The piece chosen for discussion was Fantasia de mon triste by Francesco Canova da Milano, based on the chanson by Richafort. Ronn McFarlane started us off by playing a fairly strict intabulation of the chanson, also done by Francesco.

Then Jacob Heringman and Paul Beier each provided his interpretation of the Fantasia.

Finally, the performers had a lively discussion of the points to take into consideration when working out an interpretation of a piece of this nature, playing short excerpts and taking numerous questions and comments from the audience.

Important ideas that were presented included:

• Become familiar with the vocal piece on which the composition is based.  Sing it with friends, listen to a recording or play a literal intabulation of it.
• Analyse the sectional structure of the Fantasia to see whether it corresponds to that of the vocal piece (for example, AAB).
• Underlay the text of the chanson into the Fantasia to see the mood the original composer was trying to express at any given time.
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