Saturday morning quotes 3.12: Julia Sutton
Our category of posts designated In Memoriam is in woeful need of updating – not that we’re recommending any additional names be added to the roster. We take seriously our duty to duly acknowledge the many musicologists and mentors whose good work has at least directed us down a dusty corridor, or even helped pry open one or two doors in the labyrinthine library of historical music. But it must be said that it’s a sad enterprise to mark the passing of friends, colleagues, and the many pioneers of lute scholarship. Among the latter is Julia Sutton (July 20, 1928 – July 1, 2012).
Although we did not know Julia Sutton personally, her exemplary work on the music of Jean-Baptiste Besard and her translation of Fabritio Caroso’s, Nobiltà di dame (1600) offered lutenists of today a wealth of important details and contextual information about the historical use of our favorite instrument. Her focus was early dance and dance music, and her work pointed out the importance of maintaining dance rhythms if one wishes to grasp the true essence of old music.
Our quotes today are drawn from Julia Sutton’s article, “The Lute Instructions of Jean-Baptiste Besard.” Musical Quarterly vol. 51, no. 2 (1965), pp. 345–362. Besard published detailed instructions on playing the lute in his Thesaurus harmonicus (1603), which were the basis for Dowland’s “Necessarie Observations Belonging to the Lute, and Luteplaying,” (Varietie of Lute-Lessons, 1610), and were revised and published again in Besard’s Novus partus (1617). Of these instructions, Sutton writes, “As we read them today, we discover that their applicability to modern lute and guitar playing is still fresh, and their comments on the foibles of teachers and students are universal.” Indeed, these insights are usefully applicable to the study of practically any instrument today.
Besard on cleanliness:
…I should rather urge you to wash your hands often and keep them as clean as possible; besides the good looks which please everybody, the repeated moistening is a great help to the strength of the muscles and, as a result, to the agility of the hand. Take care, however, never to become involved in violent exercises requiring the use of the hand.
On choosing repertory
Though there are many who practice the more difficult passages first in order to have an easier time with the rest, I do not recommend this to beginners for fear that such difficulty may cause them to feel disgusted and in consequence to give up the study; I should prefer, instead, to prescribe an easy piece of music at first in which there are not so many grifs [i.e. chords] . . . , so that the finger does not have to be stretched frequently across the neck.
On playing polyphony
…There is nothing more pleasant and tasteful than for the parts which create the harmony to be maintained, keeping a balanced proportion. This cannot be done if the fingers are removed from the strings, since the voice is lost as soon as it ceases to be fingered…In short, consider it as a basic rule that the fingers ought not to be released from the strings unless necessary.
If you are a beginner,.., do not be in a hurry to play more quickly than is right and proper. I promise you sincerely and without pretense that nothing is more profitable in this activity than to be patient and unhurried from the beginning, for it is impossible for you to play your compositions correctly on first reading.
And for a final very important guideline that really ought to be heeded today, Julia Sutton summarized Besard’s concluding remarks to his 1617 instructions thus:
Besard first asks the student to treat this “divine art . . . cultivated by men of the highest position” with proper respect. One should try to learn to play well enough to please others; if, however, one develops professional skill, be sure to charge adequately for one’s performance in order not to cheapen the art!