New Early Sones. The Llibre de tons de Ioseph Vilamur, an Unknown Source of Seventeenth-century Iberian Guitar Music

Abstract

The Llibre de tons de Ioseph Vilamur is a miscellaneous manuscript of Catalan origin containing texts to be sung with strummed accompaniment and music in a punteado (plucked) style for five-stringed guitar. While the tonos are in line with the standard canon of Catalan figures, the vast repertory of plucked music it contains is written inconsistently and reveals a very amateur use, possibly directed by a private teacher. Apart from the dance sones often found in Iberian sources during the second half of the seventeenth century, such as chaconnes, folias, marizápalos and the gran duque, it contains a significant number of unusual genres that are also present in other Catalan sources from the same period, such as the Universitat de Barcelona manuscript and the Escornalbou and Senorami harp manuscripts.