Ed and Arthur
This story was told in an interesting article by Janet Snowman, in
December 2006, APOL LO Academy Pictures On-Line, Robert Spencer
http://tinyurl.com/239h99
<< in 1643 a London surgeon's casebook describe `Mr Ashberrie (a
lutanist) at night was bitten by Gottier, the French Luteniste in
Covent Garden, had a piece of his cheek bitten out, an inch or more
down to the lower jaw. I stiched it and dressed it'.
Of course this was English Gautier*, but whether one should anglicize
his name from Jacques to James Gautier, I am not sure (although the
name Gautier itself, had varied spellings, so I suppose we should
not be too squeamish : << There were a number of French lutenists
named Gauthier, also spelt Gautier, Gaultier, Gothier, Goutie,
Gautie, Gwaltier, Cautier and Haultier [cf. New Grove]. >>).
John H Robinson, Newcastle University, April 1997 http://tinyurl.com/
24cwt2
This makes it very difficult to look up Gautier with Google. You do
have to put in most of those variants if you want to find all the
relevant texts.
(* jean-Marie's mention of the gutar works of Irish Gallot, shows
that this form of "nationalization" is not specific to England).
Standardization of spelling and also of dictionary entrances must
have been progressively standardized; and without the presence of
spellcheckers and onboard dictionaries would soon return to their
random nature. So these variant forms for Lutist should perhaps be
looked at in the same light. Note that in French, the word luthier
(lit. lutemaker) has been generalized to include makers of all
stringed instruments.
There may well be extenuating circumstances for Gautier's biting
episode (although he was previously wanted for murder in France,
probably because Cardinal Richelieu had banned dueling, in 20 years
about 7000 deaths had been caused by this gentle art). Let us not
forget that in spite of being known as English Gautier, This French
English Gautier was one of the French English Queen's* group of
French Catholic musicians, at the height of the English revolution
(1643) when it could not have been too good in England to be both
French and Catholic. Most of the French musicians had escaped through
Holland and back to France, so what Jacques was doing here I am not
sure. (William Lawes was actually shot and killed at the siege of
Chester in the company of King Charles 1 in 1645).
To be fair to Jacques Gaultier (and to lutists in general), the cheek-
biting episode (mentioned above) would have occurred around the same
time, the following anecdote is told of the musicians and composers
John Wilson, Harry and Will Lawes, in the manuscript of Jests and
Stories by Sir Nicholas L'Estrange, which describes one of their
nightly visitations to the local public house:
They "were at a Taverne one night; Wilson being in the worst case of
the three, swore he would Quarrel with the next Man he met, who was a
meere stranger and a sober gentleman; whome he thus accosted; are not
you a Catholicke? Yes marry I am; Then ya're a Knave says he; the
Gentlman having passed a little way, stepps backe to him; and bids
him not to swallow an Error, for says he, I am no Catholicke: why
then ya're a scurvy Lying Knave sayes Wilson. Upon that out flew
their swords, but the Lawes parted them presently".
http://www.canterburygreenman.fsnet.co.uk/WilliamLawes.htm
*Queen Henrietta Maria wife of Charles the 1st, was a Catholic, but
daughter of Henry the IVth of France and Navarre, who had been
himself a Protestant, almost murdered in the St. Bartholomeu's Day
Massacre. To take the French throne he became an official Catholic,
reportedly saying "Paris is well worth a mass"; however, he was
finally murdered by the Catholic monk Fran=E7ois Ravillac for being too
soft on protestants.
Difficult and confusing times. When was life ever simple?
Regards
Anthony
Le 5 mars 08 =E0 01:11, Edward Martin a ecrit :
> Thanks for the interesting story, Art!
>
> ed
>
> At 10:22 AM 3/4/2008 -0500, Arthur Ness wrote:
>> There was a time when "lutanist" seems to have been the accepted
>> spelling, although it makes me wince every time I see it. It was
>> a spelling that appeared in very respectable publications (NY
>> Times, Musical Times, Donna Curry). Perhaps lasting into the
>> 1950s and 60s. I saw the spelling used as late as 1975 in _Early
>> Music_ and JAMS. In fact, while looking this morning, I came
>> across the spelling in regard to some lutanist mayhem as
>> described in a 17th century medical casebook quoted in _JAMS 32
>> (1975): 367:
>>
>>>> Mr. Ashberrie (a lutanist) at night was bitten by Gottier,
>> the French Luteniste in Covent Garden, had a piece of his cheek
>> bitten out, an inch or more, on the left side at corner of the
>> mouth & neither [i.e. nether] lip, down to the lower part of the
>> jaw. I stiched it and dressed it.<<
>>
>> This is a reference to James Gautier, lutenist to James I and
>> Charles I, who fled France in 1617 to escape the consequences of
>> a duel. It seems like an exceptionally large number of lutenists
>> were engaged in violence. Coming immediately to mind are S. L.
>> Weiss and Gian Maria
>> Alemani (you don't want to read the description of what he did to
>> some poor soul in Florence).
>> =====AJN (Boston, Mass.)=====
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>>
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>>
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>> performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Christopher
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>> ===================================
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Tony Chalkley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> To: <[email protected]>; "G. Crona" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2008 7:20 AM
>> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Etymology
>>
>>
>> | Lutenist and lute-player are fine by me. "Luthiste" is French,
>> and Lutanist
>> | is just bad spelling, I think.
>> |
>> | tony
>> | ----- Original Message -----
>> | From: "G. Crona" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> | To: <[email protected]>
>> | Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2008 12:43 PM
>> | Subject: [LUTE] Etymology
>> |
>> |
>> | >I small question.
>> | >
>> | > To describe a person playing the lute, I've come across:
>> | >
>> | > Lutenist
>> | > Lutist
>> | > Lutanist
>> | > Lute-player
>> | >
>> | > Which is (are) the correct one (s)? All of them?
>> | >
>> | > G.
>> | >
>> | >
>> | >
>> | > To get on or off this list see list information at
>> | > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>> | >
>> |
>> |
>> |
>> |
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
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>> 6:50 PM
>
>
>
> Edward Martin
> 2817 East 2nd Street
> Duluth, Minnesota 55812
> e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> voice: (218) 728-1202
>
>
>
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