12Jul25: Did the first 50 pieces of a German tab source: NL-At:Toonkunst-Bibliotheek Ms._208.A.27 (1575). This contains 154 pieces.. The document was split in two, the first 7 pieces, consisting mainly of Wolff Heckel praeludiums, being contained in CH-Bu:Basel University Library ms F.IX.39 (c.1575). I have copied over the pieces so that they are included with the remaining 146 pieces.
The scribe has a unique style of rendering German tab ciphers, the result of which is that they are very easily distinguishable from each other. Also, the rhythm flags are meticulously correct, all of which makes this document easy to work with. The contents of the first 50 pieces consists of motets, vocally intabulated chansons, lieds, and folk songs and a few dances, many of them old chestnuts, but a few new ones. The quality of the intabulations is very high, and original composers include Valentin Bakfark, Jacques Clément, Claudin de Sermisy, Mattäus Waissel, Wolff Heckel, and many others. The difficulty of the pieces I would rate as mostly medium or challenging, with one or two virtuoso pieces thrown in.
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