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Intabulation, from the Italian word ''intavolatura'', refers to an arrangement of a vocal or ensemble piece for
Intabulation was a common practice in 14th–16th century keyboard and lute music. A direct effect of intabulation was one of the early advantages of keyboards, the ability to render multiple instruments' music on one instrument. The earliest intabulation is from the mid-14th century '' Robertsbridge Codex'', also one of the first sources of keyboard music still in existence. Some other early sources of intabulated music are the ''
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
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* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
, lute, or other plucked string instrument, written in tablature
Tablature (or tabulature, or tab for short) is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches.
Tablature is common for fretted stringed instruments such as the guitar, lute or vihuela, as well as many fr ...
.
History
Intabulation was a common practice in 14th–16th century keyboard and lute music. A direct effect of intabulation was one of the early advantages of keyboards, the ability to render multiple instruments' music on one instrument. The earliest intabulation is from the mid-14th century '' Robertsbridge Codex'', also one of the first sources of keyboard music still in existence. Some other early sources of intabulated music are the ''Faenza Codex
The ''Codex Faenza'' (Faenza, Biblioteca Comunale 117) abbreviated as "(I-FZc 117)", and sometimes known as ''Codex Bonadies'', is a 15th-century musical manuscript containing some of the oldest preserved keyboard music along with additional vocal ...
'' and the Reina manuscripts (from the 14th century) and the ''Buxheim manuscript'' (from the 15th century). The ''Faenza manuscript'', the largest of these early manuscripts, written circa 1400, contains pieces written or transcribed in the 14th century, such as those by Francesco Landini
Francesco Landini ( or 1335 – 2 September 1397; also known by many names) was an Italian composer, poet, organist, singer and instrument maker who was a central figure of the Trecento style in late Medieval music. One of the most revered c ...
and Guillaume de Machaut. More than half of its pieces are intabulations. The large ''Buxheim manuscript'' is dominated by intabulations, mainly of prominent composers of the time, including John Dunstaple
John Dunstaple (or Dunstable, – 24 December 1453) was an English composer whose music helped inaugurate the transition from the medieval to the Renaissance periods. The central proponent of the ''Contenance angloise'' style (), Dunstaple was ...
, Gilles Binchois
Gilles de Bins dit Binchois (also Binchoys; – 20 September 1460) was a Franco-Flemish composer of early Renaissance music. A central figure of the Burgundian School, Binchois and his colleague Guillaume Du Fay were deeply influenced by the ...
, Walter Frye, and Guillaume Dufay
Guillaume Du Fay ( , ; also Dufay, Du Fayt; 5 August 1397(?) – 27 November 1474) was a French composer and music theorist of the early Renaissance. Considered the leading European composer of his time, his music was widely performed and repr ...
. The term "intabulation" continued to be popular through the 16th century, but fell out of use in the early 17th century, though the practice continued. The exception is the 16th- and 17th-century Italian keyboard pieces which included both vocal and instrumental music. Intabulations contain all the vocal lines of a polyphonic piece, for the most part, although they are sometimes combined or redistributed in order to work better on the instrument the intabulation is intended for, and idiomatic ornaments are sometimes added.
Intabulations are an important source of information for historically informed performance because they show ornaments
An ornament is something used for decoration.
Ornament may also refer to:
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*Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts
*Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...
as they would have been played on various instruments, and they are a huge clue as to the actual performance of ''musica ficta
''Musica ficta'' (from Latin, "false", "feigned", or "fictitious" music) was a term used in European music theory from the late 12th century to about 1600 to describe pitches, whether notated or added at the time of performance, that lie outside ...
'', since tablature shows where a musician places their fingers, which is less up to interpretation than certain staff notations.
References
{{Authority control Musical notation