MP3s and Scores from The Compleat Cittern
The following pieces are played on a cittern built by Carlo Cecconi in 2004. It has a 50cm string length and is tuned (modern pitch) in A.
“Hey Johann”. Dedicated to Martina Rosenberger. Arranged and recorded on 8 December 2006, the 26th anniversary of John Lennon’s passing. The Bach segment is in the Compleat Instructions for the Cittern or Guittar. The Lennon/McCartney segment is here.
In Chapter 60 of his treatise On Playing the Vihuela (1555), Juan Bermudo mentions a tuning with the same intervals as the one used on the 18th-century cittern, which is also, by the way, the same as the most common lap steel guitar or Dobro tuning used today. Bermudo likes this tuning because “there will rarely be a stroke which does not find one or two notes on open strings” (translation by Dawn Astrid Espinosa, Journal of the Lute Society of America, vols. XXVIII–XXIX, 1995–96, p. 22). I have followed his suggestion and arranged one of Guillaume Morlaye's settings of “Conte Clare” [mp3 / score] for four-course guitar for six-course cittern, making use of the campanella effect, which is so well suited to this tuning. This arrangement is included in my Compleat Instructions for the Cittern or Guittar.
Rudolf Straube studied in Leipzig with J. S. Bach before moving to England in 1754. He played harpsichord, organ and lute as well as cetra, for which he published a large collection of music in 1768: solos, duets, sonatas with accompaniment and songs. The lute Straube played was tuned in open D minor, and arranging music for the similarly tuned cetra seems to have come naturally to him, even though it has substantially fewer courses. He makes full use of the instrument's capabilities, and unlike most cetra composers, many of his pieces, like this Rondeau [mp3 / score], have a complete bass line. This piece, as well as several others by Straube, is also included in my Compleat Instructions for the Cittern or Guittar.
“Ladie Castile’s Lilt” [mp3 / score] is from the Skene MS. In this setting, dedicated to Rob MacKillop, I have tried to imitate a small Celtic harp, with arpeggios played under the melody, another technique well suited to this open tuning. In addition to the transcription in tablature, there are two transcriptions in notation, one in open C tuning and one in open G tuning.
