Denti: Anthological Method for Viol

UOEDM37

The present Method, devised as an anthology divided into five sections, intends to help satisfy a need, felt by many, for texts for didactic use for the Viola da gamba. It is addressed to those students and teachers who want access to concise, guiding information about the most significant musical -literature dedicated to this instrument.

The selection of texts proposed here, conforming to the historical original versions both in the use of graphic symbols for embellishments and more generally with respect to the various styles and notational forms, is intended to aid in the study of the various complete compositions and the respective bibliographical panorama.

The original historical European pieces and treatises cited here were chosen from the Renaissance period on as those considered most useful for learning to play the instrument.

Bowings and fingering are given for the studies, the scales and arpeggios, as well as in all the -historical compositions which were without them.
For didactic purposes the pieces in tablature are printed opposite transcriptions into mensural notation, while those with separate Bass parts are here given in score.

Three tables are included summarizing the symbols for fingering, embellishments, dynamics and bowings, extracted from the Avertissements by M. Marais, as found in his five books of Pièces de Viole.

The scales, the arpeggios and some studies – for practical reasons – designate the strings by Roman numeral and are provided with a respective Legend.
The musical portraits for two viols or viol and basso continuo – given here for didactic use and presented in order of difficulty – are dedicated to viola students and friends.

In the Appendix, for the study of the soprano viol in concert, three pieces in trio are provided.