> I was just curious to know what the list folks could tell me about > the use of theorbo in performing English lute songs. But I was also
David After the Dowland generation with their lute songs, continuo songs appeared on the scene in England. Generally speaking theorbo's were used for that. English theorbo's with stepwise neck extensions, or the smaller ones with twelve strings only and more on the fingerboard than the usual six or seven, so you can play more of the chromatics in the bass. That's what the songs require: all the E and E-flat in the same song meant for a lute-like instrument means not for standard Italian theorbo but for a lute on which you can play these basses. On a different note, but related, the later Dowland songs are more like continuo songs with a less polyphonic texture. He was inspired from the Italian style of Caccini et al. So from a musical point of view I'd say these songs are more appropriate for transcribing into bass plus figures and played on a theorbo than the songs with a obligato part for 6 or 7-course lute and much polyphony. David To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
