Nicholas Erneston Music Library

I. Overview

This is a short book of only 32 pages, much like Coriandoli 1670. While the style is conservative--complex textures and campanelle are almost totally absent--the pieces are finely crafted and of higher quality than those of Coriandoli and Pesori. There are occasional dynamic markings and brief inserted sections, such as the Alemanda on p. 14, which begins piano and contains a seven-measure section in 3/4 meter in its second half. In addition, three of the gighe are marked presto (tempo markings are rare in Italian guitar tablatures).

Title: Primi scherzi di chitarra (Bologna: Giacomo Monti, 1674).

Description:
32 pp. in movable type [title page engraved]
28 pieces
Movable Type Foliation: AB (8 ff. each)
Page Size -- I-MOe: 19.8 cm (width) X 14.2 cm
Engraved Plate Size (t.p.) -- I-MOe 17.5 cm. X 12.5 cm.

II. Prefatory Material

p. (1) -- PRIMI SCHERZI / DI CHITARRA / DI FRANCESCO ASIOLI REGGIANO / ALL'ALTEZZA SERENISSIMA / DI FRANCESCO II. D'ESTE / DUCA DI MODONA [sic], REGGIO &c. / In Bologna per Giacomo Monti 1674 con licenza / de sup.:

p. (2) -- blank

p. 3 -- ALTEZZA SERENISSIMA. . . . [dedication signed:] Francesco Asioli

p. 4 -- A' Virtuosi Professori di Chitarra . . . [reasons for printing; no technical information]

[hypothetical alfabeto chart; based on common usage:]

 

III. Notation

Tablature: Italian tablature with measure lines, meter signs, and rhythm signs. Some tempo markings:

Range (highest fret used on each course):

Left-hand ornaments used: tremolo (.T. ) and vibrato (#).

Instrument: 5-course guitar

IV. Indices

Some of the dances are grouped together by key, but there are several other independent pieces interspersed throughout the book. Minor keys predominate, with 24 of the 28 pieces. All of the pieces are preceded by the "C" meter sign, but it is obviously not appropriate when followed by a 12/8 or 3/4 time signature.

Index of Pieces:

The following chart summarizes the 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.

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:

ASIOLI, Francesco [composer]
PRIMI SCHERZI DI CHITARRA DI FRANCESCO ASIOLI REGGIANO . . . In Bologna per Giacomo Monti 1674 . . . / p. (1)

[dedication signed:] Francesco Asioli . . . / p. 3

ESTE, Francesco II d' [patron]
PRIMI SCHERZI DI CHITARRA DI FRANCESCO ASIOLI REGGIANO ALL'ALTEZZA SERENISSIMA DI FRANCESCO II. D'ESTE DUCA DI MODONA [sic], REGGIO &c. . . . / p. (1)

ALTEZZA SERENISSIMA. . . . [dedication to] / p. 3

MODIANA, Il [engaver]
Il Modiana f. / p. (1)

MONTI, Giacomo [printer]
. . . In Bologna per Giacomo Monti 1674 . . . / 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).

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 [A 2503

Tyler, James, and Paul Sparks. The Guitar and Its Music: From the Renaissance to the Classical Era (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002): 75, 89.

VI. Exemplars

I-MOe = Italy: Modena, Biblioteca Estense

Condition: page edges very good; some bleeding but fairly legible (except some very light numbers); no major damage

Binding: yellow with gold border decorations; sturdy spine. Binding has 2 small holes in outer layer of cover; 4 pieces of red fabric remain on front and back (the remnants of ties).

Manuscript additions:
Cover -- "A3 A"
Spine -- blue stamp: "R. BIBLIOTECA ESTENSE MODENA / MUS.G.8";
Inside front cover -- blue stamp: "R. BIBLIOTECA ESTENSE MODENA / MUS.G.8" strip of blue paper: "Asioli / Franc.o / Primi / Scherzi / di / Chitar- /ra. / Bol. / 1674"
3 blank folios at front (original?) and 3 in back

p. (2) -- black stamp: "BIBLIOTECA ESTENSE MODENA" [and pp. 7 and 32]

Inside back cover -- ink: "A j[?] IV 9"

Corrigenda [in dark ink, close to original]:
p. 18 -- stave 2, 1st chord: P > P5
p. 19 -- stave 1, 1st note: 0 highlighted
p. 20 -- stave 2, last chord: downstrokes and upstrokes added
p. 25 -- stave 1, 1st chord: downstroke erased for upstroke
p. 29 -- stave 1, beat 2: 2 highlighted
p. 30 -- stave 1, chord 1: downstroke erased for upstroke