Piece of the Month - December 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.

Recercata by Francesco da Milano?
A manuscript of Bavarian origin, now in Paris (Bibliothéque du Conservatoire, Ms. Réserve 429) includes seven pieces attributed to Francesco da Milano (Ness numbers 67, 87a, 88-91, and 95).  There is also a piece on f.109 headed Recercata ser zimlich which has many features of his style.  I have made many small changes, correcting obvious errors but also sometimes removing repeated notes and adding a couple of bars where needed to make musical sense.  I have listed all these changes in the commentary.  Curiously, at the end of the piece is written "176 compases" though it is in fact 195 bars long (197 in my version).

I am grateful to John Robinson for drawing my attention to this piece via his music supplement in Lute News no.88 (December 2008).  John's edition is different from mine.  He also included a Praeludium with an almost identical opening from Phalèse (Des Chansons Reduictz en Tabulature de Lut ... Livre premier, Louvain, 1545, p.6).

I've also included an addendum to the April 2008 piece of the month - another version of a piece by Francesco (Ness 75) from CH-Bu F.IX.70 - thanks again to John Robinson.

Downloads:

Recercata:  10121.ft3; 10121.tab; 10121.pdf; 10121.mp3

Fantasia: 10122.ft3; 10122.tab; 10122.pdf; 10122.mp3

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

Back to home page