Ricercare a Due Voci no. 12, Francesco Guami, 1588

[aulos43]

This form was also known as a bicinium -- "duet," usually with a didactic intent.

The Guami brothers (Francesco and Gioseffo) were active in what is now Germany and Italy in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Stumbled across the music of one of them in the 70's, probably on a recording, as I don't recall playing any of their music at that time. I was attracted to the free imitation and the transitional harmonic palette -- between modal and tonal -- a pleasant example of the incipient sound-world of the early baroque.

I've added breath marks, per my taste. All notes between rests or after a rest and before a breath mark are intended to be taken in one breath.

This is playable as a duet by intermediate-level recorder players (N.B. m. 26). I've edited it as soprano (the original "canto" part) and alto ("tenore").

Walt

Notes:
-- The original midi file, IMSLP271551-PMLP440104-Guami_12.mid, is from IMSLP and I've included full attribution in the "Song title and authors. . ." secton of the .not file.
-- The filename ending in a03p is intended for printing -- the other one has a pick-up measure to set tempo for soprano practice.
-- If I get time, I may follow up with a version showing suggested ornaments.

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[herbert]

Hi Walt,

Was this music originally written for two flutes? Are there other versions? I am always on the lookout for little known music with substance, for re-use elsewhere.

IMSLP is a good source of classical sheet music. I have used this site occasionally. I generally don’t download midi files, because they are often not true to the original music. Though this may not be a problem with IMSLP.


Cheers,

Herbert

[Sherry C]

Hi Walt,

Thanks for sharing this!

Originally Posted by aulos43

-- The filename ending in a03p is intended for printing -- the other one has a pick-up measure to set tempo for soprano practice.

Actually you don't need to do that Musician and Composer both have a "Pickup measure" feature that will play a metronome for however many pickup measures you specify before a song starts playing. You can find that in Perform/Record...Pickup Beat Options.

-- If I get time, I may follow up with a version showing suggested ornaments.

Ornaments and grace notes will actually playback during the performance as well, so you can hear what it should sound like when playing the file. That will be fun to hear - looking forward to it

ttfn,
Sherry

[Sherry C]

Hi Walt,

Forgot to mention that this is a beautiful piece! I really enjoy the interplay of rhythm and harmony. I don't play flute, but I do play tinwhistle, and this will be a fun one to practice with

ttfn,
Sherry

[aulos43]

Hello Herbert,

Thank you for your interest.

As is typical of the period, no specification is made for instrumentation (see ...title.pdf, attached). My understanding of these sorts of pieces is that they were used in training vocalists in choral organizations. Note that the presentation (see attachments) is as a part book -- this would have been the normal mode, as a reliance on scores was not yet established.

If produced in modern tuning, the as-written canto part falls in a soprano range and the tenore part, in a tenor or contralto range. Keep in mind that tunings in this era varied widely and ranged from two semitones higher to four semitones lower, approximately. In Venice, a choir may have sounded a semitone higher than modern tuning.

I also understand that vocal music was regularly appropriated for use by, as the English might have said, "divers musicall instruments," so performance on any melody instrument would seem appropriate.

The midi transcription appears faithful to the part book. M. Marc lanoiselee seems to have done a good job in this. Performance, however, would have included obligatory ornamentation at the cadences, not normally written down. I grabbed the original midi file out of laziness -- I have on other occasions posted files wholly transcribed and edited by me.

Best regards

Walt

P.S. Please use the rotate feature in the view option of the reader to see the pdf's in proper orientation, if needed.

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[aulos43]

Hi Sherry,

Two thoughts I had immediately AFTER posting the thread were:
-- There is a pickup option in the Perform -> Practice Setup, why haven't I been using that? It would save the hassle of creating two files!
-- Will anyone on this forum care for this arcane, antique sound?

I revisited the Practice Setup. I will need to tinker a bit to get it to do what I would expect -- setting the sounds for the various beat divisions in particular, but it would seem to be preferable to having two files.

And I'm so glad you appreciate the music. I love the purity of the counterpoint, the meticulous treatment of consonance and dissonance -- it seems so innocent. And the rhythmic freedom -- this is clearly from a time before the tyranny of the downbeat (especially from a post-tyranny-of-the-downbeat perspective).

BTW. I categorize the tin whistle as a fipple flute -- same family as the recorder. I own several myself.

Ciao

Walt

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[dj]

Hi, Walt:

Well, as for arcane, antique sounds, I'm a bit of an arcane antique myself, so . . .

An interesting example of a later ricercare. Are there lyrics for this? I hear it being sung in a cathedral, with lots of reverb.

Also nice use of Midi CC's to alter the standard GM voices and create new sounds from the stock ones. Outside the box thinking!

David

[herbert]

Hi Walt,

I doubt, wether the music was composed for singing. The rhythmic contents of the voices are to different to permit a common text. What do you mean by “the tyranny of the downbeat (especially from a post-tyranny-of-the-downbeat perspective)”


Hi David,

You say: “Also nice use of Midi CC's to alter the standard GM voices and create new sounds from the stock ones. Outside the box thinking!”

The files I have looked at have only straight lines for midi CC’s. I can’t hear any new sounds.


Herbert

[dj]

Hi, Herbert:

Walt made use of (if I remember as I've deleted the file) CC's 73, 91 and 92.

In particular, CC 73 (Attack time) altered the initial sound of the two voices, Clarinet and Perc Organ (again, IIRC), giving them a more "singing" quality, which is why I said I was reminded of cathedral voices.

David

[herbert]

Hi David,

I am using Composer and the Microsoft wavetable. The CC’s you mention have no effect whatsoever. I didn’t think that the Microsoft wavetable is as sophisticated. You must be using some other system.

In any case, changing CC values when driving a sample player, does not create new sounds but allows you to use a different set or sets of samples already contained in the sample player. Some CC’s may control effects or LF oscillators for vibrato control.

Cheers,

Herbert

[dj]

Hi, guys:

Well, I'm using the word "sound" in a more generic sense than being a specific voice on a synth or sampler.

Much of the perceived quality of a musical note lies in the attack phase of the envelope. Remove the attack from a piano note and it is difficult to differentiate from violin.

By slowing the attack time down, using Midi CC 73, Walt removed the initial "punch" from the clarinet and organ voices he selected, allowing them to be smoother and more vocal-esque.

The synth I was playing back on was a Yamaha XG machine, which responds to more Midi CC's than the basic Microsoft Wavetable device. Although I don't use it, I would suspect that software like Garritan would respond to most CCs.

The only thing I miss on the XG machine is portamento, which Walt also used on the Ricercare piece. I should should play it into my Korg or Oberheim and see what happens.

David

[Sherry C]

Hi guys,

Good points David - when I started digging into sound fonts I was amazed at what folks could do with the sounds based on the different MIDI ccs they used (eg. "pads", etc.). Not all libraries or sound samples or VSTis use the same ccs for the same parameters, nor do they all respond to cc's that are used for different libraries/sound samples/VSTis.

If you're into using MIDI for audio production, you've really got to know the particular controllers used for your sounds, and how to use them to achieve the desired effects.

ttfn,
Sherry

[herbert]

Hi,

Here is the problem, we don’t know what instrument library Walt has used. He might tell us.
Generally we should expect that unless the music is presented using the Microsoft wavetable, we should also be provided with a .mp3 file and some indication of the samples used. What do you think, should this not be a rule?

It is possible but not so likely that Walt and David have used identical sample libraries.

David could you please post us a .mp3 file of what you hear?


Cheers,

Herbert

[Sherry C]

Hi guys,

Well, we don't have to require sound files (and the storage space would start getting a bit much) but it is certainly nice to hear a song the way that the person creating it intends it to sound.

One way that we've accomplished that in the past is to have folks use something like DropBox, SoundCloud, SoundClick, etc, and then share the link to listen. There is a thread with links to some of these "store and share" sites at http://www.notation.com/vb-forum/showthread.php?t=3130 (please feel free to add others.)

However I also know that sometimes folks are creating a work that is intended for a live band and so don't always tweak the .not or .mid file to what they hear in their head. They annotate the score and then let the live musicians do the work. I plead guilty on that one myself

So, please do feel free to share sound files if you want/can. But don't feel obligated

ttfn,
Sherry

[aulos43]

I only have time now to post the mp3 file. I'll chime in on ictus, cc's and sound libraries, and publish a convincing case supporting it being a vocal piece, later.

Unfortunately, I am not able to produce a straight rendering of the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth on my Windows Vista laptop. I used iTunes on the exported midi file for the conversion and it has added some ambiance (at least the reverb). Not sure if it used the MS GS Synth, or supplied its own GM library.

Walt

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[aulos43]

Herbert,

"I doubt, w[h]ether the music was composed for singing. The rhythmic contents of the voices are to[o] different to permit a common text."

There is an enormous amount of music, especially before 1800, were there is not a "common text," as I take your meaning.

Attached are two bicinia, one, by Orlando di Lasso, 1577, using an actual text, and another, by Francesco Guami, 1588, shown as sung using solemnization.

I think this answers your doubt.

I enjoyed the opportunity to research this -- it's been decades since I've delved into this in depth.

Regards

Walt

PS These two examples are from a PhD thesis, "Two-part Didactic Music in Printed Italian Collections of the Renaissance and Baroque (1521-1744)," by Andrea Bornstein, found at http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/677/1/Bornstein01PhD.pdf

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[herbert]

Hi Walt,

Thank you for that. You have convinced me that the music could be sung. Looking forward to hear from you on the other matters.

Herbert