Daniel: In Variety of Lute Lessons the practice of Octave bases seems to be looked upon with disfavor by Besard and Jo Dowland. It has been argued here a couple of times from the historic point of view that octaves were common on the Continent of Europe but not so much in England. However historical evidence seems to suggest that octaves were common especially during Francesco Da Milano's time. I do agree with you I detest the sound of octaves and use unisons throughout, but I only play eight course Lute. Lutes with more strings might change my mind. Personally I think the use of octaves was probably more one of convenience and cost than musical preference. To be fair, I have heard octaves played by some good players that sound decent, to be critical I have heard Milano played with octaves and this configuration in my ear takes away from the flow of the counterpoint.
Vance Wood. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Leonard Williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 3:00 PM Subject: Re: 5th course: octave or unison? > Daniel, > Congrats on your new acquisition! > I prefer the sound of unisons on 5, but I admit I don't know what is HIP (my kids will tell you that > , too :^) ). I understand the rationale for octaves on 4 in 16th c. compositions, but I use unisons there, > as well. I like the rounder (?) timbre. > > Regards, > Leonard Williams > [] > (_) > ~ > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Daniel Shoskes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 3:32 PM > Subject: 5th course: octave or unison? > > > > I took delivery of my brand new 8 course Frei Renaissance lute, and > > after getting it (slowly) tuned up to modern pitch, I was surprised to > > see that the 5th course was at octaves, rather than the unison I had > > seen on other lutes. I know that 6 course instruments often have the > > bottom 2 courses in octaves, but is there any musical and/or historical > > reason that would drive this decision? I find the sound with the octave > > 5th course unpleasant, especially in runs that involve it, but that may > > be more due to force of habit. In addition, this new lute has a much > > "brighter" sound than what I have been used to (may be the brand new > > strings) and the octave 2nd string seems to accentuate that. > > > > Bottom line, I plan to change to unison stringing on the 5th course, but > > are there circumstances where people prefer the octave? > > > > DS > > > > > >
