At 12:38 AM 12/4/2006, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>He plays a "Ceterone" by Ugo Casalonga. I have just had a look at his page
>and there is no mention of him making what we might call a ceterone. From the
>mp3's I could hear on the net, it sounds as through the cittern does
>have more
>than 4 courses, but that it is also tuned to an open chord, which I
>beleive was
>never the case of the cittern, before the English guitar. Luca is probably
>playing some sort of modern folk cittern.
According to the translation in the article in Galpin Society Journal
by Nigel Fortune ("An Italian Arch-Cittern," Vol. 5, 1952, p.43),
Simone Balsamino's "cetarissima" (cited 1594) that I mentioned before
had a tuning of (low to high) A d g c' e' g' c". This *would* be an
instance of a "chordally tuned" cittern (with additional basses)
before the English Guittar.
Balsamino mentions that it is more convenient than the lute for
several reasons, one of them being (again, according to the
translation) "because of the fullness of sound of the four course
suitable for singing to". This would lead one to believe that it had
4 stopped courses, the other three being unstopped diapasons.
However, he also cites another improvement over the lute being
"because one can play all seven courses conveniently along the whole
of the neck, which normally has 19 frets," so it seems to be fretted
right across...
I wonder if anyone has tried to recreate one of these? Or is the
note-span within a reasonable range than *any* 7 course cittern could
accommodate this tuning?
-Andrew
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