Nicholas Erneston Music Library

I. Overview

An extremely short book comprising basic rasgueado-style music; this is the only book appearing under Monte's name alone, although he was also involved in the numerous reprints of Vero e facil modo... with Pietro Millioni (see Millioni/Monte 1637). No date is given on the title page, but Salvadori published other similar books in the 1620s and 1630s, so a tentative date of c. 1636 has been generally accepted. Note that the title page states that this book is specifically for the chitarriglia.

Title: Vago fior di virtu' dove si contiene il vero modo per sonare la chitarriglia spagnuola. (Venice: Angelo Salvadori, n.d.).

Description:
16 pp. in movable type
36 pieces
Foliation: none
Page Size -- I-Bc: 13.5 cm. (width) X 9.3 cm [pp. 5-12: 8.6 cm in height]

II. Prefatory Material

p. (1) -- VAGO FIOR DI VIRTU' DOVE SI CONTIENE IL VERO MODO PER SONARE LA CHITARRIGLIA SPAGNUOLA, Con Sonate facili per principianti, Et per chi sona bene Sonate non più viste, Raccolte da me Lodovico Monte Bolognese dalla Chitarriglia. CON LICENZA DE' SUPERIORI . . . IN VENETIA. Appresso Angelo Salvadori. [title page]

p. (2) -- Alfabetto per la Chitarriglia . . . [alfabeto given in five-line tablature, explanation of tablature; SS = "più presto" and Ron = ritornello]

[The n and q chords are not used.]

III. Notation

Tablature: Alfabeto and stroke signs only; no meter or rhythm signs, or barlines. Lower case letters except at beginning and end of pieces. "Ron" as repeat signs and "fine." "SS" = "vanno più presto" on p. 11 only.

Instrument: 5-course guitar

IV. Indices

Title information in brackets [ ] is editorial; information in parentheses

Index of Pieces (all solo guitar):

Index of Genres:

The following chart summarizes the solo guitar 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:

MONTE, Lodovico [composer]
VAGO FIOR DI VIRTU' DOVE SI CONTIENE IL VERO MODO PER SONARE LA CHITARRIGLIA SPAGNUOLA . . . Raccolte da me Lodovico Monte Bolognese dalla Chitarriglia. . . ./ p. (1) [title page]

SALVADORI, Angelo [printer]
IN VENETIA. Appresso Angelo Salvadori . . . / p. (1)

V. Bibliography

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

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 B/I/1 c.1625.12

Tyler, James, and Paul Sparks. The Guitar and Its Music: From the Renaissance to the Classical Era (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002): 86, 185.

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: clean page edges and corners; somewhat stained and mildewed but legible [except for some confusion between "c" and "e"]

Binding: red and black vertical stripes with diagonal white lines like Millioni/Monte 1647; somewhat worn, especially the spine

Manuscript additions:
Cover -- yellow tape: "AA385"; blue tape: "385"
Spine -- yellow tape: ". . . Chitarra . . ." [partly missing]

p. (1) -- top left: "5316" ink; black stamp: "ARCHIVIO MUSICALE NEL LICEO DI BOLOGNA"
p. 16 -- black stamp: "LICEO MUSICALE G.B. MARTINI BIBLIOTECA BOLOGNA"