Nicholas Erneston Music Library

I. Overview

Calvi's book is clearly divided between strummed pieces in alfabeto (designed for the "chitarriglia") and the strict pizzicato style in Italian tablature, without strummed chords. The works are rather antiquated and simple for the 1640s, but are competent and fairly easy to sight read. This is a good book with which to begin reading original guitar tablature . . .

Title: Intavolatura di chitarra, e chitarriglia . . . da duo Eccellenti Professori. (Bologna: Giacomo Monti, 1646).

Description:
40 pp. in movable type
85 pieces
Foliation: ABCDE (4 ff. each)
Page Size I-Bc: 20.5 cm. (width) X 14.5 cm.; GB-Lbl (HIII 146): 20.7 cm. X 14.4 cm.; GB-Lbl (K465): 20.5 cm. X 14.8 cm.

II. Prefatory Material

p. (1) -- INTAVOLATURA / DI CHITARRA, E CHITARRIGLIA / Con le più necessarie, e facili Suonate à chi / si diletta di tal Professione. / Havute da duo Eccellenti Professori, e dedicate / ALL'ILLUSTRISSIMO SIGNORE / IL SIG. BARTOLOMEO BOLOGNINI. // In Bologna, per Giacomo Monti. 1646. Con licenza de' Superiori. [t.p.]

p. (2) -- [woodcut]

p. 3 -- ILLUSTRISS. SIGNORE / Padron Colendissimo. . . . [dedication to Bartolomeo Bolognini]

p. 4 -- [dedication finished; signed Carlo Calvi]

p. 5 -- Lo Stampatore a chi suona. Mi sono capitate le seguenti Suonate di Chitarra, e Chitarriglia, e per essere parti di due valenthuomini, non hò voluto perder questa occasione di compiacerne il tuo orecchio. Sappile aggradire, finche ne puoì prendere, accioche non le habbi à desiderare, quando non ci saranno. E voglimi bene.

Alfabeto:

 

 

Alfabeto falso:

The following chord letters are not used: C*, D*, E*, F*, H*, L*, N*, O*, and P*.

[Other chords used in the tablature:]

p. 6 -- Nelle Suonate, che hanno lettere segnate . . . [higher position chords, single note numbers on 1st only, lettere false sign . . .]

III. Notation

Tablature: Alfabeto only on pp. 7-24 ("per la Chitarriglia") with measure lines only, no meter or rhythm signs. Some single numbers used to indicate notes on the first course. Mixed tablature on pp. 25-39 (chitarra) without meter signs. Ornaments: .T. = trillo.

Range: (highest fret used on each course):

Instrument: 5-course guitar

IV. Indices

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

Index of Pieces:

 

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:

BOLOGNINI, Bartolomeo [patron]
INTAVOLATURA DI CHITARRA, E CHITARRIGLIA . . . ALL'ILLUSTRISSIMO SIGNORE IL SIG. BARTOLOMEO
BOLOGNINI. . . . / p. (1) [dedication to, pp. 3-4]

CALVI, Carlo
[dedication signed:] Carlo Calvi

MONTI, Giacomo [printer]
INTAVOLATURA DI CHITARRA, E CHITARRIGLIA . . . In Bologna, per Giacomo Monti. 1646. Con licenza de' Superiori. / 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).

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

Pinnell, Richard T. "Alternate Sources for the Printed Guitar Music of Francesco Corbetta (1615-1681)." Journal of the Lute Society of America IX (1976): 62-85.

Répertoire international des sources musicales: Einzeldrucke vor 1800. B/I/1 1646.14

Tyler, James, and Paul Sparks. The Guitar and Its Music: From the Renaissance to the Classical Era (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002): 61, 87-88.

Weidlich, Joseph. "Battuto Performance Practice in Early Italian Guitar Music." Journal of the Lute Society of America 11 (1978): 63-86.

VI. Exemplars

GB-Lbl = Great Britain: London, The British Library (visited in 1992; 2 copies)

HIRSCH III 146

Condition: Yellowed pages with some stains; no major damage; ink faded in places but fairly legible

Binding: White leather (very good shape; probably modern); black letters on spine: "INTAVOLATURA DI CHITARRA -- BOLOGNA 1646"

Manuscript additions:
Spine -- green tape: "III" and "146"
Inside front cover: white tape with double-headed bird and "GER.M.SE D'ADDA."
2 added folios at front

+f. 1v -- bibliographical information in pencil about Calvi from Eitner, Wolf, etc.
+f. 2v -- pencil: "Hirsch III.146"

p. (2) -- red stamp: "B.M. HIRSCH LIBRARY" [and pp. 6, (40)]
p. 11 -- l. 4, end, ink: barline added, "fine" crossed out
p. 22 -- l. 1, m. 6+: [illegible scribbling? rhythm signs??]; m. 7: "X" above next two mm. [?]

2 added folios at back

GB-Lbl (K4b5)

Condition: Yellowed, fairly thin paper; C fascicle very dark and stained; thinner pages with bad bleeding.
Binding: Recent brown hard cover; gold letters on spine: "Intavolatura di Chitarra"; brown tape on spine: "k4b5" [twice]

Manuscript additions:
2 added folios at front
+f. 2v -- pencil: "k4b5"

p. (1) -- pencil, crossed out: "a87"
p. (2) -- red stamp: "BRITISH MUSEUM"
p. 11 -- l. 4: HAS barline and NO "Fine" [stamped correction?]
p. 13 -- l. 3, mm. 3-4 clean: B A C / A C / d d d d / d u d d /

p. 40 -- red stamp: "BRITISH MUSEUM 14 JL [18]92" pencil[?]: "/a 91 MB"
2 added folios at end

I-Bc = Italy: Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale G. B. Martini (visited in 1991-1992)

Condition: Very ragged page edges; mildewed; extremely thin paper. Pages 7 and 8 are missing in this copy.

Binding: Recent red imitation leather hard cover with black spine.

Manuscript additions:
Cover -- blue stamp: "X196"; added folio at front
+f. 1r -- pencil: "X196"

p. (1) -- blue stamp: "BIBLIOTECA DEL LICEO MUSICALE DI BOLOGNA" [pp. 7-8 MISSING]
p. 11 -- line 5, last measure: barline added; "Fine" crossed out
p. 13 -- l. 3, m. 2: 2 downstrokes added; m. 3: A crossed out (beat 1); C added (bt. 2); C > A (bt. 3); m. 4: A > B (bt. 1);
C > G (bt. 4)

p. 40 -- black stamp: "LICEO MUSICALE G.B. MARTINI BIBLIOTECA BOLOGNA"
1 added folio at back

A facsimile is available from Studio per Edizioni Scelte (1980), but unfortunately it was made from an incomplete copy (at the I-Bc; missing pp. 7-8). The British Library has two complete copies.