These are great questions, David. I cannot recall the sources, but most agree that vihuelas should be strung in unison to the 6th. I personally think that Milan sounds the best in unison, but some of the later vihuelists sound good with octaves starting at the 4th, particularly the intabulations & polyphony. However, I do not think there is a definitive answer to this theory.
Of all the music (Spanish) that is extant, there were the 7 printed books (Milan, Narvaez, Mudarra, Valderrabano, Fuenllana, Pisador, Daca, plus the Henestroza book, and some feel Cabezon is also for vihuela) and they all are for 6 course vihuela in standard tuning. In his Declaration, Bermudo talks about 7 courses, and he give tuning examples, but they are all tunings I have never tried, and he gives examples that are not in standard lute (vihuela) tuning and states they are for the vihuelist to compose intabulations. In Italy, the viola da mano had 6 or more courses. Most agree that octave stringing starting at the 4th was standard practice. Although people now lean towards unison stringing, there is new evidence that vihuelas were strung with octaves starting at the 4th; this evidence is from the vihuela in Paris, the E.0748 (i.e., Chambure) vihuela. Close examination of the bridge reveals deeper, smaller grooves on each of the lower strings on courses 4,5, & 6, indicating that octave stringing was used at some point of this instrument's life. So, I think that anything you do is OK with a vihuela, in terms of stringing. Personally, I use unisons throughout on my 6 course Spanish vihuela, and I love the sound. It is not too "tubby" in the 6th course, and it sounds beautiful that way. For the "other " vihuelas that I use (Dan Larson constructed a consort of the Chambure vihuelas in F, G, Bb, and C) we do unisons to the 5th, and an octave at the 6th. We would have strung them as the original (octaves at the 4th), but for the Valderrabano duets, the majority of that music is polyphonic intabulations, and the voices sounded clearer, in our opinions, than if we had used octaves. The octave at the 6th gives more depth to the bass. In terms of design, there are only 3 in existence. The Jaquemart Andre in Paris, the Chambure (E.0748) also in Paris, and the Quito, of which access is not permitted for us to see. Otherwise, some makers devise a plan from iconography. Personally, I like Dan Larson's vihuelas, as I like them the best. I would recommend getting 6 courses, as all the repertoire in the books is for 6 course instruments, with exception of some of them for 5 course in Fuennlana's book. John Ward sites in his dissertation names of many vihuelistas that played 7 course vihuelas, but no music has survived for 7 course vihuela, so we do not know how they were tuned. Did they follow Bermudo's odd tunings, or did they merely add a course a step or a 4th lower? We do not know this. At any rate, the vihuela is a fantastic instrument to play... get one! Also, there is a vihuela list... perhaps you could join that list as well. Sincerely, ed At 11:10 AM 10/22/2005 +0200, LGS-Europe wrote: >Ola vihuelistas! > >A few questions on vihuela stringing. >The vihuelas I saw so far don't have octave strings on 5/6/etc. Is that >today's common practice or is there a source (or more sources) saying so? >Contemporary, early 16th century lutes were supposed to have octave strings >from the 4th course downwards. So why the difference? >What would be good for a general purpose vihuela: 6 or 7 courses? Primarily >intended for vocal accompaniment but also used for all the wonderfull solo >repertoire, of course. >A more general vihuela question: what models and/or makers do vihuela >players out there prefer at the moment? > >muchas gracias > >David > > > > >***************************************** >David van Ooijen >Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Http://home.planet.nl/~d.v.ooijen/ >***************************************** > > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (218) 728-1202
