You'll find the earlier (longish) discussion on Pittoni in the archives. By inventing such a thing as octaves on the second course, you're in danger of imposing your views on the music to make it fit your pre-conceptions. MH
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Martyn, Yes, I know many have used the term "toy" theorbo. That doesn't mean it isn't inappropriate or short-sighted. Much impressive scholarly work has been done by Lynda and others. Unfortunately, for the question of stringing and pitch, so much of what we have to go on is conjecture of gut's capabilities based upon our modern reproductions of the strings. Many people have put a lot of effort into researching how contemporary strings would have been made, but most will agree that we're not quite there yet. (As for Lynda's website - While I'm by no means the theorbo specialist she is, I notice a couple of inconsistencies. She says, for example, that all existing solo theorbo music can be played with only six courses on the board. Bartolotti apparently calls for a fretted 7th course. Also, while arguing that most theorbos were double-strung, most of the illustrations on the site show single-strung instruments. I suppose its not fair to judge her scholarly work by the website but these are two obvious points.) And what about something like Pittoni's or Melli's theorbo music which obviously demands a low (re-entrant) AND high octave on the second course? As far as I know there is no written evidence for this but the music clearly demands it from context. This in effect calls for a non-reentrant tuning of the second course and either points to a shorter neck and more robust gut (or brass???) strings than what we have today. Since Pittoni includes an obligato part for keyboard, (organ and cembalo) comparing the tab with the standard notation shows that he wrote for an instrument in A. He also presumably expected the theorbo part to be heard as a soloist over the keyboard so it seems unliky that he would have liked a tubby-sounding and impossible-in-practice "toy." Chris --- Martyn Hodgson wrote: > > > I'm merely pointing out that his advice to others > is based on no evidence. I, and others, have used > the expression 'toy' theorbos many times to describe > such unhistorical instruments. Theorbos do, indeed, > come in various sizes but those of the size he > indicates would have only had the first course an > octave down or be tuned much higher (as the Talbot > MS's 'Lesser Fr. theorboe for lessons'). > > May I suggest you look at Lynda Sayces website for > more on this. > > MH > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Martyn, > > --- Martyn Hodgson wrote: > > > Clearly, with modern overwound strings, 'toy' > > theorboes are possible but that is insufficient > > reason for suggesting them as the first choice > > > > MH > > > > Is it really necessary to use such condescending > language? The iconographical and historical record > you sighted actually work against the point you're > making: theorbos clearly came in all shapes and > sizes > with varying numbers of strings and stringing setup > (i.e. double, single, etc). Trying to "lay down the > law" and state unequivocally that we can posit > exactly > how and to what pitch all of these different types > of > theorbos were tuned is simply untenable as of now. > There may not have even been - and probably wasn't - > such a thing as THE theorbo back in the day. We may > eventually be able to uncover the truth, but we may > also never know. The situation is confusing enough > without the ol' Early Music Police showing up on the > scene. ;-) > > Chris > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Looking for last minute shopping deals? > Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. > http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping > > > > --------------------------------- > Sent from Yahoo! - a smarter inbox. > -- > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping --------------------------------- Yahoo! Answers - Get better answers from someone who knows. Tryit now. --
