dance – Early Music Muse

The citole: from confusion to clarity. Part 2/2: playing style and repertoire

Ian Pittaway Appalachian dulcimer, citole, dance, dulcimer, Edi beo thu heuene quene, Edi beo thu hevene quene, fiddle, Foweles in the frith, Foweles in þe frith, historically informed performance, jongleurs, kithara, lap dulcimer, medieval fiddle, minstrels, polyphony, scheitholt, septime estampie Real, Stella splendens, troubadours, trouvères 9th November 202213th April 2024 3 Comments

Following on from the first article outlining the evidence for the citole’s multiple physical forms, string material and tuning, this second article examines the evidence for the citole’s playing style, repertoire, and the social contexts in which it was played. We examine the reliability of playing positions in iconography; overturn the modern myth that the thumb-hole restricts the fretting hand; show that the citole is easily capable of playing two voice polyphony; and give evidence for the musical genres citole players engaged in, including songs, jongleur (minstrel), troubadour and trouvère material, religious repertoire and dance music.

We begin this article with a video of La septime estampie Real – The seventh Royal estampie, c. 1300, played on a copy of the surviving British Museum citole.

La prime Estampie Royal: completing the fragment of a medieval melody

Ian Pittaway Ars musicae, carolling, carols, Chansonnier du Roi, church modes, dance, estampida, estampie, gittern, Grocheio, historically informed performance, istampitta, istanpitta, Jean de Grouchy, Jerome of Moravia, Johannes de Grocheio, Manuscrit du Roi, mediaeval, medieval, medieval dance, medieval modes, medieval scales, modes, prime Estampie Royal, rhythmic modes, stampita, stantipes, Summa musice, Tractatus de Musica 9th February 20221st March 2023 5 Comments

The estampie was an internationally popular musical form of the late middle ages. Eight beautiful French estampies from circa 1300 are written in the Manuscrit du Roi, seven of which are complete. The first estampie is a fragment, due to the top half of the page being torn to remove illuminated letters, seen on the right.

After examining what we know about the estampie and the particular characteristics of French estampies, this article searches for historical principles upon which the fragment of La prime Estampie Royal can be made whole again.

The article begins with a video performance of the finished piece played on gittern, then explains the process of historically-informed construction, and ends with the completed music in modern notation.

The first dancing master’s manual: Domenico da Piacenza and the art of dance

Ian Pittaway Ambrosio Giovanni, arte saltandi & choreas ducendi, Cornazano Antonio, Cornazzano Antonio, dance, dancing master, De arte saltandi & choreas ducendi, Domenico da Piacenza, Ebreo Guglielmo, gelosia (dance), giloxia (dance), mediaeval, medieval, medieval dance, renaissance, renaissance dance 26th October 201927th October 2023 2 Comments

Early music and dance enthusiasts will be familiar with the work of authors such as John Playford, who published the series of dance instruction books called The (English) Dancing Master from 1651 onwards, and with Jehan Tabourot, who in 1588 wrote instructions for the dances of his youth under the anagrammatic pen name, Thoinot Arbeau, published in France as Orchésographie in 1589. There is evidence of earlier dancing masters – dance instructors – from the medieval period, but the first to write surviving choreography were in the renaissance of 15^th century Italy, and the earliest of these was Domenico da Piacenza (c. 1390/1400–1476/7). This article briefly outlines Domenico’s dance manual of c. 1450, the social context of his dances, his wide influence, and some ways in which his choreography and music notation can be interpreted using one example, La giloxia (The jealousy), a video of which begins this article.

The scandalous la volta: “such a lewd and unchaste dance”

Ian Pittaway Anatomie of Abuses, Arbeau Thoinot, crumhorn, dance, Dowland John, Elizabeth I, guitar, lavolta, Orchésographie, Orchesography, Praetorius Michael, Puritans, Queen Elizabeth I, renaissance dance, Stubbes Philip, Tabourot Jehan, volt, volta, volte 3rd December 201824th January 2024 0 Comment

La volta (or volte or volt or, in England, lavolta) was reputedly the favourite dance of Queen Elizabeth I, performed by couples with much leaping, lifting and turning. The dance, a variation of the galliard, was considered scandalous by the moralists of the day. Just as today we hear talk of ‘gateway drugs’ leading to harder and more destructive substances, la volta was considered a ‘gateway dance’, leading to more destructive vices. This article describes the key point of the choreography, discusses the moral opprobium it attracted, and weighs up the evidence for the Queen dancing this “lewd and unchaste dance”.

We begin with a performance of two voltas by The Night Watch.

The pavan, the priest and the pseudonym: ‘Belle qui tiens ma vie’ and Arbeau’s ‘Orchésographie’ (1589)

Ian Pittaway Arbeau Thoinot, Belle qui tiens ma vie, branle, Branle de l’Official, Branle des chevaulx, bransle, brawl, dance, Horses’ brawl, la volta, lute, Official branle, Orchésographie, Orchesography, Pavan for ten plum dumplings, Pavana za deset švestkových knedlíků, renaissance dance, Spirituál kvintet, Tabourot Jehan, volta 9th March 201720th July 2023 26 Comments

Belle qui tiens ma vie – Beauty who holds my life – is today one of the most well-known songs of the French renaissance. It survived for posterity only due to it being a sung dance and thereby included in the personal project of Jehan Tabourot, 16^th century priest, to write a book of the social dances he remembered from his youth, complete with their choreography and music. The book was Orchésographie, written in 1588-89 and published in 1589 under an anagrammatic pseudonym, Thoinot Arbeau.

This article has a brief biography of Jehan Tabourot and an explanation of the importance of Orchésographie for renaissance music and dance, followed by the beautiful words and meaning of the danced song, Belle qui tiens ma vie.

We begin with a video of the song, sung in English with renaissance lute.

Baroque music: a brief tour of the extravagant last period of early music

Ian Pittaway Bach Johann Sebastian, baroque, broadside ballads, catch clubs, dance, Lully Jean-Baptiste, Monteverdi Claudio, Playford John 16th July 201511th January 2024 2 Comments

Robert Tournières, Concert, France, 1690s, showing a baroque cello, virginals, singer, violin, and French baroque lute. — Robert Tournières, *Concert*, France, 1690s, showing
a baroque cello, virginal, singer, violin, and French baroque lute.

The baroque period was a time of ornate decoration, extravagance and the rise of ever larger ensembles, giving rise to opera and the early orchestra. Dance music was as popular as ever, with the renaissance galliard giving way to the baroque sarabande, chaconne, and bourée. Public dancing was briefly in trouble, banned by the Puritans, during which John Playford started a remarkable series of English dance instruction books which outlived Puritan censoriousness. Singing styles among the cultural elite were florid and declamatory, while broadside ballads for the masses continued to be sung and sold in the streets. And, in private, John Playford and his companions met to sing about farting.

Baroque is the final period of early music (medieval, renaissance, baroque) and this is the last of 3 articles charting them. This article includes 15 illustrative videos for the music of Robert Johnson, John Blow, Tobias Hume, Thomas Arne, John Playford, Claudio Monteverdi, Jean-Baptiste Lully, and Johann Sebastian Bach (click blue links).

Music of the renaissance: a whistle-stop tour

Ian Pittaway baroque, broadside ballads, dance, Dowland John, Dunstaple John, early instruments, early music, lute, mediaeval, medieval, renaissance, renaissance dance 15th July 201525th July 2022 0 Comment

The renaissance marked a turning point for European culture. Beginning in Italy in the 14^th century, its influence spread across Europe, affecting all aspects of culture, including music. But it was in England that the sound of the renaissance first developed, spreading out to Burgundy, Italy, and then back to England in new forms. The invention of the printing press and the spread of literacy profoundly affected music-making, with musicians in households now able to write down music, use the new printed songbooks of composers such as John Dowland, and sing from broadside ballad sheets sold in the street. The spread of printing and literacy also affects our own knowledge of the period, with surviving instructions for dances and a wealth of music. Includes 15 active links in blue to videos of musical examples, illustrating the text.