The Alemanda sopra la letera del L from Foscarini’s fifth book (1640) is in the key of C minor, which is indicated by the letter L from alfabeto (the guitar chord alphabet). In this piece we find particular elements of the French lute style, the stile luthé, in which the parts are often played successively rather than simultaneously, spread out as irregularly broken chords, to evade the gravitational pull of what would commonly be felt as metric accents. This innovative manner of composing was developed in the first half of the 17th century, by lutenists such as René Mesangeau and Ennemond Gaultier. Even harpsichordists started writing in this syle, and Jean-Henri D’Anglebert for example adapted lute music for his instrument. Also Foscarini, himself a lutenist, made transcriptions of lute works of Mesangeau and Gaultier, but for the guitar. The stile luthé also became a formal principle of French harpsichord music, and we can still recognise it in the solo works of Johann Sebastian Bach, half a century later. This Alemanda is a very early example of guitar music in this style, and it is conceivable that Foscarini borrowed certain ideas from French lute works, although it is not known which ones. Unlike most other guitarists, he makes use of the full resources and sonorities of his instrument. At that time, only Michelangelo Bartolotti achieved this, in a few of his works from his Libro primo, also published in 1640. The notation from Foscarini’s tablature of this piece is loaded with mistakes, and I had to thoroughly revise the rhythm, to make it fit the four-quarter time (4/4) of the allemande. For more information on the baroque guitar see: http://www.lexeisenhardt.com/writings