Eighteen Divertimento's for two Guitars or two Mandelins
by James Oswald
Scottish composer, musician and publisher James Oswald printed these duets in London sometime during the 1750s. I published an article concerning this music and its authorship in the May 2003 issue of the Mandolin Journal which can be read online here.
Over the course of the last few years I have been slowly converting Oswald's own beautifully printed music into the slightly more legible form that you will find at this site. I owe special thanks to the Rita Benton Music Libray at the University of Iowa for allowing me to inspect their copy of this rare publication and for supplying me with the photocopy that I used in my transcription.
In addition to this collection, my transcription of Oswald's Twelve Divertimentis for the Guitar (along with my own arrangements of the same pieces for mandolin) can be found at this link.
While the "guitars" and "mandelins" known to Oswald were quite different from our modern mandolins and guitars my hope is that players of many different instruments today will enjoy the charm of these modest and interesting duets from another time.
John Goodin, September, 2005
Devertimenti I (pdf sheet music) ; Devertimenti II (pdf sheet music) ; Devertimenti III (pdf sheet music)
Devertimenti IV (pdf sheet music) ; Devertimenti V (pdf sheet music) ; Devertimenti VI (pdf sheet music)
Devertimenti VII (pdf sheet music) ; Devertimenti VIII (pdf sheet music) ; Devertimenti IX (pdf sheet music)
Devertimenti X (pdf sheet music) ; Devertimenti XI (pdf sheet music) ; Devertimenti XII (pdf sheet music)
Devertimenti XIII (pdf sheet music) ; Devertimenti XIV (pdf sheet music) ; Devertimenti XV (pdf sheet music)
Devertimenti XVI (pdf sheet music) ; Devertimenti XVII (pdf sheet music) ; Devertimenti XVIII (pdf sheet music)
Created on ... September 14, 2005 : last updated on November 26,2013