Pasqualini Demarzi Six Sonatas for Cetra or Kitara Doc Rossi, 18th-century Cittern Andrea Damiani, Archlute and Baroque Guitar Doc Rossi & Andrea Damiani The Instruments The cittern seems to have started life as a conscious attempt at refashioning the Classical Greek “kithara” Sonata I: Sostenuto, Aria, Minuet to Italian Renaissance taste. The Renaissance cittern had a very shallow body, tapering from the neck (4.5-6cm) to the base (2-2.5cm) and, for the most part, used a re-entrant tuning that was well-suited to The Musical Priest (trad. arr. Rossi) playing with a plectrum, and to chording. Instruments typically had from 4 to 6 courses, double- and/or triple strung, sometimes with octaves, sometimes all unisons. Arch-citterns with up to 8 extra basses also Sonata II: Moderato, Largo, Allegro, Minuet existed. Typical fingerboard string lengths were from 44cm to 60cm, although several scholars believe that a much shorter instrument also existed, more suitable for the small but demanding solo repertoire. The Rights of Man (trad. arr. Rossi) String length has a distinctive though subtle effect on sound that is easier to hear than to describe – given the same pitch, similar string tension and double-strung courses, a longer string length is somewhat Sonata III: Moderato, Largo, Grazioso softer, with a characteristic “whoosh” during position changes that can be heard on today’s Appalachian dulcimer. The re-entrant tuning necessitates almost constant position changing when playing melodies of The Fairy Hornpipe - Whisky You're the Devil (trad. arr. Rossi) any range. The combination of shallow body and longer string length gives the Renaissance cittern a bright, jangling sound, which is further emphasized when it is played with a plectrum. Sonata IV: Siciliana, Grazioso, Minuet By the middle of the 18th century there were several sizes and types of cittern, most somewhat different from the typical Renaissance instrument. As the cittern evolved, the body became deeper, The Orange Rogue (trad. arr. Rossi) eventually tapering from about 5cm at the neck to about 7cm at the base – the opposite direction from the Renaissance cittern. The instrument of the type used on this recording typically had 6 courses (4 double, Sonata V: Largo, Allegro, Minuet tuned in unisons, and 2 single basses) tuned to a major chord. The most common size had a string length of about 42cm and was pitched at C. Larger instruments had string lengths of from 46cm to 53cm and Rodney's Glory (trad. arr. Rossi) would have been pitched at A or G. There were also smaller instruments with string lengths of about 33cm, suggesting they could have been pitched higher. Again, arch-citterns, most often with 5 extra Sonata VI: Largo, Allegro, Minuet basses, were built, especially in France, as were both 5- and 7-course instruments, with various combinations of single and double courses. Instruction books specify playing with the fingers rather than Miss Hamilton (Cornelius Lyons, 1706, arr. Rossi), a plectrum. The cittern with a string length of 42cm, tuned to a C-major chord and played with the Dedicated to Mìcheàl O’Sùilleabhàin. fingers has a darker, more sonorous tone than the Renaissance cittern, with an emphasis on mid-range frequencies. It has a buzzing rather than jangling sound, without the “whoosh” typical of some other citterns. Another difference is the variety of shapes used in the 18th century; whereas the Renaissance Produced by Richard Gibson and Doc Rossi th cittern was more or less fig-shaped, a form that persisted and dominated into the 18 century and beyond, Recording engineered by Andrea Damiani many examples of 18th-century cittern can be found in the shape of a pear, a figure-eight (like the guitar), an almond (sometimes with a bowled back, like the lute and mandolin), with pointed “shoulders”, and Post-production engineering by Kevin Herring even undulating shapes resembling a cloud or shell, reminiscent of the Renaissance Orpharion and CetraCD001 © 2003 Cetra Publishing Bandora. French makers produced a number of elegant, asymmetrical instruments with extra basses, and For more information: [email protected] others with two necks – one long and one short – for tuning at two different pitches. The 18th-century cittern is also known as the “English guitar”. Why guitar and not cittern? This is not as arbitrary or confusing as it seems because the words “guitar” and “cittern” and their various spellings in other languages and dialects stem from the common root “kithara”. At the time, and often in the same publication, this instrument was called guitar, guittar, cittern, cetra, cistre, and many other The Performers spellings: in the introductory comments to his last work (1760), The Art of Playing the Guitar or Cittra (sic), Francesco Geminani referred to the cittern as “the lesser Guitar or Citera” (sic); G. B. Marella wrote for “Cetra or Guittar”; Giacomo Merchi’s op. XV is for “Chitarra”; he seems to have used this word for Doc Rossi has performed as a soloist and with various groups across North America and Europe and has the cittern and “guitarre” for the guitar proper; G. B. Noferi uses “Guittar” for op. 3, Cetre for op. 4 recorded in a variety of contexts, playing Early Music, Hawaiian Slack-key guitar and Celtic, Mexican th (duets), and “Guitar” for op. 12; David Rutherfoord’s (sic) instructions are for “Cittern or Guittar”; and of and American dance music. One of only a handful of players who specialize in the 18 -century cittern, course Demarzi’s title page reads “Six Sonatas for the Cetra or Kitara”. he is involved in recording projects and performances dedicated to 18th-century composers for plucked The adjective “English” seems to have been used in the 18th-century to distinguish the cittern- string instruments. During the 1980s Doc Rossi was resident at London's acclaimed Islington Folk Club type instrument from other types of guitar when that became necessary. The earliest occurrence that I and The Last Straw, a London club that featured less traditionally oriented acoustic music. He has have been able to find comes from colonial America: on 12 November 1764, and again on 3 August 1767, appeared at the Hudson River Revival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and the National Folk Festival ex-patriot German Jacob Trippell announced in the New York Gazette that he made and repaired “all (UK). Also a scholar, Dr. Rossi has published a modern edition of Thomas Robinson’s New Citharen sorts of [...] English and Spanish Guittars”. Others speak of Italian, French and German guitars as well, Lessons (1609), plus articles dealing with guitar and cittern history, and with Shakespeare, Brecht, and not to mention the “Italian pocket guitar”. The term “English guitar” is used today by some scholars to the Beat Generation. distinguish the 18th-century cittern from the Renaissance variety. The cittern I play on this recording was built by John Preston, who worked in London in the Andrea Damiani has performed and recorded extensively across Europe and the USA, both as soloist and second half of the 18th century. It is a typical instrument of the period, fitted with a watch-key tuning continuo player on archlute and theorbo. His passion for research on lute history and literature has led mechanism. It was restored in 1999 by Roberto Gabrielli of Rome. The top was caved in due to broken him to discover and record some previously unknown sources: J’ay pris amour, devoted to the heart- braces, and the replacement bridge was large, heavy and clumsily made. Roberto replaced the top braces shaped manuscript preserved in Pesaro, Biblioteca Oliveriana, the main early lute source before Ottaviano th and made a new, more suitable ebony bridge fitted with a bone saddle. Small openings between top and Petrucci’s prints; and Folias, containing music from 17 -century central Italian sources for archlute, sides were re-glued. An earlier and again rather clumsy repair to the top – a crack that goes with the theorbo and guitar, among them a recently found manuscript containing unknown guitar pieces by grain, about 3cm from the edge – was left as is. However, another similar crack in the top, nearer to the Giovanni Paolo Foscarini. He has also recorded a CD dedicated to Il Fronimo of Vincenzo Galilei. Mr. center, was closed. There is no rose, and instead the sound hole has been bound. Damiani has been invited to teach at several international early music courses, such as those held in Andrea plays a five-course guitar made by Parizot à Nantes in 1777, which is tuned with Chiusi della Verna, Erice, Lanciano, and by the Cini Foundation of Venice. He regularly teaches at the bordone. The archlute was made by Roman liutaio Renzo Zenobi in 2001, and is a copy of an instrument International Summer Course held in Urbino. He is Lute Instructor at the Conservatorio S. Cecilia in by Matteo Sellas. Rome, and the author of Method for Renaissance Lute, published by Ut-Orpheus. The Music Another difference between Renaissance and 18th-century citterns lies in their music. Historical questions of style aside, there is also the question of a consistently growing amateur market for whom a large amount of music was published. What the instruments have in common is that most of the pieces that have come down to us are very simple settings of popular tunes and dances of the day, often no more than the melody transposed to the most convenient key. More ambitious music for solo Renaissance cittern was and master, something that must have taken place almost daily. I had the pleasure of studying with written by Paolo Virchi, Anthony Holborne and Thomas Robinson; there is a small body of ensemble Andrea for several years – his guidance and encouragement have been invaluable, as is his artistic music in which the cittern plays an accompanying role, and there are also some duets.