L’arciliuto e il basso continuo nella Roma di Corelli: osservazioni sull’uso di ottave e acciaccature

The analysis of manuscripts with basso continuo realizations intabulated for archlute has allowed us to understand the fact that the tuning of the instrument in Corelli’s time was not the “unison” type to which we are accustomed today, but a tuning with the 4th, 5th, and 6th courses tuned in octaves, similar to the Renaissance six-course lute. Original fingerings have demonstrated in a convincing way that Baroque lutenists developed their harmonic connections by using these added octaves in an optimal way, and with completely new criteria compared to their predecessors, because they utilized the high pitches of the middle courses in order to obtain melodic continuity as well.
Later fingerings, modeled on the original ones, considerably simplify left-hand positions, they allow for a more fluid harmonization of the basso continuo, while generating fuller chords. Through intabulated and transcribed examples, this article shows how these criteria work and how they can be used in all keys.
The most convincing proof of the validity of such a tuning system appears in the application of the «false che dilettano» the typical dissonances of the Italian style. A close comparison with the principal sources of the «suonar pieno» and «suonar d’acciaccature» (Gasparini’s treatise and the realization of the arietta «Son un certo spiritello» from the Corsiniano Ms. Mus R 1) reveals the extraordinary capability of this tuning in octaves to perform all kinds of dissonant chords, to play full harmonies of eight, nine, and even ten notes, to insert «false» in the correct register, and to create contrasting harmonies that derive from the simultaneous performance of several adjacent notes with solutions that were unthinkable on an archlute until now.