Ricercare a Due Voci no. 12, Francesco Guami, 1588

[aulos43]

Hello Herbert,

Thank you for your interest.

As is typical of the period, no specification is made for instrumentation (see ...title.pdf, attached). My understanding of these sorts of pieces is that they were used in training vocalists in choral organizations. Note that the presentation (see attachments) is as a part book -- this would have been the normal mode, as a reliance on scores was not yet established.

If produced in modern tuning, the as-written canto part falls in a soprano range and the tenore part, in a tenor or contralto range. Keep in mind that tunings in this era varied widely and ranged from two semitones higher to four semitones lower, approximately. In Venice, a choir may have sounded a semitone higher than modern tuning.

I also understand that vocal music was regularly appropriated for use by, as the English might have said, "divers musicall instruments," so performance on any melody instrument would seem appropriate.

The midi transcription appears faithful to the part book. M. Marc lanoiselee seems to have done a good job in this. Performance, however, would have included obligatory ornamentation at the cadences, not normally written down. I grabbed the original midi file out of laziness -- I have on other occasions posted files wholly transcribed and edited by me.

Best regards

Walt

P.S. Please use the rotate feature in the view option of the reader to see the pdf's in proper orientation, if needed.

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[aulos43]

Hi Sherry,

Two thoughts I had immediately AFTER posting the thread were:
-- There is a pickup option in the Perform -> Practice Setup, why haven't I been using that? It would save the hassle of creating two files!
-- Will anyone on this forum care for this arcane, antique sound?

I revisited the Practice Setup. I will need to tinker a bit to get it to do what I would expect -- setting the sounds for the various beat divisions in particular, but it would seem to be preferable to having two files.

And I'm so glad you appreciate the music. I love the purity of the counterpoint, the meticulous treatment of consonance and dissonance -- it seems so innocent. And the rhythmic freedom -- this is clearly from a time before the tyranny of the downbeat (especially from a post-tyranny-of-the-downbeat perspective).

BTW. I categorize the tin whistle as a fipple flute -- same family as the recorder. I own several myself.

Ciao

Walt

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[dj]

Hi, Walt:

Well, as for arcane, antique sounds, I'm a bit of an arcane antique myself, so . . .

An interesting example of a later ricercare. Are there lyrics for this? I hear it being sung in a cathedral, with lots of reverb.

Also nice use of Midi CC's to alter the standard GM voices and create new sounds from the stock ones. Outside the box thinking!

David

[herbert]

Hi Walt,

I doubt, wether the music was composed for singing. The rhythmic contents of the voices are to different to permit a common text. What do you mean by “the tyranny of the downbeat (especially from a post-tyranny-of-the-downbeat perspective)”


Hi David,

You say: “Also nice use of Midi CC's to alter the standard GM voices and create new sounds from the stock ones. Outside the box thinking!”

The files I have looked at have only straight lines for midi CC’s. I can’t hear any new sounds.


Herbert

[dj]

Hi, Herbert:

Walt made use of (if I remember as I've deleted the file) CC's 73, 91 and 92.

In particular, CC 73 (Attack time) altered the initial sound of the two voices, Clarinet and Perc Organ (again, IIRC), giving them a more "singing" quality, which is why I said I was reminded of cathedral voices.

David

[herbert]

Hi David,

I am using Composer and the Microsoft wavetable. The CC’s you mention have no effect whatsoever. I didn’t think that the Microsoft wavetable is as sophisticated. You must be using some other system.

In any case, changing CC values when driving a sample player, does not create new sounds but allows you to use a different set or sets of samples already contained in the sample player. Some CC’s may control effects or LF oscillators for vibrato control.

Cheers,

Herbert

[dj]

Hi, guys:

Well, I'm using the word "sound" in a more generic sense than being a specific voice on a synth or sampler.

Much of the perceived quality of a musical note lies in the attack phase of the envelope. Remove the attack from a piano note and it is difficult to differentiate from violin.

By slowing the attack time down, using Midi CC 73, Walt removed the initial "punch" from the clarinet and organ voices he selected, allowing them to be smoother and more vocal-esque.

The synth I was playing back on was a Yamaha XG machine, which responds to more Midi CC's than the basic Microsoft Wavetable device. Although I don't use it, I would suspect that software like Garritan would respond to most CCs.

The only thing I miss on the XG machine is portamento, which Walt also used on the Ricercare piece. I should should play it into my Korg or Oberheim and see what happens.

David