Polka: Sorpresa ai danzanti

  1. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Luigi Canora (1913): "Sorpresa ai danzanti", Scherzo - Polka classico

    This is an early tune by Luigi Canoro (originally known as "Canora"), published in 1913 by Di Bella Music in New York. The title translates as "Surprise for the dancers", the surprise being that the musicians stop dead in the middle of the trio part, laugh loudly, and then race hell-for-leather to the finish. Laughing loud into the camera when recording felt a bit awkward, so I replaced the laugh with a rapid clap.

    The score is from Sheri Mignano's Dropbox folders, also here for easy access:

    https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/a...5&d=1662678940
    https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/a...4&d=1662678940
    https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/a...6&d=1662678940

    The tune has also been recorded (in the same arrangement) by Paul Binkley's group "Quartetto Amoroso" in 2006:

    http://www.paulbinkley.com/incantata/
    https://open.spotify.com/track/5cjwp7QMmOEY6V6CXmpbim

    1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia mandolin (x2)
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar


    https://youtu.be/7xjhPzIc5bc

    Martin
  2. Jess L.
    Jess L.
    Fun tune, Martin! Sounds nice.

    I'm always uncertain about how to deal with fermata signs in sheet music, because I never know exactly how long I'm supposed to hold the note/pause before resuming. (Yours sound good, by the way!) I think if I ever composed something that required a pause (not likely, but who knows) I'd just go ahead and write in an extra bar (different time signature) of exactly the desired number of beats, that way people could just count the beats and everyone would know what was expected. I used to see a practical need for such a thing in a church I attended where the (very loud) pianist's idea of what was a suitable fermata pause, very seldom matched the congregation's expectations, so no one knew when to resume singing and everyone started at different times, none of which matched what the pianist thought was suitable... in fact she would often drastically *vary* the fermata length from one verse to the next in the same song! Rather chaotic. There was no director to set the beat, and that church didn't have the slide-projector setup that more well-equipped churches sometimes do, so it was hard for everyone to follow along with the songs (reading out of the small-print hymnbooks) anytime there were fermatas and there seemed to be a lot of 'em. Haven't been there in a few years, don't know if they ever solved that.
  3. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Thanks, Jess -- yes, it's a fun tune, and I've enjoyed trying to play it at proper dance tempo. Flying by the seat of my pants a bit here as there are a lot of notes to cram into some beats, but I just about kept it under control.

    I know what you mean with pauses. Many of our arrangements have them, but we generally just ignore them and play strict tempo. As you say, without a conductor it's hard to get everybody to resume at the same time afterwards. For my home recordings it's easier as I put down the lead track solo first. Just need to memorise how long the pause was for when I add the other parts...

    Martin
  4. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    I can imagine what a surprise for the dancers that would be!
  5. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Quite a different arrangement here, Martin thanks for enriching our musical diversity. I'm sure this would be a lot of fun for the musicians.

    I was thinking about pauses among musicians and dancers who know each other very well, and play the same tune on a very, very regular basis. Then all sorts of irregularities between the dancers and musicians would be requested.

    Of course occasionally when the musicians know one tune very, very well then that single tune could be used for a whole soirée of variations on the same tune, laughs and all. That would really be a memorable evening.
  6. Frankdolin
    Frankdolin
    Thanks Martin! I love me a good Italian polka. I have a couple I have to record, so much fun to play.
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