Dear Manolo and Katherine, Mouton's coat certainly gives him the choice of several buttons to hook his lute on.
One important factor not mentioned so far in this discusison, is how people sat to play the lute. When this was discussed on the Italian Lute Net in January 2004, I made the point that lutenists were expected to sit up straight, and not crouch over the lute, hugging it as so many of us do, with footstools to boot. There is less need for straps and gut tied between two buttons, if you sit hunched over the instrument. If you sit up straight, there is less of you to hold the instrument, less purchase (in the grabbing sense), and more reason to have extra paraphernalia to stop the lute slipping away. I quoted a passage from folio 16r of the Burwell Lute Book, which runs as follows: "Those that are short sighted or have a short memory are bound to have allwayes there [=their] nose on there booke and soe they may fall into that inconveniency Therefore wee must be diligent to take them out by the booke and practise them soe well as we may play them by heart and learne the time and humour of the Lesson by the Eare that one might looke chearfully uppon the Company and not stoope The grace and chearfullnes in playing not being lesse pleaseing then [=than] the playing it selfe One must then sitt upright in playing to showe noe Constrainte or paines, to have a smileing Countenance that the Company may not thinke that you play unwillingly and showe that you animate the Lute aswell as the Lute does animate you yet you must not stirre your body nor your head nor showe any extreame satisfaction in your playing You must make noe mouthes nor bite your lipps nor cast your hands in a flourishing manner that relishes of a fidler in one word you must not lesse please the Eyes then the Eares" It's a pity (but understandable) that we can't send attachments to the list, otherwise everyone could see Kenneth's picture of a 17th-century lutenist. The young man is sitting up quite straight. His eyes are not on his instrument, and there is no music in sight. One imagines he would perform like a singer, looking around the room as he played, not with his head buried behind a book of music, or constantly staring at the movement of his left-hand fingers. I am sure Mary Burwell was right. What we see at a concert is an important part of the performance. As performers we think of the clothes we should wear, and how we should present ourselves. We may shake with nerves and regret a host of wrong notes, but we still look cheerful, smile, and politely acknowledge applause. When people describe a concert to someone afterwards, they usually describe what they saw, rather than what they heard: "He wore a pink bow-tie, and kept scowling at the audience," rather than, "He played out of time with a splat every bar." Anyway, I think there's more to those bits of gut tied behind the lute, than meets the eye. Best wishes, Stewart. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Manolo Laguillo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Katherine Davies" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "LUTELIST" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 5:11 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: Lute strap/gut loop > I agree totally with you, Katherine. Their clothes were incredibly > stiff, compared with ours. This was so even 'till the XX Century. We > only need to look carefully to photographies. > Regards, > Manolo Laguillo > > Katherine Davies wrote: > > >Perhaps modern luthiers don't attach these pegs > >because they don't work so well with modern clothing? > > > >I haven't tried it, but I guess that the usefulness > >and comfort of hanging a lute off your button will be > >strongly dependant on your clothes. For much of the > >sixteenth and seventeenth centuries most people were > >wearing tightly fitting, strong, stiff clothing, with > >many buttons down the front. This would give a solid > >panel to hang a lute off without distorting the > >clothing in uncomfortable ways, and a choice of many > >attachment points to get just the right height. I > >can't imagine it working quite so comfortably with a > >modern shirt. > > > >About scratching: buttons on surviving 16th and 17thC > >clothing are, more often than not, wooden forms > >covered in thread - not likely to scratch varnish > >much. > > > >best wishes, > >Katherine Davies > > > >--- David Rastall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > > >>We all have our favorite ways of supporting the lute > >>while we play, > >>but this particular strap/loop method requires an > >>addition to the > >>construction of the lute: a second strap peg fitted > >>near the base of > >>the neck where the neck meets the body. > >> > >>I've never seen a lute actually from the 16th or > >>17th century, but > >>I've seen plenty of historical copies of particular > >>lutes from the > >>renaissance/Baroque made by present-day luthiers, > >>and not one has had > >>such a strap peg . I've never even heard of it as > >>an "added > >>feature." Surely if this strap/gut loop method of > >>supporting the > >>lute was widely used, then at least some of the > >>surviving lutes would > >>have had these pegs in them. Wouldn't the pegs have > >>been included in > >>renaissance/Baroque luthiers' plans and drawings? I > >>guess what I'm > >>saying is, with all the historical copies that have > >>been cranked out > >>over the last 30 years or so, why has this > >>strap/loop thing not been > >>common knowledge, and widely used today as it was > >>back then: > >>particularly since there should be some evidence on > >>early lutes in > >>the form of the extra strap peg? > >> > >>David Rastall > >> > >> > >> > > > > > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at > >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > > > > > -- >
