I composed this piece for Baroness Juliana Grene while I served as Her Baronial Bard of Black Diamond.  This is the first guitar composition that I dedicated to a noble patron as an SCA Court Musician, which is fitting, as Baroness Juliana holds a special place in my heart.  To this day I cannot explain why she ever considered naming me as Her Bard, and I suspect that she has often regretted her decision!  This piece is written for the 5-course guitar/vihuela, but is stylistically reminiscent of the music composed by the French guitarists of the 1550s.  The B section of the piece incorporates semi-polyphonic stylistic elements common to the music of the late period French renaissance guitar literature.  This piece is included on my SCA guitar CD (click on the music player above to hear it, or check out my Bandcamp page).  See below for staff notation, modern guitar tablature, and period-style french tablature notation for Juliana's Alman.

The Alman (also called Allemande, Almain, etc) was a moderate tempo dance in duple meter.  The music is usually "stately" and often serious.  Almans in the late guitar/lute literature are often divided into 2 sections, with each section repeated (AABB), although there is some variability in the compositional forms of the late period guitar/lute literature (see the G. Morlaye Allemande on the transcriptions page of this site for an example of an Alman with an 8-measure A section, followed by a 6-measure B-section).  

Period style French Tablature notation for Baroness Juliana's Alman, by Johann von Solothurn

Staff notation and modern guitar tablature of Baroness Juliana's Alman, by Johann von Solothurn