Discussion on Rendance

From: Del

Subject: bella
gioiosa

Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2001 19:24:17
+1100

Hi all (and especially Andrea, and anyone else who speaks good Italian),

I have in front of me a copy of Bella Gioiosa from Il Ballarino which is transcribed on Greg's page, here:

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/caroso/transcription/0092.clean.html

I also have a copy of a reconstruction of this dance, by Enienne de Clermont which is also similar to one I've been using for several years. I also have a recording of the music of the dance from Silence Is Deadly, by the Waits of Southwark. Last weekend, Adina Hamilton and I played with the reconstruction a bit, and hit a few anomalies.

The dance is for 3 people, either two men and a lady or two ladies and a man.

Firstly, the opening verse contains the text:

poi quello che guida il Ballo, farà un Seguito spezzato volto alla sinistra, & la Cadenza col destro, cioè, se farà un huomo, & due Dame, l'huomo guidarà esso: ma se fosse una Dama, & due huomini, essa guidarà il Ballo: cosi nel fine della Cadenza, che fa quello che guida, ha da rispondere colvi, ò colei che stà à man destra, & ha da farla col piè sinistro, con un'altro Seguito spezzato volto alla sinistra, & la Cadenza, come di sopra: il terzo farà il medesimo che haranno fatto gli altri:

This states that the man who leads the dance (in the case that the dance is done with a man and two ladies) does a seguito spezzato turning left, and a cadenza (col destro -- finishing on the right foot?). It then goes on to say how should the dance be done with a lady and two men then the lady leads the dance and does this first. Then the two others in the dance also do the seguito and the cadenza.

This fits neatly into the "B" section of the music which is then repeated 3 times at the end of the "A" (verse) section, leading to a fairly standard Cascarda style chorus.

The problem is that all reconstructions I've seen, and also all copies of the music I've seen, repeat this chorus at the end of each of the other verses. This makes sense, although I can't read anything into any of the above (Italian) words that mandates this as going at the end of each verse. Nor is there anything at the end of the verses that says this should be done that way.

Are we just assuming that since this looks like a chorus it should be done that way? My reconstruction of the other verses seems to show that there is nothing else that fits into the repeated B sections of the music. Or am I missing something?

Secondly, the "jousting" section of the dance, following immediately on from the above says:

dopò quello che guida il Ballo, farà due Passi presti innanzi, & la Cadenza, principiando col sinistro, con cinque Seguiti battuti del Canario, principiandoli pur col sinistro: & chi non sapesse fargli, farà in sua vece quattro Trabuchetti: poi si seguirà con due Riprese, due Trabuchetti alla sinistra, un Seguito spezzato volto alla sinistra, & la Cadenza col destro:

OK, so my reading of this:

Begin with two passi presti, starting on the left, and a cadenza. 5 seguiti battuti al canario, L R L R L, or if you are unable to do this then do 4 trabuchetti L R L R. 2 riprese, and 2 trabuchetti, beginning L. 1 seguito spezzato, turning left and a cadenza.

(this follows Etienne's reconstruction so far, except that he has 4 seguiti battuti and not 5).

... continuing with ...

... quello poi che starà à man dritta di lui, farà la medesima mutanza, che haurà fatta esso: & il medesimo farà il terzo compagno. Ciò fatto, giostraranno insieme in questa maniera, cioè; Ogn' uno si voltarà col fianco sinistro per dentro, facendo quattro Seguiti spezzati, uno innanzi, uno in dietro, & due passando innanzi, principiandoli col sinistro: & quello che guida, passarà sempre in mezo, cambiando luogo: il medesimo tornaranno à fare un' altra volta; tornando però ogn' uno al suo luogo.

My reading:

... 4 seguiti spezzati, one forwards, one backwards, and 2 more forwards passing each other. Turning around and then repeat this so that you return to your place.

Now I'm unsure of the meaning of the sentence beginning "quello poi che stara" and continuing to "cioe". It appears to be saying that this joust is repeated, or that it's all done together. There seems to be something in there saying that something is done by all parties, but I'm not sure whether "mutanza" is here referring to just this small joust part or the entire variation containing the joust part.

Etienne's reconstruction has the leader doing the first section beginning with the passi presti through to the riprese, trabuchetti, spezzato and cadenza, then everyone doing the 4 spezzati together so that they switch places, then the 4 spezzati again so they switch back, then the turning spez/cadenza chorus (repeated for everyone, although I don't see anything in the original to back that up unless my reading of the first variation is wrong), and then the entire variation repeated 3 times so that everyone has a turn at leading the joust section.

Is there enough in the dance description to justify this? Or should the joust section only be done once, lead by the solo man (or lady)?

There are 3 other variations in the dance, which means that including the introduction, the 3 jousts, and the 3 others, there should be 7 repeats of the music. If the joust is only done once, then there should only be 5 repeats of the music. The music by Waits of Southwark has 5 repeats.

Comments?

From: DIana Cruickshank

Subject: Re: bella gioiosa

Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2001 05:00:52 EST

To Del - a quick reply! with greetings!!!!

First, the ritornello: I think that the repeat of this section is clearly enough (!!!) indicated, as in your own break-down, by the fact of it being termed a ritornello in the music - plus the comment that the main A music "farassi duoi tempi senza li Ritornelli". This seems clearly enough to suggest that the music should be played as - AA BBB, each time through.

Your implied question on the Cadenza - finishing on the right foot? - is, I believe, simply a statement that the cadenza is made with the R foot, which then finishes behind the L foot.

The Second Section - the 5 seg. battuti are tricky in timing, starting on the second bar of the cadenza's (two-barred) tempo, but wonderfully showy!!

The text then seems to indicate that the "pre-joust - show-off – warm-up!!" is to be done, first, by the middle 'man', then by the person on his/her R, and finally by the person on his/her L - SO three times in all. I read this by the punctuation - a colon, as in the description of the three 'chorus' turning spezzati.

However, there then comes the problem of the joust proper!.. which is, of course, done by all three, together. Is that, then, a fourth playing of the A music - or should one, in fact, make the side people do the "pre-joust" together so that there need only be two playings of the A music (plus ritornello!) then the joust proper - but that then requires a further playing of A ...

But their "recovery" or "let's be friends again" section uses two As anyway and so the AA sequence breaks down anyway.....

Mutanza - where it is written - must refer to what has preceded it - viz. The seg. battuti sequence, which is to be done by all - in turn, I believe.

So I would do that small section, then the actual "joust" and return to place - as indicated by the "cio fatto" - so the joust must follow after what "has been done" and, presumably, therefore, only happen the once.

My full version (open to revision!) runs as:

AA BBB; AAAA BBB; (this is the first long paragraph)

then AAA BBB; (the next para, with the recovery and mini-joust – the version more often encountered elsewhere)

and, finally, AA BBB. (being the 'catena' and the finale!)

I look forward to reading other comments and interpretations....

Diana

[Cruickshank, Salisbury, UK.]

From: Steven Bush

Subject: Re: bella gioiosa

Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2001 15:13:29 -0600

Greetings.

As I heard that my reconstruction of Bella Gioiosa was being discussed here, I figured that it would be a good time to join the list.

My name is Steven Bush and I am known as Etienne de Clermont in the SCA. I have been doing Renaissance dance for twelve years, teaching it for ten years and have been studying Italian Ren dance (primarily 16th C.) for six years.

As Diana stated, the lute tabulature in Il Ballarino indicates that the music for the ritornello should be played after every verse. "farassi duoi Tempi senza li Ritornelli." "Questo ritornello farassi tre volte." Which I translate as "done two times without refrains" and "This refrain done three times." This leads to the AA BBB pattern which you pointed out. As there is nothing else in the dance that would fit into the BBB section, I assumed that the same ritornello should be done each time. The one concession that I made was the order in which turns are done. I decided to have the original leader do the turn first in every verse, except during the solo verses, in which the soloist does it first.

(this follows Etienne's reconstruction so far, except that he has 4 seguiti battuti and not 5).

Actually, my original reconstruction does have 5 Canarii in 4 beats, but the transcription in the Terpsichore booklet only shows four. Unlike Diana, I have not been able to figure out how to do five in that amount of time.

... quello poi che starà à man dritta di lui, farà la medesima mutanza, che haurà fatta esso: & il medesimo farà il terzo compagno. Ciò fatto, giostraranno insieme in questa maniera,

Is there enough in the dance description to justify this? Or should the joust section only be done once, lead by the solo man (or lady)?

The instructions definitely indicate that the three dancers do the same thing ("farà la medesima mutanza" Do the same section), one at a time (the leader, then the person to the right and then the third). This could easily be interpreted as meaning they should do it one after the other, before doing the joust section of the verse, especially since it comes before the description of the joust. But that would require playing with the music and repeating the A section four time, instead of the indicated two, for that part of the dance. While I have massaged music before to make it fit better with the steps, it did not seem to fit with the standard Cascarda style, here. I decided it would work better if each person had a chance to do the solo and lead the joust in separate verses.

Even though I originally reconstructed this dance four years ago, I think that I would still do it the same way. But I am always looking for constructive criticism.

I have not heard the Waits version of the music, but if it does not have the extra repeats in the second section of the dance, it would require the dancers to do the first part at the same time.

Steve

From: DIana Cruickshank

Subject: Re: bella gioiosa

Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 11:30:45 EST

To add some further comments to all this -

I would agree with Etienne / Steve that the Chorus figure should be initiated by the soloist in the relevant solo sections - IF one were to have only one A. It is quite a nice idea to include a second A by having each solo "completed", as it were, by the joust - and certainly would stick to the musical pattern! However, since I think all three solos happen sequentially, to be followed by the Refrain, then the question does not, for me, arise!

It's a nice idea, though! And, I said before, I am not happy with having AA BBB; then AAAA BBB; then AAA BBB; and, finally, and more correctly, AA BBB. Steve's alternative would also make a rather longer dance than many audiences might appreciate - though I am sure the dancers would love it!!

But then, one stumbles on Caroso's own statement of 'cio fatto' – apparently clearly stating that all three should do their solo before they start the joust that first joust.

As for the timing of the five Seg. batt. di Canario, I slip the first one in at the end of the cadenza, where the music (bar 4) happily encourages the foot into the rhythm!!!

The fact that Caroso suggests only four trabuchetti, if one cannot do the battuti, rather than five of them, only means a longer (more "normal"!!) cadenza before equally normal trabuchetti. The final seg. batt. is the tricky one if one over-indulges in the stamp!! since it comes immediately before the riprese to the left!!

I should, however, like to know more of any rhythm that might be recommended by María José Ruiz.

I am also concerned by Caroso's division of the instructions into paragraphs which do not, apparently, fit his musical pattern. So any suggestoin there would be welcome.

Diana

From: Dorothee Wortelboer

Subject: bella
gioiosa

Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 11:24:34 +0100

I come in rather late on the Bella Gioiosa discussion. As I never tackled the dance, I didn't look too closely at the several contributions, but since I was looking up dances for three a few days ago I hit upon Bella Gioiosa and decided to work it out.

As I deleted part of the discussion, I can't look up any more what everybody wrote, but anyway: I think the problems in reconstructing this cascarda are just a few, but they are a bit baffling indeed!

In the first place (and I seem to remember somebody mentioned this before):

I don't see how the ritornello could be slipped in anywhere except after the first part of the dance, which would neatly fit into 2x A. So, at this phase of reconstruction, my repeats of the music would read AA BBB followed by 9x A. I come to this conclusion when I try to keep to the rule that in one dance (or at least in sections with one and the same rhythm), one doesn't fiddle with the durations of step sequences. This seems to pose no problem at first: I have taken 4 bars for riverenza, scambiata and seguito semidoppio. Two bars for spezzato and cadenza, one bar for trabuchetto, passo grave, ripresa and fioretto a pie pari. Now we come to the problem steps: only in the first section of the dance passi gravi are indicated and in the pattern of this section they fit neatly in one bar each. Later in the dance Caroso gives passi presti. Where these occur after the ritornelli, where the one who leads starts with two passi presti and cadenza, I would tend to see these as a little sequence in itself, with one bar for the two passi and one bar for the cadenza. This brings us to the timing of the next problem step: five seguiti battuti del Canario he says, or four trabuchetti. Either the five is an error, or (and this seems more likely): five seguiti battuti del Canario are, for firework and rhythm, the more interesting sequence and it's only for the dummies he condescends to give the four trabuchetti. I would then take 1 bar each for the first four seguiti battuti and 2 bars for the fifth, after which the 2 riprese, 2 trabuchetti, spezzato and cadenza neatly fit into the rest of the A section. As the number of the seg. battuti is uneven, it seems OK to give the last one (or, if you prefer, the first one) an extra bar; the same thing often happens when you do 3 trabuchetti and keep your balance one bar longer on the last one.

But we're not finished with the passi presti yet. In later sections of the dance they pop up again. After the fioretti a pie pari, they seem to need the duration of the passo grave (one bar each) and then this section and its repeat fit neatly into the 2x 8 bars of an A section. Whatever fiddling around with the duration of steps only gets this section into a muddle, not fitting to the musical phrasing at all. For those of you who don't like or don't believe in fast tempi: I did try a two bars' fioretto a pie pari, also a two bars' seguito battuto, but there seems no way to fit sectons of dance to sections of music then, and inserting the ritornello more often doesn't seem to help either.

Then there's the last mentioning of the passi presti, after the catena. The chain in 6 spezzati would take 12 bars, and the two passi presti and cadenza go into the last four bars of te A section. So again they seem to have the same duration as the passi gravi here.

Even the last section of the dance fits into the 16 bar A section, without the ritornello even only played once at te end. On the other hand, if you would take two bars for each seguito battuto (but this wouldn't be consistent with my 1 bar each in the earlier section), you would need the ritornello played once for the spezzato and cadenza at the end.

There might be an error in the writing of those first two passi gravi – he might mean passi presti taking one bar each. Still I realise that my passi presti-cadenza timing would be inconsistent with the duration I set for these movements. I think Diana Cruicshank has a similar idea in mind when she says she slips in the first seguito battuto with the cadenza.

Sorry if I just repeated what others already have said - but I hope to have given some new fuel to the discussion.

Dorothee Wortelboer