treble by John Johnson is in Dd.3.18 (f.1) and can be found in Jan Burgers'  John Johnson: Collected Lute Music (Tree edition, Lübeck, 2001) together with a reconstructed ground. Another duet treble is in the Marsh lute book on page 39, immediately following the solo - I have reconstructed a simple ground.

Downloads:

[Rogero] (Marsh lute book, p.38):  10111.ft3; 10111.tab; 10111.pdf; 10111.mp3
This version, though anonymous, has some features which I associate with John Johnson.

 Rogero (Board lute book, f.2): 10112.ft3; 10112.tab; 10112.pdf; 10112.mp3
 A very similar text is found in the Sampson Lute book, f.3v.

[Rogero -  treble and reconstructed ground] (Marsh lute book, p.39):  10113.ft3; 10113.tab; 10113.pdf

Previous articles can be found in the Piece of the Month Archive.  To download the latest version of Fronimo go to the Fronimo Users Group site. 

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