Francesco Corbetta - the Best of All a Study of His Life and Works
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Francesco Corbetta - The Best of All A study of his life and works Monica Hall Revised Version 2020 ii Contents Section I Biography and Printed books Introduction 1-2 Chapter 1 Life 3-29 Chapter 2 De gli Scherzi Armonici (1639) 30-54 Chapter 3 Varii Capriccii per la Ghittara spagnvola (1643) 55-66 Chapter 4 Varii Scherzi di Sonate per la Chitara spagnola (1648) 67-75 Chapter 5 La Guitarre royalle (1671) 76-109 Chapter 6 La Guitarre royalle (1674) 110-118 Chapter 7 Rules for accompanying a bass line 119 1643 and 1648 119-129 1671 129-137 Vocal pieces in La guitarre royalle (1671) 137-140 Performance issues 140-144 Examples of vocal music with guitar accompaniment 145-150 Chapter 8 The method of stringing suitable for Corbetta’s music 151-159 Appendix The “Key” System used in Corbetta’s ‘La guitarre royalle’ 160-161 (1671/1674) Section II Alternative sources of his music Chapter 9 Music in alternative sources – Introduction 162-163 Chapter 10 Alternative Printed Sources – Introduction 164-174 Chapter 11 The Gallot Manuscript 175-187 Chapter 12 The Liège Manuscript 188-193 Chapter 13 Santiago de Murcia 194-195 Chapter 14 Alternative versions of pieces from La Guitarre royale (1671) 196-199 Chapter 15 A. Comparison between Corbetta1671, Gallot, Carré. 200-206 Castillion & Murcia B. Comparison between Corbetta1671, Castillion & Murcia 207-210 C-D. Parallel Transcription of the Printed Versions and the 211 Versions in GB-Ob Ms.Mus.Sch.C94 (Separately paginated) C. Staff 1-15 D. Tablature 16-32 Chapter 16 The Modena manuscripts 212-231 Chapter 17 I-Rama-A-Ms.4912 232-241 Contents 242-245 Chapter 18 Miscellaneous manuscripts 246-264 Introduction 246 Sources in French tablature 246-265 Sources in Italian tablature 266-282 iii Section III Dissonance in Corbetta’s music Chapter 19 Dissonance in Corbetta’s music 283-307 Chapter 20 Further Observations on the Gallot Manuscript 308-314 Chapter 21 Pandora’s Lyre Unpicked 315-338 Added notes 339-342 Section IV Thematic Index & Bibliography Introduction p.343-344 Thematic index p.345-365 Thematic index Appendix p.366-368 Bibliography p.369-379 Francesco Corbetta - The Best of All A study of his life and works Section I Biography and Printed books Introduction 1-2 Chapter 1 Life 3-29 Chapter 2 De gli Scherzi Armonici (1639) 30-54 Chapter 3 Varii Capriccii per la Ghittara spagnvola (1643) 55-66 Chapter 4 Varii Scherzi di Sonate per la Chitara spagnola (1648) 67-75 Chapter 5 La Guitarre royalle (1671) 76-109 Chapter 6 La Guitarre royalle (1674) 110-118 Chapter 7 Rules for accompanying a bass line 119 1643 and 1648 119-129 1671 129-137 Vocal pieces in La guitarre royalle (1671) 137-140 Performance issues 140-144 Examples of vocal music with guitar accompaniment 145-150 Chapter 8 The method of stringing suitable for Corbetta’s music 151-159 Appendix The “Key” System used in Corbetta’s ‘La guitarre royalle’ 160-161 (1671/1674) 1 Introduction In the introduction to his ‘Instruccion de musica’, printed in 1674, Gaspar Sanz refers to Francisco Corbetta as el mejor de todo – [the best of all] - and clearly his contemporaries regarded him as such. Although his music is perhaps less popular today than that of Sanz himself or Santiago de Murcia, he is undoubtedly the most significant and prolific composer for the five- course baroque guitar of the seventeenth century. Five printed books of his music survive today - De gli scherzi armonici. - Bologna: Giacomo Monti & Carlo Zennero, 1639. Varii capricii per la ghittara spagnuola. - Milan: No imprint, 1643. Varii scherzi di sonate. - Brussels: No imprint, 1648. La guitarre royalle. - Paris: Hierosme Bonneüil, 1671. La guitarre royalle. - Paris: Hierosme Bonneüil, 1674. At least three, possibly four other books may have appeared in print but are now lost. 1643-48 Published in Italy or Spain 165? Book in Italian tablature. Dedicated to the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneberg. This includes some pieces by Granata which Corbetta pirated in order to get his own back on Granata who had earlier included some of Corbetta’s pieces in one of his books. 165? Book of tablature published in Paris and possibly dedicated to the King Louis XIV. The plates were stolen and reprinted with some other pieces. This pirated edition was dedicated a un Prince estranger [to a foreign prince]. 167? Easie lessons on the guittar for young practitioners; single and some of two parts. By Seignior Francisco. Printed for Jo. Carr in the Middle Temple lane. Price 3s 3d.1 This is listed in the ‘Term Catalogue for the Michaelmas Term’, 1677. An almost unquantifiable amount of music is also attributed to him in contemporary and later manuscript sources. The only full length study of Corbetta is Richard Pinnell’s doctoral dissertation ‘The role of Francesco Corbetta (1615-1681) in the history of music for the baroque guitar’ completed in 1976 and subsequently published by UMI Research Press ca. 1980 with the title ‘Francesco Corbetta and the baroque guitar with a transcription of his works’. This covers a lot ground in a general way but is now very out of date. 1 Arber (1903) Vol. 1, p.291. 2 This study is an attempt to give a more focused account of Corbetta’s life and work. It is in four sections. Section I is an account of his life and a study of his printed books with English translations of their introduction; Section II is a study of the alternative sources of his music; Section III is a study of his musical style in particular his use of dissonance; and Section IV is a thematic index to pieces attributed to him in manuscript sources. A note on the transcription of the musical examples The method of stringing which Corbetta refers to in ‘La guitarre royalle’ (1671) and which he may well have used throughout his career had a low octave string on the fourth course and a re- entrant fifth course. Example 0.1 Corbetta’s tuning As a general rule musical examples are therefore transcribed with notes on the fifth course shown only in the upper octave. As far as possible these notes are shown with lozenge-shaped heads but it is not always practical to do this with the software being used. There are some circumstances where it is more convenient to show notes on the fifth course in the lower octave, particularly in tables of five-part chords; this is not intended to imply that this is how they would sound. Notes on the fourth course may be transcribed in the upper or lower octave, occasionally in both, depending on the context. When transcribed in the upper octave they will, wherever practical, have a lozenge-shaped head and be highlighted in blue. I have tried to include ornaments where practical especially if this has some bearing on what the examples are supposed to illustrate. The original tablature is always included so that the reader can see how the music lies on the fingerboard. 3 Chapter 1 Life Early years Unlike most composers of music for the five-course guitar, Corbetta’s life story is quite well documented. He was born in Pavia in about 1615. The legend in the border surrounding the engraved portrait of him on page 3 of his second collection of guitar music, ‘Varii capricii per la ghittara spagnuola’ printed in 1643, reads: FRANCESCO CORBETTA PAVESE ACADEM.CO TRA GL'ERRANTI DI BRESCIA IL CAPRICCIOSO Di Etta d'Anni 28. [Academician amongst the Wanderers of Brescia known as ‘Il Capriccioso’ - at the age of 28.] His name also appears as Francesco Corbetta Pavese on the title pages of his 1639 and 1648 books and his obituary states that he was born in Pavia.1 Pavia lies some twenty miles south of Milan and would have been under Spanish rule at the time when Corbetta was born. Sanseverino and Colonna both published their guitar books in Milan in the 1620s and Sfondrino also published a guitar book there in 1637. The music in these three books is in alfabeto and intended to be strummed. According to his obituary Corbetta was so attached to the guitar that his parents, who had intended him for a different profession, were unable to dissuade him from studying it. From what Corbetta himself says in the Italian preface to ‘La guitarre royalle’ (1671), it seems that he played only the guitar and may have been largely self taught. It is so obvious that the world already knows it, that I have never played this instrument [i.e. the lute], of which I do not know a single chord, and that my passion has always been for the guitar, which I play for my own pleasure. I have always had a natural talent and have never needed any help to perfect my technique.2 Unlike many of his contemporaries who published music for guitar although they were employed professionally as theorbo players, it seems that Corbetta never held a formal musical appointment. Corbetta’s first two collections of guitar music were printed in Italy, ‘De gli scherzi armonici’ in Bologna in 1639 and ‘Varii capricii per la ghittara spagnuola’ in Milan in 1643. He taught the guitar for a while in Bologna where Giovanni Battista Granata was one of his students. He mentions Granata by name in the Italian preface to ‘La guitarre royalle’ (1671) and accuses him of plagiarism. ‘De gli scherzi armonici’ was printed by the well-known printers of tablature, Giacomo Monti and Carlo Zenero. In 1646 Giacomo Monte printed another guitar book – ‘Intavolatura di chitarra, e chitarriglia’ - which is usually attributed today to Carlo Calvi, the writer of the dedication at the beginning of the book.