Nicholas Erneston Music Library

I. Overview

There are several early guitar books that present the same piece in a number of tonalities. Technically, the pieces are not in different keys, but rather in one key written for guitars of 4 different tunings: a soprano (d-g-c-e'-a'), a contralto (b-e-a-c#'-f#'), a tenor (a-d-g-b-e'), and a basso (g-c-f-a-d'). When played on guitars of these tunings, the guitarists will be playing in the same tonality. Costanzo systematically presents each of the pieces at the beginning of this book in the "keys" of G, D, F, and A (major or minor), so the actual contents of the book

Title: Fior novello libro primo. (Bologna: Nicolò Tebaldini, 1627).

Description:
88 pp. in movable type
144 pieces
Foliation: ABCDE (8ff. each except D with only 4ff.)
Page Size -- I-Bc: 21.2 cm. (width) X 29.3 cm.

II. Prefatory Material

p. [1] -- FIOR NOVELLO LIBRO PRIMO Di Concerti di diverse sonate, Cinfonie, e Correnti, Da sonare con una, con due, con tre, e con quattro Chitarre alla Spagnuola, con l'alfabetto, & dichiarationi da poterle accordare, e sonare, DI FABRITIO COSTANZO NAPOLITANO. All'illustriss. Sig. & Padron Colendissimo IL SIG. CO VERGILIO MALVEZZI SENATORE DIGNISSIMO DI BOLOGNA. . . . In Bologna, Per Nicolò Tebaldini 1627, Nella Simia, Con Licenza de' superiori. [title page]

p. (2) -- [blank]

p. (3) -- Illustriss. Sig. Padron Colendiss. . . . [dedication to Vergilio Malvezzi; signed "Di Bologna il dì 12. d'Agosto 1627 . . ."]

p. (4) -- A gli studiosi di tal professione. . . . [Costanzo states that the pieces are for 1 to 4 guitarists; he also explains barre chords shifted up the neck and given numbers and differentiates between the two C minor chords L and .L. (unlike earlier books, Costanzo uses both chords in the actual pieces, with the .L. chord used more as a tonic and the L variation mainly as a iv of G minor):]

p. 5 -- [tuning for 1-4 guitars; alfabeto:] Soprano (Secondo Tuono): d-g-c-e'-a', Contralto (Terzo Tuono): b-e-a-c#'-f#', Tenor (Primo Tuono): a-d-g-b-e', and Basso (Quarto Tuono): g-c-f-a-d'

 

 

[Only the E4 chord is not used. Other chords used in the tablature:]

III. Notation

Tablature: Alfabeto, stroke, and meter signs are used, as well as barlines, but there are no rhythm signs. One of the notational characteristics of this book is that the alfabeto signs are often attached to an upstroke (apparently a convenience of the type-setter and having nothing to do with the actual performance of the music). The reader should be aware that many chords need to be moved to the left over an appropriate downstroke.

Dots beside a downstroke appear to indicate that the following upstroke should take a full beat, rather than a half beat. Slurs used below upstrokes indicate that the alfabeto chord changes on the upstroke.

Instrument: 5-course guitar

IV. Indices

Title information in brackets [ ] is editorial; information in parentheses

Index of Pieces (for 1, 2, or 4 guitars):

Notes:

1. Here begins the first of the pieces for 4 guitars in different tunings. 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.

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:

COSTANZO, Fabritio [composer]
FIOR NOVELLO LIBRO PRIMO Di Concerti . . . DI FABRITIO COSTANZO NAPOLITANO. . . . / p. (1) [title page]

[dedication signed:] Di Bologna il dì 12. d'Agosto 1627 . . . / p. (3)

Corrente di Fabritio Costanzo / pp. 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, (86), and (87)

FAGNANO, Carlo
Al Molto Illustre Sig. mio, & Padron Oservandiss. IL SIG. CARLO FAGNANO. Cinfonia detta la FAGNANA. / p. 84

GHISILIERI, Antonio
All'Illustriss. Sig. & Padron Colendiss. IL SIG. ANTONIO GHISILIERI. Gagliarda detta la Ghisiliera / p. 82

GOZZADINI, Bonifatio
Al Molt'Illust. Sig. & Padron Osservandissimo IL SIG. BONIFATIO GOZZADINI. Corrente detta la GOZADINA / p. (86)

LAZARO, Gio. Erigo
Al Mol. Illust. Sig. mio & Padron Osservandiss. IL SIG. GIO. ERIGO LAZARO. Corrente detta la LAZARA. / p. (87)

LITTA, Gieronimo
Al Molto Illustre Sig. mio, & Padron Osservandiss. IL SIG. CO. GIERONIMO LITTA. Corrente detta la LITTA / p. 84

MALVEZZI, Vergilio [dedicatee]
. . . All'Illustriss. Sig. & Padron Colendissimo IL SIG. CO VERGILIO MALVEZZI SENATORE DISNISSIMO DI BOLOGNA. / p. (1) [t.p.]

All'Illustriss. Sig. & Padron Colendissimo IL SIG. CO. VERGILIO MALVEZZI. Corrente detta la MALVEZZA / p. 80

NOGAROLLA, Lodovico
All'Illustriss. Sig. & Padron Colendiss. IL SIG. CO. LODOVICO NOGAROLLA. Corrente detta la NOGAROLLA / p. 81

RANUCCI, Gieronimo
All'Illustriss. Sig. & Padron Colendiss. IL SIG. CO. GIERONIMO RANU[C]CI. Corrente detta la RANUCCIA / p. 85

SPINOLA, Gio. Andrea
Al Molt'Illustre Sig. & Padron Osservandissimo IL SIG. GIO. ANDREA SPINOLA. Corrente detta la SPINOLA / p. (86)

TEBALDINI, Nicolò [printer]
In BOLOGNA, Per Nicolò Tebaldini 1627. Nella Simia, . . . / p. (1) [title page]

VIGNATI, Tomaso
Al Mol. Illustre Sig. & Padron Osservandiss. IL SIG. TOMASO VIGNATI. Cinfonia detta la VIGNATA. / p. 83

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).

Répertoire international des sources musicales: Einzeldrucke vor 1800. RISM A/I [C 4227

Tyler, James, and Paul Sparks. The Guitar and Its Music: From the Renaissance to the Classical Era (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002): 60, 86, 184.

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: somewhat tattered with mildewed and yellowed pages; still very legible; p. 39 torn and patched at some point

Binding: very weak; grey cardboard cover torn up to half the length of the spine; edges very worn (from flipping the book over? 4 gtr. pieces) and folded back at the corners

Pages in reversed order (misplaced): 20 19 . . . 25 24 . . . 30 29 . . .

Pages misnumbered (but in correct order): 12 13 [14] 12 . . . 36 36 [37] . . . 43 45 [44] 45 . . . 51 61 [52] 53 . . 53 55 [54] 55 . . . 56 56 [57] 58 58 [59] 60 52 [61] 62 . . . 70 74 [71] 72 73 75 [74] 75

Manuscript additions:
Cover -- tape: "Z.28 1 vol." "Costanzo Fabrizio / Fior novello / Sonate per la chitarra / Libro Primo. Bologna 1627" [ink?] ; to right: "247" [?; partially erased]

p. (1) -- blue stamp: "BIBLIOTECA DEL LICEO MUSICALE DI BOLOGNA"
p. 4 -- "Avertiscano ch[e] il 1.2.3., et 4. tuono s'intendono Tenor, Soprano, Contralto, e Basso havendo errato il Copista."

p. 13 -- l.2, m.2: C? >> B D? >> G [erased]
p. 23 -- l.7, m.2: B >> R
p. 26 -- l.9, m.3: 2 upstrokes added (4th and 6th strokes)
p. 27 -- l.1, m.3: upstroke added (4th stroke)
p. 72 -- l.5, m.1: repeat added
p. 75 -- l.2, m.2, last chord: 5 added to K
p. 82 -- l.5, m.2: repeat erased
p. 84 -- ll.2-3, m.1: repeat added
p. 85 -- l.2, m.2: H5 >> H3; l.5, m.1: repeat added; l.5, m.1: M >> M3; l.6, m.1: M3 [5?] >> M [erased]; l.7, m.1: K >> K3
p. (86) -- l.2, m.1: repeat added
p. (88) -- Black stamp: "LICEO MUSICALE G.B. MARTINI BIBLIOGRAFICO BOLOGNA"