Dear all, this is very interesting topic, indeed! (I leave David's and Chris' texts below for reference.)
I think we all have our opinions of accepted ways of performances and our "no, no" performances. Perhaps a couple of decades ago I met an "early musician", who seemed to accept anything from accordion to synthetizer in let us say Bach and Monteverdi. But his weak point was found: To him Charlie Parker was not allowed to be performed in any other means or ways than Charlie Parker did it... I suppose we all have our limits? To me it is perfectly ok to play blues or boogie-woogie by lute or theorbo, to me that is actually great fun, but I know clever persons - good people - and good players, to whom that would be an insult, or even worse; and they can be from either gang - early or blues musicians... If I try to find my limits - I am quite open minded, anyhow :-) - I can find something that I cannot stand, and I will not listen: To me opera singers singing folk music or "light" music usually is not bearable or hearable at all; I shut the radio or quit the concert. And that same usually applies also to "light" singers, rock or pop , singing classical pieces, especially lied or even opera. But electric guitar in Monteverdi or mobile phone playing Bach doesn't hurt me at all, quite the opposite: that can be even interesting. All the best Arto On Tue, 12 Sep 2006, David Rastall wrote: > On Sep 12, 2006, at 11:54 AM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > A few years ago I had a coaching with a moderately > > well known lute player (who shall remain un-named). > > I'd just finished accompanying a singer on some > > Caccini using my ten-course lute (I didn't own any > > other lutes at the time.) I thought the performance > > had gone well and mentioned it. His response? "You > > used THIS lute!?!? No, no, no, that's not what you > > use. Don't ever do that again!" This is absolutely > > silly! Ten-coursers were around back then. > > Absolutely! Robert Dowland certainly had no problem with > accompanying Caccini on a 10-course! OTOH, although my 10-course > works fine as a continuo instrument, I would love to have the extra > volume that a theorbo provides. > > > Do we > > think they just sat in the corner except when the > > music called for "ten-course lute"? Or do we honestly > > think singers back then interested in doing Caccini > > would reason to themselves; "Oh, I'd love to sing > > these songs, but I only have a 7-course lute to > > accompany myself with. I'd better invest in a large > > Roman theorbo with an on-the-fingerboard string length > > of at least 85cm or history will look badly on me!"? > > Ho! Ho! Very good. Although take a look at the behavior of people > today. There are early-music mavens out there who absolutely will > not play Spanish ren. music on anything but a vihuela; or bluegrass > players who won't play anything but a Martin, preferably a D28, in a > bluegrass jam; a lot of jazz guitarists feel that the only guitar > for jazz is one of the big hollow-bodied archtops, and regard solid- > bodied electric guitars as abominations; Fender Telecasters seem to > be the instrument of choice for lead Country soloing. People have > their preferences. > > > They just used what was to hand. Why shouldn't we if > > it works? > > Good question... > > > SINGER: What on earth is it? A guitar? > > ME: Its called a theorbo. > > SINGER: Oh yeah, that's from the Middle Ages. > > (She wasn't joking) > > I remember talking to a professor of guitar performance at a college > in the town where I used to live: I mentioned Robert De Visee, and > he said, "let's see, De Visee was, what, fourteenth century?" He > wasn't joking either. Where do they find these people...? > > > Now here's someone who should know - at least a > > little. But she's not alone. You have no idea how > > often I'm stopped in the college halls by music > > faculty: "What is that?" "A lute." "What's a lute?" > > I'm all for educating people about the various > > instruments, but there is such a thing as boxing > > ourselves into such an academic corner that we shut > > ourselves off from folks entirely. > > "Not my area" is the cry most often heard among the experts. > > David R > [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 > -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/wikla/
