Following this link you can find my transcription of the Chaconne without fingering instructions.
I wish to thank everybody that has pointed out how useful such a sheet would be for a student.
domenica 29 dicembre 2013
domenica 14 luglio 2013
The Chaconne from the VI Suite in E Flat Major
The Chaconne from the VI Suite in E Flat Major for Lute from the London Manuscript by S.L. Weiss
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Guitar transcription
I heard the Chaconne for the first time four years ago; it was included in an album I bought from eclassical (www.eclassical.com) with three Sonatas and various pieces by S.L. Weiss, played on the lute by Jakob Lindberg. Among the “various pieces” there was the Chaconne.
For me, it has been the beginning of a journey through the music of the early eighteenth century.
Sylvius Leopold Weiss
Sylvius Leopold Weiss has been probably the most famous lutenist and lute composer of all times, and surely the last among the greatest.
He was born in Grottkau near Breslau, the son of a famous lutenist. He started his career as an enfant prodige, having allegedly played for the Emperor when he was only seven.
He was a real star at his times, well known, respected and well payed (which did not keep him from leaving his wife coping with debts, after his death). He was also well introduced in the musical establishment. When in Rome, he met both Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti.
In Leipzig he met also Johann Sebastian Bach, with whom he played too, in what may have been the most exceptional duo in the history of music.
At his death, he had been praised as a genius. On his grave, his friends had a phrase carved, attributed to the Saxon poet Johann Ulrich von Koenig: “Es soll nur Sylvius die Laute spielen” (only Sylvius can play the lute).
The London Manuscript
The London Manuscript was acquired by the British Museum (now the British Library) in 1877. Despite its name, its was almost certanily written in Prague.
The manuscript was copied in two phases, with extensive work by S.L. Weiss himself to amend and integrate the copists’ work.
An extensive description of the manuscript can be found in the article by Tim Crawford, in the references.
The VI Suite in E flat major
The Suite in E flat major, which the Chaconne belongs to, is the sixth suite in the London Manuscript. It is catalogued with the number 10 in the Saemmtliche Werke by Douglas Alton Smith and Tim Crawford.
The suite begins with a double prelude, followed by allemande, courante, bourréé, sarabande and menuet. It is concluded rather unusually by the Chaconne.
The Chaconne is the only autograph movement entirely written by S.L. Weiss in the manuscript, among those included in the VI Suite.
The Suite is written for an 11-course lute, which presumably means that it has been composed before 1720. Later compositions take full advantage of the 13-course lute, built by luthier Edlinger in Prague, probably with the support (if not guidance and advice) of Weiss himself.
Searching for a guitar transcription
As I told before, I heard the Chaconne from a recording I bought. I liked the piece and since I'm not a lutenist I searched for a guitar transcription, which I wasn't able to find. I found instead a beautiful site maintained by Jean Daniel Forget with the lute tablatures of the London manuscript, among many other lute pieces. A transcription in modern notation was also available on his site (he was so kind to email it to me when I experienced some problems), but it was still intended to be played on the lute.
Some impressive work on S.L. Weiss has also been made by Michel Cardin, who has recorded the entire London Manuscript. In his “London Manuscript unveiled” you may find an extensive coverage of the whole manuscript, with many valuable insights and, of course, a thorough description of the VI Suite.
Cardin describes the VI Suite as “luminous” and the Chaconne as "elegantly simple, balanced".
I found out that also a guitarist, Kurt Schneeweiss, had adapted for guitar ten sonatas from the London Manuscript. His work is an impressive endeavour, published in a 10 CD box set, which can be found on Amazon at a bargain price.
His transcriptions are not public, though, as far as I know; besides, I didn't like his version too much. He tried to make the pieces by Weiss more "modern", using the full repertoire of guitar techniques from the classical era (rasgueado and the like). The final result puzzled me.
Clearly it is not music written by Weiss any more, rather it is some music inspired by Weiss. Oddly enough, that music is in Rodrigo style ... and it has been written in the XXI century.
My guitar transcription
Not having been able to find a transcription, I decided to transcribe the piece for guitar myself.
Since I'm not a professional musician, it took me a long time and many efforts to come up with a suitable transcription. My guitar teacher, Enea Leone, has helped me with many difficult passages and fingering issues and I would like to thank him for his help.
I have managed to keep the original piece almost intact. I had to modify only a measure which was impossibile to play on the guitar, even with my tuning (or, maybe just because of that ... )
The first thing I did was transposing the key: E major is much easier to play on the guitar than E flat major. I will still keep though referring to this piece as the "Chaconne in E Flat Major", as this is the original tonality in which it was written.
When I saw the result, I understood why few people had attempted to play it on the guitar. The bass was a very difficult problem to solve
In this piece the ground bass is particularly important (in any Chaconne with a ground bass, I would dare say); without a proper bass the Chaconne is very far from the original music.
The lowest note was a C# and I needed it.
Looking carefully at the music I realized that I didn't fully need the 5th string in A but I really needed a E string.
So I tuned the 5th string down to E (as if it were a 6th string) and the 6th string down to C#.
It's like if I substituted the standard 5th string with a second 6th string (which actually I did, as I will tell you later). This may help you read the sheet. All notes you would normally play on the 6th string (and 5th as well) are to be played on the 5th string.
The 6th string is necessary to play the two lower notes (C#, D#).
The resulting tuning is (starting from the highest pitch):
E-B-G-D-E-C#
The Chaconne may not be the easiest and most immediate piece to play with my transcription, but I think it "works" from a musical point of view, i.e. it keeps the atmosphere of the piece.
My guitar
Currently I'm playing the Chaconne on a guitar hand-made by my daughter, who is a luthier, after a Torres model. The strings are Savarez Alliance normal tension (red).
The thin spruce top gives Torres-like guitars a good rendition of basses while the Savarez Alliance have a neat sound, which may be an advantage (in my opinion) when playing a piece originally written for lute.
Since the 5th string is tuned as a standard 6th, I have borrowed a 6th string from a second set. The Chaconne can be played with my tuning also on a standard string set (which I did), but in this case the 5th string may reveal too loose and touch the fretboard if the action is too low. If you plan to use a standard set maybe that a high tension one is the most appropriate, in this case.
The music sheet
I have written the music sheet using Lilypond. I think it's fairly an impressive piece of software. Having been a programmer in the past, I'm rather used at coding in various programming languages, which Lilypond undoubtedly is.
Some things are very easily accomplished, while others require a good amount of tweaking (ligatures from a specific note in a chord to another one, in particular, may be annoying).
Now I'm releasing the music sheet of my transcription. I'm planning to release a video on Youtube with the Chaconne in the future ... when I will be able to play it without too many mistakes, if ever.
I hope you will like it
Stefano Ferroni
References
Jean-Daniel Forget - tablatures and sheet music
F. Pavan, “Sylvius Leopold Weiss Ipotesi su una vita”, in "Amadeus", jul 2008 (in Italian)
Michel Cardin, “The London Manuscript unveiled”, http://www.slweiss.de/index.php?id=5&type=londonunv&lang=eng
Tim Crawford, “Editing Weiss for the Sämtliche Werke: The composer's contribution to the London and Dresden manuscripts”, 1992, http://www.doc.gold.ac.uk/~mas01tc/web/ttc/Congress_Article.html
slweiss
A site dedicated to S.L.Weiss, available in French, English, German
Youtube Performances of the Chaconne in E Flat major
Performed by Jacob Lindberg:
Performed by Nigel North
Performed by Andrea Damiani
Performed by Daniel Shoskes (Prelude & Chaconne)
Discography
Michel Cardin
Kurt Schneeweiss
A detailed Weiss discography is maintained on the site www.slweiss.de
Downloads
Chaconne in E Flat Major by S.L. Weiss, from the VI Suite from the London Manuscript - guitar transcription by Stefano Ferroni (PDF)
Chaconne in E Flat Major (MIDI file)
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