Please review my typesets of a Handel aria

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haydenmuhl
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Please review my typesets of a Handel aria

Post by haydenmuhl »

For a personal project of mine, I've typeset "Pastorello d'un povero armento" from the Handel opera Rodelinda. I would like to upload my typesets to IMSLP, but not knowing much about typesetting orchestral music, I would like some feedback before submitting. As it is, these scores are set specifically for me and a string quartet, but I would like them to be more generally usable. The scores are linked below.

Full score
Violin I
Violin II
Viola
Continuo
Voice

I'm aware of some of the formatting problems with the full score. My plan is to shrink the size of the staves so I can get three systems on a page. If I should be using a page size or orientation other than portrait 8.5x11, I'm open to that. The individual parts are pretty straight forward, but let me know if you see any errors.

I'm most interested in feedback on the voice part. Seeing as I typeset these scores primarily for me, and I am a singer, I made this score rather singer focused. I did not attempt a piano reduction, but since singers are used to seeing their accompaniment on the page, I wanted to include some sort of context for the singer. I included the first violin and the continuo part, as those would be the parts most easily identifiable to the ear. Would it be worthwhile to make the voice part more accommodating to a keyboard player? Would a pianist who reads figured bass rather have a score similar to the vocal part, or is the continuo part good enough?

I welcome input from all
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daphnis
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Re: Please review my typesets of a Handel aria

Post by daphnis »

One thing I'm missing is a tempo and style indication. Everything else looks fairly straightforward. Looks like Lilypond, yes?
coulonnus
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Re: Please review my typesets of a Handel aria

Post by coulonnus »

haydenmuhl wrote: Would it be worthwhile to make the voice part more accommodating to a keyboard player?
Sorry, but I don't understand what you mean. :|

Voice part: nowadays tenor voices are notated in G clef, by "cheating" by one octave.
Score: the standard is to notate the singer part above the orchestra parts, not in between.

Does your typesetting utility allows to "concentrate" the violins and viola parts into a single G-clef staff? Then this would automatically make an acceptable piano reduction.
haydenmuhl
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Re: Please review my typesets of a Handel aria

Post by haydenmuhl »

daphnis wrote:One thing I'm missing is a tempo and style indication. Everything else looks fairly straightforward. Looks like Lilypond, yes?
There are no indications in the source score. What would you suggest based on this recording?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK2pIbthlRM
coulonnus wrote:
haydenmuhl wrote: Would it be worthwhile to make the voice part more accommodating to a keyboard player?
Sorry, but I don't understand what you mean. :|
What type of score would a harpsichord player like to use? Is the continuo score good enough, or would it be worth while to alter the voice score to also be used by a harpsichordist? If so, how (e.g. adding the figured bass, changing the size of the staves, reordering the staves, etc.)?
Voice part: nowadays tenor voices are notated in G clef, by "cheating" by one octave.
Score: the standard is to notate the singer part above the orchestra parts, not in between.
I assume here you're talking about the full orchestral score. I don't have much experience with orchestral scores, so I just copied the scanned version rote. I am a tenor myself, so I wasn't sure if the use of the C clef was a peculiarity of orchestral scores, or just an old notation style. Using the same clef as the source score also made it easier to verify the accuracy of my transcription. Changing the clef and reordering the staves will not be difficult.
Does your typesetting utility allows to "concentrate" the violins and viola parts into a single G-clef staff? Then this would automatically make an acceptable piano reduction.
Yes-ish. I can put all three voices on one staff, but just shoving them all together probably won't be very readable. I would probably have to re-enter the whole thing as a piano reduction. Not hard if all I'm doing is mechanically squishing three string parts together, but not a priority at the moment. Unless someone wants it.
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coulonnus
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Re: Please review my typesets of a Handel aria

Post by coulonnus »

haydenmuhl wrote: What type of score would a harpsichord player like to use? Is the continuo score good enough, or would it be worth while to alter the voice score to also be used by a harpsichordist? If so, how (e.g. adding the figured bass, changing the size of the staves, reordering the staves, etc.)?
Personally I would appreciate the continuo part to be associated with an empty staff in G clef. So I could take my pencil and write the chords indicated by the ciphering.

But I assume string musicians are present. Otherwise a piano reduction is something else.
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