On Saturday, January 17, 2004, at 05:34 PM, lutesmith wrote: > ...perhaps they transposed the whole song down by using a larger > lute?
That would definitely be one solution. Singing to a bass lute is going to move the range of any song a fourth lower than it would be if the lute part were played on a lute in G. A difference of a fourth lower would put most anything into a nice low vocal range. The London Pro Musica edition of song settings of Verdelot madrigals contains lute parts for D, E, G and A lutes. A number of those settings are in baritone range. There seems to be some disagreement as to why the various lutes were used: apparently it was not just to raise or lower the tessitura of the song. But nevertheless, this collection does contain some songs accessible to a low vocal range. David Rastall
