Lute fingerings for the left hand are a valuable source of information about the Articulation of Baroque music. Vallet’s fingerings are given for 49 pieces in Le secret des muses. They affect linear Articulation, often indicating a preference for breaks before strong beats, before an anacrusis, and prior to ornaments, as well as articulating dance rhythms and sequential passages. His fingerings contribute to our understanding of some of the many performance details of early 17th-c. French music that may be mined for artistic guidance today.
Sandman, Susan G. (1993) “Interpretive Left-Hand Fingerings for Lute in Nicholas Vallet’s “Le Secret des Muses” (1615),” Performance Practice Review: Vol. 6: No. 2, Article 5. DOI: 10.5642/perfpr.199306.02.05
Susan G. Sandman http://scholarship.claremont.edu/ppr/
Interpretive Left-Hand Fingerings for Lute in Nicholas Vallet’s “Le Secret des Muses”
