Hi Pedro, great, that you had some spare minutes! Would you mind sending a copy of this letter of yours to the cittern net [email protected] ?
they seem a bit sleepy at the moment and could do with some "bait". thanks a lot Martina "Pedro Caldeira Cabral" <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> schrieb: > Gutte morgen, liebe freunde ! > > Thank you for the beautiful photos of the 1898 cittern. They are > really exciting for me ! > I do not think that this instrument had suffered any modification to > fit mandolin features. > Four course citterns, triple strung, were common in europe until the > 20th century, including Portugal. > I got one in my collection with 18 strings in six courses but I know of > about ten with triple strung courses, in funny ways, such as: > 1-The first 3 courses triple unison and the rest double in octaves (15 > strings); > 2-The first 3 courses double unison and the rest triple in one bass and > 2 octaves (15 strings); > 3-Both 3 first courses in unison and 3 last courses in bass + 2 unison > octaves (18 strings); > > They were all tuned in the portuguese tuning: b" a" e" Bb Aa Dd. > These were common arrangements in the 19th century in Portugal and > until c.1930's. > But the importance of your instrument lies in the fact that it > establishes for the first time a bridge between the old french-german > tradition of folk 4 course cittern and the new german waldzither. > Perhaps they were also known by Boehm, when he decided to create the > new instrument? > As I explained to you before the rural areas in Portugal never stoped > completely to play the old fashioned cittern (they called it c=EDtara > campeira) in the same per=EDod of favor of the guitarra (begining of the > 20th century). > In the c=EDtara campeira they used 12 strings in 6 courses, with a flat > peg head, using low cost woods for the body and neck, such as pine > (pinus sylvestris) and rosewood for the fingerboard. > For the guitarra they used 12, 15, 18 strings for 6 courses, with > metalic fan shaped string mechanism (from 1870, before that from 1780 > to 1870 the square form was prefered). > > May be you will find a similar situation in Germany, solving at last > the puzzle of the european cittern, establishing the link between the > old german production of the Bochum familly in the 1720's , the > Thueringer tradition and the neues zither movement, started by you ! > > Thank you for the letter and all the information shared with your ever > friend from Portugal. > > All the best, > > Pedro > On Jan 11, 2008, at 7:21 AM, Martina Rosenberger wrote: > > > Bom dia, Pedro, > > > > I've found a rare cittern on the flee market with absolutely nil > > whereabout information. The only thing I know is, that is was found > > near the German/French border to Elsa=DF in a cellar. > > Have a look, it's titled "German cittern". > > > > I got your New Year SMS, thank you. Did you receive my letter in > > November about the Symposium? > > > > best regards, > > Martina > > > > http://www.cetrapublishing.com/citterncafe/ -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
