Aaah Capirola! I haven't had the opportunity to delve into his repertoire as much as I've done with other coeval Italian lutenists of the period, but his book is something wondrous, with a painstaking care for detail; as this excellent video effectively points out, after all.
Your videos are really wonderful, Lukas. So informative and well-made. Thanks for taking all the time and effort to produce them, which must have been considerable!
Hi Lukas, thank you for this brilliant series me:mo. I am very much addicted to it since discovering it 2 days ago and I am watching every episode. I have been delving into Lute music on classical guitar recently and your show gives me a lot of great information. I am inspired to purchase a Lute now! All the best Matthew
Dear Matthew, Thank you so much - I honestly couldn't ask for a more reassuring compliment concerning me:mo! Best wishes and to tell me how your first lute steps are going. Lukas
Thanks yet again, Lukas, for another great installment. The Vidal/Capirola manuscript is endlessly fascinating. I'm so glad things are working out for you with the recording in Dresden and a new camera--carry on!
Dear James, thank you for the kind words, also the ones you left under the previous episode, they mean a lot to me! So yeah, things are slowly picking up, something I'm very happy and thankful about. The concert/job-density is unfortunately still nowhere near being able to really sustain an independent existence, but I'm doing my best to eventually make it there. The Patreon for me:mo is one of my ways of dealing with the situation. Who knows, maybe this will one day become my main supporting pillar!
The video was prepared with great care. I've seen some me:mo videos before but i was never so captivated until this one. ♥ Something you mentioned struck me; in Nature there are two ways to survive : Safety in Numbers like when Coral spawn and millions and millions of babies are released in the hope that they will survive, another is like Elephants having a single offspring and rearing it with great care for a long time thus ensuring survival to adulthood. I'm glad to know you're on patreon. ^_~d
This is one of the most inspiring instalments of this series so far. I really felt touched by Vidal’s effort to preserve the music he loved. And indeed it’s beautiful music! As a string player learning the lute in Brazil (a country which was non-existent in Vincenzo’s time), it’s strangely cathartic to feel connected to a person from such a distant time, as you’ve said .I’ve seen these beautiful pages on Facebook before and it really intrigued me not only for the illustrations (the reason people once preserved it and now share it LOL) but for how well-notated it was. You can imagine the epiphany I had while learning the intent behind the beautiful imagery. Lastly, I would like to thank you for your continuing work behind this series, an effort that it’s not unlike Vidal’s. Hearing you play with such mastery is an extra plus in what would be an already interesting video essay (or vice-versa). Can’t wait to find a facsimile and start studying it! :)
Dear João, I don't really know what to say, it feels so wonderful to read this comment of yours. Thank you! In case you're still looking for the facsimile, you can find the digitized version I used for this video here: ricercar.cesr.univ-tours.fr/3-programmes/EMN/luth/pages/notice.asp?numnotice=4
Congratulations- your videos have always been interesting but I have to say that every episode keeps getting better and better! I know these are a lot of work to produce- it's much appreciated.
This is very reassuring to read! I really try my best to improve with every episode, in every respect. Now that the new camera arrived it opened a lot of future headroom in terms of image quality as I'm still in the process of learning what the 20 other buttons do. So far I know the red button means "record". ;-)
Thank you very much for the information and teaching applied to this knowledge. Study "De tous biens plaine" and I wish to delve into the location of the melody within Capirola's composition.
Another entertaining, informative and insightful episode. And beautiful, inspiring playing as always! I look forward to trying some of these pieces, particularly as I now appreciate some of the context. Bravo!
Hi Robert! Very glad to hear you liked this one too. There's definitely some gems in there: For a first look I can especially recommend the Recercar Primo, N. 3 and 12, as well as the "Spagna Seconda", the two "Padoanas".
@@memomusica Recercar primo is truly beautiful. A few moments ago i was listening the album, Voice And Lute In Venice In The 16th Century, this piece come along, the beautiful melody revived in my memory, like i was listening to the first time, i stoped everything to search for a sheet music to play in my guitar (classical one). The first time i listen to this music and have news about this composer was in this video of course. Sadly i only remember the music, need watch everything again. The sheet shows more details about this beutiful piece than my poor amateur musician ears can catch, really nice piece. www.ciweb.com.ar/Partes/download/www.ciweb.com.ar_Capirola-Cinalli_Recercar_primo.pdf
Awesome episode as always, keep on going! Just a question though: what's the name of the French song (deciphering French spelling from hearing is above my abilities) and which recording you used (the purely vocal one)?
Thanks Ido, very glad to hear that! The piece is called "De tous biens plaine", and the recording comes from the CD "Straight from the Heart" by Ensemble Leones (Marc Lewon), released on Naxos in 2016. If you search the title on youtube or spotify you'll find countless (really, countless) "remixes" in all kinds of styles. It was really the most re-worked song during those decades.
Watching your video it struck me how the cycle of illuminations in the Capriola book, and even the approach to compiling and intabulating the music, is very similar to Ovid's Metamorphoses insofar as the approach to finding subject matter, and... obviously the cast of mythological creatures. It's a completely offhand observation, but I wonder if one could find closer parallels or relationships between Vidal's illuminations and other culturally influential texts. Of course it's more likely that he was just using imagery that he had learned through his trade, otherwise he would have said so in his introduction. It's hard not to want to project more into the material that we have. Anyways, I am always impressed by your eloquence, thank you!
Hello Joaquin - thank you for your comment! The illuminations, as simple as they are, really somehow serve to create this impression that the book is more than just a random collection of compositions but instead a place where the individual pieces live together and interact, in a mystical way. In regards to Vidal I honestly doubt that he was an illuminator by trade. If you compare his drawings to contemporary North Italian illuminations like the ones in Borso d'Este's bible it becomes quite clear. Also most illuminator's would hardly have been able to afford regular lessons from somebody like Capirola. In a way I find it almost more inspiring to think of these drawings as non-illustrational and instead more playful and self-sufficent. That implies a much richer "inner life" to this book than some reference to some existing (and perhaps less shallow) story, no? All the best! Lukas
@@memomusica Hey Lukas, yes I think you're absolutely right. Definitely no direct comparison to the Metamorphoses could be drawn, but I do think that it serves as a good parallel to the kind of effect that the Capirola book accomplishes so well and that you so wonderfully elucidate. Ovid also seemed to have picked stories for the Metamorphoses to his own pleasure. Also the Metamorphoses inspired much renaissance iconography. I think it is safe to say they existed in the same experiential world of the 16th c. Perhaps Vidal was an educated humanist who could afford lessons in both drawing and lute playing. Do you know if there is any other info about him? I should say that my comparison to the Metamorphoses is purely coincidental. I just happened to be reading it at the same time that I watched this episode!
Hello Ernest, thank you so much! It's a huge encouragement to know these videos are appreciated. (especially right now as I'm working on the next episode, a "special" to be released towards the end of this month.) I'll message you later today concerning your spot on me:mo's Patrons-page (musicamemo.com/patrons)!
I play classical guitar, and I have a Roosebeck 8-course Renaissance lute from 2004. One of the things it is notably lacking, compared to current models, is an end peg. I was wondering if, at some point, you could talk about how wearing the instrument with a strap became common performance practice, and whether there's any historical basis for this or whether it's just ergonomics.
Dear Jack, I'll gladly share some ideas on it! Straps are suprisingly rare in lute iconography, especially in Renaissance paintings. Then again, it's always extremely important to consider that paintings aren't photographs and artists would absolutely take liberties in the interest of aesthetics. So everything must be taken with a grain of salt there. Sometimes we see people holding the lutes in all kinds of impossible ways that make it pretty clear that the sitter for the painting didn't actually know how to play or was instructed by the artist to hold it in a special manner to provide a certain look. In the 17th century straps are seen more often on paintings, and many instruments in museums have strap pins. Particularily with a large theorbo it becomes almost unthinkable to play them without a good strap, especially when standing, as they are so top-heavy and large. I'd say that ergonomics in and of itself also always has a historical basis as people back then had spines and shoulders just as we do. ;-) Best wishes!
