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ISSN: 1089-747X
Volume 27 (2021) No. 1
Jeffery T. Kite-Powell – Notating—Accompanying—Conducting:
Intabulation Usage in the Levoča Manuscripts
Appendix. An introduction to NGOT notation[1]
3. An Illustration with Transcription into Modern Notation
1. History
1.1 New German organ tablature (NGOT), often referred to as “keyboard” tablature since harpsichordists also read from this notation, came about as early as around 1520, when German keyboard players modified the style of the older tablature simply by eliminating the staff in favor of an additional row of letters for the uppermost voice. The Klangenfurt MS (1547) is the first complete manuscript to use NGOT (Figure A.1). The first printed example of NGOT was published in 1571 by Nikolaus Ammerbach (Figure A.2). Even J.S. Bach used NGOT several times in his Orgelbüchlein (1708–1717) when he ran out of staff lines, since staves use much more space than letters (Figure A.3). The last known printed example of NGOT is a copper-plate engraving by Johann Erasmus Kindermann from 1645 (Figure A.4). That it was reprinted in 1655 suggests that the compositions contained therein were still of interest, and that organists for at least that decade were able to read NGOT.
2. Characteristics
2.1 Page layout: The keyboardists typically, but not always, read the music across the full width of the open book, instead of down each page in succession; the Kindermann example in Figure A.4 is an exception to the open book approach.
2.2 All pitches are presented with the letters a–h (with b and h representing b-flat and b-natural respectively), and the parts in chordal or polyphonic textures are layered vertically as in a score.[2]
2.3 Rhythmic values are written above each letter or occasionally between two letters, and rests are written within the horizontal row of letters of the voice that is supposed to rest. The notes of the final chord of each composition are provided with a fermata instead of a rhythm sign. A dot affects the note in the same manner as a modern dot, and in some tablatures, ties are employed.[3]
2.4 Bar lines: Periodic use of bar lines can be found in some of the earlier manuscripts, while other manuscripts leave a small space between groups of letters, suggesting some kind of rhythmic grouping of the notes; still others do not give any indication of note groupings or any other organizing characteristic at all. Most of the later manuscripts prefer to separate groupings with spaces, but a few continue the use of the bar line.
2.5 Designation of octaves: Typical for most tablatures, the great octave is indicated by capital letters, the small octave by lower case letters, the one-line octave (cʹ–bʹ) by lower case letters with a horizontal line over them, and the two-line octave (cʺ–bʺ) either by a wavy line over the letters or by two horizontal lines. The octave reaches from c to b in most cases, but variances do occur. Since each letter can indicate only one pitch, clef signs are unnecessary.
2.6 Chromatic alteration was achieved by attaching a tail-like flourish to the affected letter—usually functioning to raise the pitch—and is valid only for that one letter. This feature precludes possible ambiguities, except in rare cases of scribal carelessness, and eliminates the necessity of key signatures and natural signs. In Figure A.5, the loop on the final note (f-sharp) clearly differentiates that note from the f at the start of the line. In the same way, a loop added to the letter c indicates c-sharp (Cis), while flats were indicated enharmonically by loops added to the letters d and g, resulting in d-sharp (Dis) and g-sharp (Gis), understood as e-flat (Es) and a-flat (As).
2.7 Other points of interest: There are a few instances in which a scribe places the value of a note above the first letter in a series of letters but leaves the space above the remaining letters blank until the note value changes. Rests are placed in the space where a letter (or letters) would normally have been placed, but some scribes are often lax with the placement of rests. In polychoral compositions, rests are generally not inserted for the absent choir.
3. An Illustration with Transcription into Modern Notation
3.1 There are several things to observe in Figure A.6, an excerpt from a piece by Bernard Schmid (1567–1625): the π–like rhythmic symbol above the top row of letters, the tie between the second and third letters, the flourish attached to the first and last letters in the top line indicating the g has been altered to g-sharp, the two short horizontal lines above the letters in the first three rows indicating the two-line octave, the vertical J-like symbol above the third letters of the second and third row of letters showing the rhythmic values of those notes, the single horizontal line above the lowest row of letters indicating the one-line octave, and finally, the first three groups of fence-like patterns in the bottom line indicating groups of sixteenth notes, while the final two groups show thirty-second notes. Note the clash between the g-sharp in the top line and the g-natural in the bottom line (the first beat in the transcription)—a fairly common practice in the day.
Figures
Figure A.1. The Klangenfurt tablature from 1547
Figure A.2. Elias Nikolaus Ammerbach, Orgel oder Instrument Tabulatur (1571)
Figure A.3. J.S. Bach’s usage of NGOT in the Orgelbüchlein
Figure A.4. Johann Kindermann, Harmonia organica (1645)
Figure A.5. NGOT fragment showing f-natural and f-sharp
Figure A.6. Excerpt from Bernard Schmid, Tablatur Buch (1607): facsimile and transcription
References
[1] The content of this Appendix conflates material from Jeffery Kite-Powell, The Visby (Petri) Organ Tablature: Investigation and Critical Edition, Quellen-Kataloge zur Musikgeschichte 14 (Wilhelmshaven: Heinrichshofen, 1979), 37–39, https://www.academia.edu/42217807/; and the Introduction to Kite-Powell, “German Organ Tablature,” in Encyclopedia of Tablature, ed. John Griffiths (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, forthcoming).
[2] A transliteration of the German alphabet typically used in tablatures is given in Kite-Powell, The Visby, 38.
[3] A table showing the rhythmic signs and their equivalents in modern notation is given in Kite-Powell, The Visby, 39.