American Recorder
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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 (soprano wish to add to this controversy, nor to fingering=high B), which is the octave, 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 Martin Agricola 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 Renaissance 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 trumpet-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 octaves. 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 “alto 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 bass in f, tenor–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 (viola 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.