Guitar Solo
SKU:
IS.G6761EM
Composed
by Silvio Leopold Weiss.
Arranged by Ben Beuming.
Plucked - Guitar.
Metropolis Music
Publishers #G6761EM.
Published by Metropolis
Music Publishers
(IS.G6761EM).
ISBN
9790365067619.
This
sonata (WeissSW No. 48,
Dresden) is one of a new
series of eight sonatas
by Silvius Leopold Weiss
arranged for the first
time for guitar and
published by Metropolis
Music. Sonata XXIII comes
from a set of tablature
manuscript volumes in the
Sächsisches
Landesbibliothek in
Dresden (Ms. Mus.
2841-â?V-â?1).
There are five volumes
with a total of 34
sonatas of Weiss for solo
lute. The sonatas are
ordered by key and
further sorted by size or
complexity. Sonata XXIII
is a large and mature
piece. It probably dates
to the last period of the
life of Weiss. The Sonata
has seven movements:
Prelude, Allemande
(andante), Courante,
Bourée, Sarabande
(andante), Menuet, and it
ends with a Presto. The
use of tempo indications
for French dance
movements is
characteristic for the
later work of Weiss. The
purpose of beginning a
lute sonata with a
Prelude is to introduce
the specific key and the
harmonic design of the
sonata. However, not
every sonata in the
Dresden manuscripts has a
Prelude. About one third
of the 34 Dresden Sonatas
opens with a Prelude, but
only six of them may be
considered truly integral
to the sonata. The other
Preludes are composed in
a rather
â??rudimentaryâ??
style, as a model for the
less experienced lute
player to improvise on
the central key and
theme. They may have been
added later in the
copying process. The
Prelude of this
particular Sonata is
regarded as spurious, in
respect to composition, a
rather weak addition. I
have included the Prelude
in this Edition, leaving
it to the guitar player
to judge whether it fits
with the musical style
and idiom of the Sonata
or not. Originally, the
Sonata is written in F
sharp minor, a key often
used by Weiss as it is
appropriate for playing
the lute, but rather
awkward with the guitar.
For ease and
effectiveness of playing,
I have transposed the
Sonata a major second
lower to E minor. To
create more concordance
with the baroque tuning
of the lute, the G string
is lowered by a semitone
to F sharp. I suggest
using a capodastro to
achieve the original
pitch. Based on the
present standard of A at
440 Hertz, the capo
should be placed at the
2nd fret. However, during
Weissâ??s lifetime, it
was more common in many
parts of Germany to use a
standard of A at 415
Hertz -â? a semitone
lower. So, to hear the
pitch heard by Weiss and
his contemporaries, the
capo should then be
positioned at the 1st
fret.