- Home
- Lute & Guitar
- Music for the Baroque Guitar
- Abatessa c1650
Abatessa, Giovanni Battista
Ghirlanda di varii fiori,
Overo Intavolatura de Ghitarra Spagnuola. . . (c.1650)
I. Overview
This is a very short and poorly notated book for beginners from sometime around the middle of the century.
Title: Ghirlanda di varii fiori over intavolatura di ghitarra spagnuola . . . di Gio. Battista Abbatessa Bitontino. . . . (Milan: Lodovico Monza, n.d. [c1650?]).
Description:
16 pp. in movable type
14 pieces
Foliation: A [8 ff.]
Page Size -- GB-Lbl: c15.4 cm. (width) X 9.9 cm.
II. Prefatory Material
p. (1) -- GHIRLANDA DI VARII FIORI OVERO INTAVOLATURA DI GHITARRA SPAGNUOLA Dove che da se stesso ciascuno potrà imparare con grandissima facilità. DI GIO. BATTISTA ABBATESSA BITONTINO. . . . In Milano Appresso Lodovico Monza alla Piazza de'Mercanti. Con Licenza de'Superiori. [t.p.; w/ guitar and string/fret names and hand w/ finger names; slight differences in spelling/abbreviations in the US-R exemplar, which must be from a different pressing]
p. 2 -- Modo d'imparare à far le lettere dell'Alfabetto con gran facilità. [verbal alfabeto through G]
p. 3 -- [verbal alfabeto, cont.: H through P]
p. 4 -- [verbal albabeto completed; correspondence chart, see Abatessa 1635]
| + | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | [1] | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | [1] | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | [3] | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Additional Chords Used:
| Z |
|---|
| 3 |
| 5 |
| 5 |
| 5 |
| 3 |
p. 5 -- Accordarete la 5. à gusto vostro . . . [tuning; strokes; dots; dotted and doubled downstrokes; ritornelli]
III. Notation
Tablature: Alfabeto and stroke signs only; no meter or rhythm signs, or barlines (solo guitar, pp. 6-15).
Instrument: 5-course guitar
IV. Indices
Title information in brackets [ ] is editorial; information in parentheses
| Page | Title | Key | Meter |
|---|---|---|---|
| p. 6 | Tordiglione sopra la N | f | [4/4] |
| p. 6 | Ballo del Cortese sopra l'E | d | [4/4] |
| p. 7 | Moresca sopra l'O | g | [3/4] |
| p. 8 | Corrente sopra l'O | g | [3/4] |
| p. 9 | Ballo Reale | F | [4/4] |
| p. 10 | Passo, e mezzo | G | [4/4] |
| p. 12 | Pavaniglia sopra l'O | g | [4/4] |
| p. 12 | Ciaccona | F | [3/4] |
| p. 13 | Gagliarda di Trapolino | c | [3/2] |
| p. 13 | [Gagliarda di Trapolino] Secondo Tuono | d | [3/2] |
| p. 14 | Tenor di Napoli | G | [4/4] |
| p. 15 | Ballo di palazzo sopra l'A | G | [4/4] |
| p. 16 | Romanesca | g | [4/4?] |
| p. 16 | La Pugliese | d | [4/4?] |
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.
| Genres (solo guitar only): | total | major | minor | meter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| miscellaneous dances . . . (Ballo del Cortese, Ballo Reale, Tenor di Napoli, Ballo di palazzo, La Pugliese) | 5 | 3 | 2 | [4/4] |
| Galliard (Gagliarda di Trapolino) | 2 | 0 | 2 | [3/2] |
| Chaconne (Ciaccona) | 1 | 1 | 0 | [3/4] |
| Corrente | 1 | 0 | 1 | [3/4] |
| Moresca | 1 | 0 | 1 | [3/4] |
| Passamezzo (Passo, e mezzo) | 1 | 1 | 0 | [4/4] |
| Pavaniglia | 1 | 0 | 1 | [4/4] |
| Romanesca | 1 | 0 | 1 | [4/4?] |
| Tourdion (Tordiglione) | 1 | 0 | 1 | [4/4] |
| Totals: | 14 | 5 | 9 | [4/4] = 9 [3/4] = 3 [3/2] = 2 |
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.
| A major | 0 | A minor | 0 | |
| B flat major | 0 | B flat minor | 0 | |
| B major | 0 | B minor | 0 | |
| C major | 0 | C minor | 1 | |
| C sharp major | 0 | C sharp minor | 0 | |
| D major | 0 | D minor | 3 | |
| E flat major | 0 | E flat minor | 0 | |
| E major | 0 | E minor | 0 | |
| F major | 2 | F minor | 1 | |
| F sharp major | 0 | F sharp minor | 0 | |
| G major | 3 | G minor | 4 | |
| A flat major | 0 | A flat minor | 0 |
Index of Names:
ABBATESSA, Gio. Battista (Bitontino) [composer]
GHIRLANDA DI VARII FIORI OVERO INTAVOLATURA DI GHITARRA SPAGNUOLA . . . DI GIO. BATTISTA ABBATESSA BITONTINO. . . . / p. (1) [t.p.]
MONZA, Lodovico [printer]
GHIRLANDA DI VARII FIORI OVERO INTAVOLATURA DI GHITARRA SPAGNUOLA . . . In Milano Appresso Lodovico Monza alla Piazza de'Mercanti. / 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 7
Tyler, James, and Paul Sparks. The Guitar and Its Music: From the Renaissance to the Classical Era (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) 87.
Weidlich, Joseph. "Battuto Performance Practice in Early Italian Guitar Music." Journal of the Lute Society of America 11 (1978): 63-86.
VI. Exemplars
B-Br = Belgium: Bruxelles, BibliothÚque Royale Albert 1.er
Not yet visited.
GB-Lbl = Great Britain: London, The British Library (visited in 1992)
Condition: very worn page edges; darkened with stains and ink bleeding; pp. 15 and 16 very badly darkened and stained
Binding: bound w/ M/M'78: recent hard-cover; brown with gold trim; gold letters on spine: "P. MILIONI & L. MONTE COMPAGNI. / MODO D'IMPARARE LA CHITARRA. / VENETIA. 1678"
Manuscript additions:
p. (1) -- hand written note across title page scratched out (ink on ink) -- illegible red stamp: "BRITISH MUSEUM"
p. 16 -- red stamp: "29 DE [18?]63"
US-R = United States, Rochester, NY, Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester (visited in 2013)
Condition: excellent, for such a small book
Binding: modern cardboard wrapper, encased; original paper in very good condition; it must have been bound or well-cared for at some point
Manuscript additions:
front cover, ink: "M 1490 A123" [red dot across spine]
inside front cover, plate: "SIBLEY MUSICAL LIBRARY GIFT OF HIRAM W. SIBLEY / UNIVERSITAS ROCESTRIENSIS / MDCCCLI" and pencil "coll. of L.H."
title page, stamp: "252535" and pencil "Vault M 1490 A123"
p. 3, pencil: "8/3/29 Liepmannssohn M360"
p. 15, stamp: "252535"
Lute, Guitar, & Vihuela Home
Baroque Guitar Home