Music Files

Last updated Thursday, January 10, 2008.

The following is a collection of sheet music for cittern in Portable Document Format (PDF). Additionally, some files are available in Francesco Tribioli's Fronimo (vers. 2.x and 3.x), PostScript (PS), and MIDI format. In order to view these files you will need either a program such as GhostScript, or Adobe's PDF viewer, Acrobat Reader, both of which are available for free. In order to read Fronimo format files, you will need the latest version of Fronimo (see Links Page), a trial version of which is available for free.

If you have a piece you would like to suggest or submit, please contact me.

 

16th & 17th Century Cittern

Title Source Files Notes
John Come Kiss Me Now Playford's Musick's Delight on the Cithern, 1666 PS, PDF, FT2, MIDI. For 4c. chromatic cittern, Italian tuning. Edited by Andrew Hartig. Editorial changes are marked in brackets “[ ]”.
A Plaine Song for Two Citharens Original/arranged. PS, PDF, FT2, MIDI. Thomas Robinson's "A Plaine Song for Two Lutes" arranged for cittern by Andrew Hartig. For two 4c. chromatic citterns, Italian tuning.
Passemezo Bataglia Phalese & Bellere's Hortulus Citharae, 1570 PS, PDF, FT2, MIDI. For 4c. chromatic cittern, Italian tuning. No corrections have been made from the original.
Almande & Reprinse Phalese & Bellere's Hortulus Citharae, 1570 PS, PDF, FT2, MIDI. For 4c. chromatic cittern, Italian tuning. No corrections have been made from the original. The repeat of the Almande in the MIDI file contains some divisions upon the original (not shown in the score).
Pauane Quadro & The Galliard to the Quadron Pauan Holborne's Cittharn Schoole 1597, & Robinson's New Citharen Lessons, 1609 PS, PDF, FT2, MIDI (pavan), MIDI (galliard). For 4c. chromatic cittern, Italian tuning. Although the pavan and galliard come from different sources, thematically they seem to be quite well linked—more so, even, than some of the other Quadro pavan and galliard pairs. Corrections to the originals have been footnoted.
Four Praeludium Holborne's Cittharn Schoole, 1597 PS, PDF FT2. For 4c. chromatic cittern, Italian tuning. These four preludes are the first four pieces in Holborne's Cittharn Schoole. While among some of Holborne's less complex pieces, these preludes still make great practice as they involve a fair degree of movement along the length of the fingerboard. Corrections to the originals have been footnoted.
Pass'e'mezo Vincenti's Secondo Libro D'Intavolatura di Citara, 1602 PDF, FT3 For 6c. diatonic cittern. Notation of the original is for a strictly diatonic instrument. A number with an asterisk (*) below it indicates a chromatic fret one fret lower than the number.
Complete intabulation of the nine cittern pieces from Guillaume Morlaye's Quatriesme livre (1552) Morlaye's Quatriesme livre, 1552

PDF, FT3

Originally intended for an early(?) 4c. diatonic instrument missing a 1st fret. The pieces in this file have been edited to be playable on a "standard" diatonic instrument.
This file was kindly provided by Mark Wheeler.

Six pieces from Millar/Mackalman manuscript Millar/Mackalman manuscript, MS. 9477, Great Britain, Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland PDF For 4c. chromatic cittern, French tuning. The original MS is missing rhythm signs, so some editing will be needed.
This file was kindly provided by Rob MacKillop.
Complete intabulation of Robert Edwards Commonplace Book Robert Edwards Commonplace Book, Ms. 9450, formerly Panmure 11, Great Britain, Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland PDF For 4c. diatonic cittern, French tuning. The original MS is missing rhythm signs, so some editing will be needed.
This file was kindly provided by Rob MacKillop. For some sample audio files from this MS, please see the Audio Files page.

18th Century Cittern

Title Source Files Notes
Twelve Divertimentis for the Guittar (facsimile) James Oswald's Twelve Divertimentis for the Guittar, 18th C. PDF
(1.22 MB) 		This file was provided by Rob MacKillop via permission by the holders of the Mackworth Collection, Cardiff University Library. The file contains jpegs of all 12 pages of the original print.
Title pages and music from Instructions for the Guitar (facsimile) Robert Bremner's Instructions for the Guitar, 18th C. PDF
(979 KB) 		This file was provided by Rob MacKillop via permission of Cardiff University Library. Bremner's "Instructions" are not included in this file.

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