Brad McEwen wrote:
> I still think that an 18th C Mandola would be the ticket. I don't
> know if anyone makes them, but there are a lot of roundback short
> scale Italian made Mandocellos that are pretty close.
There wasn't any mandocello as we know it back in the mid 18th century.
The mandolin back then was basically just a scaled down lute. A scaled
up version of a scaled down version of a lute would be ... a lute. ;-)
However, the 17th/18th century six course lute *is* an interesting
option no matter what name it goes by. It's a common belief that the
large lutes with extra bass strings completely replaced the old
renaissance lute but that may be a truth with modifications.
Brescianello published a collection of music for a six course lute
around the middle of the 18th century. He called the instrument a
colascione (although it doesn't seem to have much in common with the
regular three course colascione) and apparently it had six single
strings tuned like a modern guitar EADGBE.
Usually we think of this instrument as purely Italian but
Brescianello was connected in some way to the court of the Duke of
Württemberg at some time during the first few decades of the 18th C., so
there may be a German/Central European connection.
There is a surviving instrument of that kind that certainly has a German
connection. It was built by Johannes Schorn in Salzburg in 1688. Barber
and Harris are making a copy of it and you can view an example at:
http://www.lutesandguitars.co.uk/htm/cat08.htm
(at the bottom of the page)
It's got a relatively long neck and small body, making it look as much
like a colascione as a standard lute. I'm sure I've seen them with more
regular lute propotions though - just can't remember where and when.
I'm a bit curious about the tuning mentioned there. The renaissance A
tuning seems awfully high for an 886 mm scale.
Barber and Harris mentions that Godfrey Finger had a similar instrument,
only slightly larger. Yet another German connection...
-------
Right now I'm wondering if we really know anything about 17th and 18th
century stringed instruments at all. This little excercise of ours has
already unveiled more than enough information to completely rewrite the
"official" history. Worst of all, nothing of this is new information,
it's information that's been ignored until now.
Frank Nordberg
http://www.musicaviva.com
http://stores.ebay.com/Nordbergs-Music-Store?refid=store
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