Rob MacKillop wrote: > I thought of those guys, but they are both from the 1560s. Who was > publishing (or setting down in manuscript) cittern music when the great > artists were actually painting citterns during the 1630-70 period? A hundred > years difference is a long time!
You're right. There seems to be a hole in the cittern repertoire during the 17th century all over Europe, not just in Holland. We know the instrument was popular, yet it seems nobody knows much about the repertoire. A number of tunes popular in Holland during that time is known though, and perhaps you can use the music of the Dutch early 17th C lutenists (Vallet, Hove, Sweelinck and perhaps Adriaensen and Denss) as a model for the arrangements. Still only marginally contemporary with Rembrandt, but better than 16th C music at least. Interestingly, the music of Vallet - the most "contemporary with Rembrandt" of the ones I mentioned - is often all but indistinguishable from English lute music from the same time period. There does indeed seem to have been a *very* strong cultural link between England and Holland throughout the 17th century, so perhaps Playford has something to offer for you as well? Vallet gives one vital clue when it comes to repertoire btw. One of his books is entirely dedicated to elaborate solo lute arrangements of hymns (I seem to recall it actually includes the entire Dutch hymnal, but I'm not sure). Holland was a very pious nation at that time and you can be sure hymn settings would be a big part of the domestic repertoire. Frank Nordberg http://www.musicaviva.com http://www.tablatvre.com http://www.mandolin-player.com P.S. Isn't a diatonic cittern a little bit anachronistic for mid 17th C? I thought they went out of fashion during the late 16th C. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
