Francia's Andante & Bolero

[Eugene]

I've been toying with Leopoldo Francia's "Andante & Bolero" for two mandolins as printed in the little D'Alton book (D'Alton, H. 1975. A Variety of Mandolin Music. Clifford Essex Publications, London). In spite of the "Brillante" tempo of the Bolero, it is fairly simple and both parts are rather straightforward. A couple observations:

In the first part, the first note of the 6th measure is a quarter, but appears it should be a half.

The piece's entirety is contained in a very brief page, the Bolero being a single section of 14 measures. It ends on a rather cryptic Fine, which seems redundant given the double bar. I suspect this originally had another page-worth of material, perhaps a B section and/or a trio that would have concluded on D.C. al fine or the like.

Does anybody have a different printing of this to confirm my suspicions?

[Jim Garber]

Maybe I am using fuzzy math...but shouldn't that first note be a dotted quarter? Perhaps those 16ths should not be triplets in the strict sense, then the4 meaure would add up to 12/8.

I did a search for Clifford Essex (the publisher of d'Alton's book) but found no publishing arm just sites about zither banjos and this page which features as rare Clifford Essex mandocello.

Hey! I justscrolled down that page and they have my photo of my Bacon mandolin! Who knew?

Jim

[Eugene]

Maybe I am using fuzzy math...but shouldn't that first note be a dotted quarter? Perhaps those 16ths should not be triplets in the strict sense, then the4 meaure would add up to 12/8.

Ah, but if it is a half, then the triplets fit as proper triplets into a bar of 12/8 and it is more rhythmically interesting.

[Eugene]

Anybody?

[margora]

Eugene, I took a look at the score. You could play it as a half, and be correct rhythmically, but personally I hear the first note as a dotted quarter, and the two triplets really as a six note phrase, to be played in the space alloted a dotted quarter, i.e. I agree with Jim.

[Marc]

I'm not a good reader I have to admit, but I know there are some anomolies in this piece. RSW visited me a year ago and we tried playing this as a duet but were puzzled by bar 6 although looking at it now (and thinking in terms of 6 beats to the bar) it seems ok if you take the triplets as one beat each. Richard bracketed them and wrote '6' above them in pencil. You trained sight readers will understand I'm sure!
It's a nice piece though and I've played it as a duet with a flautist friend and also as a solo piece using the 2nd part.

Marc
www.belmando.com

[Eugene]

Eugene, I took a look at the score. #You could play it as a half, and be correct rhythmically, #but personally I hear the first note as a dotted quarter, and the two triplets really as a six note phrase, to be played in the space alloted a dotted quarter, i.e. I agree with Jim.

Yeah, I've played it both ways, and it was easier to handle as a dotted quarter. I'm not sure which I like better, but I'm leaning towards opening the bar with a half note. Using a dotted quarter turns the subsequent triplets into straight 16ths given the time signature. As printed, this would make both the quarter note to open the bar and the triplets to follow into typographic errors. Given that time was taken to notate and group the flags of this phrase as triplets, I think the the more simple correction is the one more likely to be correct; that the first note was originally a half. I am certainly open to any of your thoughts on the issue, all.

What about a potentially omitted 2nd page? Any thoughts? Any original prints or manuscripts floating around out there?

[margora]

Your point about notation is an interesting one. However if I remember correctly (I am at work) elsewhere in the first part of the piece there are bars with dotted quarters (but no halfs). The piece is in 12/8, so the dotted quarter phrasing is natural. To a classical guitarists, by the way, two typos in a bar is nothing. RSW, as another post noted, wrote a "six" above the two triplets, which is my solution. But in the absence of a manuscript or alternative score, either solution is "correct".
I agree with you that the piece ends rather abruptly.

[Eugene]

Yes, I am no stranger to typos. #I also don't have the score on hand, so I'm also working from a mightily imperfect memory. #My contention would take the first phrase of the bar to be conceptually a dotted half, the last portion of which would essentially be a couple triplets in pickup to the second half of the bar. #I'll look for corroboration in the accompaniment next time I look at the sheet. #To actually group two sets of three notes with ties, "3"s, and flags just seems like more effort than could be reasonably be labeled a typographic error.

[margora]

Actually, Eugene, I'm coming around to your point of view on this. What you are saying is: write a dotted quarter with a tie to an eighth (downbeat of "2"), then a phrase of six meant to be played in the space alloted to two eighth notes (which preserves the triplet notation). This is your solution (probably it is what RSW had in mind too): visually, it would look straightforward on the page, and would be easy for the mandolinist to play and keep time, and the guitarist could just keep chugging along.

[Eugene]

Exactly. I was considering the simpler notation given that a dotted quarter + an eighth in tie = one half...err...or perhaps I should have studied musical algebra a little more.

[margora]

For me, the dotted quarter plus a tie, plus a phrase of six would be MUCH easier to read than a half note -- reason being, if I were playing the mandolin part I would "count" (not literally, but in my mind) in four groups of three. The first beat of the measure is the dotted quarter. The downbeat of "2" would be the (tied) eighth note, followed by the triplets. If I were sight reading and saw this notation, I'd just keep going. But if I saw the half note, I'm quite sure I would stop, or else get the downbeat of "2" wrong on first try. It's a visual "thing".

[Eugene]

Actually, I quite agree. While the half note is perhaps simpler to physically note on paper, it bucks a logical, perceptual grouping in 12/8.

[Marc]

Phew, I'm glad that's sorted then!
Marc