From the edition in partitura of Jacques Buus, Il secondo libro di recercari ... da cantare, & sonare d'organo & altri stromenti ... a quatro voci (Venice, 1549), ed. James Ladewig, Italian Instrumental Music of the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries, vol. 3 (New York: Garland, 1993).
The project:
At a conference in 2017 and in an article of 2018, Paul Walker of the University of Notre Dame argued that many early ricercars and canzonas originally published in partbooks and more recently edited in four parts (partitura) were intended for the organ and ought to be edited as such. Taking this call to action, the students of MUSC 360, Spring 2020, of the University of Maryland, College Park, with guidance from the organist Theodore Guerrant, and musicologist Barbara Haggh-Huglo, who taught the course, arranged three recercare by Buus and part of a fourth on two staves for a keyboard instrument or Italian organ, i.e. without a pedalboard, and on three for an anachronistic modern organ with a pedalboard should another instrument not be available. Buus's recercare were composed for an Italian organ without pedalboard and not permitting performance of a melodic line in the bass; the transcriptions for three staves are thus not historical but allow the recercare to be played on a modern organ. Each student prepared two arrangements from a page of James Ladewig’s edition with the program MuseScore, then three students, Eric Aaron, Maggie Johns, and Andrew Zhang, volunteered their time to bring the individual files together to constitute complete ricercars. In this way, undergraduate students taking music history learned to make music history. Patrick Allies, teaching assistant, helped by answering questions about MuseScore and with the editing of the final files, and thanks to a grant from the University of Maryland Undergraduate Technology Assistant Program (UTAP), we had very helpful assistance from Emmanuel Harley.
Editorial remarks:
Flats, sharps, stemming, slurs, and rests of the Ladewig edition kept as possible, but inner parts disposed on staves for ease of keyboard performance, which often and necessarily hid the counterpoint. Ficta were added infrequently and are indicated in the list of changes made, which are attached below.
Barbara Haggh-Huglo - comments and corrections welcome - send to haggh@umd.edu
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MBeJpV-VpGv1URu5MRODNEUSBadv-Cwy/view?usp=sharing
PDF Recercar primo - two-staff - click above and download
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PtmM9s-L2ror8AGagQYwjtuXhBZSTReF/view?usp=sharing
PDF Recercar primo - three-staff - click above and download
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fl09HDVeOWpYbUJtKqYUVlyTkW8e-hii/view?usp=sharing
PDF Recercar sesto - two-staff - click above and download
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wrl6wDBYEfOFpi1sR2swqZ1fNiUbLlzW/view?usp=sharing
PDF Recercar sesto - three-staff - click above and download
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hzQBQHpMN7aIJlqJNtZuEUuksvNAD4FH/view?usp=sharing
PDF Recercar settimo - two-staff - click above and download
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-UQDDifJ8CwNJMcixgpZTdyjTbf1fGjM/view?usp=sharing
PDF Recercar settimo - three-staff - click above and download
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15smqCu_bRKO4fMbDBnCzOynHsEpRoLtd/view?usp=sharing
Word file - Changes made to Ladewig edition - click above and download
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i6hvT1qN1yB2Aerz-5V4F_VYUJGhpREF/view?usp=sharing
Word file - Analysis - click above and download