Dear Colleagues,

I have now posted the query below (or modified versions of it) on the 
Performance Practice List and the AMS list, but it elicited little 
response in either group, so I thought I'd try my luck here.  Continued 
apologies for the cross-posting.  If anyone has any ideas of where else 
I might ask these questions, I'm open to suggestions.

Best,
Jonathan

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I have been exploring the largely unnotated tradition of the
improvvisatori of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italy.  In this
process I have have come up against two points of confusion (perhaps of
my own making).

Voice Types:

First, is there any indication as to what range these singers of
improvised verse would have used?  The frottola tradition, along with
the apparent range of the lira da braccio (on which more confusion
below), would seem to suggest some sort of alto/counter-tenor range (to
use modern designations).  By the mid-sixteenth century, there seems to
have arisen a tradition of singing bass lines to the accompaniment of 
the lira da braccio, perhaps as a result of the difficulty of achieving 
root position chords (again with the anachronisms).  Praetorius seems 
to confirm this practice in 1612.  Sterling Jones, in his monograph on 
the lira da braccio, provides a theatrical example from around 1550 
with his own speculative reconstructed accompaniment--very much like 
recitative (startlingly so to me); this is not the bastarda style, at 
least not as I understand it (i.e., soloistically singing or playing 
the main lines across the entire texture of a polyphonic work), but 
instead it appears essentially to be proto-monody.

On the other hand, I have been unable to locate any specific references 
to voice types for the fifteenth century with respect to this 
repertoire.  Are there any literary references to use of the falsetto 
voice by the fifteenth-century improvvisatori, such as Giustiniani, 
Serafino, or the Brandolinis?  Was range even a concern?  Would a tenor 
sing with a lira da braccio (or lute), even though their ranges 
overlapped considerably?  I suppose if the declamation of the 
improvvisatori were more in the line of this monodic style of 
Sterling's book, then perhaps the matter of range is less crucial.  But 
if it was more tuneful and rhythmicized (more like the frottola and 
related types), then the range relationship of the singers and 
instruments would seem to be of greater significance.  Are there any 
surviving contemporaneous realizations of the style of the 
improvvisatori (or pieces that perhaps take the style of the 
improvvisatori as a point of departure)?


Instruments:

Second, on the matter of the lira itself, there seems to be a
discrepancy among scholars as to the meaning of the term, at least in
the fifteenth-century sources, especially the poetic ones.  The
Brandolinis, for instance, refer repeatedly to "lyra," as do many of
their contemporaries who saw Aurelio "in concert."  Raffaele
describes his brother's playing in those terms, and Aurelio's
improvised verses, as recorded by Pietro Bembo and others, make mention
of it as well, along with references to use of a plectrum.  Is plectrum
here a metaphor for bow, or is it really a plectrum?  (If the latter, 
then perhaps he and others were playing lutes, not liras (see below on 
Guistiniani and Pietrobono).)  Interpretation of the term "lira/lyra" 
in scholarly literature, however, seems to differ.  Some writers treat 
it literally, translating it as "lira da braccio."  Others, however, 
read the term (at least in some cases) as "lute."  For example, in New 
Grove:

s.v. "Leonardo da Vinci"--Winternitz and Libin credit Leonardo and his
student Atalante Migliorotti as being lira players.

s.v. "Lira da braccio"--Brown and Jones confirm this reading (as do
some other entries).

s.v. "Frottola"--Harrán calls Atalante a lute student of Leonardo.

s.v. "Giustiniani"--Fallows says Giustiniani was "famous in his day" as
a lutenist, whereas Brown and Jones list him as being among the
improvvisatori who play the lira da braccio (s.v. "Lira da braccio").

To add to the mystery, Pietrobono--who I have long understood to be a
lutenist (Lewis Lockwood in NG supports this)--is credited in one poem
with "fidibus...canoris" (quoted in Gallo, _Music in the Castle_).  The
translator of Latin in Gallo's text dodges the issue of the actual
instrument entirely--perhaps an astute choice--opting instead for
something like "singing strings" (I don't have the text at hand).  In
any case, read literally, the plural "fidibus" would appear to suggest
multiple instruments, which would likely exceed even Pietrobono's
legendary skills (unless the poet refers also to Pietrobono's
tenorista).  Perhaps poetic license is at play here with the use of
"fiddle" instead of "lute."  Is there even a humanist Latin alternative
for "lute," or are they restricted to the fiddle family by linguistic
limitations?  If there is no choice for the poet, or if poetic license
is at the root of the problem, can we ever use with confidence such
literary sources as these as indicators of performance practice? Is 
there any iconographic evidence (recognizing that its value may be 
similary compromised by artistic license) or else some more reliable 
literary evidence for any of these figures playing either lira da 
braccio or lute?

Hence my confusion.

Any thoughts or clarification on either matter (i.e., what range did
they sing in, and what did they actually play?) would be most welcome.

Thanks.

Best,
Jonathan

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Jonathan Shull
Musicology Department
Indiana University
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Instructor of Music History
University of Delaware
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                     "I have to get to a library...fast!"

                                     --Tom Hanks, _The DaVinci Code_