Monthly archives: November 2025

I am currently working on two projects.  This one I call the “Theatrum Musicum” project.

Peeter van der Phaliesen, Latinised as Petrus Phalesius, French versions of name Pierre Phalèse and Pierre de Phaleys (ca 1510 – 1575) was a Flemish bookseller, printer and publisher. Aside from a number of literary and scientific works, his printing press is mainly known for its publications of music.

My project is to arrange pieces from two publications by Petrus Phalesius, namely Theatrum Musicum in 1563 and Luculentum Theatrum Musicum in 1568 (both referred to as Theatrum Musicum in the arrangements). They are intabulations of the guitar, lute and vihuela music of Renaissance composers, however, Petrus Phalesius only identified some composers when naming the pieces.  Fortunately, many have been identified or attributed subsequently.

Most of the pieces are for the advanced performer, with some intermediate level music.  They include fantasias, danses, chansons, moteta and duets.

I posted a sample on Facebook and YouTube. It’s a Fantasia by Guillaume Morlaye (ca 1510 – 1558).  Enjoy!

I am currently working on two projects.  This one I call the “Classical/Romantic Era” project.

As a classical guitar student, I worked my way through many method books and anthologies including those by Aaron Shearer, Anzaghi, Julio Sagreras, Mauro Guiliani, Matteo Carcassi and the Royal Conservatory of Music. Included in those publications were pieces written by composers which I consider to be in the first golden age of the guitar (about 1790 to 1860) before it was overtaken by the rise of the popularity of the piano forte.

I played many pieces by Ferdinando Carulli (1779-1841), Fernando Sor (1778-1839), Matteo Guiliani (1781-1829), Dionisio Aguado (1784-1849), Matteo Carcassi (1792-1853) and others, and still play them today.  So, I searched my music books and recordings to identify the best pieces used for teaching, yet are still enjoyable as miniatures on their own.  Of course, most technical studies were eliminated but there were many pieces to include and I am searching out the original folios and then arranging them for ukulele.

The selected pieces are all beginner to intermediate level (roughly RCM grades 1 to 3).  There are plenty of more advanced pieces by these composers but I experimented playing them on ukulele and they sounded “thin” as there are fewer strings on the ukulele, so I did not consider these for inclusion.

I posted a sample on Facebook and on YouTube.  It’s the Country Dance by Ferdinando Carulli.  After technical exercises, it was the second piece I ever played as a student.  Enjoy!