Cecile Mansuy – La Spagnoletta: Selva di variazioni & diverse composizioni per il cimbalo (2018) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

No, “La Spagnoletta” is not the name of a composer: it’s the first piece on this album, which probably dates back to the late 16th century, and which provided many musicians with the raw material for fantasias, partitas, caprices, arias and all the conceivable musical forms then in vogue. We start with Giovan Battista Ferrini (1601-1674) and his Tastata per cembalo La Spagnoletta, followed by one of the “clearer” pieces, which takes up the source, The Old Spagnoletta by Giles Farnaby (1563-1640). Frescobaldi himself gets involved with his Capriccio VI sopra la Spagnoletta, while Johann Speth (1664-1719) throws in his Partite divers sopra la Spagnioletta and finally Bernardo Storace (1637-1707) his Aria sopra la Spagnoletta.

So, clearly, this theme was one of the great sources of melodic inspirations of our times, a little like the Folie d’Espagne has inspired some five hundred composers in the years since it was written, right down to the present day. If the career of the La Spagnoletta as an inspirational piece didn’t last as long, that’s probably because it was pretty melodically complex. Cécile Mansuy plays on a unique Italian harpsichord with a “short octave” (that is, a layout of notes in the lower octave which differs from the normal system, so as to group together the most frequently-played notes), as well as split keys, in the style of various early-17th century instruments. Split keys? What’s that? A split-key keyboard is one in which certain notes, here E flat and D sharp on the one hand and G sharp and A flat on the other, each have a key to themselves – whereas on a piano they share the same key and are therefore treated as being identical. On split-key harpsichords, the musician can play on the organic difference in the respective functions of these notes; in reality, they are not acoustically identical: D sharp being a ninth higher than E flat, and the same for the others. That made it possible to avoid the sensation of hitting bum notes in a time before the “well-tempered” clavier had been developed.

Tracklist:
1. GIOVAN BATTISTA FERRINI – TASTATA PER CEMBALO 02:37
2. GIOVAN BATTISTA FERRINI – LA SPAGNOLETTA: I. PRIMA 00:40
3. GIOVAN BATTISTA FERRINI – LA SPAGNOLETTA: II. SECONDA 00:44
4. GIOVAN BATTISTA FERRINI – CORRENTE 01:10
5. GIOVAN BATTISTA FERRINI – CIACCONE 00:35
6. GIOVAN BATTISTA FERRINI – GALIARDA 00:35
7. WILLIAM BYRD – FITZWILLIAM VIRGINAL BOOK, VOL. II: GALLIARD, F 166 01:32
8. GILES FARNABY – THE OLD SPAGNOLETTA 00:57
9. GILES FARNABY – SPAGNOLETTA 02:12
10. GILES FARNABY – FANTASIA 07:01
11. GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI – CAPRICCIO VI SOPRA LA SPAGNOLETTA F 4.06 06:04
12. GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI – GAGLIARDA SECONDA, F 3.28 00:49
13. GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI – CANZONA PRIMA, F 3.13 04:09
14. GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI – CORRENTE E CIACCONA, F 2.33 01:11
15. JOHANN SPETH – TOCCATA DECIMA, ODER ZEHENDES MUSIKALISCHES BLUMEN-FELD 02:26
16. JOHANN SPETH – PARTITE DIVERSE SOPRA LA SPAGNIOLETTA: I. PARTITA 00:25
17. JOHANN SPETH – PARTITE DIVERSE SOPRA LA SPAGNIOLETTA: II. PARTITA 00:24
18. JOHANN SPETH – PARTITE DIVERSE SOPRA LA SPAGNIOLETTA: III. PARTITA 00:24
19. JOHANN SPETH – PARTITE DIVERSE SOPRA LA SPAGNIOLETTA: IV. PARTITA 00:24
20. JOHANN SPETH – PARTITE DIVERSE SOPRA LA SPAGNIOLETTA: V. PARTITA 00:24
21. JOHANN SPETH – PARTITE DIVERSE SOPRA LA SPAGNIOLETTA: VI. PARTITA 00:29
22. BERNARDO STORACE – RICERCAR 05:45
23. BERNARDO STORACE – ARIA SOPRA LA SPAGNOLETTA: I. PRIMA PARTE 01:25
24. BERNARDO STORACE – ARIA SOPRA LA SPAGNOLETTA: II. SECONDA PARTE 01:28
25. BERNARDO STORACE – ARIA SOPRA LA SPAGNOLETTA: III. TERZA PARTE 01:07
26. BERNARDO STORACE – ARIA SOPRA LA SPAGNOLETTA: IV. QUARTA PARTE 01:20
27. BERNARDO STORACE – ARIA SOPRA LA SPAGNOLETTA: V. QUINTA PARTE 01:38
28. BERNARDO STORACE – ARIA SOPRA LA SPAGNOLETTA: VI. SESTA E ULTIMA PARTE 01:57
29. BERNARDO STORACE – PASSACAGLI SOPRA A LA MI RE 08:53