Diego Ortiz’s Trattado is a classic in the art of musical ornamentation. Part 1 provides examples of every cadence while part 2 discusses the interplay between viola da gamba and harpsichord, including many pieces for this combination of instruments as illustrations.

All lovers of early music are familiar with Ortiz’s standard work, but how many of them have actually read it? This new edition makes the work more accessible by choosing a synoptic layout: the original Spanish and Italian are printed on a double-page spread along with translations into modern German and English. An introduction by Annette Otterstedt explains the Trattado and its origins, the various tunings, and questions regarding the instrument. The musical section has been freshly engraved, and a separate viol part simplifies performances with a keyboard instrument. For the first time, Ortiz’s text is now available to an international readership in the original and in translation at the same time.

The Editor
Annette Otterstedt is a concert gamba player and musicologist presently employed as an assistant curator at the Music Instrument Museum in Berlin .
She has published several books, including Die Gambe (1994; Eng. trans. as The Viol, 2002) and a great many articles on early music.