Dear Stewart, Thanks for your comments. Atcually, I was trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to be funny. Perhaps my sense of humor is not what it used to be !! :-( :-( :-( I found Daphne Stephens's quoted remarks to be rather easy to pick holes in, and I was "takin' the mickey" so to speak.
David R On Jun 20, 2006, at 7:28 PM, Stewart McCoy wrote: > Dear David, > > I believe their year started some time in March, not January. > Decades normally involve ten years rather than five. > > Just for the record, Sebastian Virdung mentions a 7-course lute in > 1511, and I would date Osborn fb7 about 1630, which is a manuscript > of music for a 7-course lute. > > The word diapason simply means octave, and is used by lutenists to > refer to the extra courses on a lute. I would take the 7th course to > be the first of these so-called diapasons. I don't think it matters > whether or not a course is strung alongside or above the fingerboard > for it to be described as a diapason. As I understand it, if it > isn't one of the first six courses, it is a diapason. > > Best wishes, > > Stewart McCoy. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "David Rastall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "garry bryan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 9:19 PM > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Wickhambrook Lute Manuscript - Age? > > >> On Jun 20, 2006, at 10:14 AM, garry bryan wrote: >> >>> I recently acquired a copy of "The Wickhambrook Lute Manuscript" > which >>> was edited by a Daphne R. Stephens and published by Yale > University in >>> 1963. In the editorial section , the following statement is > made: >>> >>> "From the notational standpoint, the absence of "diapasons" ( > extra >>> strings along the side of the fingerboard ), and an added > seventh >>> course,both of which became popular after 1595, confines the >>> manuscript >>> to the last decade of the 16th century." >>> >>> >>> Now, in "Historical Lute Construction" ( Lundberg - published >>> 2002 ), I >>> read the following: >>> >>> ... Most 7-course lutes were probably built with points, at > first >>> rather >>> narrow and then by the 1580s becoming wider." >>> >>> Maybe I'm misreading something, but it appears that the editor > of "The >>> Wickhambrook Lute Manuscript" and Robert Lundberg differ by a >>> couple of >>> decades regarding the 7th course. >> >>> Any comments on this? >> >> Apparently 7-course lutes were in use in the 1580's, but only > became >> popular after 1595, that is to say, beginning on January 1st, > 1596. >> On or before December 31st, 1595 they were being built, but they > were >> not popular. That's not to say that they were particularly UN- >> popular, at least not from the notational standpoint anyway, the > 7th >> course, being clearly not a diapason as it does not lie alongside > the >> fingerboard. But they only came into popular use after 1595, that > is >> to say: that five-year period referred to as "the last decade of > the >> 16th century." Clearly then, one can deduce from this evidence > that >> the Wickhambrook MS could not possibly have been compiled after > 1600. >> >> DR >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> www.rastallmusic.com >> >> >> >> >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> > > > >
