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Saltarello
Public Domain/Traditional Lute Piece transcribed for guitar by Oscar Chilesotti circa 1880; Attributed to Vincenzo Galilei (sometimes Galileo). Arrangement Aaron Shearer 1952; Arranged Richard Matteson 1996 with Aaron's fingering.
ARTIST: Arrangement Aaron Shearer 1952; Richard Matteson 1996
MP3:
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGJf8-SftEk
CATEGORY: YOUTUBE Traditional and Public Domain Music
DATE: Late 1800s; circa 1880; Shearer 1952
RECORDING INFO: Saltarello
Matteson, Richard. Mel Bay book, "Early Music Favorites for Acoustic Guitar."
OTHER NAMES:
SOURCES: Private manuscript
NOTES: The "Chilesotti Lute Suite" is a group of six pieces from lute tablature collection of Oscar Chilesotti arranged for classic guitar by Aaron Shearer in 1952. In the 1998 I (Richard Matteson) published my arrangement of the pieces in my Mel Bay book, "Early Music Favorites for Acoustic Guitar" using Aaron's arrangements.
Saltarello is another of the finest pieces in the Chilesotti collection and is the sixth piece in the "Chilesotti Lute Suite." It features a steady bass part on the open bass strings 6, 5, and 4. It has been attributed to Vincenzo Galilei (usually Galileo).
Vincenzo Galilei Late 1520's-1591, Father of Galileo, Italian lutenist and composer.
Vincenzo studied the lute as a young man, and his playing attracted Giovanni de' Bardi, his principal patron. in 1562 he settled in Pisa, where Galileo was born. In 1563 Vincenzo was sent to study theory with Gioseffo Zarlino, a relationship that would sour over time. Around 1570 Vincenzo began a compendium of Zarlino's Le istituioni harmonische, but he gradually developed his own new ideas about the progress of music.
In early 1572 Vincenzo began correspondence with Girolamo Mei, and later that year he migrated to Florence. Here, Vincenzo became an influenti al member of the Florentine Camerata, an informal meeting at Bardi's palace where literature, science, and the arts were discussed. Vincenzo's training was evidently in music, for he lacked much literary education, apparently knowing no Greek and very little Latin. The Camerata was interested in new directions in music, striving to emulate the early Greek dramatic style, the results which led to the early development of opera. These new ideas in music led to a quarrel with Zar lino, and in 1581 Vincenzo published Dialogo della musica antica et della moderna, his most influential work in which he attacked the theories of Zarlino, including tuning systems and counterpoint in vocal music. Vin cenzo experimented with single line melodies, dismissing word painting and madrigal style which obscured the text. He also disliked the rigid system of dissonances, and favored a relaxing of the rules. During his final years he drafted a number of essays concerning topics that can be found in Galileo's Dialogue's Concerning two New Sciences. There is also much a great belief that Vincenzo influenced his son Galileo, directing him towards experimentation.
Oscar Chilesotti's Transcriptions For Lute Or Guitar, From A 16th Century Lute Manuscript"
The so-called Codice Lautenbuch is known to us only through Chilesotti’s transcription, since the original source, which belonged to him, has not survived. In all probability the codex dated from the end of the sixteenth century and was compiled in Italian tablature by an unknown German lutenist. The musical quality of the pieces selected seems to be quite high, like other manuscripts of the period. Included are dances (passamezzi, saltarelli, chiarenzane, gagliarde, German and Polish dances), intabulations of vocal models (villanelle or madrigals), sometimes with their texts, two French songs, and a ricercare, also found in two other Italian manuscripts of the same period. The latter is similar in style to certain pieces by Francesco da Milano. The pieces in the codex present, on the whole, fewer technical difficulties than those published in printed editions of the time. They are rather spontaneous in nature, and show remarkable melodic invention. The passamezzi in particular are divided into two parts, as in the printed tablatures of Giacomo Gorzanis, Giulio Abbondante, Simone Molinaro, and other important lutenists of the Italian Renaissance. Chilesotti’s selection accurately reflects his own preferences in literature for the lute, inasmuch as the pieces included in the codex are presented as manifesting the broad influence of the “genius of the people” on the development of popular melody in polyphonic composition.
Oscar Chilesotti was born in Bassano del Grappa on July 17, 1848. It was with a private tutor, Antonio Sale, that the young Oscar studied flute, violoncello, and guitar. His acquaintance with this last instrument was fundamental, for it brought him into contact with literature for the lute. Chilesotti learned harmony from the treatises of Boucheron and Fétis. In 1871 he obtained a law degree from the University of Padua with a thesis on “Theatrical Jurisprudence.” In 1881 he won a “Diploma d’onore” at the Musical Exposition of Milan for the publication in modern notation of his transcription of Capricci armonici sopra la chitarra spagnola del Conte Lodovico Roncalli (1692). In 1888 he offered the only guitar concert for which we have exact information. He was named “Knight of the Crown of Italy” and he made the first translations into Italian of some of Arthur Schopenhauer’s works. In 1889, at the invitation of Queen Margaret of Savoy (who took lute lessons from Chilesotti), he gave a lecture and a “historical concert” in Rome at the Royal Philharmonic Academy. Chilesotti was one of the members of the organizing committee for the Fourth International Music Congress in Rome in 1911. He died in Bassano del Grappa on June 23, 1916.
Aaron Shearer bios
Aaron Shearer (September 6, 1919 – April 21, 2008) was an American classical guitarist known primarily as a pedagogue. He was born in Anatone, Asotin Co., WA to Nettie Pearl Moody and Floyd David Shearer. He had two older brothers, Buford Carl Shearer who died in 1988 and Gwen Dean Shearer who died in 1987. His former students include Manuel Barrueco, Ricardo Cobo, David Tanenbaum, and David Starobin. He has been director of the guitar programs at both Peabody Conservatory and North Carolina School of the Arts. He holds an honorary doctorate from Duquesne University. Shearer has several publications including his well known Classical Guitar Technique method books.
Selected Publications and works:
"Aaron Shearer: A Life With The Guitar-DVD" (2004)
Learning the Classic Guitar - Part 1 (1990) Mel Bay
Learning the Classic Guitar - Part 2 (1990)
Learning the Classic Guitar - Part 3 (1995)
Classic Guitar Technique - Volume I (1963) Belwin Mills
Classic Guitar Technique - Volume II (1969)
Guitar Note Speller (1985)
Aaron Shearer was one of the most widely recognized and respected Classic Guitar teachers in America. He had been director of the guitar program at Peabody Conservatory and the North Carolina School of the Arts and towards the end of his life was adjunct professor of Classic Guitar at Duquesne University. Dr. Shearer had lectured throughout the United States and Canada, and had received numerous citations for his contributions to guitar pedagogy. Dr. Shearer also became the first classic guitar teacher to be cited for exceptional leadership and merit by the American String Teachers Association and he received an Honorary Doctorate from Duquesne University. He was cited as the most prominent pedagogue of the twentieth century by the Guitar Foundation of America.
In his lifetime, he published numerous books and articles including a six book series entitled Classic Guitar Technique which included two volumes with three supplements and a guitar note speller. This benchmark series was originally published in 1959 by Franco Columbo, which ultimately became part of Warner Brothers and is now printed by Alfred Music. In 1992, Dr. Shearer published under Mel Bay Publications a three part book entitled Learning the Classic Guitar. Around the turn of the century, Dr Shearer began to experiment with alternative ways of supporting the guitar while still maintaining muscular alignment and full access to the instrument. His creation of the Shearer Strap has given guitarists freedom from the constraints of the footstool. In the early part of 2008, prior to his passing, Aaron Shearer finished his magnum opus “The Shearer Method” a comprehensive treatise that covers his entire approach to teaching and learning the Classic Guitar. This work is detailed not only with illustrations and examples but with insightful DVD presentations on hand movement and preparation. This work is slated to be published in late 2010.
His body of work was revolutionary and his unwavering commitment to excellence earned him the moniker “The Wall” by some of his students. More accurately he has been called “The Father of the American Classic Guitar” and is credited with being “the most prominent pedagogue of the twentieth century”. His wisdom and insight are sorely missed, but his work and legacy will live on through this foundation and all the lives he has touched.
Richard Matteson studied briefly with Aaron Shearer around 1988 when he enrolled in the North Carolina School Of The Arts summer program. Richard also studied privately with Aaron and worked extensively with Aaron for about a year on Shearer's "Learning the Classic Guitar" books published Mel Bay (1990) and is listed as a conributing editor in the preface of Volume 1.
SALTARELLO- 6th string tuned to Low D; Traditional Lute Piece
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGJf8-SftEk
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