(From WGS Newsletter No. 62, December 2002) "Summerset Follies" is a set of variations on a famous melody called "La Folia" (the folly, or fool). "La Folia" has been used by many composers since the 17th century "as a theme for continuous variations, similar in form and treatment to the chaconne and passacaglia" (Harvard Brief Dictionary of Music). There is a very impressive website devoted just to musical works based on the folia theme. It's called "La Folia, a musical cathedral (1672-2002)", and I hope it's as easy to find when you read this as it was in 2002. Baroque guitarists included early versions of the folia in their tablature books. In fact, Francesco Corbetta's version in his 1671 book had several important features which became part of the standardized "later folia" which is the familiar tune that Duarte and many others have set. The first setting of the "later folia" was by Jean-Baptiste Lully in 1672. I've included a folia by Gaspar Sanz in this newsletter, although it's not the later folia. It's from his Instruccion de Musica sobre la Guitarra Espanola, the second of the three volumes, dated 1675 (I think). You have three choices: play from Sanz's tablature; play from the modern tablature which is completely faithful to Sanz's; or play a transcription in music notation. There's one in a highly-recommended anthology called Easy Classics For Guitar, edited by David Nadal, published by Dover, 2000. "Folias" by Gaspar Sanz (original and modern tablature) (pdf) It seems that Sanz played a guitar without bass strings - both strings of the 4th and 5th pairs were tuned to the higher octave. Gaspar, you hadda be nuts! Your music sounds great with bass notes! Anyhow, I'll bet not many of the 17th C. guitarists who bought your book restrung their guitars like that. Still, the modern performer should consider adding or substituting the higher octave wherever he sees a 4th or 5th string note. Let me call your attention to the first beats in these measures: m35, m37, m39, m41, m43 and m45 - but you be the judge of what sounds good. Other guitar composers have jumped on the Folia bandwagon. Fernando Sor did it in his Op. 15; Mauro Giuliani got around to it in his Op. 45. If you want another nice baroque guitar example, you can get to it from my page devoted to Francisco Guerau. Here's a direct link to his "Folio" for modern guitar, with octave notes added where it seemed right. Explanation of ornament symbols in the tablature: = trill (starts on higher neighbor). ^ at foot of fret number = mordent (main note to lower neighbor and back up.) # = vibrato. Sanz's instruction, "Esta Glosada Toda se Corre" at measure 50 means to play fast: "This whole gloss (variation) races."
(From WGS Newsletter No. 63, March 2003) Dang groundhog. Looks like Phil and his shadow were right - six more weeks of this winter mess. On the evening of the February 21 WGS guitar ensemble meeting, roads were still messy from the massive snow dump four days earlier, and the cold rain didn't serve to make matters any jollier. But four WGSers made it out. And we even had an audience. The guitarists were, in order of arrival: John Politte, Donald Sauter, Bill Dykes and Amy Penchuk. It was Amy's first WGS showing - welcome! Our fine audience - appreciative but refreshingly unobsequious - was named Jay. We played "Trio für drei Gitarren" by Fritz Pilsl (1978) and sounded fine. The piece itself brings Hindemith to mind, as noted by Bob Wysong. After wringing out the modern Pilsl to our satisfaction, we spun through Frederick Noad arrangements of pieces from the renaissance, baroque and classical eras just to show off our versatility. There was much conversation along the lines of, "We should get something like this going on a regular basis." To which I say, "Why not?"
Frederick Noad The Baroque Guitar Pdf Downloadl
(From WGS Newsletter No. 65, September 2003) One reason I chose this piece for the newsletter is because it's quite an oddity. I have copied many 19th century American guitar editions from the Library of Congress. About 1230 of these works are arrangements - not original compositions - for the guitar. I had gotten curious about what sort of music guitarists would choose to arrange, presuming that would be representative of the most popular music of the time, by and large. I found arrangements of pop songs, folk tunes, opera and classical and semi-classical works. But among all those 1230 arrangements, only three pieces reached back to the baroque period. This is one of them. George Frideric Handel composed the oratorio Saul, from which this "Dead March" was taken. Interestingly, the other two baroque pieces mentioned above were also by Handel, namely two arrangements of the famous "Largo" from his opera Serse. So, according to 19th century tastes, Handel shuts out Bach, three to nothin'. The Dead March was arranged for guitar by the very prolific W. L. Hayden. (See WGS newsletter No. 43, March 1999, for Hayden's Op. 264, "Prayer From Moses In Egypt". As if you save and bind back issues of the newsletter. One day you'll be sorry...) "Dead March from Saul" by Handel, arr. W. L. Hayden (pdf) It appears that the Dead March had a life of its own outside of the oratorio itself. I'm guessing it was played by organists, at least, on appropriately somber occasions - can't say for sure it still isn't. For a humorous anecdote about the Dead March being played by a great British organist in 1842, using his rump on the keyboard for special effects, go to Google and search on "dead march" and "camidge". Did I mention, an oratorio is a lot like an opera except it isn't acted out, and the subject is religious? A second reason for presenting this piece is to give you practice playing sloooow... I have a recording by E. Power Biggs and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and their tempo is somewhere around 37 beats per minute. I think it was John Duarte who recognized the phenomenon of the "guitarists tempo"; not only can we not play fast (sorry!) but we can't play slow, either, so everything sort of settles in at the same, middlin' pulse. If that accusation riles you, here's your chance to prove you can at least maintain a steady, snail-like tempo. Set your metronome to the closest thing to 74, and use those ticks as 8th notes. Turn off the metronome, turn on a timer, start playing, and see if you finish up right at 3:30. All that remains is to put the Dead March in its proper context in the oratorio so that the expression you put into your performance will bring your audience (and you) to tears. It should. The oratorio is called Saul, but it's really the story of Saul and David, which is told in I Samuel in the Bible. Samuel was the last of the great Judges, who were the leaders of Israel at that time. When Samuel got old, the people asked for a king to lead them. The Lord chose Saul to be the king. Samuel anointed Saul as king. Saul reigned from about 1030 to 1010 B.C. Saul ruined things for himself by disobeying a command from the Lord, communicated to him by Samuel who was also a seer, to destroy every last Amalekite in battle. Then David comes into the picture. Because the Lord was dissatisfied with Saul, he directs Samuel to anoint the shepherd boy David as the next king. David goes on to defeat Goliath and rout the Philistines. When he returns, the women dance and sing. Saul has killed thousands, but "David his ten thousand slew; ten thousand praises are his due!" This makes Saul jealous, and he schemes to get David killed. Saul even tosses spears at David while he plays his harp. In spite of this ill treatment David maintains utter respect for the king and never retaliates even though there are ample opportunities to kill Saul himself. Saul had a son Jonathan who swore eternal friendship to David. Jonathan declares, "Henceforth, Jonathan and David are but one." Jonathan aids David in avoiding Saul's attempts to kill him. Meanwhile, the aged judge Samuel dies. Saul has to contend with the Philistine army, and is terrified. He pleads to the Lord for advice, but finds himself forsaken. In desperation, he visits the witch of Endor and has her call up the spirit of Samuel. Samuel is not pleased at the disturbance and delivers bleak news to Saul: "Israel by Philistine arms shall fall, and thou and thy sons shall be with me tomorrow." When David learns of the death of Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboa, he tears his clothes in sorrow. He composes a lament for Saul and Jonathan: "In sweetest harmony they liv'd, nor death their union could divide. Eagles were not so swift as they, nor lions so strong."In another verse: "For thee, my brother Jonathan, how great is my distress! Great was the pleasure I enjoy'd in thee, and more than a woman's love, thy wondrous love to me!" Think about all this when you play the "Dead March from Saul". In case you've forgotten how David's story fits into the bigger scheme of Jewish history, remember that it was prophesied that the Messiah - the king who would restore Israel - would be a descendant of David and born in Bethlehem. All the "begatting" in the beginning of Matthew lays out the 14 generations from Abraham to David, the 14 generations fromDavid to when the Jews were carried away into Babylonia, and the final 14 generations to the birth of Jesus. Notes: - An "x" in front of a low F# means to finger it with your left-hand thumb, up and around the fingerboard. Show your teacher how easy this is. - At the end of beat 2 in measure 4, I suggest leaving out the D and E at the bottom of the thirds. - Quotes in this article are taken directly from the libretto, written by Charles Jennens. For their counterparts in the Bible see I Samuel 18:7, 20:17, 28:19, and II Samuel 1:23,26. 2ff7e9595c
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