Nicholas Erneston Music Library

I. Overview

This is the first edition of the most frequently reprinted guitar book of the era. Ten of the pieces are taken directly from Millioni 1627a, two from Millioni 1627c, six from Millioni 1631, and ten appear new to the book (see index). Four more pieces seem closely related to earlier works, but contain expansion or variation.

Millioni and Monte's little book went through an amazing number of editions, last appearing in 1737. For all of its publishing history, it is a poor book with which to approach the repertoire and the later the edition the more unreliable the printing became. The later books often have very poor stroke alignment and many errors. Most are identical to this edition, but the editions of c.1640 and 1644 have substantial new material. See:

Millioni/Monte c. 1640
Millioni/Monte 1644
Millioni/Monte 1647
Millioni/Monte 1652
Millioni/Monte 1666
Millioni/Monte 1673a
Millioni/Monte 1673b
Millioni/Monte 1678
Millioni/Monte 1684
Millioni/Monte 1737

Title: Vero e facil modo d'imparare a sonare, et accordare da se medesimo (Rome/Macerata: Heirs of Salvioni & Agostino Grisei, 1637)

Description:
32 pp. in movable type
32 pieces
Foliation: AB (8 ff. each)
Page Size -- GB-Lbl: 15.1 cm. (width) X 9.4 cm.

II. Prefatory Material

p. (1) -- VERO / E FACIL MODO D'IMPARARE / A SONARE, ET ACCORDARE DA SE MEDESIMO / La Chitarra Spagnuola, non solo con l'Alfabeto, & accordatura / ordinarij, ma anco con un'altro Alfabeto, & accordatura / straordinarij, nuovamente inventati. / DA PIETRO MILIONI, ET LODOVICO MONTE COMPAGNI. / Con una Regola per imparare il modo d'accordare sei Chitarre, per po/terle sonare insieme in concerto, ciaschuna per differente chiave. / IN ROMa, e di Nuovo In MACERATA, Appresso gli Heredi del Salvioni, & / Agostino Grisei. M.DC.XXXVII. Con licenza de'Superiori. [title page]

p. 2 -- [hand with fingers labelled: "POLICE, INDICE, MEDIO, ANELARE, AURICU."]

p. 3 -- DICHIARATIONE. Volendo dunque da se medesimo imparare à sonare . . . [Verbal alfabeto]

p. 4 -- [alfabeto cont.: D E F G H I K L]

p. 5 -- [alfabeto cont.: M N O P G2(Q) H2(R) K2(X) P2(V)]

p. 6 -- Alfabeto Straordinario nuovamente inventato. [alfabeto w/ alternate tuning: + A B C D E F G]

p. 7 -- [alfabeto straordinario, cont. H I K L M N O P]

p. 8 -- Quando sarà posto a memoria uno della retroscritti Alfabeti . . . [up and downstrokes, one and two dots (hold a little), flowers for repeats, "ordinary" tuning]

p. 9 -- ["extraordinary" tuning: A-c#-f#-c-e']

p. 10 -- Regola per imparare il modo d'accordare sei Chitarre . . . [tuning of 6 guitars at different pitches]

[Alfabeto:]

[The K, P, Q, R, V, and X chords are not used.]

[Alfabeto Straordinario: works with same pieces as normal alfabeto, but with A-c#-f#-c-e' tuning:]

III. Notation

Tablature: Alfabeto and stroke signs only; no meter or rhythm signs, or barlines. Repeat signs are a flower symbol and the end is marked "fine."

Instrument: 5-course guitar

IV. Indices

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

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:

GRISEI, Agostino [printer]
IN ROMa, e di Nuovo In MACERATA, Appresso gli Heredi del Salvioni, &

GRISEI, Salvioni [printer]
IN ROMa, e di Nuovo In MACERATA, Appresso gli Heredi del Salvioni, &

MILLIONI, Pietro
VERO E FACIL MODO D'IMPARARE A SONARE . . . DA PIETRO MILIONI, ET LODOVICO MONTE COMPAGNI. . . / p. (1)

MONTE, Lodovico
VERO E FACIL MODO D'IMPARARE A SONARE . . . DA PIETRO MILIONI, ET LODOVICO MONTE COMPAGNI. . . / 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).

________. "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).

________. "The Case of the Purloined Letter Tablature: The 17th-Century Guitar Books of Foriano Pico and Pietro Millioni." Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music 11:1 (2005).

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 B/VI/2 p. 585

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

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)

Condition: mildew spots and stain damage -- page edges folded and roughly cut (most similar to Millioni/Monte 1647 in variations)

Binding: recent marroon hard cover with gold letters on spine "L. MONTE COMPAGNI. / MODO D'IMPARARE LA CHITARRA. 1637"

Manuscript additions:
Spine -- brown tape: "K4" and "a11"
2 added folios in front:
+f. 2v -- "k4 a [b crossed out] 11" pencil

p. (1) -- "k1 a.b." crosssed out; pencil "k4.a.11." pencil
p. 2 Red Stamp: "BRITISH MUSEUM"
p. 17 -- "17" added in ink
p. 32 -- Red Stamp: "BRITISH MUSEUM 10 JY 84"

15 blank folios added at back (recent)
1 folio added at end (with binding)