> > So violone is a big viola, as chitarrone is a big (ancient Greek) cithara, > Actually not. Chitarrone is a big CHITARRA ITALIANA.
Any idea what that might be? In Millioni 1631 it reads: Chi volesse ancor'imparare à far le lettere per sonar' il Chitarrino, overo Chitarra Italiana per via di numeri, e linee, si servi delli medesimi numeri, e linee, lasciando però la quinta corda, & osservi la medesima regola. 'If you wish to use the letters [of the alfabeto] to sound the chitarrino, or the chitarra Italiana, by numbers and lines [of his tablature examples of alfabeto chords], you can use the same numbers and lines and leave out the fifth course & keep the same rules.' This is Millioni's way to say that we can play from alfabeto on the chitarra Italiana by omitting all that is on the fifth string. So this instrument must have had a guitar tuning, with an interval of a fourth between the 4th and 3rd course, unlike the one in 'conserto vago' or other small lute-shaped instruments (like in Kircher), that probably had the interval of a fifth. I've read Renato Meucci's article on the chitarra Italiana, but Millioni leaves me in doubt. Would he have meant a four-course instrument with the shape of a lute and the tuning of a guitar? Lex To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
