Likely fifthtone piece (c. 1600?) -- mp3, ogg, MIDI

Hello, everyone, and it's my pleasure to make available a rendition of
a keyboard piece from the Coimbra _Manuscrito musico n. 48_, a
Portuguese source including some mid-16th century music and possibly
dating in its final form to the early 17th century, I might guess,
which Hoyle Carpenter has transcribed as an apparent enharmonic or
fifthtone composition using meantone diesis steps of about 1/5-tone.
Thanks to Johnny Reinhard for making this piece known to me and
others by performance and discussion, and for helping to expedite my
own rendition.

Here I give links to ogg, mp3, and MIDI versions, and also to the
source file used with Aaron's et_compose to generate the MIDI file.

<http://www.bestii.com/~mschulter/Coimbra48.ogg>
<http://www.bestii.com/~mschulter/Coimbra48.mp3>
<http://www.bestii.com/~mschulter/Coimbra48.mid>
<http://www.bestii.com/~mschulter/Coimbra48_etc>

There are some fine issues in interpretating accidentals, and also at
one point the indicated rhythm; thus I have taken one melodic motion
in the highest part from Bb to "B#" to mean Bb-B-natural, which seems
to me more idiomatic both melodically (a chromatic semitone rather
than a step of 4/5-tone) and vertically (moving from a regular minor
to a regular major third above G, rather than to a meantone augmented
third or "Wolf fourth," in a sonority with a useful cadential
resolution).

However, it is noteworthy that in this piece, as in some examples of
fifthtone music in a treatise by Fabio Colonna (1618), some fourths
and fifths imperfect by a diesis do occur. This contrast with the
fifthtone technique of Nicola Vicentino in the mid-16th century, who
generally prefers to avoid such intervals in _vertical_ sonorities
(although they occur melodically in his music), might reflect the
freer and indeed often audacious cultivation of various forms of
dissonance around 1600.

While Carpenter suggests a possible association of this piece with the
Portuguese composer and theorist Vicente Lusitano, noted for his
victory over Vicentino in a judged disputation (1551) as to the nature
of the genera, the general style suggests to me the period around
1600 -- for example, the expressively chained dissonances. Someone
specializing in Iberian and other keyboard music of the 16th and early
17th centuries might offer a more informed opinion.

Anyway, it's a pleasure to offer a rendition of this likely fifthtone
composition made with Aaron's versatile et_compose.

In peace and love,

Margo