Nicholas Erneston Music Library

I. Overview

This book contains passacagli in all 24 major and minor keys and each of the other genres in the book is given in at least six different tonalities. Such clear organization by key indicates both a concern for the variety of pitches that a guitarist might encounter in accompaniment and the ability of guitarists with various sizes of instruments and tunings to play together. The first 16 pages of the only surviving copy are missing. These contain some of the more mundane pieces (passacagli, chaconnes, etc.) that are no doubt similar to others elsewhere in the repertoire.

Title: Intavolatura di sonate nuovamente tradotte sopra la Chitarra Spagnuola . . . Libro Primo . . . (Bologna: n.p. [Tebaldini?], 1639)

Description:
(4) + 84 pp. in movable type [16 pp. missing in the I:Bc copy]
96 pieces [41 missing]
Foliation: a (4 ff.) + A [missing] + BCDE (8ff. each), F (2 ff.)
Page Size I-Bc: c.15.3 cm. (width) X 10 cm.

II. Prefatory Material

f. 1r -- INTAVOLATURA Di Sonate nuovamente tradotte sopra la Chitarra Spagnuola per Agostino Trombetti Bolognese . . . Libro Primo et Secondo. Al Molt'Ill[ustr]e: Sig[no]re et P[ad]ron Oss[ervandissi]mo il Sig.re SCIPIONE GRAFFY. . . con licentia de Supior' . . . summa securitas. [title page]

f. 1v -- [blank]

f. 2r -- MOLT'ILLUST. SIGNOR, & Padron Osservandiss. . . . [dedication to Scipione Graffy]

f. 2v -- [dedication cont.; signed:] In Bologna il dì 20 Decembre 1639.

f. 3r -- AL LETTORE. [Trombetti mentions that the pieces in this book are transposed to 6 different keys; he also mentions the second book, Trombetti 1639b, and the possibility of third and fourth volumes, which apparently were never published.]

f. 3v -- Lettere dell'Alfabeto:

 

[The At, B3, Et, S, T, and Z chords are not used. Other chords used:]

f. 4r -- DICHIARATIONE [Both for primo and secondo libro; punto is held one half of a battuta (or "una botta in su"); "segni Celesti" are used as repeat signs. Also explained are numbered letters for shifted chords and corrigenda made by pen (!) by the author.]

f. 4v -- [cont.]

III. Notation

Tablature: Alfabeto and stroke signs only; no meter or rhythm signs, or barlines. Repeat signs are "celestial" signs: sun, moon, and a star, with "fine" at the end.

Instrument: 5-course guitar

IV. Indices

Title information in brackets [ ] is editorial; information in parentheses ( ) is from the table of contents.

Index of Pieces (pp. 1-16 are missing, but the pieces are listed in the table of contents):

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:

GRAFFY, Scipione [dedicatee]
Al Molt'Ill.e: Sig.re et Pron Oss.mo il Sig:re Scipione Graffy / f. 1r [t.p.]

TROMBETTI, Agostino [composer]
INTAVOLATURA Di sonate nuovamente tradotte sopra la Chitarra Spagnuola per Agostino Trombetti Bolognese . . . Libro Primo et Secondo. . . . / f. 1r [t.p.]

[dedication signed] In Bologna il dì 20. Decembre 1639 . . . / f. 2v

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 A/I [T 1272

Tyler, James, and Paul Sparks. The Guitar and Its Music: From the Renaissance to the Classical Era (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002): 87.

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: 16 pages (fascicle A) missing. Fascicle "a" torn with portions of top right and right pages missing (but no missing text); other fascicles with good page edges with some mildew. Very legible.

Binding: Light brown cardboard; large hole in upper page edges [like "a" in fascicle]; heavily taped spine.

Manuscript additions:
Cover -- white tape: "CC48/1" over "CC [...?]" in ink; "Agostino/ Trombetti/ Lib.1 e 2 /d'Intavolatura di sonate sopra la Chitarra /Spagnuola Bologna, 1639" in ink; at the bottom: "mancano carte nel 1 libro" in ink.

Spine -- blue tape: "CC48" [together w/ 2 libro in orange folder]; blank page added [loose]

f. 1r -- blue stamp: "BIBLIOTECA DEL LICEO MUSICALE DI BOLOGNA"

corrigenda [in ink]:
p. 23 -- line 2, chord 3: C d-d-u-d-d changed to d-d-u-d
p. 35 -- l. 3, ch. 6: F d-u-d-d changed to d-d-u-d; l. 4, ch. 4: I d-u-d-d changed to d-d-u-d
p. 59 -- l. 5, ch. 9: R d-d changed to d