Musical Motifs in Graphic Decorations of Nicolas Vallet’s Lute Tablatures (1615–1616)

Abstract

The National Museum – Czech Museum of Music holds an important source – a bundled collection of three printed sets of lute tablature by Nicolas Vallet, which contains parts I and II of Le Secret des Muses (1615, 1616) and the psalm collection Vingt et un pseaumes de David (1615). In our examination of graphic motifs, we focused on musical motifs worked into the decorating of initials and especially on depictions of the Biblical figure of King David with a lute, of lutenists, and of the lutes themselves. The schematic depictions of the instrument did not provide any new organological discoveries, but instead confirmed the popularity of the lute as a symbol. Vallet’s tablatures were printed from original full-page copper engraving plates and not from individual blocks, as was customary. It is also for this reason that the initials, decorated with genre pictures and Biblical scenes, have merited extraordinary attention.