Nicholas Erneston Music Library

I. Overview

Colonna's third guitar tablature repeats material from Colonna 1620a in addition to 15 new pieces. Of the new pieces, 6 are found only in this book (see index).

Title: Il terzo libro de intavolatura di chitarra alla spagnuola. (Milan: heirs of Gio. Battista Colonna, 1623)

Description:
62 pp. in movable type
150 pieces
Foliation: + (4ff.) ABC (8 ff.) D (4 ff..)
Page Size -- I-Bc: 16.1 cm. (width) X 21 cm.

II. Prefatory Material

f. 1r -- IL TERZO LIBRO DE INTAVOLATURA [t.p. ]

f. 1v -- [blank]

f. 2r -- All'Illust.mo & Eccellentiss.mo . . . THEODORO TRIVULTIO . . . [dedication]

f. 2v -- [dedication printed:] Dalla Stampa alli 27. Febraro 1623 . . .

f. 3r -- SONETTO All'Illustrissimo . . . PRENCIPE TRIVULTIO. Del Signor Brunorio Taverna . . . [poem]

f. 3v -- ALL'AUTTORE MADRIGALE Dell'Istesso . . . [poem]

f. 4r -- SIGNORI SCOLARI . . . [introduction to 3rd book; see preface of 1st book for rules: Colonna 1620b]

f. 4v -- [alfabeto chart]:

 

 

 

[All chords are used, but the following are only used in the passacagli: G3, H5, K, S, T, Y, Z and the chords on the symbols Con, Ron, &, *]

[Other chords used in the tablature:]

III. Notation

Tablature: Alfabeto, stroke, and rhythm signs are used, but meter signs occur inconsistently and there are no barlines. Triple meter pieces are marked "3"; while no other meter sign is used.

Instrument: 5-course guitar

IV. Indices

Many of these pieces are from Colonna's first three books and many more are reprinted in his last book (see the last column). Title information in brackets [ ] is editorial; information in parentheses ( ) is from the table of contents.

Index of Pieces (all for solo guitar):

Notes:

1. The 26 short, four-measure passacagli are in the following keys: G, C, D, Am, Dm, E, F, Bb, A, Bbm, Cm, Eb, Ab, Gm, Fm, F#, B, E, A, F#m, Bm, G, C, C#, Em, F. They are used to teach the various letters of the alfabeto, therefore several keys are given more than once and not all major and minor keys are used. Return to text

The following chart summarizes the contents of the book by genre. Major genres are given by the form used in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2d ed., with the forms actually used in the book in parentheses. Lesser known titles are grouped under "miscellaneous dances" and "songs." Rhythmic variations and rotte are considered part of the main work.

 

 

Index of Keys Used:

Keys used in the book; an * indicates that the key is only used in a passacaglia. Note that the pitch is relative and that since the guitarist was using tablature, there was no need to think in terms of traditional key signatures.

 

Index of Names:

CARAVAGGIO, Paolo Antonio
Aria. Al Molt'Illustre Signore il Signor Paolo Antonio Caravaggio / p. 51

COLONNA, Gio. Ambrosio [composer]
. . . Da Gio. Ambrosio Colonna novamente dato in luce . . . / f. 1r (t.p. )

[Dedication signed 2/27/1623, n.p. ] / f. 2v

. . . Questa Colonna in frà . . . [poem] / f. 3r

COLONNA, Gio. Battista [printer]
Ne la Stampa dell her. di Gio. Battista Colonna . . . / f. 1r

LONATO, Rocho
Aria de Passacallo. All'Illustre Signor Rocho Lonato / p. 52

REVERTA, Costanzo
Nizarda. Al Molt'Illustre Signore il Signor Costanzo Reverta / p. 50

RICARDO, Francesco
Corrente. All'Illustre Signor il Signor Francesco Ricardo / p. 48

SANAZARDO, D. Giovanni and D. Lorenzo
Capriccio. All'Illustriss. Signori Fratelli li Signori D. Giovanni, e D. Lorenzo Sanazaro / p. 45

SIRTERO, Carlo
Aria de Passacallo. Al Molt'Illustre Signore il Signor Carlo Sirtero / p. 49

TAVERNA, Brunorio [poet]
SONETTO All'Illustrissimo, & Eccellentissimo Signor PRENCIPE TRIVULTIO Del Signor Brunorio Taverna / f. 3r

ALL'AUTTORE MADRIGALE Dell'Istesso / f. 3v

TRIVULTIO, Alfonso
Sinfonia. All'Illustriss. Sig. mio patrone osservandiss. il Sig. Conte Alfonso Trivultio / p. 44

TRIVULTIO, Theodoro
All'Illustriss.mo & Eccellentiss.mo Signore il Signor Prencipe Theodoro Trivultio / f. 1r [t.p. ]

All'Illust.mo, & Eccellentiss.mo Sign.re & Padrone Colendiss.mo Il Signor Theodoro Trivultio Prencipe di Misocco, della Valle Misoncina, & del Sacro Romano Imperio, Conte di Melzo, di Gorgonzola & Signor di Cotogno, e di Venzaghello, &c. / f. 2r

SONETTO All'Illustrissimo, & Eccellentissimo Signor PRENCIPE TRIVULTIO Del Signor Brunoio Taverna / f. 3r

VISCONTE, Carlo
Corrente. All'Illustriss. Signore il Signor Co. Carlo Visconte / p. 47

VISCONTE, Galeazzo, e Francesco
Aria Napolitana. All'Illustriss. Signori Fratelli li Signori Galeazzo, e Francesco Visconte / p. 46

V. Bibliography

Boye, Gary R. "Giovanni Battista Granata and the Development of Printed Guitar Music in Seventeenth-Century Italy" (diss., Duke Univeristy, 1995).

Boye, Gary R. "Performing Seventeenth-Century Italian Guitar Music: the Question of an Appropriate Stringing" in Performance on Lute, Guitar and Vihuela: Historical Practice and Modern Interpretation, ed. V.A. Coelho (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).

Hudson, Richard. Passacaglio and Ciaccona: From Guitar Music to Italian Keyboard Variations in the 17th Century (Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1981).

Répertoire international des sources musicales: Einzeldrucke vor 1800. RISM A/I [C 3456

Tyler, James, and Paul Sparks. The Guitar and Its Music: From the Renaissance to the Classical Era (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002): 43, 80.

Weidlich, Joseph. "Battuto Performance Practice in Early Italian Guitar Music." Journal of the Lute Society of America 11 (1978): 63-86.

VI. Exemplars

I-Bc = Italy: Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale G. B. Martini (visited in 1991-1992)

Condition: page edges very worn with some dark stains around border; fairly thick pages; very legible but some bleed through.

Binding: dark grey cardboard -- tattered and worn; brittle spine

Manuscript additions:
Cover: "Y144 / Colonna Gio. Ambrosio / Il terzo libro de Intavolatura di Chitarra alla spagnola. Milano, 1623" [ink]
Spine: "Y144" [blue tape covered by white tape]

f. 1r [top right]: "HO: [?] 3731" [ink] "BIBLIOTECA DEL LICEO MUSICALE DI BOLOGNA" [blue stamp]
f. 2r: "BIBLIOTECA DEL LICEO MUSICALE DI BOLOGNA" [blue stamp]

[no corrigenda in text]
p. (55): "LICEO MUSICALE G.B. MARTINI BIBLIOTECA BOLOGNA" [black stamp]

A copy is available in microfilm.