Il Papa - La Vita (reconstruction)

La Vita

by Giovannino

trans.	meas.	man 1	lady	man 2	notes	man 1	lady	man 2
		Giovannino				Giorgio
Section 1
3:5:3-4	1	c_L c_R	c_L c_R	c_L c_R	Starting in a line	c_L c_R	c_L c_R	c_L c_R
	2	s_L s_R	s_L s_R	s_L s_R		½R_L p_L p_R	s_L s_R [mv_R]	½R_L p_L p_R
	3	p_L p_R p_L p_R	p_L p_R p_L p_R	p_L p_R p_L p_R		r_L	r_L	r_L
3:5:4-5	4	_p_L _p_R _p_L _p_R _p_L	_p_L _p_R _p_L _p_R _p_L	_p_L _p_R _p_L _p_R _p_L	The lady turns around at the beginning, so that these are done in opposite directions Ending in a triangle	r_R	r_R	r_R
3:5:5-7	5	R_R	R_L		With the man currently on her right. Note the explicitly opposite feet they use. The text probably implies these are sequential, not simultaneous. Giorgio, however, uses similar language - then clarifies that they are at the same time.	R_R	R_L
3:5:7-8	6		R_R	R_R	Similarly with the other man. Note here there are on the same foot, and the text implies simultaneity.		R_R	R_R
3:5:9	7	d_R	d_R	d_R	turning around 360° to the right	d_R	d_R	d_R
Section 2
3:5:10-12	8	P_L P_R P_L r_R	P_L P_R P_L r_R		with the man currently on her right, circling 360°, holding right hands. Giorgio says doppi galopati here	dg_L	dg_L
3:5:10-12	9	P_L P_R P_L r_R	P_L P_R P_L r_R			dg_R	dg_R
3:5:12-13	10		P_L P_R P_L r_R	P_L P_R P_L r_R	similarly with the other man and the other hand		dg_L	dg_L
3:5:12-13	11		P_L P_R P_L r_R	P_L P_R P_L r_R	similarly with the other man and the other hand		dg_R	dg_R
3:5:14	12	R_R	R_L		As above	R	R
3:5:14	13		R_R	R_R			R_R	R_R
3:5:14-15	14	d_R	d_R	d_R		d_R	d_R	d_R
Section 3
3:5:16-18	15	P_L P_R t_L	P_L P_R t_L	P_L P_R t_L	the woman passing through the men. Giorgio again specifies two doppi gallopati ending in a reversed triangle	dg_L	dg_L	dg_L
3:5:16-18	16	P_R P_L P_R	P_R P_L P_R	P_R P_L P_R		dg_R[mv_R]	dg_R[mv_R]	dg_R[mv_R]
3:5:18-19	17	r_L	r_L	r_L	turn to face before these riprese	r_L	r_L	r_L
3:5:18-19	18	r_R	r_R	r_R	turn to face before these riprese	r_R	r_R	r_R
3:5:19-20	19		R_L	R_R	As above note that since the triangle has reversed, the other man is now on her right		R	R
3:5:19-20	20	R_R	R_R			R_R	R_R
3:5:20	21	d_R	d_R	d_R		d_R	d_R	d_R
Section 4
3:5:21-22	22	Px_L			Giovannino doesn't say where these are done. Presumably approaching one another somewhat It just says "one by one", not in what order, so feel free to play with the order Giorgio, on the other hand, says the woman passes through the man. It doesn't explicitly say whether the three doppi portogallesi are three each or three in total, but we think it seems to imply three each.	dp_L	dp_L	dp_L
	23		Px_L			dp_R	dp_R	dp_R
	24			Px_L		dp_L[mv]	dp_L[mv]	dp_L[mv]
3:5:22-23	25	d_R	d_R	d_R	Turning first - perhaps the passi in traverso end back in a line, and this reverses out into a triangle? But Giorgio indicates has them in a line at this point.	d_R	d_R	d_R
3:5:23	26	R_R	R_L		As above Giorgio this time explicitly notes that they touch hands during the riverentie - right hands with the right man, left hands with the left.	R	R
	27		R_R	R_R			R_R	R_R
	28	d_R	d_R	d_R		d_R	d_R	d_R
Section 6
3:5:24-27	29	t_L t_R	t_L t_R	t_L t_R	Treccia - Giorgio says "snake". Full hay - each returning to his place - "entering twice" (again, indicating a full hay) "The lady goes behind the man on her right had" - those two start, and don't hold hands Ends in a line, with the men facing one way, the women, the other way, across the direction of the line	piva_L piva_R	piva_L piva_R	piva_L piva_R
	30	t_L t_R	t_L t_R	t_L t_R		piva_L piva_R	piva_L piva_R	piva_L piva_R
	31	t_L t_R	t_L t_R	t_L t_R		piva_L piva_R	piva_L piva_R	piva_L piva_R
	32	t_L t_R	t_L t_R	t_L t_R		piva_L piva_R	piva_L piva_R	piva_L piva_R
3:5:28-30	33	R_R	R_L		As above, except where the lady does the normal turn, the men do a half turn with "three passi (how that's different from a doppio, we're not sure), placing the lady in their midst.	R_R	R_R
	34		R_R	R_R			R_R	R_R
	35	P_R P_L P_R	d_R	P_R P_L P_R		d_R[mv]	d_R	d_R[mv]

Notes

Note that feet in red are explicit in the text.

All references to Giorgio are from Smith, Vol. II, pp. 296-298. The specific reconstruction is our own.

In each chorus, the reverenze are by the lady first with the man on her right, then with the man on her left. If we have confused positions at any point and notated it backwards, our apologies.

In measures 8-11, it literally says 3 passi, a ripresa, and three more passi - without the second ripresa we have at the end. This makes a perfectly legitimate, and quite nice, figure, if taken literally. However, it is a 3-bar figure, and Giorgio and every other figure indicate a figure length that only leaves room for 2 bars here, so we have chosen to interpret this as a parallel structure instead, where he simply omitted a word because of the parallelism. If we do assume this parallelism of structure, we get a parallelism between the sources that is compelling. On the other hand, it leaves us with a strange figure - pppr in one measure - that looks suspiciously like the passo in traverso that he uses explicitly elsewhere in this same dance. It wouldn't be the only time he describes the same thing in more than one way, seemingly just for variety, but it does seem odd.

The chorus has some subtle variations and distinctions in its description. Listing the descriptions out by figure from Giovannino:

And the lady does a reverenza on the left foot to him who is on her right hand, and he responds with a reverenza with the right foot. Then she turns to the other and they do a reverenza with the right foot. Then all do a doppio turning to the right hand.
Then they do a reverenza as above. Then all three do the doppio turning to the right hand, and in the same tempo.
Then a reverenza one by one as above, and a doppio all together turning to the right hand.
Then they do a reverenza and a doppio turning as above.
Then they do the reverenza as above. Then the lady does a doppio turning to the right hand, and in that same tempo, the men depart with three passi and place her in their midst.

And from Giorgio [again, from Smith, Vol. II, pps. 296-298] :

The woman performs a riverentia to that man who is on the right side, and the man responds in the same tempo. She turns to that one on the left side, and performs a riverentia to him, and the man responds to her at the same tempo. All three perform a voltatonda with a doppio beginning with the right foot.
The woman performs a riverentia to the man who is on the right side, and the man responds to her at the same tempo. She turns to the man who is on the left side, and performs to him a riverentia, and the man responds to her, similarly. All three perform a voltatonda with a doppio beginning with the right foot.
The woman performs a riverentia to that man who is on the right side, and the man responds to her at the same tempo. She turns to that man who is on the left side of her, and performs a riverentia to him, and the man responds to her at the same tempo. All three perform a voltatonda with a doppio beginning with the right foot.
The woman touches the right hand of that man who is on the right side, with a riverentia. Then she turns to the one who is on the left side, and touches the left hand with a riverentia. All three perform a voltatonda with a doppio beginning with the right foot.
The woman performs a riverentia to that man who is at the right side, and the man resonds to her. Then she turns to that man who is at the left side, and performs a riverentia to him, and the man responds to her. The woman performs a voltatonda with a doppio beginning with the right foot. In that tempo, the men go to the woman with a doppio with the right foot, and they perform a mezavolta, putting the woman in the middle.

The Giorgio versions are nearly identical, except for the obvious difference in the last figure, and the direction to touch hands in the second-to-last figure.

Giovannino, on the other hand, seems rather inconsistent in his description. Sometimes he seems to imply they make their reverenze one at a time, sometimes together. Perhaps they are responsory, but half as long (so as to still fit the same music), perhaps the description is just poor - it's difficult to tell.

Note that there are three different places in Giorgio where it specifies the dancers perform a doppio portogallesi - and in each case, Giovannino indicates something different. It would be lovely if this manuscript gave us some insight into how to do this step, but that doesn't seem in the cards here.