I went to one of the first Renaissance fairs in the SF Bay Area,
sometime in the late 70's.
I brought my Harwood lute and settled myself by the side of the path to
play, but I doubt anyone could really hear me, as it was outside and
noisy. Still, I suppose the visual was good...
--Sarge
On 9/26/2019 13:44, Christopher Wilke wrote:
One of those "Ye Olde Renaissance Fayres" once made me some easy money.
I attended with a friend who was a classical guitarist. I was going
just for the fun of it with no expectation of historical accuracy. My
friend said, "I'll bet YOU'RE super excited to be here." I asked why he
thought I'd be so especially enthusiastic about the event. "Because
you'll get your fill of lutes," he replied. I said I'd be surprised to
see a single lute. He bet me $50 we would. I had a real nice dinner
that night.
Chris
[1]Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
On Thursday, September 26, 2019, 10:00 AM, Braig, Eugene
<brai...@osu.edu> wrote:
"Lucky America: having looked through musical performances at
Renaissance Fairs, we see many ensembles actually performing
appropriate songs and dances."
This may be a bit too generous. Some make/made real efforts (for
example, spanning two or three decades, Ohio State University [OSU]
held a "Renaissance Faire" that strove to book performers of 16th and
17th music). However, most feature performers in renaissance garb,
badly aping modern cockney accents, and strumming new songs in
imitation of Irish drinking tunes on modern steel-string guitars. Even
OSU's went the "fantasy" route around a decade or two ago andâafter a
total run of 45 yearsâfinally ceased to exist by 2019.
In OSU's ren-faire glory days, I approached a friend who specialized in
English lute music. I wanted to split a set with her playing
Elizabethan lute pieces (she has a lovely 7-course Watanabe) and me
playing vihuela music on, of all things, vihuela (pre-Chambure
discovery, mine is based on iconography) to highlight the "armada"
conflict. It never came together, and I have thus never played such a
"faire." Not owning a period costume, I don't really have the
incentive any longer.
Eugene
-----Original Message-----
From: [2]lute-...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu
<[3]lute-...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu> On Behalf Of Tristan von
Neumann
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2019 9:30 AM
To: [4]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
Subject: [LUTE] Renaissance/Medieval Fairs
So here's something different for a change.
Why is it that in the US there are "Renfairs", all dedicated to mainly
the 16th century (and some really stretching it by allowing some
fantasy elements), while in Germany we only have "Mittelaltermärkte"
(Medieval Fairs).
What I don't like about the Medieval Fairs in Germany (though some are
quite good and only allow painstakingly recreated authentic stuff), is
the music.
Since we don't know much about instrumental music of the Middle Ages,
many people take this as an excuse to brutally treat the crowd with
Techno-like monster beats by huge drums and ear-shattering bagpiping.
I have very rarely heard "real" Medival Music apart from some Walter
von der Vogelweide favourites and the occasional Oswald von
Wolkenstein.
Even the popular "Estampies" are rarely heard, and we rarely get even
simplified versions of tunes from British Library Add. 29987.
If you're not blasted by bagpipes, there will be bawdy songs in
pseudo-medieval folk style, of course played on totally inappropriate
instruments.
While I think I would love to take my lute to such an event, I would be
totally anachronistic, and I do not want to join the "Medieval"
musicians presenting 16th century music like Susato or even Praetorius
as "medieval".
These events have musically corrupted the ear of the common audience.
Whenever someone hears 16th century lute music they consider it
"medieval"...
Lucky America: having looked through musical performances at
Renaissance Fairs, we see many ensembles actually performing
appropriate songs and dances.
Here's a great example (if the lute player is here: good job you two)
[5]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RptxRpTiHo
Also madrigal singers:
[6]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYc7AqSTZXY
Anachronisms are sometimes good fun, as the madrigal version of Katy
Perry shows, but it seems madrigal singers really enjoy the original
material like Dowland songs or Italian vocal music.
[7]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIsHkuVTzDE
Of course there are some of those folk singers too, but the style is
more appropriate for the age represented.
So here's the survey - how many of you have at least performed once at
a Renaissance Fair in the US (or other countries) - or in case of
Germany, at a "Mittelaltermarkt"? (are there attempts to establish a
Renaissance fair beside the Medieval ones?)
How is the response to actual lute music?
To get on or off this list see list information at
[8]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. https://overview.mail.yahoo.com/?.src=iOS
2. mailto:lute-...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu
3. mailto:lute-...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu
4. mailto:lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RptxRpTiHo
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYc7AqSTZXY
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIsHkuVTzDE
8. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
Frank A. Gerbode, M.D. (sa...@gerbode.net)
11132 Dell Ave
Forestville, CA 95436-9491
Home phone: 707-820-1759
Website: http://www.gerbode.net
"The map may not be the territory, but it's all we've got."
