Abatessa 1637

Abatessa, Giovanni Battista

Cespuglio di varii fiori,
Overo Intavolatura de Chitarra Spagnola . . . (1637)

I. Overview

This is a reprinting of Abatessa 1635.

Title: Cespuglio di varii fiori, Overo Intavolatura de Chitarra Spagnola. . . (Fiorenza: Zanobi Pignoni, 1637)

Description:
32 pp. in movable type
48 pieces; 5 songs
Foliation: none
Page Size -- I-Bc: 20.2 cm. (width) X 13.3 cm.

II. Prefatory Material

p. (1) -- [= Abatessa 1635 ecscept:] IN FIORENZA, Per Zanobi Pignoni, Nella Stamperia Vecchia. 1637. . . . [t.p.]

pp. 2-3 -- [Alfabeto chart = Abatessa 1635 but much lighter and illegible in places]

[Alfabeto (tablature and verbal explanation):]

+ABCDEFGHIKLMNOPQR
223000231013131342
202020233231110344
000222123230310[1]34
031313013223413124
030201011013343122

 

ST[T]VXYZ&ConRon
24[3]42534-3
2[2][1]4455623
4[2][1]2445645
5[2][1]2335656
45[4]2233435

 

p. 4 -- [correspondence chart A-Z = Abatessa 1635; NEW: Scale for B molle harmonized with chords:]

Scala per B molle per sonar la Chitarra:

alfabeto:GADHBEMGAPHBE
equals:FGAmBbCDmEbFGFmBbCDm
bass note:FGABbCDEFGA[b?]BbCD

[Scala per B quattro]

alfabeto:GODABEFCFDHB
equals:FGmAmGCDmEDEAmBbC
bass note:FGABCDEF#G#ABC

p. 5 -- [= Abatessa 1635 but with NEW scales:]

Altra scala per B quattro

alfabeto:ADRBEFGAIRBC
equals:GAmBCDmEFGABCD
bass note:GABCDEFGABCD

 

alfabeto:ADR&EFCFDRBC
equals:GAmBC#DmEDEAmBCD
bass note:GABC#DEF#G#ABC

III. Notation

Tablature: Alfabeto and stroke signs only; no meter or rhythm signs, or barlines (solo guitar, pp. 6-15).

Instrument: 5-course guitar

IV. Indices

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

Index of Pieces:

PageTitleKeyMeter
p. 6Passagagli per tutte le lettere dell'alfabetoG[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]C[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]D[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]a[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]d[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]E[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]F[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]Bb[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]A[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]bb[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]c[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]Eb[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]Ab[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]g[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]f[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]F#[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]B[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]E[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]Ab[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]f#[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]b[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]G[3/4]
p. 6Altri Passagaglic[3/4]
p. 6[Passagaglio]d[3/4]
p. 7Ruggiero di trè modiG[4/4]
p. 7[Ruggiero]C[4/4]
p. 7[Ruggiero]D[4/4]
p. 7Fol(lia) di quattro modiG[3/4]
p. 7[Folia]F[3/4]
p. 7[Folia]a[3/4]
p. 7[Folia]E[3/4]
p. 8Romanesca di dui (due) modig[4/4]
p. 8[Romanesca]d[4/4]
p. 8La Pugliesed[4/4?]
p. 8CanarioD[3/4]
p. 9Pavaniglia di dui modig[4/4]
p. 9[Pavaniglia]d[4/4]
p. 9Ciaccona (di dui modi)F[3/4]
p. 9Un'altra CiacconC[3/4]
p. 10Sinfonia del Grandig[4/4]
p. 11Un'altra Sinfoniag[4/4]
p. 12Corrente (Franzese) di due (dui) modig[3/4]
p. 12[Corrente]a[3/4]
p. 13Ballo di Fiorenza di tre modiG[4/4]
p. 13[Ballo di Fiorenza]C[4/4]
p. 13[Ballo di Fiorenza]D[4/4]
p. 14Ballo RealeF[4/4?]
p. 15Gagliarda FranzeseG[3/2]
 [followed by pieces for voices and 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.

Genres (solo guitar only):totalmajorminormeter
Passacaglia (Passagagli)241410[3/4]
Folia431[3/4]
Ballo del Gran Duca (Ballo di Fiorenza)330[4/4]
Ruggiero330[4/4]
Chaconne (Ciaccona)220[3/4]
miscellaneous dances . . . (Ballo Reale, La Pugliese)211[4/4?]
Corrente (Corrente Franzese)202[3/4]
Pavaniglia202[4/4]
Romanesca202[4/4]
Sinfonia (Sinfonia del Grandi)202[4/4]
Canario110[3/4]
Galliard (Gagliarda Franzese)110[3/2]
Totals:482820[3/4] = 33
[4/4] = 14
[3/2] = 1

 

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 major1* A minor3
B flat major1* B flat minor1*
B major1* B minor1*
C major4 C minor2*
C sharp major0 C sharp minor0
D major4 D minor5
E flat major1* E flat minor0
E major3 E minor0
F major4 F minor1*
F sharp major1* F sharp minor1*
G major6 G minor6
A flat major2* A flat minor0

 

Index of Names:

ABATESSA, Gio. Batista [composer]
CESPUGLIO DI VARII FIORI, Overo Intavolatura de Chitarra Spagnola. . . . DI GIO. BATISTA ABATESSA. BITONTINO. . . . / p. (1) [t.p.]

PIGNONI, Zanobi [printer]
CESPUGLIO DI VARII FIORI, Overo Intavolatura de Chitarra Spagnola. . . . IN ORVIETO, Zanobi Pignoni, 1637 . . . . / p. (1) [t.p.]

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).

Cavallini, Ivano. "Sugli improvvisatori del Cinque-Seicento: persistenze, nuovi repertori e qualche riconoscimento." Recercare: Rivista per lo studio e la pratica della musica antica 1 (1989): 23-40.

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

Lospalluti, Leonardo. "Considerazioni su Giovan Battista Abatessa e su un manoscritto per chitarra del seicento a Bitonto." Il Fronimo: Rivista trimestrale di chitarra e liuto 17: 67 (April 1989): 27-33.

Répertoire international des sources musicales: Einzeldrucke vor 1800. RISM A/I [A 5

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

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 frayed with some tears; very thin and delicate paper; some mildew damage

Binding: grey cardboard with brown stamp: "Abatessa Intavolatura di Chitarra Spagnuola. Fiorenza, 1637" ink: [city and date lighter . . . different hand?]; binding weak

Manuscript additions:
Cover -- white tape: "V28"
Spine -- blue tape: "V28"
Inside cover -- top left: "V28" ink
[+ facsimile note; inventory note: "INVENTARIO 20010/DATA gen. 1970"]

p. (1) -- top left: "1742 secondo" ink; blue stamp: "BIBLIOTECA DEL LICEO MUSICALE DI BOLOGNA" [ink at bottom; name?? illegible]
p. (32) -- black stamp: "LICEO MUSICALE G.B. MARTINI BIBLIOTECA BOLOGNA"

 

[An additional copied cited as "F-Pth" in RISM was not in the catalogues at F-Pn, where the rest of the Thibault collection is housed, nor in Musique anciennes instruments et partitions . . .]


© Copyright Gary R. Boye 1995–2024

© Copyright Gary R. Boye 1995–2022

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