Lute tablatures have the great advantage over other musical sources, whether vocal or instrumental, not to note musical notes, but places where to place the fingers of the left hand on the key. Therefore, the alterations are precisely indicated. Thanks to their analysis, we obtain a kind of photograph of the practices of the 16th century instrumentalists.
The studied repertoire focuses on the transcriptions of songs, motets and, to a lesser extent, dances by Francesco da Milano, Albert de Rippe, Jean-Paul Paladin, Guillaume Morlaye and Adrian le Roy, without excluding the original compositions that are the fantasies. The original was reproduced whenever possible. The diplomatic transcription in musical notation will allow readers who are not lutenists to decrypt them.
Before tackling such a repertoire, it is absolutely necessary to set out some essential principles without which it would hardly be possible to draw useful conclusions on the practices of 16th century musicians. This is the subject of the first three chapters. The following six chapters deal with the use of ancient tones and their accidental alterations in lute tablatures, a practice nowadays called for - in a somewhat reductive way since some accidents belong to musica recta - by expression musica ficta, hence the title of this book. Finally, the last three chapters are devoted to particular questions: use of augmented and diminished intervals - alterations in figuration and ambiguous tones.
This volume has been designed in such a way that it is possible to consult a chapter independently of the others according to its own research, hence the presence of numerous references allowing either to make comparisons or to find a notion necessary for understanding of the subject. The table of contents, the index of the technical terms and that of the proper names also make it possible to move in the book. The bibliographies give as well the references of the musical and theoretical sources as those of the modern editions and the musicological literature.
Through the practices described in this volume, interpreters will be able to (re) introduce gaps, gaps in keyboard tablatures or dances, with the highest possible degree of likelihood. Indeed, if the authentic interpretation of early music remains a utopia, rigorous observation of the practices of time allows at least to support our choices.
This research will also benefit singers. Admittedly, the practice of alterations is sometimes very different in the instrumental repertoire, particularly as far as figuration is concerned. However, we also find many alterations attested not only in the vocal sources, but also in the sixteenth century treatises. A bibliography of the sources of the original vocal of each tablature studied has thus been established.