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96 11 PIECES SUITABLE FOR STR INGING C PAvANIGLIA CON PARTI vAR IATE— GIOvA NNI PAOLO FOSCAR INI (CA. 1630) The Pavaniglia con parti variate (Pavaniglia with variation sections) is from Il primo, secondo, e terzo libro della chitarra spagnola . . . (The first, Second, and Third Books for Spanish Guitar) by “L’Academico Caliginoso detto Il furioso” (a member of the Accademia dei Caliginosi, a literary and music society founded in Ancona in 1624, whose nickname at the Academy was “Il furioso”). In addition to not naming its author, the book also carries no place or year of publication; ca. 1630 seems a reasonable guess. In his next (fourth) book, which appeared in around 1632, Il furioso’s identity is revealed on the title page as Giovanni Paolo foscarini. Like his previous and subsequent books, it is cumulative in nature; for example, his fourth book, in addition to the new material, also contained the music from his earlier three publications! He apparently engraved the music plates for his books himself and took them with him wherever he went to live and work. from his various publications, we learn that before he went to Ancona, foscarini, describing himself as a musician and player of the lute and theorbo, worked in Brussels at the court of the Austrian Archduke Albert Ernst (1559–1621) and his wife Isabella Clara Eugenia, the sister of Philip III of Spain, who acted as governors of the Spanish Netherlands. The flemish artist and humanist scholar Peter Paul Rubens and the Italian virtuoso violinist and composer Biagio Marini were also members of their court. foscarini’s third book, Il primo, secondo, e terzo libro della chitarra spagnola of ca. 1630, more than hints at a connection with Verona. Here one finds an engraved portrait (not by foscarini) and a verse in praise of him by Oratio Abbaco, a “gentilhuomo Veronese ,” as well as a piece dedicated to Count Paolo Canossa of Verona, a guitar aficionado to whom the huge manuscript of alfabeto solos and songs by the guitarist francesco Palumbi (Verona, Biblioteca Civica, Ms. 1434) was also dedicated. To judge by the dedications of pieces in his fourth book to such Roman notables as four members of the Orsini family—Alessandro, flavio, Virginio, and Paolo Giordano II, the Duke of Bracciano—by the time of its publication in ca. 1632, foscarini was 97 PIECES SUITABLE FOR STR INGING C a free-lance musician living in Rome. Other dedicatees, who apparently studied guitar with him, were the prominent Roman painters the Cavaliere d’Arpino (Giuseppe Cesari) and fabio della Corgna, as well as members of the Borghese family. Later editions of his books have various dedication dates of 1638 (Rome), 1640 (Rome), 1644 (Rome), and 1649 (Venice). The nature of the pavaniglia has already been described in the commentary to Gaspar Sanz’s Pavanas. However, foscarini based his variations on an earlier version of the ground, which, in addition to its characteristic harmonic pattern, also has a distinctive melodic profile. His setting is entirely in the pizzicato (lute) style without any strummed chords. He includes three different styles of guitar music in his ca. 1630 book: strictly alfabeto chords (battuto style), lute style, and a mixture of two. The mixed style appears for the first time in this book, and it might very well have been foscarini’s invention, which was later adopted by nearly all of the best guitar composers. In his preface, he says that of the pieces (sonate) called “Pizzicate, I will not say so much, having put them here more for the interest (abbellimento) of the book than for anything else since I well know that they are more appropriate for the lute than for the guitar. . . .” This explanation underscores the fact that a major feature of guitar technique was the strumming of chords. That being said, since the present Pavaniglia is written in lute style and is likely for stringing C, it can be played on a classical guitar without in any way misrepresenting the music. Like Sanz’s Pavanas, foscarini’s Pavaniglia should be taken at a tempo of approximately half note = 60. The first sixteen bars present a clear statement of the harmonic pattern and its characteristic melody. Be sure to hold down as many of the first notes in the bars as possible (tenuto), and continue to do so for the three variations that follow. foscarini uses no ornament signs in this piece, but that doesn’t mean no ornaments should be...

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