Ricercare a Due Voci no. 12, Francesco Guami, 1588

[aulos43]

Hello Herbert,

Thank you for your interest.

As is typical of the period, no specification is made for instrumentation (see ...title.pdf, attached). My understanding of these sorts of pieces is that they were used in training vocalists in choral organizations. Note that the presentation (see attachments) is as a part book -- this would have been the normal mode, as a reliance on scores was not yet established.

If produced in modern tuning, the as-written canto part falls in a soprano range and the tenore part, in a tenor or contralto range. Keep in mind that tunings in this era varied widely and ranged from two semitones higher to four semitones lower, approximately. In Venice, a choir may have sounded a semitone higher than modern tuning.

I also understand that vocal music was regularly appropriated for use by, as the English might have said, "divers musicall instruments," so performance on any melody instrument would seem appropriate.

The midi transcription appears faithful to the part book. M. Marc lanoiselee seems to have done a good job in this. Performance, however, would have included obligatory ornamentation at the cadences, not normally written down. I grabbed the original midi file out of laziness -- I have on other occasions posted files wholly transcribed and edited by me.

Best regards

Walt

P.S. Please use the rotate feature in the view option of the reader to see the pdf's in proper orientation, if needed.

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