Back to a piece by (probably) my hero As promised in my previous post of "A Dreame" from the Margaret Board Lute Book, here is a piece of the same name by the Master. I couldn't resist an image of Russel T Davis' wonderful version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, by you-know-who.  I have transcribed directly and slavishly from: Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland, Edn 3. Faber Music, London There are three strains of, unusualy, 7, 7 and 9 bars, each repeated. Some fingerings are a little tricky, because the ukulele is tuned slightly differently t ..read more

 A lovely little tune, and my favourite (so far) from the Margaret Board MS Transcribed from a facsimile of the original online here. There are 3 strains of 16, 12 and 12 bars. The repeat pattern is 2 x (A, A’), 2 x (B, B’ C, C’).  Transcription was relatively easy because the original made little use of strings 5 and below. The principal challenge was in bars 69 – 74, where the bass line uses notes on the 5th string, which we don’t have. I have therefore exchanged the voices, but appended a version of §C’ in whch the voices are as close to the original as possible. The choice is y ..read more

As promised, another Branle de la torche  Following on from my previous posting of an anonymous Branle de la torche, here is one by the German composer Michael Praetorius (1561 – 1621). I read somewhere that the piece has been referred to as "The dance of the candlestick". The composer The lute version that I found is a duet, so I have transcribed two versions for low-G ukulele: 1. A ukulele duet, which you can download here and 2. A ukulele solo, incorporating as much of the two parts as I can, available here. Harmonic sequence:  the first strain   i   ..read more

 A tuneful little piece and fun to play The branle is in origin a C16 French dance involving swaying (branle = sway), but I do not know whether torche refers to a flaming torch or a tea-towel. Shakespeare refers to the dance as a 'brawl', which sounds quite robust. Harmonies: The first strain follows the pattern of the passamezzo antico  i    | VII    | i  V   | V    || i    | VII    | i  V   | I   ||  and the second strain   V  v   | ii VII   | i  IV ..read more

 Two little non-challenging pieces for the New Year. A courant (also spelt courante, coranto, corant etc) was, in late Renaissance times, a fast running dance in triple time. The forms evolved and diverged in the baroque period, but since the MS is dated about 1620, I guess these pieces were of the original form.  Not a lot more to say ...  just download here and enjoy. I hope you have a happy and musical 2024 ..read more

 A matching pair It was convention during the Renaissance to follow the stately pavane (pavin) dance with a livelier galliard on the same theme. Here we have such a pair from The Margaret Board Lute Book. The first line of the "Pauin" The last line of the "Gallyard" There are 3 strains, of 8 bars each in the pavane, and of 8, 6 and 8 bars in the galliard, each followed by an ornamented variation.  I wonder if the pieces could be by, or for, Ambrosio Lupo. His dates and location seem appropriate. “Ambrose, Ambrosius or Ambrosio Lupo (died 10 February 1591) was a co ..read more

 Short and sweet As I mentioned in my last post, in my attempts to find and post more accessible pieces, I have been trawling the Margaret Board Lute Book (c. 1620). This is the third piece that I have posted which is named after an ornamental wild plant. 'The Eglantine Branche' fits nicely under the fingers, and has a clear melody, but I cannot find out if it is a known (then) song or dance, or a one-off lute solo. The eglantine is a simple wild rose, Rosa rubiginosa, also known as sweet briar (or brier). The name may also have been used for similar wild species such as ..read more

 As part of my attempts to post more accessible pieces, I have been trawling the Margaret Board Lute Book (c. 1620). Judging from the difficulty of the music, the original owner must have been a skilful player - indeed, she was taught by John Dowland. Fortunately, some pieces are relatively easy and I include arrangements of two short ones here.  Facsimile of the Margaret Board Lute Book, published online here It is difficult to find much information about the pieces, but you can find performances by excellent lutenists of the second ("The Gillyflower") on YouTube. You can ..read more

 At last! Something easy! My finding of this charming piece was complete serendipity. A few days ago I heard on the radio Nigel North playing 'The Fairies' Dance' by Robert Johnson. I was searching for it online and found this piece of similar name in The Matthew Lodge Manuscript Nn.6.36 on the Cambridge University Library website. Matthew Lodge MS Nn.6.36 f. 24v. Cambridge University Library The only problem with the transcription was that much of the action is on the lower strings of the lute, so I moved everything up by one string. Many of the original harmonies are open, an ..read more

 Not terribly complicated, but still a challenge I always like to have the melody of a piece in my mind when playing it – otherwise I just get lost. On a lute played by an expert you have a lovely wall of sound, but on the ukulele any deficiencies in interpretation can be just a mass of plonks.  There are three strains. I have not even attempted to transcribe Dowland's variations as they are heavily ornamented. The upper voice of this galliard is not one you would find the under-butler whistling after hearing a performance in your salon. I have played a MIDI version of it over and ov ..read more