I think Oliver Strunk is wrong. I have read the relevant passages in
Agazzari and according to my notes the instrument in question is referred
to as a chitarrina.
That said I don't think that you can make a clear distinction simply on the
basis of variant spelling.
What Agazzarri says is that there are two groups of instruments. Group 1
includes keyboard instruments. Group 2 includes Leuto, Tiorba, Arpa,
Lirone, Cetera, Spinetto, Chitarrina, violino, pandora & altri simile”.
He also says that some stringed instruments can reproduce the bass part as
well - i.e. the lute & arpa doppia and some are imperfect i.e. cetera
ordinaria, lirone, chitarrina, viola, violin, pandora.
I think that it is far from certain that the chitarrina/o was guitar
shaped.
If you read the article by Meucci it does seem fairly clear that the
4-course guitar
was unknown in Italy. The 5-course instrument was a novelty. A
chitarrina/o is a small lute.
Millioni is a bit different since the tuning corresponds to the first 4
courses of the 5-course instrument. But it wasn't printed until 1631 -
incidentally after Amat's book which does mention the 4-course guitar.
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: "wikla" <wi...@cs.helsinki.fi>
To: "Martyn Hodgson" <hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk>
Cc: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>; "Lex Eisenhardt"
<eisenha...@planet.nl>
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2011 3:03 PM
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Agazzari guitar [was Re: Capona?]
Well, Oliver Strunk writes "chitarrino". As far as I know, chitarrino, 4
course "renaissance guitar", was not at all unknown in Italy in times of
Agazzari... But I have never heard about "chitarrina", but of course that
does not exclude its existence... ;-)
best regards,
Arto
On Sun, 11 Dec 2011 10:28:58 +0000 (GMT), Martyn Hodgson
<hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
Thanks Lex
Well, I don't have a facsimile of Agazzari to hand so took the
(translated) text from this recommended ('excellent') translation (see
below) which gives 'chitarrino' . Does Agazzari write 'chitarrina' in
the original source? And what is a 'chitarrina' rather than, say, a
'chitarra' if not a smaller instrument?
regards
Martyn
.......................an excellent [sic] version of Agazzari's
article
by [1]Bernhard Lang in the Werner Icking Music Archive! All the text
is
in Italian, English and German!
"... I must first ... classify them [instruments] ... into instruments
like a foundation and instruments like ornaments. Like foundation are
those which guide and support the whole body of of the voices and
instruments of the consort; such are the the organ, harpsichord, etc.,
and similarly when there are few voices, the lute, theorbo, harp, etc.
Like ornaments are those which, in playful and conrapuntal fashion,
make the harmony more agreeable and sonorous, namely the lute,
theorbo,
harp, lirone, cithern, spinet, chitarrino, violin, pandora, and the
like."
--- On Sun, 11/12/11, Lex Eisenhardt <eisenha...@planet.nl> wrote:
From: Lex Eisenhardt <eisenha...@planet.nl>
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Capona?
To: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>, "Martyn Hodgson"
<hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Sunday, 11 December, 2011, 10:03
>
> I suppose it could be said that the guitar would be covered by
his
> etc...
>
> Also note he only mentions the 'chitarrino' (small 4 course
> instrument?) in his list of embellishing instruments and omits
> the larger (5 course) guitar. This, I suggest, implies that the
guitar
> does indeed fit with the other continuo realisation instruments
covered
> by the etc....
Agazzari says: 'chitarrina', not 'chitarrino'.
What is a chitarrina? Was it strummed, like the chitarra spagnola?
Lex
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References
1. http://icking-music-archive.org/ByComposer/Agazzari.html
2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
