La Magdalena Tab

“La Magdalena” – Basse danse, Recoupe, Tourdion
Pierre Attaingnant: “Dixhuit basses dances”, 1529
Transcription for guitar by Lorenzo Lotti
 
The musical piece, titled “La Magdalena”, is divided into three parts: Basse danse, recoupe, tourdion,
and is one of the most famous songs of the whole 16th century.
It was published by Attaingnant in 1529 and has been used many times in 20th- and 21st-century popular music:
"Donna ti voglio cantare" by Italian singer-songwriter Angelo Branduardi,
recorded in his 1979 album Cogli la prima mela;
"Play Minstrel Play" by Renaissance band Blackmore's Night, in their 1997 album Shadow of the Moon;
"The March Of The Swordmaster" by Rhapsody, included in their 2002 album Power of the Dragonflame.
"Tourdion" by German medieval folk bands "Die Streuner" and "Corvus Corax".
 
The Tourdion is also executed as a piece for 4 voices: “Quand je bois du vin clairet”,
by Jordi Savall with La Capella Reial de Catalunya / Hespèrion XXI.
 
The score is an arrangement of a piece for lute. My aim, when I wrote this score, was:
 
1. to preserve the melodic line, which must always be understandable;
the melodic line must not be dominated by the ornament.
 
2. preserve the dance character, endowed with its own rhythmicity (see #10, 13, 17, 21 and 25).
 
3. Maintain/keep harmonies compatibles with the style of Renaissance music or the music of the late
Middle Ages (see #3: the armonic line is g+, c+, d+ instead of g+, a+, d+).
 
 Basse danse
 (x2)
  1                2                3                4
e|--------------0-|2-------2-------|3-----2-0-------|--------------0-|
B|3-------3-2-3---|----------------|0-------1---3---|2---3-2-0-2-3---|
G|2---2-----------|2-------2-------|--------0---2---|2-------0-------|
D|0-------0-------|0-----------0---|------------0---|--------2-------|
A|----------------|----------------|--------3-------|0---------------|
E|----------------|----------------|3---------------|----------------|
 
  5                6
e|2-------0---2---|3-2-0-----------||
B|----------------|0-----3-2-------||
G|2-0-2---0---2---|--------2-------||
D|0-----4-2---0---|----------------||
A|----------------|--------0-------||
E|----------------|3---------------||
 
 (x2)
  7                8                9                10
e|----------------|0-------0-2-3---|2---0-----------|----------------|
B|----3---0-2-3-23|2-0-2-3-----0---|3-----3-2-0-2---|0---3---3---3---|
G|--------0-------|----------------|2---------------|----------------|
D|--------2-------|----------------|0---------------|0---4---4---4---|
A|2---------------|0---------------|--------0-------|----2---2---2---|
E|----------------|------------3---|----------------|----------------|
 
  11               12
e|----------------|----------------||
B|0-2-3-0-2---0---|0-------0-------||
G|0---------------|----3-----------||
D|--------2---0---|--------4-------||
A|--------0---2---|--------2-------||
E|3---------------|2---------------||
 
 
 Recoupe
 (x2)
  13           14           15           16           17           18
e|------------|2-------0---|------------|------------|2---2---2---|0-----------|
B|0---0---0---|------0-2---|3-------2---|3-------3---|------------|2-----3-2---|
G|------------|2-1-2-------|------------|2-------2---|2---2---2---|------------|
D|4---4---4---|0-----------|0---2-------|0-------0---|0---0---0---|------------|
A|2---2---2---|--------0---|2---0-------|------------|------------|0-------0---|
E|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|
 
  19           20
e|------------|------------||
B|0-----------|0-------0---||
G|--------3---|------------||
D|4-----------|4-------4---||
A|2-----------|2-------2---||
E|----2-------|------------||
 
 (x 2)
  21           22           23           24           25           26
e|2---2---2---|5-------4---|2-----------|2-------2---|2---2---2---|0-----------|
B|3---3---3---|--------0---|2-------6---|2-------2---|------------|2-------3---|
G|------------|6-----------|2-----------|------------|2---2---2---|--------4---|
D|------------|4-------2---|4-------6---|4-------4---|0---0---0---|------------|
A|2---2---2---|------------|----4-------|------------|------------|0-------2---|
E|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|
 
 
  27           28
e|------------|------------||
B|2-------0---|------------||
G|------------|3-------3---||
D|4---0-------|------------||
A|------------|4-------4---||
E|------------|2-------2---||
 
 
 Tourdion
 (x 2)
  29           30           31           32           33           34
e|------0-----|----------0-|2-0-----0---|------------|------0-----|------------|
B|0-2-3---3-2-|0---0-2-3---|----3-3---2-|3---2-0-----|0-2-3---3-2-|0---3---2---|
G|------------|------------|------------|----------3-|------------|------------|
D|------------|------------|0-----0-----|------------|------------|------------|
A|2-----0-----|2-----0-----|--------0---|2-----------|2-----0-----|2-------0---|
E|------------|------------|------------|----------2-|------------|------------|
 
  35           36
e|------------|------------||
B|0-----------|0-----------||
G|--------3---|------------||
D|------------|4---4-------||
A|2-----------|2-------2---||
E|----2-------|------------||
 
 (x 2)
  37           38           39           40           41           42
e|2-----0-2-3-|2-------2---|5-4-2-------|------------|2-----0-2-3-|2-----------|
B|------------|------------|2-----5-3-2-|3-----2-0---|------------|----5-3-2---|
G|2-----------|2-------2---|------------|------------|2-----------|2-----------|
D|0-----------|0-------0---|------------|------------|0-----------|0-----------|
A|------------|------------|0-----------|2-----------|------------|------------|
E|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|
 
  43           44
e|------------|------------||
B|0-----------|0-----------||
G|--------3---|------------||
D|------------|4-----------||
A|------------|2-----------||
E|----2-------|------------||
X