Tune of the Day: Lamentevole by Braun
The origins of this piece are not entirely clear. Its earliest known appearance is in Jean-Daniel Braun's Pièces sans basse, published in Paris in 1740 together with his Flute Sonata in E minor. Since they were published as a single volume, the pieces are often attributed to Braun, even though the front page states that they are “by the same author as well as by various others”. And of course, there is no indication anywhere of which pieces were composed by Braun himself. Some recent editions suggest that some of the pieces might even be by Johann Joachim Quantz, but there is hardly any proof of that.
Modern editions also appear to have caused a bit of confusion regarding the original instrumentation of these pieces. The Pièces sans basse were explicitly intended for flute or bassoon (every piece came with two key signatures, one for each instrument). They have however been transposed and republished in several collections for the recorder, and given the popularity of this instrument during the Baroque era, many people now think that versions for the flute are adaptations, when it is actually the other way around.
As if that were not enough, the “Lamentevole” (Italian for plaintive, mournful, or regrettable) has suffered from even more confusion. It has been republished in several collections, with its title corrupted first to “Lamenterole” (an easy mistake to make, considering how close to an r the v looks in the original edition... except that “lamenterole” does not appear to be a word in any language) and then to “Lamentarola” (also not a word, but perhaps someone thought that sounded more Italian?).
Special thanks to Joe for suggesting such an interesting piece!