Abatessa 1652

Abatessa, Giovanni Battista

Intessitura di varii fiori, overo intavolatura di chitarra alla spagnola . . . (1652)

Overview
Prefatory Material
Notation
Indices
Bibliography
Exemplars

I. Overview

A final short tablature from Abatessa, difficult to realize rhythmically and with confusing notation.

Title: Intessitura di varii fiori, overo intavolatura di chitarra alla spagnola . . . (Rome and Lucca: the Pieri's and Paci's, 1652).

Description:
32 pp. in movable type
26 pieces; 5 songs
Foliation: A [16 ff.]
Page Size -- I-Bc: 15.6 cm. (width) X 10.8 cm.

II. Prefatory Material

p. (1) -- INTESSITURA / DI VARII FIORI / Overo Intavolatura di Chitarra alla Spagnola. / Dove si mostra il vero modo, che ciascuno da se stesso potrà imparare con facilità il so-/nare, & accordare; con diverse Sonate e Passagagli, con alcune Villanelle, & / Ottave Siciliane esemplari da cantarsi con detta Chitara, / DI GIO. BATTISTA BADESSA BITONTINO. // IN ROME, & in LUCCA, Appresso i Pieri, e Paci, &c. MDCLII / Con Licenza de'Superiori. [t.p.]

p. (2-3) -- Avertimento per imparare tutte le Lettere con facilità. [verbal alfabeto:]

+	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	K	L	M	N	O	P
2	2	3	0	0	0	2	3	[1]	0	[1]	3	1	3	1	3
2	0	2	0	2	0	2	3	3	2	3	[1]	1	1	0	3
0	0	0	2	2	2	1	2	3	2	3	0	3	1	0	[1]
0	3	1	3	1	3	0	1	3	2	2	3	4	1	3	[1]
0	3	0	2	0	1	0	1	[1]	0	[1]	3	3	4	3	1

Q	R	S	T	V	X	Y	Z	&	Con	Ron
4	2	2	4	4	2	5	3	[4]	[1]	3
4	4	2	2	4	4	5	5	[6]	[1]	3
3	4	4	2	2	4	4	5	[6]	4	5
2	4	5	2	2	3	3	5	[6]	5	6
2	2	4	5	2	2	3	3	[4]	3	5

[The +, S, T, V, Y, and Con chords are not used.]

p. (4) -- [right hand; dots, repeat signs; harp/guitar tuning]

p. (5) -- MODO D'ACCORDARE [tuning and check]

pp. 25-32 -- AVVERTIMENTU [poem]

III. Notation

Tablature: Alfabeto and stroke signs only; no rhythm signs or barlines. Songs (pp. 17-24) are with text and alfabeto only.

Instrument: 5-course guitar

IV. Indices

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

Index of Pieces:

	Page	Title	Key	Meter
Solo Guitar:	p. 6	Passagagli	g	[3/4]
	p. 6	[Passacaglia]	C	[3/4]
	p. 6	[Passacaglia]	D	[3/4]
	p. 6	[Passacaglia]	a	[3/4]
	p. 6	[Passacaglia]	d	[3/4]
	p. 6	[Passacaglia]	E	[3/4]
	p. 6	[Passacaglia]	F	[3/4]
	p. 7	[Passacaglia]	Bb	[3/4]
	p. 7	[Passacaglia]	Eb	[3/4]
	p. 7	[Passacaglia]	Ab	[3/4]
	p. 7	[Passacaglia]	g	[3/4]
	p. 7	[Passacaglia]	f	[3/4]
	p. 7	[Passacaglia]	F#	[3/4]
	p. 7	[Passacaglia]	B	[3/4]
	p. 8	Folia	F	[3/4]
	p. 8	Altro tuono [Folia]	G	[3/4]
	p. 9	Ballo di Fiorenza	A	[4/4]
	p. 10	Mantua	d	[4/4?]
	p. 11	Sinfonia	g	[4/4?]
	p. 12	Corrente Francese	a	[3/4]
	p. 13	Ciaccona	F	[3/4]
	p. 13	Passagaglio	c	[3/4]
	p. 13	Altro Passagaglio	d	[3/4]
	p. 14	Altro Ballo di Fiorenza	G	[4/4]
	p. 15	Altra Corrente Francese	G	[3/4]
	p. 16	Ballo di Ninfe	F	[4/4?]
Songs:	p. 17	Villanella: Volgi gli'occhi sereni	d	?
	p. 18	Altra Villanella: Io sò ben che'l mio servire	d?	?
	p. 19	Villanella: Crudele che vo tù	Bb?	?
	p. 21	Altra Villanella: Fuggitiva d'amore	C	?
	p. 23	Altra Villanella: Non si può soffrir ohimè	Bb	?

Index of Genres (solo guitar only):

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):	total	major	minor	meter
Passacaglia (Passagagli, Passagaglio)	16	9	7	[3/4]
Ballo del Gran Duca (Ballo di Fiorenza)	2	2	0	[4/4]
Corrente (Corrente Francese)	2	1	1	[3/4]
Folia	2	2	0	[3/4]
miscellaneous dances . . . (Mantua, Ballo di Ninfe)	2	1	1	[4/4]
Chaconne (Ciaccona)	1	1	0	[3/4]
Sinfonia	1	0	1	[4/4]
Totals:	26	16	10	[3/4] = 21 [4/4] = 5

Index of Keys Used (solo guitar only):

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	2
B flat major	1*	B flat minor	0
B major	1*	B minor	0
C major	1*	C minor	1
C sharp major	0	C sharp minor	0
D major	1*	D minor	3
E flat major	1*	E flat minor	0
E major	1*	E minor	0
F major	4	F minor	1*
F sharp major	1*	F sharp minor	0
G major	3	G minor	3
A flat major	1*	A flat minor	0

Index of Names:

BADESSA [Abatessa], Gio. Battista Bitontino [composer]
INTESSITURA DI VARII FIORI Overo Intavolatura di Chitarra alla Spagnola. . . . DI GIO. BATTISTA BADESSA BITONTINO. . . . / p. (1) [t.p.]

PACI, -- [printers]
INTESSITURA DI VARII FIORI Overo Intavolatura di Chitarra alla Spagnola. . . . IN ROME, & in LUCCA, Appresso i Pieri, e Paci, &c. MDCLII . . . / p. (1) [t.p.]

PIERI, -- [printers]
INTESSITURA DI VARII FIORI Overo Intavolatura di Chitarra alla Spagnola. . . . IN ROME, & in LUCCA, Appresso i Pieri, e Paci, &c. MDCLII . . . / 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 6

Tyler, James, and Paul Sparks. The Guitar and Its Music: From the Renaissance to the Classical Era (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002): 59, 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: Very rough page edges; poorly cut, worn and folded corners; back pages stained and torn; fairly legible throughout but several small holes (p. 1 etc.). Page 31: upper right corner torn out and missing; p. 31 pasted onto new page which makes p. 32 illegible (4 lines of text and 3 decorative designs visible through p. 31).

Binding: Dark grey cardboard; spine almost completely torn; several loose pages.

Manuscript additions:
Cover -- white tape: "V29"; ink: "Badessa Gio. Battista / Intavolatura di chitarra alla Spagnola / Roma e Lucca, 1652"; [lower left: red star (?)]
Spine -- blue tape: "V29"
Inside cover -- top left, ink: "V29"

[Microfilm note (no. 86); Inventory: INVENTARIO 20011/DATA Gen. 1970]

p. (1) -- top left: "[1?]74[3?] p.mo"; blue stamp: "BIBLIOTECA DEL LICEO MUSICALE DI BOLOGNA"
[folios numbered in pencil on recto top right 1-16]

p. (8) -- line 4, chord 2: H4 added over Ron [?]; l. 4, ch. 3: h5 over Z [h5 = H3 = Z];
p. (9) -- l. 1, ch. 3: g4 over Q [g4 = G2 = Q]; l. 2, ch. 1: H2 over R [H2 = R]; l. 2, ch. 2: g4 over Q [g4 = Q]; l. 2, ch. 9: g4 over Q ["]; l. 3, ch. 3: h4 over R [H4 = H2 = R]; l. 3, ch. 4: 4K over X [K4 = K2 = X]; [N.B.: chords labelled by hand from upper fret number]

p. (31) -- black stamp: "LICEO MUSICALE G.B. MARTINI BIBLIOTECA BOLOGNA"

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