Music Reviews 275

Gaspar Sanz. The Complete Guitar Works: A Transcription and Trans-

lation of the Complete Music and Text in Sanz’s Instrucción de música
sobre la guitarra española (Zaragoza, 1674/5 & 1697). Transcribed and
edited for classical guitar by Robert Strizich. Saint-Nicolas, Quebec: Les
Éditions Doberman-Yppan, c1999. [Frontispiece, 1 p.; editor’s note, ac-
knowledgments, pref., p. 2–13; suggestions for interpretation, p. 14–15;
facsim. reprod. of title page, p. 16; transcription, p. 17–156; editorial
modifications to the music, p. 157–69. Cloth-bound spiral. ISBN 2-89503-
030-8; DO 250. $69.50.]
Handsomely and legibly printed in a corpus in question. There have been quite
large format, and hardbound with a square a few Sanz editions already published. It
spine, this new transcription of the com- is too easy to dismiss them with the words
plete guitar works of Gaspar Sanz has much “many of the long-available editions of
to recommend it. Robert Strizich, the vol- baroque guitar music are based on out-
ume’s editor, is an authority on Sanz and moded concepts of ‘transcription,’ and are,
on this type of baroque guitar repertory in fact, ‘arrangements’ and not true tran-
and is the author of the Sanz entry in the scriptions” (p. 2). Strizich continues, “such
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. editions do not faithfully represent the
In the works list of that entry is a reference original tablatures and therefore are no
to this very edition as “forthcoming,” and longer acceptable by current standards of
some twenty years later the author has scholarship. Fortunately there is an increas-
made good on that promise (although ing number of reliable editions of old gui-
curiously, no mention of this edition, in tar music which do set forth accurate and
progress or complete, appears in Strizich’s undistorted transcriptions; this present edi-
Sanz article for the second edition of the tion is intended to be a contribution to this
dictionary published in 2001). Today’s clas- growing body of work.” But if the present
sical guitarists should be pleased with edition provides only a modern transcrip-
Strizich’s thoughtful and musically coher- tion, and not the original tablature, and if
ent adaptation of Sanz’s baroque guitar that transcription revoices lines (which it
tablatures for six-string guitar, even if musi- does) to take advantage of the low E, A,
cologists may still be left wondering about and D strings on the classical guitar, then
some minor oversights in a generally excel- arguably some users will still feel the need
lent scholarly edition. to consult the original tablature. Since it
My first questions about this edition were is not provided by Strizich, readers may
bibliographical rather than musical. Strizich find it helpful to review some of the facsim-
writes (p. 12) that he “consulted microfilms iles of Sanz’s Instrucción de música issued in
and/or facsimiles of several extant copies recent decades.
of Sanz’ Instrucción de música” and identifies Perhaps the most widely circulated fac-
five of them—four in Spain and one in simile reprint of Sanz’s three books of gui-
London. I wonder if there were any variant tar music (bound and sold as one) is that
readings between them, or were all five prepared by Luis García-Abrines, which has
identical? How representative of the eight been through several printings since the
presumed editions of the Instrucción de early fifties (Instrucción de música sobre la gui-
música sobre la guitarra española y método tarra española: Reproducción en facsímil de los
de sus primeros rudimentos hasto tañerla con libros primero y segundo de la tercera edición,
destreza published between 1674 and 1697 1674, y del libro tercero de la edición octava,
were these five consulted sources? And 1697 [Zaragoza: Institución “Fernando el
did Strizich regard a particular edition or Católico” de la Excma. Diputación Pro-
state of the engraved tablature plates as vincial, C.S.I.C., 1952; 2d ed., 1966; 3d ed.,
authoritative? 1979]). In his own preface, Strizich refers
Those consulting this edition may won- the reader to this edition frequently for its
der, too, how it fits into the sequence of biographical and bibliographical informa-
modern facsimiles and transcriptions of the tion. It reprints copies of the Instrucción de
276
música now in the library of the Ayuntami-
ento de Calanda (books 1 and 2) and in
the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid (book
3). There are two memorable engraved
plates in the source, reproduced in all the
facsimiles known to me, but missing from
Strizich’s edition. They are the work of
Ioannes Blauet, rather than of Sanz (who
engraved all the other plates in the Instruc-
ción de música himself ). They appear as fo-
lios 14r and 15r (i.e., in the Libro primero) of
the García-Abrines facsimile but were origi-
nally bound just after the title page of the
Libro segundo. They show, in a fascinating
series of highly skilled drawings of a gui-
tarist’s left hand, how to finger the various
common chords (los puntos perfectos) of the
five-course baroque guitar. Such standard
chords were known at the time as the in-
strument’s “abecedario.” While the chart
does not contain music as such, it still has a
text, is an integral part of Sanz’s Instrucción
de música, and therefore should have been
included by Strizich in his edition. Music li-
brarians and scholars would be well ad-
vised, if they acquire the present edition, to
shop also for a facsimile edition of the Sanz
to complete the picture. Other facsimile re-
productions of the 1697 edition include
the edition by Minkoff (Geneva, 1976) and
the edition by Rodrigo de Zayas that also
provides transcriptions of the music into
both tablature and modern notation
(Madrid: Alpuerto, 1985).
The first complete modern transcription
of the Sanz corpus was evidently Obras de
Gaspar Sanz, edited by Graciano Tarragó
(Madrid: Unión Musical Española, 1966). A
year after the appearance of the Zayas edi-
tion, the guitarist Ernesto Bitetti followed
with his own modern edition of the Instruc-
ción de música for guitar (Madrid: Real
Musical, 1986) that included just the musi-
cal pieces, not the instructional text, report-
edly based on the third edition of 1674–75.
What makes the transcription of baroque
guitar tablature so challenging is the
ukulele-like re-entrant tuning of its strings
(often A/A–d/d–G/G–B/B–e). Sanz in
particular favored this arrangement. When
the lowest “bass” strings on a plucked in-
strument sound higher than the middle-
range strings, serious issues are raised for
those who attempt to transcribe tablature
for musical sense. Even more questions
Notes, September 2003
arise when seeking to transcribe from an
instrument of narrower range (the baroque
guitar) to one of greater range (the classi-
cal guitar). Strizich must have wrestled long
and hard with the musical choices to be
made, especially in light of the octave dou-
blings and lower octaves commonly found
on the fourth and fifth courses of baroque
guitars, if not advocated by Sanz. The range
accommodations in the present edition all
seem quite defensible.
Strizich provides a thorough critical ap-
paratus at the back of the edition (pp.
157–69) entitled “Editorial Modifications
to the Music.” Here the editor specifies the
octave adjustments of the bass line that he
felt he needed to make in adapting Sanz’s
tablatures for classical guitar. It takes a mu-
sician with vision and considerable experi-
ence to recast five-course guitar music so
that it sounds right on a six-string instru-
ment. Strizich has done well in this regard,
showing particular sensitivity in making vis-
ible the implied durations and contrapun-
tal lines that would be heard in perfor-
mance but are simply not apparent in the
tablatures.
Sanz’s Instrucción de música is especially
interesting for the cultural diversity of its
repertoire reflected in the variety of dances
and other instrumental genres it contains.
Some pieces, like the zarabanda, the chacona,
and perhaps the jácaras, are thought to imi-
tate repetitive sung dances that Spanish
sailors witnessed in their encounters with
native American peoples. Others, like the
canarios, probably originated in the islands
in the Atlantic that were waypoints for
sailors making the crossing. Sanz also intab-
ulates a fair cross section of European gen-
res, such as gallardas, matachínes, españoletas,
and several suites in the first two books
(identified by the editor, if not labeled as
such by Sanz). The third book consists en-
tirely of passacalles in various major and
minor keys.
It would be nice to have a table of cross-
references from the transcriptions in this
edition (ninety-six numbered works in all)
to the corresponding pages or folios of a
single source, or perhaps keyed to the
García-Abrines facsimile edition, so that
one would know quickly where to turn to
check the original of a particular passage.
This minor inconvenience aside, Strizich’s
Music Reviews 277

edition, with its informative prefatory re- certainly makes Sanz’s music far more ac-
marks, clear and legible notation, and seri- cessible than it has ever been before.
ous critical apparatus, is a welcome addi- Thomas F. Heck
tion to the repertoire for classical guitar. It Ohio State University (Emeritus)

Masses by Giovanni Andrea Florimi, Giovanni Francesco Mognossa,

Bonifazio Graziani. Edited with an introduction by Anne Schnoebelen.
(Seventeenth-Century Italian Sacred Music, 8.) New York: Garland
Publishing, 1998. [Gen. introd., p. vii–viii; editorial methods, p. ix–x; vol.
introd., p. xi–xxvii; scores, 247 p. Cloth; acid-free paper. ISBN 0-8153-
2414-6. $140.]
Masses by Domenico Scorpione, Lorenzo Penna, Giovanni Paolo
Colonna. Edited with an introduction by Anne Schnoebelen.
(Seventeenth-Century Italian Sacred Music, 9.) New York: Garland
Publishing, 1999. [Gen. introd., p. vii–viii; editorial methods, p. ix–x; vol.
introd., p. xi–xxi; scores, 215 p. Cloth; acid-free paper. ISBN 0-8153-2415-
4. $160.]
Masses by Pietro Degli Antoni and Giovanni Battista Bassani. Edited with
an introduction by Anne Schnoebelen. (Seventeenth-Century Italian
Sacred Music, 10.) New York: Garland Publishing, 1999. [Gen. introd., p.
vii–viii; editorial methods, p. ix–x; vol. introd., p. xi–xx; scores, 245 p.
Cloth; acid-free paper. ISBN 0-8153-2416-2. $155.]
This review provides a brief and largely Protector meus (1668); Bonifazio Graziani’s
major-key coda to my earlier review in Notes Missa S. Maria de Victoria concertata à 5
(56, no. 1 [September 1999]: 228–33) of the (1674), with its poignant, suspension-laden
first seven volumes in Anne Schnoebelen’s Crucifixus; and Bassani’s richly scored
anthology of Masses, which comprise the Messa prima concertata (1698).
first ten parts of Garland’s twenty-volume set Like Masses in the previously issued vol-
Seventeenth-Century Italian Sacred Music. The umes, these pieces document a variety of
latest three volumes retain many of the seventeenth-century performance practices,
virtues of the earlier editions, while reveal- particularly in works with optional or flexi-
ing fewer of their shortcomings. ble scorings. Lorenzo Penna’s Messa detta
Schnoebelen devotes the concluding edi- L’infiammata (1678) is particularly fascinat-
tions to Masses from the last third of the ing in this respect. Scored for double choir
seventeenth century, with the earliest work, (CATB/CATB) plus basso continuo, it in-
by Giovanni Andrea Florimi, dating from geniously deploys the voices so that the
1668, and the latest, by Giovanni Battista middle parts in choir I and the outer parts
Bassani, from 1698. Since there are several in choir II are entirely optional.
thousand printed settings of the Mass Ordi- Schnoebelen’s commentaries on the
nary from the seventeenth century, with pieces resemble those in the earlier vol-
many more preserved in manuscript, select- umes; yet her use of the vocabulary of
ing works for the arduous process of tran- common-practice tonality seems less
scription represents something of an act of anachronistic in these volumes than it did
faith. Yet Schnoebelen’s choices prove con- in those dedicated to pieces from the early
sistently informed and interesting. High- seicento. The introduction to volume ten
lights in these volumes include Florimi’s or- is particularly convincing and eloquent,
nate Messa à 5 voci concertata con violini detta since it deals with two concerted Masses