Italian Lute Tabulature

• Sep 12, 2024 - 08:06

In a Lute piece interpreted on Youtube ("La cara cossa from INTABOLATVRA DE LAVTO di Dominico Bianchini ditto Rossetto") I stumbled across a Double-X note which I neither am able to interpret nor implement. Is it a rest? My workaround is fret 10 ("X") and "no play". Are there better solutions?

The dot under the note I do read as staccato, correct?

Thanks in advance, Norbert

Attachment Size
screenshot lute2.jpg 12 KB

Comments

This is not a rest. It may resemble the “dead or ghost-notes” of our contemporary period, but that's a concept completely foreign to this Renaissance period. I'd say it's the symbol of a vibrato - image below.

What's more, we should forget about vibrato in the romantic sense of the word. It's more a technique of lightly rocking the left-hand finger to make the sound last longer.

I think Sarge Gerbode interprets it in this way, adding a straight line (between the "c" and "d", or "2" and "3" in Italian Tab/your image) , which in the lute repertoire means holding the note (ie the "2"---- to "3") - 2th image below.

NB: In my opinion, you shouldn't worry about it.

vibrato.jpg
la cara cossa.jpg

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