2016-11-21

21Nov16: Completed the first of three volumes of the Donaueschingen Lute Book. This is a very large German tab source, consisting of three volumes of about 150 large pages each, written for lutes of 6 to 8 courses. I am also including a cleaned-up version of the original v1 facsimile. The handwriting is unusually clear, and the music has very few errors. It was apparently compiled and written by three doctors of the time. The first volume contains 117 pieces, including many secular and religious vocal intabulations, as well as some fantasies and many dances. The tab format is somewhat ususual in that the notation allows accessing any position of the 8 courses on the fingerboard. In many of the pieces, it also contains tenuto marks (dots or small crossed before the notes to be held) and also right hand fingering dots. In putting out this edition, I have received significant help and encouragement from Arthur NessJohn Robinson, and Catherine Liddell, who is the one who turned me on to the MS.

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