The Haslemere Manuscript, Pieces and Lute Partitas | Vol. 5/5 | Front cover

The Haslemere Manuscript, Pieces and Lute Partitas | Vol. 5/5

Johann Michael Kühnel (c.1665-c.1725) • Baroque lute • French tablature

The Brussels Manuscript

The Brussels Manuscript, Lute Sonatas

Ernst Gottlieb Baron (1696-1760) • Baroque lute • French tablature

The Moscow Manuscript, Pieces and Lute Partitas

Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687-1750) • Baroque lute • French tablature

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• Composer(s): Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687-1750)
• Title: The Moscow Manuscript
• Sub-title: Pieces and Lute Partitas
• Year of edition: c.1765
• Source: Moscow Ms. RF-Mcm N 8

The Moscow Manuscript

The Moscow Manuscript is kept in the musical library of the M.I. Glinka Museum in Moscow, where it is referenced as MS 282/8. The cover contains an inscription in a rather uncertain French: "Requeul de divers. Pieces et Sonates Pour le Luth composés par M. Weiss à Dresde". An analysis of its paper has shown that the manuscript was created in Russia, some fifteen years at least after the death of Silvius Leopold Weiss.

The writing of these lute tablatures has been attributed to Timofei Bielogradski. This musician of Tcherkesse origin was probably born around or after 1710. He moved to Dresden while in the service of Count Keyserling or Keyserlingk (1696‑1764). This great music lover was sent, in 1733, to the court of Dresden as Imperial Ambassador of Russia.

Timofei Bielogradski is cited as living in Berlin in 1737. When he met Silvius Leopold Weiss and became his student, he was playing the bandora. In 1738, he was among the faithful students of Weiss who met Ernst Gottlieb Baron, when the latter came to Dresden to be given a theorbo by the Master.

The pieces contained in this manuscript are for the 13-course lute, like those used by Silvius Leopold Weiss after 1720. They are technically rather demanding, and several are clearly exercises in virtuosity. Some pieces can be found in other manuscripts, essentially in the Dresden manuscript (Weiss) D‑Dl284. Many, however, are unique, making this document particularly noteworthy. The pieces were often grouped by key, or, to be precise, by the tuning, or scordatura, of the bass courses. However, it would seem that the copyist often reordered the pieces in order to create "Partittas". The manuscript also contains scales in all keys, adapted to the 13-course lute, which were perhaps included, not as exercises in virtuosity, but to demonstrate that the instrument could be played in all keys.

Specific remarks

There are several occurrences of augmented seconds in theses pieces; this interval is typical of traditional music of Ukraine and the Caucasus, but was never used by Weiss.

The copyist systematically used a line or dot to connect a melodic note or chord to its bass when the two were vertically aligned and thus to be played simultaneously.

Alternatti can be found in the Warsaw manuscripts PL‑Wu2003 and PL‑Wu2005 as well. It owes its name to fact that, although the 8th and 11th courses are tuned to F# and C#, respectively, and the copyist included an indication of key ("d.dur"), the piece is otherwise in D minor.

Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687‑1750)

Silvius Leopold Weiss was born in 1687 in the village of Grottkau, near Breslau. His father Johann Jacob, a proficient lutenist, taught his three children how to play, as well as the rules of harmony and the practice of basso continuo.

A child prodigy, Silvius Leopold performed before the Emperor Leopold I who, although consumed with his war against Louis XIV, was a great music lover.

From 1707 to 1714 he lived in Italy. In Rome, he met Arcangelo Corelli and befriended the Scarlattis. Subsequently, he is thought to have entered the service of the Governor of Further Austria, who resided in Innsbruck. In 1718, he obtained a well-paid position in the Dresden Court Orchestra.

A first mission took him to Vienna for eight months, where he was immersed in the musical life of Austria, both at the Court and in town. It was there that he discovered the galant style, which would leave its mark on all his future compositions. He subsequently settled in Dresden where, although he often travelled, he spent the rest of his life. He was a brilliant continuo player at the Court, the Church and, above all, the Opera. His playing and improvisations were so highly esteemed that he became the best paid and most demanded instrumentalist in Dresden; even the considerable financial incentives offered by the Court of Vienna could not lure him away.

Silvius Leopold Weiss frequented the best musicians of his era. He was appreciated by princes, often lutenists themselves. Thus, between 1725 and 1730, he made several sojourns in Prague to teach his art to Prince Lobkowitz and his wife, to Johann Antonin Losy von Losimthal (Count d’Logy), Imperial Governor of Bohemia, or to Ludwig Joseph Cajetan, Baron von Hartig, Imperialo Governor of the city of Prague. Silvius Leopold Weiss met and played music with Johann Sebastian Bach when the latter, living in Leipzig, came to visit his young son Wilhelm Friedmann, an organist in Dresden.
Weiss was the main promoter of fundamental modifications to the lute: the addition of a 13th course and the subsequent lengthening of the lowest courses by means of a second pegbox on a neck extension, similar to the theorbo.

Silvius Leopold Weiss was an accomplished musician whose compositions were very solid, placing him on a par with his most distinguished contemporaries: Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel or Jan Dismas Zelenka. However, he only composed for his instrument. His daily practice of continuo and improvisation deeply influenced his entire work. His characteristic touch can be found in his unmeasured preludes and in his skillful handling of very elaborate sequences. He always made brilliant use of the possibilities afforded by the lute’s particular tuning.

Silvius Leopold Weiss died on 16 October 1750, leaving his widow Marie–Elizabeth and his seven children in financial straits. His son Johann Adolf Faustinus (1741‑1814) was the only one to follow in his father’s footsteps, and became a chamber lutenist at the Court of Dresden. Silvius Leopold Weiss was buried outside the city walls, in the Katholischer Friedhof.

Jean-Daniel Forget | Le Luth Doré © 2015

Prélude 11.7 in D minor
Prélude

Andantino 34.6 in D minor
Andantino

Partitta 94 in D minor
Allegro
Polonose
Courante
Allegro
Menuet
Trio

Paysanne in F Major
Paysanne
Trio

Menuet in D Major
Menuet

Bourrée 13.4 in D minor
Bourrée

Allegro 66* in A minor
Allegro

2 Polonoises in F Major
Polonose
Polonose

Partitta 95 signor Veiss in G minor
Andante
Courante
Paysanne
Polonose
Gigue

Prélude 2.1 in D Major
Prélude

Courante 67* in D Major
Courante

Partitta 96 Signor Veiss in G Major
Andante [Allemande]
Courante
Bourrée
Sarabande
Menuet
Presto

Prélude 68* in D minor
Prélude

Courante 36.2 in D minor
Courante

Allegro 28.6 in F Major
Allegro

Galanterie 69* in F minor
Galantarie piesse

Allegro 22.7 in G Major
Allegro

Duetto in G Major
Duetto
Duetto primo
Duetto secundo

Presto 70* in B-flat Major
Presto

Partitta 97 in F Major
Allemande andantino
Courante
Bourrée
Polonose
Gigue

Partitta 98 Signor Veiss in D minor
Vivace
Courante
Bourrée
Andante
Presto
Menuet

Prélude 71* in G minor
Prélude

Courante 72* in G minor
Courante

Alternatti 73* in G minor
Alternatti

Sarabande 38.4 in A minor
Sarabande

Scales in all the keys
24 scales

Addendum
Bourée (from the London Manuscript)
Sarabande (from the Dresden Manuscript)

• Editor(s): Jean-Daniel Forget & Guy Grangereau
• Music period: Baroque
• Instrument(s): 13c Baroque lute
• Instrumentation: Baroque lute solo
• Notation: French tablature
• Modern edition: Urtext
• Publisher: Le Luth Doré Urtext Editions
• Year of publication: 2015
• Collection: Lute and Theorbo Music Collection

• Pages: pp. 142
• Dimensions: 230x310 mm
• Weight: 0,320g
• Binding: Section sewn glue binding
• ISMN: 377-0-0017-8817-3

Jean-Daniel Forget
Computer Scientist, Lutenist

Passionate about the baroque era, Jean-Daniel Forget is a self-taught lutenist. In order to play the forgotten (lute) works of the 17th and 18th centuries, he has copied (and studied) their manuscripts for almost 20 years.

A long career as a computer scientist, having made him expert in programming, allowed him to utilize the normal logic of writing music, especially that which transcribes tablature for instruments with fretted strings.

In collaboration with Guy Grangereau. he has posted his tablatures on a public internet site that is frequented by many lutenists and guitarists.

Forget was enlisted by Miguel Serdoura to help prepare the musical examples for his fine Method of the Baroque Lute. Further on, he continues to assist Serdoura in the preparation of his (lute) editions.

 

Guy Grangereau
Guitarist, Lutenist

Guy Grangereau is a professional musician who studied guitar playing in Paris, notably with the Brazilian Turibio Santos. Then, he perfected his musical knowledge at Martenot school in Paris.

Since 1984, he gave guitar and piano lessons and, for twenty years, he taught guitar in music schools.

His favorite instrument is a guitar (Maurice Dupont) initially with 13 strings, to which a 14th string was added; more recently were added two strings and a theorbo neck for the last four strings. This 16 strings instrument can be tuned in thirds (open tuning); he uses it to transcribe solo harpsichord works. He also plays a 14-course theorbed baroque lute (Stephen Murphy).

Since 2010, he is collaborating with Jean-Daniel Forget for the copy of German baroque lute manuscripts of the 17th and 18th centuries, in bringing more particularly his musical expertise to the review of the Silvius Leopold Weiss’ work.

Le Luth Doré Urtext Editions

The Le Luth Doré Urtext Editions offer musicians and musicologists worldwide reliable and authoritative musical texts. The main features are:

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Our editions are urtext: we strive to provide reliable musical texts that are as true as possible to the existing sources and the composer’s intentions. We are aware, of course, that it is impossible to reconstruct the one and only urtext. Often, several manuscript sources exist for the same piece, and there is little reliable guidance for determining which version best represents the composer's intentions.

Although we cannot entirely dissipate historical uncertainty, we can compare texts and correct obvious errors, which sometimes occur even in autograph manuscripts. Sources have been meticulously examined - note by note, mark by mark.

When facing ambiguity inherent to the sources, wise editorial judgment must take the place of textual certainty.

The most important observations and editorial decisions are elucidated in the prefaces, in the critical commentary, in footnotes, or marked as such in the musical text. It therefore comes as no surprise that an editor has to invest a great deal of patience, knowledge and time when piecing together an urtext that is true to the source and, hopefully, to the composers’ intentions as well. Proven specialists with extensive knowledge and experience edit our Le Luth Doré Urtext Editions in close cooperation with our Editorial Department.

Each verified musical text preserves the original fingerings and notation of ornamentation and, in the absence of original manuscript notations, also sets forth helpful suggestions by modern masters regarding useful fingerings and ornaments faithful to historical style, as a stimulus to further thought and a starting point for the student's approach to performance.

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Le Luth Doré ©2015

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