t may seem unusual to start an article I in American Recorder with an apology, but such is the nature of Sylvestro Ganassi: even the mere mention of his he Ganassi name seems to court controversy at every T corner. My aim here is to present an objec- tive overview of Ganassi’s connections with the recorder in the historical as well Recorder: as the more recent sense, and to do this with as little pre-judgment as possible. I want to simply present my own findings. Separating Fact It is impossible to write about the modern history of the “Ganassi” recorder without mentioning the lengthy dispute that played out during the early 1990s in from Fiction the pages of this journal as well as in the British Recorder and Music Magazine. This affair seemed to revolve mostly around the hole—unlike the normal Baroque finger- by Adrian Brown question of who had been the first modern ing, which uses a modified third partial maker to make a recorder based on the of note III. Additionally, Ganassi gives the celebrated instrument in Vienna. I do not fingering Ø1----6- for note XIV ( wish to add to this controversy, nor to fingering=high B), which is the , or uphold the claims of any of the parties second partial, of note VII, a fingering involved, but simply to acknowledge the given first by in 1529— attention it drew to the “Ganassi” and very different from the later fingerings recorder. I have thus tried to skirt careful- described by Philibert Jambe de Fer. This article is adapted from ly around this issue, to concentrate only a lecture given by the author on the impact the published materials had The name “Ganassi” as part of the European Recorder at the time, and to leave out discussion Performance Festival, Amsterdam, relating to the question of a first maker. recorder has come to The Netherlands, in October 2004. mean an instrument It was also previously published in 2005 Introduction in German in Tibia, under the title, “Die The “Ganassi” recorder is now an estab- with a large range that ‘Ganassiflöte’ – Tatsachen und Legenden.” lished recorder type. Indeed, a quick sur- uses different fingerings vey of the catalogs of modern recorder Brown grew up in the English country makers would find few workshops that do for the high notes from town of Haslemere, a place not offer this type of instrument in various those used for the more synonymous with the recorder sizes and pitches. The instrument has standard Baroque design. since the establishment of the been used by players for many different Dolmetsch workshops there in 1919. styles of music, from Medieval estampitas He studied instrument making to contemporary electronic works. So where did this Ganassi recorder at the London College of The name “Ganassi” recorder has come from, and what sort of music might Furniture in the early 1980s, come to mean an instrument with a we expect to play on this instrument? specializing in recorders under the large range that uses different fingerings Over recent years, I have become less and supervision of Ken Collins. for the high notes from those used for the less satisfied with my own answers to Since leaving, he has been an more standard Baroque design. For many these questions. Also, there seemed to be independent producer of custom-made years, it was thought to represent a sort of a large misunderstanding among many recorders. Over the last 12 years, evolutionary link between the wide-bored of my customers and colleagues about he has conducted extensive research model and its shriller, fussier Ganassi’s treatise and about one of into surviving Renaissance recorders, Baroque counterpart. the surviving recorders in the Vienna traveling throughout Europe to measure The difference lies essentially in the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna and catalog them. He hopes one day “Ganassi” recorder’s -shaped KHM). Indeed, when I started my collabo- to have examined the nearly 200 bore and large tone-holes, which make ration with the Vienna KHM, I was surviving specimens. He is the author possible an extension of the normal constantly asked by both colleagues and of many articles on the subject and, Renaissance recorder’s range to almost players, “but did you get to play the over a five-year period, collaborated with two-and-a-half . In acoustic terms, Ganassi recorder?” the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum these high notes are achieved using dif- A recent search on the internet for preparing a new catalog of their ferent fingerings: the important note XV Ganassi gave me a host of offers for huge recorder collection. (high C, if we consider modern soprano “ recorders after Ganassi,” but fingerings) is fingered as a fourth partial of actually precious little information on He lives in Amsterdam, note I, played by covering all the tone- the man himself or about his precise link The Netherlands, with his wife, holes while leaking the occasional tone- to our “Ganassi” recorder. the recorder player Susanna Borsch.

November 2006 15 I decided to investigate the historical than for the recorder. (I am indebted It was the first treatise, trail of the “Ganassi” recorder, and to to Christian Hogrefe of the Herzog return to the book, the man, and Venice August Bibliothek for providing me with or instruction book, in of the 1530s. this information. and to Marco Tiella history to be directed at of Rovereto, Italy, for help with the The Book translation.) recorder players—and The description of Ganassi’s first Ganassi prints a number of fingering book, Opera Intitulata Fontegara, can be charts in his book, many of which concern it is quite clear, given translated as: the normal Renaissance recorder range of Oeuvre entitled ‘fontegara,’ which one octave plus a major sixth. Additional- Ganassi’s situation, that instructs in playing the recorder with all the ly, these charts are written for the three he wrote with the amateur proper art of this instrument, especially the standard sizes of recorder of that time: creation of diminutions that will be useful for in f, –alto in c, and soprano musician in mind. all wind and string instruments as in g, again mirroring both the earlier trea- well as those who practice singing. tises of Sebastian Virdung and Agricola, as (author’s emphasis) well as the later works by Jambe de Fer, It was published by Ganassi himself Zacconi and Cerone. In fact, although in Venice in 1535, when he was around Italian philosopher and amateur recorder 42 years old. The name “fontegara” is player Jerome Cardan does refer to an thought to have come from “Fontego,” additional soprano in d, we can say that a government storehouse near where all the treatises, before that of Michael Ganassi lived in Venice, and is also Praetorius in 1619, seem to suggest a possibly intended as a pun on two words: “virtual’’ recorder consort of only these fonte, a source, and gara, a course or three sizes and make no reference to the competition. larger sizes of recorder—which certainly It was the first treatise, or instruction existed from around the first quarter of the book, in history to be directed at recorder 16th century. players—and it is quite clear, given However, it is in his last three tables, Ganassi’s situation, that he wrote with which appear only to have indications for the amateur musician in mind. the alto size, that Ganassi finally stakes his Ganassi was a member of the pifferi of claim to posterity. He extends the range of the Doge of Venice, gaining his place in the instrument to over two-and-a-half 1517 to replace the recently-deceased octaves by using a variety of fingerings— contra-alto player. Like most professional some of which, to the trained eye, seem to players of that time, he would have be more dubious than others. He says as learned his music through apprenticeship an introduction to these charts: with a master, rather than via instruction Sapi lettor mio dignissimo che molti anni books or treatises. ho esperimentado el modo de sonar & The book is unusual because, unlike diletatomi di uedere & praticare con tutti li the usual encyclopedic style of most primi sonatori che a mio tempo sono stati 16th-century treatises, Ganassi’s book onde che mai ho trouato homo degno in gives detailed information about: articula- tale arte che piu dele uoce ordinarie habi tion, breath control, trills, fingerings essercitato dil che protrebono hauere agionto and, of course, diminutions, which take una de piu o due uoce onde hauendo io up more than 75% of the printed pages. essaminato tal modo ho trouato quello che One of the surviving copies in the Herzog altri non ha saputo non che in loro sia August Bibliothek Wolfsburg, Germany, ignorato tal uia ma per fatica lasciato cioe also includes a manuscript appendix in sette uoce de piu de lordinario detto dele Ganassi’s own hand, of 175 variations quali ti daro tutta la cognitione: & prima on a single cadence, prepared for an aduertisse che li flauti quali sono formadi da unnamed nobleman of Florence. The uarii maestri sono differenti luno dal altro binding, dating from the 16th century, non solo del foro ma nel compassar le uoce contains a letter from Ganassi to a certain & anchora nel uento & tali maestri alcuni “messer domenego,” the printed di loro son differenti nel cordare esse Fontegara, and the manuscript pages con- instrumento per causa del suo sonar uariado taining 175 cadences. The letter mentions luno da laltro anchora lorechio: & per tal some 300 cadences on a single subject, as differentia nasce uno uariado modo di sonar well as some rudimentary instruction for quello de uno maestro e quello de un altro & la lira (lira da braccio), and the uiola da cosi ti mostrero la uia de piu maestri per li tasti ( da gamba), so it may well be segni quelli hanno differenti li quelli segni that the cadences in this appendix were saranno dimostrati ne la figura di flauti. intended for these instruments rather

16 American Recorder [“Remember, esteemed reader, that I to me to be the weakest in this particular have worked for long years at the manner conundrum, with the argument in favor of Infuriatingly, of playing and have taken pleasure in see- the “rabbit’s feet” !! symbols being far ing the best instrumentalists of my time more plausible for this family of makers. Ganassi gives and in playing with them. But I have An interesting feature of this last table never found a virtuoso in this art who is that, in addition to the famous XV-note could play more than the ordinary notes; fingering, there is also an intriguing little indication of some could add one or two additional alternative given, which actually looks notes. Having studied this manner myself, suspiciously similar to the fingering given what players could I have found that which the others knew some 25 years later by Jambe de Fer— not how to produce, not that they were and which today would be considered unaware of this path, rather because they close to the standard “Baroque” fingering do with their had abandoned it because of its difficulty. for this note (see Figure 1 directly below). It concerns seven notes more than the seven extra notes. ordinary notes, of which I will give you a full account. It should be mentioned firstly that recorders, which are made by different master craftsmen, differ from each other, not only in their bores and in their hole positions, but also in their way of blowing. Certain craftsmen tune the instrument differently and their ear varies according to their way of playing. From such a difference is born diverse ways of playing, in the way of this or that master. I will show you the way of different crafts- men through the use of the tables, and Infuriatingly, Ganassi gives little the differences will be seen in the repre- indication of what players could do with sentation of the recorders.”] their seven extra notes. Despite all the fuss In paraphrasing this passage, it we make about these extra notes today, he seems evident that, in Ganassi’s eyes, all uses only two of them in his diminutions. recorders are made differently, and that The highest note used is note XVI, which the player needs to be flexible and have a is used only twice; the next highest, note good technique to play in tune. XV, is used only six times, and between He gives three charts involved solely them they occur in only four of the with this high register, and these are con- diminutions. veniently illustrated with the supposed It must be added that the afore- marks of three different recorder makers. mentioned appendix of 175 variations in The first, an ornamental A, was the trade- the Wolfsburg example does contain these mark of the Schnitzer family working in notes in 12 of the 175 variations, even Nuremberg and Munich, and a double A rising to a high b ' ' in one of them—but, mark also is found on a number of as mentioned, wb e cannot be sure that surviving wind instruments, including these were ever intended for the recorder. recorders. The second, a single trefoil or clover, is found on surviving recorders Deconstructing Ganassi bearing the name Hans Rauch von The instrument as we know it today first Schrattenbach, again more often as a came to prominence during the late double mark. Although we know little 1970s, when several recorder makers were about this maker, Schrattenbach is a small independently involved in their own village in the Argau region of Germany— experiments to reconstruct a recorder and, at that time, “von Schrattenbach” that could be played with Ganassi’s would not have been so much a sign of fingerings. The best-known attempts nobility as a simple indication that he were undoubtedly those conducted wasn’t living there anymore. Here, specu- independently in 1975 by both Fred lation about where he did live is rife, but Morgan and Bob Marvin. logic would suggest the more urban Morgan made his first “Ganassi” setting of nearby Ulm or Augsburg. instrument in that year, following The last chart bears a single B, up to the drawings made in Vienna a few years present time not linked to any known earlier. In his 1982 article in the journal maker or surviving instruments. Attribut- (vol. 10, no.1, pp. 14-21), ing this B mark to members of the Bassano he outlined the process of this discovery family, which has been suggested, seems and the technical criteria required by an

November 2006 17 instrument to enable it A careful reading of this statement tells to play with Ganassi’s us that Morgan never actually claimed that A careful reading of this fingerings. This article this instrument had any direct connection statement tells us that described a recorder, with Ganassi. He states that a copy made subsequently identified as from the measurements played Ganassi’s Morgan never actually SAM 135 from the Vienna note XV, but sharp. KHM collection (see Figure 2 He went on to add, “we can almost claimed that this at left, photo of SAM 135), certainly say that it was not intended by its instrument had any direct as follows: maker to play Ganassi’s new high notes.” When I first began to think However, despite his obvious reservations, connection with Ganassi. of making such an instrument a legend had been born! (at the instigation of a recorder Something of the awe accorded this It should also be remarked at this point player), I had measurements instrument at the time can be seen in the that this type of instrument is also essen- for two different g' instruments, following excerpt from an article by tially a simple recorder for the novice both in the Sammlung alter Angelo Zaniol, which was printed in maker to construct. With its cylindrical Musikinstrumente of the French, German and English magazines bore that requires the least tools, and with Kunsthistorisches Museum in during the mid 1980s. Morgan’s simple ring and two-joint Vienna, which I had obtained If this mystery has at last been solved, it is constructions—allowing the separation of on a measuring trip three or thanks to the research of Fred Morgan, the the tuning area (the body) from the four years previously. One of genial Australian recorder maker, urged on sound department (the head)—the model these has a contracting bore and does not by his friend Frans Brueggen, prince of provides the inexperienced recorder play successfully with Ganassi’s fifteenth fin- contemporary recorder players. Starting maker with hours of fun switching be- gering, but the other has a basically cylindri- from some theoretical considerations of a tween piles of used headjoints and bodies. cal bore with an expansion at the bell. The rather simple nature (but as always they At about the same time, a different voicing of this instrument is badly damaged, must be thought of and applied by someone), approach was being used by the American and I had not tried Ganassi’s fingerings on it Mr. Morgan remembered that there survived recorder maker Bob Marvin. He had as I was unaware of them when I measured it; in that inexhaustible mine, the Kunst- toured European museums in 1970 and but in the light of these fingerings the bore historisches Museum in Vienna, a Renais- apparently tested all recorders for their looked hopeful. A copy made from the meas- sance recorder in g' with a most unusual ability to play Ganassi’s high notes. urements sounded well, and certainly played bore, to which no one had paid much heed, its His subsequent groundbreaking article the fifteenth note with Ganassi’s fingering, bevel being so damaged that it could not be in the Galpin Society Journal of 1972 though really a little too high. The notes above sounded. A copy of this recorder, slightly mod- mentioned only one such candidate it were fine, and their pitch could be ified to correct certain untrue notes, proved instrument, an ivory in Paris. adjusted by small changes in fingering; but his intuition true—here indeed was the Marvin went on to construct his own there was no possibility of adjusting in this instrument so long sought. Its re-discovery is “Ganassi” recorder, working from a very way the note itself, which, even with the use memorable because this recorder, as Ganassi different angle. Rather than copying the of all the fingers, still tended to be sharp. said, is capable of truly exciting exploits. Paris instrument, he based his reconstruc- A minor modification to the length of One of the major problems with tion on the frontispiece woodcut of the the bell and the amount of flare (though Ganassi’s treatise is the lack of good book, scaling the instrument from the one thought of [this] only after due soul- translations of the Venetian dialect used in dimensions of the player’s face. searching about a possibly willful change to the original. Indeed, the only good trans- It is interesting to recall Marvin’s com- an old design) gave the note, and also the lation known to me is the recent French ments about his approach, in the spring fundamental well in tune. The original g' publication mentioned in the bibliogra- 1978 FoMRHI Quarterly (the publication instrument in Vienna is the only one I know phy, and I have found no passage in of the Fellowship of Makers & Researchers of with this bell-flared cylinder bore. Almost Fontegara that comes close to “truly of Historical Instruments). He wrote certainly (we can say from Ganassi’s state- exciting exploits.” (Apart from the passage about a theoretical “Ganassi” recorder: ments) it was not actually intended by its given earlier, there is no other mention in It seems unlikely that such a bore would maker to play Ganassi’s new high notes, but the treatise of specific instruments.) have been developed just to play the third it embodies the principle by which we However, there was another reason 8va [octave]; it would seem more likely that can now make instruments that do. The why the Vienna KHM instrument the tone quality was what was sought, with important point is that this new ‘Ganassi’ achieved so much fame. Morgan spent the upper register a serendipitous bonus. recorder has come about through an some time living in The Netherlands at Of his own instrument, which— examination primarily of Ganassi’s the beginning of the 1980s, and during despite its narrower bore and window— theoretical work, and secondarily by the his stay taught a recorder-making class at turned out to have fairly similar character- lucky discovery of this one surviving The Royal Conservatory of The Hague. istics to Morgan’s instrument, he added: instrument on which a design intended There, he generously distributed to the While the third 8va [octave] is ‘there,’ it is for a special purpose not envisaged by its many eager students a drawing of his new not easy to play, and I doubt that much 16th-century maker could be based. So this “Ganassi” instrument, which quickly satisfactory music can be made up there. new instrument is by no means a copy, achieved an immediate and thorough A player can get the notes, but to play but does derive directly from the work of circulation throughout the recorder- expressive melodies seems terribly limited the old makers. making community. by the poor response of the notes and the difficult fingering transitions.

18 American Recorder Despite the difficulties of fingering had on composers more accustomed to these third-octave notes, the booming the soft, fragile sounds of the Baroque A recent search of Walter strength of the lower notes soon sent model. In the longer term, this has meant trumpet waves throughout the recorder that the “Ganassi” recorder ironically has van Hauwe’s online world. The supremacy of Morgan’s design been used increasingly often in new was underlined by its use in recordings works. A recent search of Walter van made by Frans Brüggen and others. With Hauwe’s online catalog returned 40 catalog returned 40 the plans readily available, the “Ganassi” contemporary works written specifically recorder spread rapidly, with each maker for the “Ganassi” recorder. In many contemporary works adapting Morgan’s original design to their of these cases, even the most neutral own style. I have even seen an advertise- listener would have to conclude that the ment from the mid 1980s showing that instrument suits the piece. written specifically for there was an attempt to make the name It is surely here that the “Ganassi” “Ganassi” a registered trademark! recorder can really come into its own, with the “Ganassi” recorder. its strong, flexible sound and easily- The beginnings of dissent, produced harmonic tones, making it far but the myth continues more at home in recent works than in Privately, however, the situation was a the fast and melodic writing of an Italian little different. Murmured voices were sonata. starting to be heard at recorder festivals, as makers discussed the pros and cons of The revelation the “Ganassi” model, argued about the In 1996, the English researcher Maggie reasons why there was apparently only Kilbey (formerly Lyndon–Jones) earned one left, and shared experiences of past a traveling stipend to study and catalog museum visits. Slowly, it became evident the different !! marks found on the great that other recorders, even some of the majority of the surviving woodwind larger basset sizes, would also play with instruments from the Renaissance. In Ganassi’s fingerings. addition to the 40-odd recorders in the In Vienna, however, following remod- Vienna KHM, there are also four original eling of the instrument galleries in the cases for recorders. These rare objects early 1990s, the fame of SAM 135 was cel- (only eight of them survive worldwide) are ebrated by giving it a prominent place in highly interesting pieces in their own a new showcase of Renaissance recorders. right, because they give an indication Many recorder makers visited Vienna to of the combinations of sizes found in measure the instrument—and some near original recorder sets. disasters caused a ban to be imposed on It was while studying the remains of measuring recorders in the collection. one of these cases, inventory number Recorder players too were doing their SAM 171 (see figure 3, lid and detail of best to keep the name Ganassi in vogue. stamp), that she discovered a small !! No debut recording was complete without mark inside the lid (photo inset). This at least one Italian sonata played on either mark can by no means be considered an alto-sized instrument, or on a soprano standardized; version, which angelically played these in fact, pieces up in the musical stratosphere. her eventual Nobody seemed to question the report in the logic of playing such late pieces on an 1999 Galpin instrument purportedly dating from Society Journal almost a century earlier. What started as classified all a creative and interesting experiment soon the surviving became de facto, and “Ganassi” recorders instruments were even seen clambering into the late- into groups 17th-century repertoire—before Morgan based on the stopped the idea of a soprano version, style and preferring instead to make copies of shape of their the narwhal-tusk recorders found in stamps, and Copenhagen’s Rosenborg castle. found the Returning to the situation of the existence of 1980s, one of the most positive contribu- more than tions made by the “Ganassi” recorder was 20 different in the contemporary music field. We can styles of the Figure 3. SAM 171, well imagine the impact this instrument !! mark. lid and detail of stamp.

November 2006 19 She found that the lid stamp matched Renaissance bass in f, tenor– in c' and but without keys at the end, the pitch of the one found on the bell of SAM 135, soprano in g', what we find here is a which should be at mezzo punto and made the celebrated “Ganassi” recorder consort about a fifth higher: recorders in of boxwood. All the above instruments (see figures 4 and 5, c', g' and d'', relative to a pitch standard should be of rather solid, well-seasoned Figures detail of stamp on about a semitone higher than modern wood, and above all correctly pitched, and 4 and 5. bell). Unfortu- pitch. to have them in perfection one could SAM 135, nately, this case This small consort makes an otherwise turn to Venice to Gianetto da Bassano, detail of had been severely standard configuration for four-part music or else Gerolamo “of the instruments,” or stamp on damaged in the and would especially suit people with Francesco Fabretti and brothers, because bell. course of the 20th small hands! The tenor would play the all of them are most skilled in these kinds bass part, the alto and its partner the of instruments.”] two middle lines, and a little soprano As Peter van Heyghen has pointed out the top part. It’s rather intriguing to in his magnum opus, The Recorder Consort think of our modern “Ganassi” in the Sixteenth Century: Dealing with the recorder—far from any soloist Embarrassment of Riches, this passage is pretensions—playing the cantus interesting not only because of the indica- firmus of the tenor or alto lines of a tion of the pitch mezzo punto (evidently Renaissance vocal piece, rather than a semitone above a pitch standard the more evocative tiptoeing of the around A=440 Hz—or, in other words, 16th-notes in an Italian canzona. A=466 Hz), but also in the description of While some readers might be an eight-piece set of small, keyless incredulous at the idea of a consort recorders. In addition, there is also the comprising only small sizes, there mention of a certain “Bassano” as one of is at least supporting evidence that the Venetian makers. It is commonly this practice was not unique. In a understood that a size is the century—but, despite this, it had been Genoese document of 1592, reported largest that can be built without keys, and measured in its original condition during by Bruce Haynes in 2002 in the reference mentions tenoletti as what the 1920s and the leather sheath that once A History of Performing Pitch: The Story of would logically be the largest size. covered the outside of the tubular “A,” the following description was found: What is described here is almost construction is surprisingly still intact. E prima sei cornetti muti, tutti in una certainly a consort comprising two sets In short, it was possible to compare the cassa, di tuono di tutto punto, di legname di like the Vienna type, which could be used length of SAM 135 with the remnants of busso; sei cornetti chiari, il tuono loro ha da for eight-part double choir music. the case and to state that the “Ganassi” essere di mezzo punto giusto, tutti in una recorder had possibly once belonged to it. cassa di legname di busso, parte dritti e parte Other surviving recorders This came as a great shock to mancini; sei fiffari, il tuono loro sia di mezzo As stated earlier, in recent years a number many, including to me—finding that punto giusto, di legno di busso, tutti in una of other existing recorders have been the celebrated recorder, SAM 135, might cassa; otto flauti tutti in una cassa, le qualità found that can play at least the essential have been just part of a normal recorder loro saranno due sopranini piccoli, quattro extra notes of Ganassi’s tables. These quartet. più grossetti e due tenolotti, seguenti alli include most of the 10 surviving recorders It should be mentioned at this point quattro però senza chiave in fondo, il tuono that are stamped with the AA symbol that the case, SAM 171, has compart- loro sia di mezzo punto e di legno di busso. and therefore attributed to the Schnitzer ments for four recorders of three sizes: Tutti le detti instrumenti siano di legname family. Other recorders bearing the !! the largest corresponds to today’s tenor piuttosto massiccio secco e non fresco, di marks have also been found to produce recorder, two of the altos would have been tuono soprattutto giusti, e per averli in tutta those notes, such as the alto in Paris men- the middle sizes, and a perfezione si potrà far capo a Venezia a tioned in 1972 by Marvin. Additionally, would have completed the set. These sizes Gianetto da Bassano, o vero Gerolamo degli there are a lone tenor in Bologna, a tenor were, in standard Renaissance fashion, instrumenti, o Francesco Fabretti e fratelli, and basset in Rome, a basset in Hamburg, a fifth apart. So instead of the more usual perché tutti questi sono molto intelligenti di and another keyed tenor in Vienna plus questi instrumenti. a shorter tenor in the same collection. In [“First, six muted , together in fact, it does appear that approximately This came as a great a case, at the pitch of tutto punto, made of 12% of all surviving Renaissance recorders shock to many, boxwood; six light-colored (standard?) will play Ganassi’s high notes. cornetts, the pitch of which has to be In many cases, it might be more including to me— exactly mezzo punto, together in a case of accurate to say that the high notes can finding that the boxwood, partly (for) right-handed, partly be squeezed out of the instruments, (for) left-handed players; six , the because—as Morgan found with his copy celebrated recorder, pitch of which should be exactly mezzo of SAM 135—these notes are often far SAM 135, might have punto, made of boxwood, all in a common from perfect. This brings to mind case; eight recorders, all in a case, Ganassi’s comments in his introduction been just part of a the kinds of which will be two small to the fingering charts: “Certain craftsmen normal recorder quartet. sopraninos, four a little larger, and two tune the instrument differently and their ear , following (?) the four (previous) varies according to their way of playing.” 20 American Recorder What precisely defines a Conclusion It begs the question of “Ganassi” recorder? There seems to be little evidence to We have seen that to play Ganassi’s note support our accepted view that there was whether there was ever XV, an instrument has to be a little longer a separate type of Renaissance recorder, and a little less conical than the more made with the specific aim of increasing a separate regiment of normal Renaissance design. However, to the recorder’s upper range. That some “Ganassi” recorders .... play note XIV as 0/1-----7 or a variant, players (like Ganassi) were interested in other design criteria have to be satisfied expanding the range with some extra that seem to be of a more individual nature notes is understandable, but any direct All of the recorders mentioned above on each instrument. connection between Ganassi and the seem to have once been part of a larger By way of comparison, figure 6 below recorder SAM 135 in Vienna must remain consort, because there are often non- shows a photo of three tenor-sized pure speculation. SAM 135 was probably Ganassi sister instruments that have sur- recorders, each having the !! mark: at part of a four-recorder consort where it vived to confirm this. It begs the question right, the tenor in Vienna KHM (SAM 150) would typically have been used as one of of whether there was ever a separate regi- mentioned in the last section; in the cen- the middle voices of a four-part consort. ment of “Ganassi” recorders, lying await ter, a similar instrument (717) in Rome’s Many other recorders survive that and ready to spring into action whenever Museo degli strumenti musicali; and at share features of this instrument and the top line exceeded the gamut! Certain- left, another smaller tenor (594) in could claim to “play” Ganassi’s high-note ly there seems to be no organological Bologna’s Accademia Filarmonica. fingerings, but which almost certainly evidence for this, apart from that found in belonged to a larger consort. the field of iconography, where trumpet- The “Ganassi” recorder as we know it shaped recorder-playing nymphs and was actually “invented” in the 1970s, shepherds abound in pastoral settings. following ground-breaking research by Nevertheless, a point that was stressed several makers. The Morgan design at the 2003 Renaissance recorder sympo- became the most prominent, both sium in Utrecht, iconography is at best an through recordings and concerts by ambiguous tool in the search for hard evi- celebrated players, and due to his dence about recorders and their use. Many generous distribution of the drawing he of these “Ganassi” images appear to be of made in Vienna. It has since become a the smaller sizes, which may indicate that favored part of the modern recorder some smaller consort sizes were more player’s arsenal and has had more than often built in a trumpet-like shape than 40 pieces written specifically for it. their larger confreres. The problem here is the lack of a representative body of Postscript surviving soprano and alto recorders— In the two years that have passed since the meaning that we simply don’t have European Recorder Performance Festival, sufficient information to confirm this. I have concerned myself with answering Certainly, if we return to the issue of some of the questions that were posed SAM 135 and the four-recorder case following my lecture. Mostly these SAM 171, we can see that the most likely Figure 6, photo credits. (r) courtesy revolved around the idea of a small surviving instrument that could originally of Kunsthistoriches Museum, consort using cylindrically-bored have been the largest size of this consort, Vienna; (c) courtesy of Museo recorders for the high parts. I felt that the SAM 150, is what we might call a degli strumenti musicali, Rome; reluctance to admit to such an idea was “normal” consort tenor. It has the normal (l) photo by Marco Tiella. based mostly on our familiarity with the range of a consort recorder and was Morgan and neo-Morgan “Ganassi” altos deemed by Marvin as the best preserved Although there is a difference of a rather than any fundamental objections. of three similar instruments in Vienna, whole tone between the Bologna I resolved to make a small consort of resulting in its being the basis for most instrument and the two others, it has instruments in c', g', g' and d'' to test my Renaissance tenors made by modern been enlarged in this image to provide theories, making close copies of the makers. a proportional comparison. Vienna instruments SAM 150 and 135 for If we can accept a connection between These two last instruments can just the c' and g' recorders, and using a projec- these two surviving instruments and the about produce the high notes of tion of the latter as the basis for the tiny case, we may well have the basis of an Ganassi—but, as mentioned earlier, the d'' recorder. Of course, a lot depends upon interesting consort variation for modern Vienna SAM 150 tenor on the right the voicing of the instruments—and, makers to produce: strong, small instru- cannot. The small but distinct differences by using the information I had about the ments with wide windways, either as part between the tone-hole positions and originals, along with some ideas of my of a larger ensemble or making up their diameters, as well as the slight differences own, I managed to produce instruments own stand-alone consort. Could these in their bore profiles, are what enables that were fairly homogeneous and had less have been the sort of instruments to which the instruments in Bologna and Rome to trumpet-like qualities in their low notes. Praetorius refers in his remark, “weil play Ganassi’s high notes. I subsequently used these instruments die kleinen gar zu starck und laut schreien” There’s no magic here, but instead a in lectures given at the Royal Academy in (because the small [recorders] scream too slightly different approach to the design. London as well as the Escola Superior de strongly and loudly)? November 2006 21 responses by both players and listeners SWEETHEART were largely positive. Using this g' instru- CO. ment on the top part of a normal f, c', c', g' consort gave a pleasing variation to some Baroque Flutes: our own settings, especially where the top part per- “Sweetheart” model forms a more “guiding” melodic function Fifes, Flageolettes “Irish” Flutes & . in the music. The open-sounding notes Send for brochure and/or XII, XIII and minor XIV give an entirely antique flute list. different feel to a piece, when compared to those notes played on their more closed, 32 South Street Enfield, CT 06082 conically-bored counterparts, which often (860) 749-4494 struggle to produce these notes cleanly. [email protected] Last, some experimentation using the www.sweetheartflute.com d'' soprano on top of the normal f, c', c', g' consort in performances of Holborne’s Música in Porto, . The general tively in performances of homophonic five-part Pavans and Gaillards proved reaction was that the idea was well worth dance tunes. Experiments were also made a great success. Following Praetorius’s pursuing. Although the sound of the playing polyphonic compositions; here, instructions for dealing with such recorders is high, it has such an enchant- their suitability largely depends on the mixed-clef pieces using four sizes of ing quality that listeners were often tessitura required of each instrument— instruments a fifth apart, they brought persuaded that the instruments were particularly in the soprano part, which can new life to these well-known “standards.” lower than their actual sounding pitch. quickly become dominant if it rises above It is my wish to continue to develop These instruments have been tested in note XII (soprano fingering=high A). these instruments, which I feel have the concert situations by the ensemble Mezza- Other trials were made using these potential to change some of our more luna at both the Brügge and Utrecht festi- instruments on the top line of established ideas about the nature of the vals in 2005, where they were used effec- more “normal” consorts—and, again, Renaissance recorder consort. Ganassi: A Bibliography International Renaissance Recorder and Angelo Zaniol, “Pour chaque musique sa and Resource List Flute Consort Symposium, ed. David flûte à bec,” Flûte à bec 3/1983, no. 6 Lasocki. (Utrecht: STIMU, 2005), (1983): pp. 3-14. English version: “The The Ganassi Controversy pp. 77-98. Recorders of the Middle Ages and David Lasocki, and Richard Griscom, The David Lasocki with Adrian Brown, Renaissance (second of three parts),” Recorder. A Research and Information “Renaissance recorders and their Continuo 8, no. 1 (1984): pp. 12-15. Guide. 2nd ed. (New York and London: makers,” American Recorder, January Bob Marvin, “A Ganassi Flauto,” FoMRHI Routledge, 2003), pp. 249-53. 2006, pp. 17-29. 71, April 1978, pp. 40-46. Alec Loretto, The Ganassi Affair. Bob Marvin, “Recorders and English (Published privately). Flutes in European Collections,” Galpin The Recorder in the 17th Century Society Journal 25 (1972): pp. 30-57. Fred Morgan, “A recorder for the music Treatises Mentioned Adrian Brown, “Einblick in die Block- of J. van Eyck,” American Recorder, Martin Agricola (1529), Musica Instru- flöten des Kunsthistorischen Museums May 1984, pp. 47-49. mentalis Deutsch, Wittenberg, Germany. Wien aus der Perspektive des Block- Peter van Heyghen, “The Recorder in Philibert Jambe de Fer (1556), Epitome flötenbauers,” Die Renaissance- Italian Music 1600-1670,” The Recorder Musical, Lyons, France. blockflöten der Sammlung Alter in the 17th Century, Proceedings of the Musikinstrumente des Kunsthistorischen International Recorder Symposium, Biographical Information Museums, ed. Beatrix Darmstädter, pp. Utrecht 1993, ed. David Lasocki. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and 97-121 (Vienna: Edition Skira, 2006). (Utrecht: STIMU, 1993), pp. 3-63. Musicians, 2nd ed., s.v. “Ganassi.” David Lasocki, “Renaissance Recorder The Bassano Family Pitch Players: Who they were, where they Maggie Kilbey (ex Lyndon–Jones), Bruce Haynes, A History of Performing played, what they played, and what “A Checklist of Instruments Marked !!,” Pitch: The Story of “A” (Lanham: kinds of lives they led,” American Galpin Society Journal 52 (1999): Scarecrow Press, 2002). Recorder, March 2004, pp. 8-24. pp. 243-80. Christine Vossart. Sylvestro Ganassi: David Lasocki with Roger Prior, Performance Practice Oeuves complètes, volume 1, La Fontegara The Bassanos: Venetian Musicians Peter van Heyghen, “The Recorder (1535). Trans. Jean-Philippe Navarre. and Instrument Makers in England, Consort in the Sixteenth Century: Ed. Pierre Mardaga. (Sprimont: 1531-1665 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1995). Dealing with the Embarrassment of AMICVS, 2002). Riches,” Musiques de Joie, Proceedings Articles mentioning the of the International Renaissance Recorder Renaissance Consort Recorders “Ganassi” Recorder and Flute Consort Symposium Utrecht Adrian Brown, “An Overview of the Fred Morgan, “Making Recorders Based 2003, ed. David Lasocki. (Utrecht: Surviving Renaissance Recorders,” on Historical Models,” Early Music 10, STIMU, 2005), pp. 227-321. Musiques de Joie, Proceedings of the no.1 (1982): pp. 14-21.

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