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• Agricola, Alexander: 5 Instrumental Pieces

Agricola, Alexander: 5 Instrumental Pieces

for 3 instruments.

Alexander Agricola (c. 1446-1506) left more elaborate instrumental pieces than did any other composer of his generation; two arrangements of the classic De tous biens playne have already appeared in this series (no. 43). While no. 5 here is only instrumental in the sense of being textIess (it seems to be quite similar to some texted songs of the composer), the remaining four pieces are all based on pre-existent material: nos. 1 and 2 on the popular Dutch song “O venus bant”, no. 3 on the tenor of Hayne van Ghizeghem´s Amours, amours, and no. 4 on the tenor of an apparently lost rondeau.
In this edition all but one of the pieces (no. 5, which, as we have seen, is different from the others) have been transposed up a fifth to bring them within the range of more suitable instruments, capable of delivering the elaborate passagework with clarity. Fifteenth-century musical culture seems to have been a little short of real bass instruments; also, in Agricola´s day the actual written pitch of a piece based on a cantus firmus was almost invariably that of the model, regardless of whether such a pitch was practicable or not. The original note values have been halved rather than quartered to avoid the intrusion of beams into Agricola´s asymmetrical rhythms. Editorial accidentals are printed small. Above the stave, applying to one note only.
The first four pieces here should be regarded as virtuoso music, and performed as fast as is consistent with accuracy and clarity. They may be played on recorders, or on bowed or plucked strings - on the last of these, plectra should be used if possible.