I wonder if any of those smaller theorbos could have been "converted" to archlutes? We know that the gigantic instruments must have been be tuned with re-entrant tuning, but perhaps we just assume that surviving instruments of a smaller size simply are archlutes rather than theorbos. Thus our data of contemporary instrument sizes would automatically be faulty from the get go.
I must confess that I'm not at all familiar with typical sizes of what we call archlutes in the 17th century, nor am I accusing anyone of scholastic negligence. Just throwing out a thought... CW --- Howard Posner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Lynda's article is interesting, though she seems > vague about exactly > how small an instrument would be too small by her > lights. The article > also strikes me as mostly conclusion without much in > the way of > intermediate premises. Since it more or less begins > with her > conclusion, it doesn't touch on two important areas? > > Is the body of surviving instruments anywhere near > large enough to be a > valid sample? Or is the weight toward bigger > theorbos just artifact, > something that has more to do with the state of the > fossil record than > with historical practice? > > There is no mention of pitch. Buchenberg worked in > Rome, and let's > assume that Roman pitch in his day was around A=392. > If his 98cm > string length was, in his view, optimum for Roman > pitch, how would he > build an instrument meant to be played in Padua, > Mantua, or Venice, > where pitch was around A=465? It would either be > the same size and > need much thinner strings (and therefore not > optimum, or perhaps not > practical), be the same size with a different > nominal pitch (the A > theorbo becomes a G theorbo), or be about 84% of the > Roman theorbo's > length. Sure enough, a surviving instrument by > Pietro Raillich of > Padua has a fretted string length of 81 or 82 cm, > just what you'd > expect given the pitch numbers I've just cited, > which I think are more > or less accurate. (I forget the name of the > 17th-century writer who > said that there were five semitones in Italy --i.e. > the lowest local > pitch was a major third lower than the highest -- > which is an even > bigger spread). Paul O'Dette plays a Hasenfuss copy > of that Raillich > instrument. So do I, which is doubtless the only > thing Paul and I have > in common as players. > > HP > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > __________________________________ Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click. http://farechase.yahoo.com
