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A brief discussion about Weiss Lute music for the 6 string guitar
It was my intention from the very beginning
of these endeavors to offer classical guitarists the opportunity to
perform "complete" Lute Sonatas from this great lute composer.
These Sonatas that I've worked on constitute an enormous amount of time
invested into the transcription and then arrangement of, from the original lute tablature and the
configuring of the playing on the 6 string classical guitar. There
are enormous difficulties inherent in these simple statements. The
idea, simply, was not to recreate the "sound" of the lute, but to embody
the spirit of the music itself in its meager translation to the
classical guitar. If you were to put my back to the wall, I will
be the first to tell you that this music should be performed on its
native instrument. But that is neither possible for the majority
of classical guitarists nor feasible in the short term. In other
words, as I wrote to a colleague in late 2005, I wouldn't expect a
lutenist to want to play these arrangements....they are solely for the
classical guitarist.
Given the fact that Weiss' music has never
been presented in quite the manner I am attempting (complete lute
sonatas instead of piece meal extractions, as you will find in numerous
guitar compendiums), my sole alternative was for me to put my
effort and talents into this music to attempt to give you
an authentic experience. Thus, the use of open strings, cross
string trills, playing up into the higher positions on the fret-board,
while playing across other open strings; all of these and more come into
play. I have spent vast time marking these books and have recently
revisited my first versions to make them as complete and accurate as
possible.
In December of 2005 thru January of 2006, I
went back over all of them "again", realizing that I had made some (if
not many) errors in judgment regarding the original MS representations,
and went about fully correcting and editing the original scores so that
the music you will see is as close to the baroque lute tablature as you
will find for the 6 string classical guitar. Changes and/or edits
are notated, so that you will know exactly what was done to accommodate
your instrument. I have added notes on ornamentation, as well as
the reading of lute tablature, and simple interpretations of the music
that can be used as your groundwork for learning the pieces within.
You have my word that you will be looking at
the finest versions of this lute music translated for the classical
guitar, fingered and marked as accurately as possible, attempting to
emulate the sonority and open feeling of the native instrument.
The quality of these books, as well as the printing, will give you music
for your classical guitar that, as I've always attempted to offer, has
never been seen before, or if it has, offers you a unique experience
as always.
Regards,
Richard F. Sayage
Savage Classical Guitar
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