Dear Howard, thank you very much for all these previous informations! (I didn't know at all about the database, what a shame)
I was hoping to read a couple of personal opinions from our lutemaking friends, but most probably everybody is still on vacation... I agree that the definition of theorbo and / or chitarrone is a very complex one, with a lot of different instruments (all double fretted courses, all single fretted courses, etc.) and of course the variations caused by very low (Rome, for instance) or very high pitches (Venezia). ..and instruments like the Roman archlutes where the local low picth made the fretted string length comparably longer than (for instance) Venitian archlutes, making them possibly looking similar to "short" theorbos. In any case, not really liking most of our recent "solutions" (1m long theorbos, for instance) - I'm curious about this size issue, which must have been a relevant one even back then, I suspect (as travelling on a "carrozza" with a 2m long instrument is deinitely not like carrying a violin or a recorder). Best wishes, Luca Il 2017-08-20 19:59 howard posner ha scritto: > There's a database of instruments at > > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~lsa/associated/database/dbsearch.php > > I compiled a download of theorbos/archlutes from it when I was doing some > cursory research into a question similar to yours. AI'm sending it to you > separately. > > The problem with your question is that to answer it you have to make > assumptions about precisely the instruments you should not be making > assumptions about. Suppose you find an instrument with six double-strung 74 > cm courses on the fingerboard and eight 150 cm courses on the extension. Is > it a theorbo in D, a small theorbo in A built to play at A 466 or higher, or > a archlute built to play at A 370? Historical instruments don't come with > instruction manuals. > > You might search the list archives for "Theorbo in G?" and (dare I say it?), > "toy theorbo" to some views, not all of them helpful, that have been > expressed on theorbo sizes. > >> On Aug 20, 2017, at 9:36 AM, Luca Manassero <l...@manassero.net> wrote: >> >> Dear collective wisdom, >> >> I'm doing some research concerning the historical theorbo (fretted) >> string lengths in museum or private collections: I'd be really grateful >> to anybody letting me know about historical theorbos with "short" string >> length. Of course a reference to a collection or at least to a an >> historical lutemaker would be important, thank you. >> >> I'd be also curious to know from our luthier friends what is the >> shortest historical theorbo they ever had the chance to see and/or >> measure. >> >> I'm of course referring to theorbos in G or A, knowing that there aren't >> surviving French theorbos ("théorbe des pièces") in D. >> >> Thank you in advance for your kind help, >> >> Luca > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --
