PROGRAM NOTES FOR LA ROTA FORTUNA:
Chansons & lute solos in honor of Francesco Spinacino, fl. 1507

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La Rota Fortuna: Chansons & lute solos in honor of Francesco Spinacino, fl. 1507

This recording is in honor of the very first printed music for lute, Intabulatura de lauto libro primo (and libro secundo), by Francesco Spinacino and published by Petrucci in Venice, 1507. Spinacino is a shadowy figure and there is virtually no surviving information about him other than a vague dedicatory poem in the 1507 book, and a reference to him among other skilled late 15th century lutenists in the poem, Monte Parnaso, by Philippo Oriolo da Bassano (circa 1520).

The music in Spinacino’s book includes several purely instrumental recercars but is heavily weighted toward intabulations, or arrangements for one and two lutes of late fifteenth century vocal music. Composers of the source material include such luminaries as Agricola, Isaac, Busnoys, Ockeghem, Ghizeghem, and the comparatively modern Josquin des Prez. Spinacino’s intabulations are somewhat abstract and are characterized by musical lines that drop in and out for the (relative) sake of convenience, and virtuosic displays of fast scale passages, mainly at openings and cadences. Most importantly, Spinacino’s publication offers a clear indication of the role of the lute in playing some or all of the parts of a polyphonic vocal composition.

We offer this recorded program as an homage to Spinacino and his pioneering publication. Our approach is to present several chansons that were intabulated by Spinacino in their original vocal form, with the historically appropriate adaptation of playing the untexted parts on the lute. We use Spinacino’s recercars as they were likely intended, as preludes or as interludes between pieces to either set or sustain the mood of a particular chanson. With the exception of the two vocal pieces by Josquin, the anonymous ballade, Mon mari ma diffamée, and an Italian laude, most chansons herein are set in the rondeau form, which we follow faithfully and present in their entirety.

Additional to the music directly linked to Spinacino, we include our settings of two chansons by Busnoys and Ockeghem, ostensibly in an effort to present a context but in fact because we love the pieces. Also included are a recercar and pavanna by Spinacino’s contemporary, Joan Ambrosio Dalza, and the stirring laude, Se mai per maraveglia, from Franciscus Bosiniensis. Both composers followed on Spinacino’s heels and their work was published by Petrucci in the same series in 1508, 1509 and 1511 respectively. Finally, we include a pavanna and calata, dances from the Thibault manuscript (Paris, Bibliotheque nationale. Ms. Res.Vmd.27, circa 1490).

Our title for this recording, La Rota Fortuna, is not entirely whimsical. The idea of Fortune’s Wheel – that good fortune is cyclical – permeates poetical and philosophical writings from antiquity onwards, and is featured conspicuously in the texts of our recorded program. Of particular note is Spinacino’s setting for lute of Fortuna d’un gran tempo, a piece rife with the symbolism of fortune and mutability that is also found untexted in Petrucci’s Odhecaton (1503).

Many thanks to Honey Meconi for her textual advice, Frederick Lautzenheiser for inspiration and help with translations, and Russell Rucky for his steadfast and invaluable support.

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Our recorded program begins with a three-part setting of Fortuna desperata, an Italian poem that conforms to the popular French rondeau form and attributed to Antoine Busnoys (c. 1430 - 1492). Spinacino’s print offers a somewhat stylized lute duet version of the piece with imaginative divisions for one lute, while the second lute plays the lower two parts. This format provides both an historical model and justification for vocal performance of chansons from the period with finger-plucked lute playing the lower parts.

We next feature a series of pieces not set by Spinacino but offering an example of the musical forms, styles and tastes at the turn of the 16th century. Recercar dietro is from the 1508 printed source, Intabulatura de lauto libro quarto, by yet another elusive composer, Joan Ambrosio Dalza, and also published by Petrucci. This atmospheric recercar serves as a prelude to Quant de vous seul, a rondeau by Johannes Ockeghem (c.1410 -1497). We return to the music of Busnoys with Seule a part moy, a lamenting rondeau text set from the feminine point of view.

Pavanna Ferrarese, again by Dalza, is almost tonal-sounding and is a fine example of the dance music that pervades Dalza’s 1508 publication. One speculates whether Dalza’s more accessible dance music was published as a reaction to the more difficult and heady intabulations found in Spinacino’s book. Spinacino’s tablatures often require a level of virtuosity that wealthy amateurs, who were the likely audience for printed lute books, may not have possessed in abundance.

We return to music found in Spinacino’s book with a Recercar employed as a prelude to Je ne fay plus, again attributed to Busnoys. This haunting rondeau also received the florid treble and tenor lute duet treatment by Spinacino. For our performance, we use a more active accompaniment from a contemporary manuscript source. Spinacino’s setting of the Italian Fortuna d'un gran tempo, attributed to Josquin des Prez (c.1450 -1521), follows the part-writing closely. This piece, which also appears in Petrucci’s Odhecaton (1503), contains a great deal of musical symbolism that represents Fortune and mutability, and has many odd examples of the application of musica ficta. Lutenists are happily in possession of a huge reservoir of information concerning the use of accidentals in ancient music, since lute tablatures clearly indicate the intended notes.

Amours, amours, by Hayne van Ghizeghem (c.1445 – c.1497), is another example of a popular rondeau intabulated by Spinacino for solo lute. We perform the piece in its vocal form with the lute playing the lower parts. The following Recercar by Spinacino provides an atmospheric introduction to Se mai per maraveglia, an Italian laude performed from the 1509 publication by Franciscus Bosniensis (fl. 1509-11). The following anonymous Pavanna and Calata are from the Thibault ms., a late 15th century manuscript of lute songs and solos (Paris Bibliotheque Nationale Vm27).

J'ay pryse amours, another famous rondeau attributed to Busnoys, appears both as another treble/tenor duet and for solo lute in Spinacino’s publication. Our a cappella version employs the attractive ornamented cantus from an English manuscript with music attributed to Henry VIII (British Library Add. Ms.31922).

The last four pieces on our recording represent examples of a slightly more modern style of music. Comment peult avoir joye, a chanson by Josquin, appears in Spinacino’s book intabulated for solo lute. Melancholy in nature and transparent in texture, the piece presents an interesting challenge maintaining four clear parts on solo lute with the cantus and treble in strict canon. However, the chanson works very well in our setting for voice and lute and we hope it will find a new life in this arrangement. The following Recercar by Spinacino is full of his usual meanderings and surprises, but provides a playful prelude to the anonymous Mon mari ma diffamée. This irreverant ballade is found in Spinacino as an intabulation for solo lute, as is our final piece, Adieu mes amours, again by Josquin.

Program notes ©2007 Ron Andrico
All music and arrangements on this disc ©2006-2007 Ron Andrico & Donna Stewart, Mignarda

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