At 12:14 PM 9/26/2006, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >I have a few copies of the American magazine Renaissance. >One of the then has a title story called the Lute Reborn. >On the cover there is a picture of Orwain Phyfe playing what could best be >descrobed as a steel stung western guitar with with vihuela tendancies. He >calls >it an Italian chitarra battente. >Here I go again ....... >A chitarra battente was triple stung...
[I wouldn't say all were triple strung.] >...and his is single strung with what look >like western guitar strings. [More importantly, his has an uncanted soundboard and strings set through to a modern-style fixed pin bridge that accommodates six single strings.] This is a funny story to strike a semi-personal chord, because I watched Owain perform many years ago at a renaissance festival. I spoke to him afterwards and said "That's an interesting instrument you play. It looks to be a modern guitar built to pretty directly emulate the aesthetics of the Jaquemart-Andre vihuela. Who built it?" He replied with the builder (whom I've forgotten other than he is based in Michigan) and "This is actually what is called a chitarra battente." Well, I very well know what a chitarra battente is. Owain actually plays one on one of his CDs (although he changes the typical string configuration), so I have to assume he knows too. When I tried to tell him how I saw his modern guitar to differ from the historic application of the term by which he called it, he hastened on to autograph stuff for his unquestioning admirers. I am not a purist by any stretch. I actually enjoy Owain's modern pop-/folk-like approach to renaissance song. His efforts stand very well on their own without him trying to label it what it is not. I am as happy playing Milan on a modern guitar or speculative vihuela, but I defer to common uses of the terms and don't label either as the other. >So what do they do use lots of drums and oriental instruments like hammered >dulcimers etc. Occasional hammered dulcimer, but a great many steel-strung guitars and modern "citterns" (i.e., flat-bodied mandola/liuto cantabile with long scale lengths) playing modern Irish drinking songs. That's just fine when it's called what it is. Eugene To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
