Bossinensis, Willaert and Verdelot: pitch and the conventions of transcribing music for...

Surprisingly few collections of sixteenth-century lute music unequivocally demonstrate that lutenists regularly accompanied singers, notably the frottole arranged by Franciscus Bossinensis and Verdelot's madrigals intabulated by Willaert. Both collections reveal that lutenists felt free to transpose the notated pitch of the music so that it fit more comfortably onto their instrument, ignoring absolute standards of pitch. Whereas there is a correlation between the mode of the music and the nominal pitch of the intabulation, range also played a decisive part in influencing a lutenist's decision about transposition. The actual pitch sounded in performance would, of course, depend on the size of the lute. This attitude towards transposition seems to be have been widespread in the sixteenth century. Separate studies of various instruments have revealed that the standard transpositions were by step and by fourth. This should encourage modern performers not to feel compelled to respect scrupulously the notated pitch of the music they perform.

Английский

Revue de Musicologie. – 1989. – T. 75, № 1. – P. 25–46.