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Valdambrini, Ferdinando
Libro secondo d'intavolatura di chitarra a cinque ordini (1647)
I. Overview
Valdambrini's second and final tablature, closely related to the first (and bound with it in the only surviving copy). The style emphasizes the use of slurs and melody notes on top of chords, somewhat similar to that of Foscarini. The re-entrant tuning is clearly called for in the preface and in the music itself. A cycle of passacagli in the minor keys begins the book, followed by 12 capone--a rare genre of which little is known.
Title: Libro secondo d'intavolatura di chitarra a cinque ordini. (Rome: n.p., 1647).
Description:
40 pp., engraved (recto/verso)
27 pieces
Foliation: none
Page Size -- I-Rsc: 21.2 cm. (width) X 30 cm.
Engraved Plate Size -- I-Rsc: c18 cm. X 24.4 cm.
II. Prefatory Material
p. (1) -- LIBRO SECONDO D'INTAVOLATURA DI CHITARRA A CINQUE ORDINI. DI FERDINANDO VALDAMBRINI ROMANO . . . Roma con licenza de Sup. 1647 [title page]
p. (2) -- [blank]
p. 3 -- Avertimenti: [basic instructions; there is no alfabeto chart, but the following is assumed:]
| + | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | K | L | M | N | O | P | S | & |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
[Other chords used in the tablature:]
| C3 | C4 | G2 | G3 | G5 | H2 | H3 | H5 | H7 | K2 | K3 | K5 | K7 | M2 | M3 | M4 | M5 | M7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | 4 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 |
| - | - | 4 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 |
| 3? | 4? | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 |
| 4? | 5? | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 |
| 3? | 4? | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 |
| N2 | N3 | N4 | N5 | N7 | N9 | P2 | P3 | P5 | S2 | S5 | S7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 9 |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 10 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 8 |
p. 4 -- L'arpeggiare e questo essempio . . . [Examples for the arpeggios, strokes, individual notes, ornaments and slurs.]
III. Notation
Tablature: Alfabeto and Italian tablature with measure lines, meter signs (triple only), and rhythm signs. Many of the chords have single numbers on the first course attached to them, as in the following example (p. 7) from a section of the fourth toccata:
Range (highest fret used on each course):
| 5th course | 11th fret |
| 4th course | 9th fret |
| 3rd course | 9th fret |
| 2nd course | 10th fret |
| 1st course | 12th fret |
Left-hand ornaments used: arpeggio (%), slurs, trillo (..)
Instrument: 5-course guitar
IV. Indices
Title information in brackets [ ] is editorial; information in parentheses
Index of Pieces (all solo guitar):
| Page | Title | Key | Meter |
| p. 5 | Passacaglia PrimoNote 1 | c | 3/[4] |
| p. 8 | Passacaglia Secondo | g | 3/[4] |
| p. 11 | Passacaglia Terzo | d | 3/[4] |
| p. 14 | Passacaglia Quarto | a | 3/[4] |
| p. 17 | Passacaglia Quinto | e | 3/[4] |
| p. 20 | Passacaglia Sesto | c# | 3/[4] |
| p. 20 | Passacaglia Settimo | g# | 3/[4] |
| p. 21 | Passacaglia Ottavo | eb | 3/[4] |
| p. 21 | Passacaglia Nono | bb | 3/[4] |
| p. 22 | Passacaglia Decimo | f | 3/[4] |
| p. 22 | Passacaglia undecimo | f# | 3/[4] |
| p. 23 | Passacaglia Duodecimo | b | 3/[4] |
| p. 23 | Capona Prima | B | 3/[4] |
| p. 23 | Capona Seconda | E | 3/[4] |
| p. 23 | Capona terza | A | 3/[4] |
| p. 24 | Capona Quarta | D | 3/[4] |
| p. 26 | Capona Quinta | G | 3/[4] |
| p. 28 | Ciaccona | G | 3/[4] |
| p. 28 | Ciaccona | C | 3/[4] |
| p. 31 | Capona Sesta | C | 3/[4] |
| p. 32 | Capona Settima | F | 3/[4] |
| p. 33 | Ciaccona | F | 3/[4] |
| p. 33 | Capona Ottava | Bb | 3/[4] |
| p. 35 | Capona Nona | Eb | 3/[4] |
| p. 35 | Capona Decima | Ab | 3/[4] |
| p. 35 | Capona Undecima | Eb | 3/[4] |
| p. 36 | Capona duodecima | F# | 3/[4] |
| pp. 37-41 | [basso continuo treatise] | - | - |
1. Each passacaglia but the last modulates to the key of the next one. Return to text
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.
| Genres: | total | major | minor | meter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passacaglia | 12 | 0 | 12 | 3/[4] |
| miscellaneous dances (Capona) | 12 | 12 | 0 | 3/[4] |
| Chaconne (Ciaccona) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3/[4] |
| Totals: | 27 | 15 | 12 | 27 in 3/[4] |
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.
| A major | 1 | A minor | 1* | |
| B flat major | 1 | B flat minor | 1* | |
| B major | 1 | B minor | 1* | |
| C major | 2 | C minor | 1* | |
| C sharp major | 0 | C sharp minor | 1* | |
| D major | 1 | D minor | 1* | |
| E flat major | 2 | E flat minor | 1* | |
| E major | 1 | E minor | 1* | |
| F major | 2 | F minor | 1* | |
| F sharp major | 1 | F sharp minor | 1* | |
| G major | 2 | G minor | 1* | |
| A flat major | 1 | A flat minor | 1* |
Index of Names:
VALDAMBRINI, Ferdinando [composer]
LIBRO SECONDO D'INTAVOLATURA DI CHITARRA A CINQUE ORDINI DI FERDINANDO VALDAMBRINI ROMANO . . . p.(1) [title page]
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).
Répertoire international des sources musicales: Einzeldrucke vor 1800. RISM A/I [V 30
Tyler, James, and Paul Sparks. The Guitar and Its Music: From the Renaissance to the Classical Era (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002): 72-74, 88.
VI. Exemplars
I-Rsc = Italy: Roma, Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia, Biblioteca Musicale Governativa (visited in 1992)
Condition: as in 1646 with very bad tear in inner margin obscuring some music; on newer backing and rebound as before; some very blurred, spotted pages
Binding: recent blue/pink/grey marbled with white spine; bound with Valdambrini 1646
Manuscript additions:
p. (1) -- lines redone by hand; esp. "Roma con licenza de Sup. 1647"
p. (2) -- last word, after F:"oglio 4"
corrigenda in ink [by hand, brownish ink]:
p. 5 -- st. 3, last m.: 1/2 note with flag added as 3rd sign; st. 9,m. 5: downstroke added under 2-0-0-0-3 chord
p. 6 -- st. 7, m. 4: 7/1st > 6/1st
p. 7 -- st. 6, m. 2: 1/16 and 1/8 notes added (hollow)
p. 13 -- st. 6, m. 4, last bt.: slur from 0/2nd to 3
p. 16 -- st. 4, mm. 4-5, bt. 3: 1/8 note added followed by 1/2 note; 4/1st added
p. 18 -- st. 5, m. 3, & of 1: slur under 3 1/2nd; st. 7, m. 5, bt. 3: 3/2nd > 0/2nd
p. 26 -- st. 1, m. 1: 0/1st added; p. (30) -- > "20" [highlighted incorrectly?]
p. 32 -- st. 7, m. 4, last note: 3/1st added; st. 9, end: slash added
p. 33 -- st. 2, m. 6, bt. 1: 0/3rd > 2/3rd; st. 6, m. 7: 1/4 and 1/8 notes added [hollow]
p. 34 -- st. 9, m. 3, bt. 1: 3/2nd > 4/2nd; bt. 3: 2?/3rd > 3/3rd; m. 4, bt. 1: downstroke added
p. 35 -- st. 3, mm. 2-5: rhythm added; st. 6, m. 6, bt. 2: 5?/2nd > 6/2nd; st. 7, m. 5, bt. 1: downstroke added
p. 40 -- purple stamp: [ANNULLATO]
3 added folios at end
A copy is available in microfilm.
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