Suite for 9 instruments: 3 lutes, citara tiorbata,  violin, flute, bass viol, alpa doppia and clavicembalo, including an intrada, a balletto and a corrente.

Revised January 2018.This work was published as part of the 4th book of Pietro Paolo Melii's Intavolatura di liuto attiorbato, 1616. It was performed by 9 noblemen and 9 ladies in Vienna, March 2nd 1615, when Melli served at the court of Holy Roman Emperor Matthias.

I am still unsure about the tuning of the Citara tiorbata, using the signor Virgo tuning (Cordatura Paolo Virgo). Any tips appreciated. I reconstituted the tuning from the guitar part and the lute and notation parts. The only information I could find about the Citara tiorbata tuning is from the Grove: " Melli (1616) gave a tablature ensemble part for a ‘citara tiorbata’ that had at least nine courses tuned A–B–c–d–f/b–g–d'–e'; it is not known if the courses were double." The Grove tuning works except for the diapasons.The Citara tiorbata maybe a misnomer for us today, since it seemed to have been more a cittern than a guitar: "A large Italian Cittern with several extra bass strings usually attached to a second, extended peg box, in the manner of a Theorbo or chitarrone". The tablature looks definitely awkward for someone used to lute chord positions.

Another issue is the lutes tuning: the suite uses a chorista, a lute tuned one step down from the chorista and a bass lute all quarta. I originally assumed a lute in A, one in G and a D lute. This would set the piece in E minor, however the melody instrument parts call for D minor. Granted, it is all relative and computers are great for easy transposition of instruments, but in real life, this could cause some issues for the performers. With A at 415, the bass lute in C would be at a very low pitch according to our standards.

A third issue is the clavicembalo part written on three staves with overlapping notes: was it written for three hands? Doubtful perhaps, but there is a tantalizing possibility that a little musical game was intended in the same vein as the famous duet for two to play on a lute by Dowland. The noblemen and ladies involved would perhaps enjoy playing in a closed space, fighting for the same note on the keyboard. The alpa dopia shares the same score with the viola da gamba. That is another unusual instrument today. The instrument  on the left  is from the late 19th century and seems confusing enough but it should probably not be confused with Melli's alpa doppia. However it maybe worth noting that the complexity of a double-strung instrument seems at odd with the simplicity of the score.

Similarly, the complexity of the instrumentation is not matched by the complexity of the score: this is easy, light music, without virtuosic passages whose purpose seems to have been mostly entertainment for amateur musicians.

The lute parts were recorded by the ensembleI Liuti di L'aura Soave   (available on iTunes) I could not find a recording with the original instrumentation.

Note on the transcription: I transcribed each movement individually with all of the instruments' scores. Individual parts for each instrument are also given but they combine all three movements together.