Hi all, I thought I'd let you all know about some significant updates to the Renaissance Cittern site (there are others, as well, but these are the big ones).
The first (and possibly most exciting) is a major reworking of the page on the recently auctioned Christie's cittern (now owned by the National Music Museum of South Dakota). With extensive help and information supplied by both Andy Rutherford and Peter Forrester* (and lesser but equally valuable help supplied by others), the page is now a wealth of information on the new instrument, including extensive photo-documentation and complete measurements done by Andy. Please note that the URL has changed! Please find the page now at http://cittern.theaterofmusic.com/old/1600.html Second, two new pages on other areas of research have been added to the site. The first one some of you may recognize from Rob MacKillop's old site. Since the site no longer exists, Rob gave his gracious permission to include the article "Plucked, fretted instruments in Medieval and Renaissance Scotland," which is an abridged version of his article, "The Guitar, Cittern and Guittar in Scotland an historical introduction up to 1800" in Michaelsteiner Konferenzberichte 66: Gittare und Zister Bauweise, Spieltechnik und Geschichte bis 1800 (2005). The URL for this page is http://cittern.theaterofmusic.com/misc/scotland.html Some while back there was some "discussion" about the role of the cittern in Portugal. By request, Pedro Caldeira Cabral sent me a compilation of information on the "The Cittern in Portugal and the Portuguese Guitar". The page includes an image of a scultpure of an Angel playing the Cittern, c.1680, currently in the Monastery of Alcobaça, Portugal. The URL is http://cittern.theaterofmusic.com/misc/portugal.html. Hopefully this is enough fodder to fuel some new discussions! Best regards, Andrew http://cittern.theaterofmusic.com -------------- *I would like to acknowledge the invaluable help and support given by both Andrew Rutherford and Peter Forrester in getting together the new page. As one can see from the footnotes, a large number of e-mails have been sent back and forth. Their patience with my constant stream of questions is greatly appreciated. Also, without Mr. Rutherford's kind submission of pictures and measurements, the page would not be a tenth of what it is. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
