Your Recorder Community

Adriano Banchieri (1568-1634) entered the monastery in 1587 at the age of 19 where he studied music with Geoseffo Guami.  Banchieri’s work in the field of music was considerable, and his output is balanced between sacred and secular music. His first collection of canzonas (1596) was specifically intended for instruments alone with no vocals!  Banchieri’s treatise, L'organo suonarino (Venice, 1605), offers the first description of figured bass.  The treatise Cartella musicale, (1614) outlines the concept of modern barlines, the “tie,” and gives tables of vocal ornaments. In 1615 he founded the Accademia dei Floridi, a music academy in Bologna, an organization which Claudio Monteverdi joined in 1620.
 
Fantasia Secunda  from Fantasie overo canzoni alla Francese a 4 (1603)
Fantasia Secunda is from the same collection of Fantasias as the Fantasia Prima.  The score for the second fantasy, like the first fantasy, indicates that it is to be performed on either keyboard or 4 instruments. This transcription has been left in the original key, however the time signature has been changed from 4/2 to 4/4 for ease of reading. 
 
Performance notes
Tempo: half note=88/ quarter note=176
Pitch: A=440
Instruments: Mollenhauer Kynseker
The primary motif of the second fantasy begins in the tenor line and features a string of 12 quarter notes.  While 12 quarter notes in a row may seem boring, we have the opportunity to create wonderful shapes using our articulations.  For this motive, I chose: Ta-ra ta ta| ta-ra ta ta| ta-ra ta-ra ta|.  For those playing on Renaissance-style instruments: like the first fantasy, I chose the f-alto so that the b-flats would have more accurate pitch.  However, I found that the g-alto was “doable.”
Difficultly level: Challenging
Additional scores and parts can be found at imslp.org:https://imslp.org/wiki/Fantasia_secunda_(Banchieri%2C_Adriano)
Customization options: to change the pitch or speed of any of these mp3 files try, www.audiospeedchanger.com