Very good mt dear Howard - but really not at all. I very much welcomed your
informed contributions as testing the envelope of knowledge by citing early
sources and organological data rather than assertions based simply on personal
preference. Sorry if you thought it at all wrathful!
However, my complaint about Barber goes back many years (when I had the
temerity to first question his identification of the 'Chambure vihuela' as a
typical instrument for the early 16thC repertoire and his continuing failure to
mention organolgical work undertaken by many others), and more recently (pasted
below) when I pointed out that, despite his most recent criticism (and personal
abuse)of me for advocating large theorbos, in fact his own website supported my
position!
Martyn
----------------------------------------
Thursday, 21 February, 2008 4:59 PM
From: "Martyn Hodgson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>View contact details To: [EMAIL
PROTECTED], "Lute Net" <[email protected]>
Dear Stephen Barber, It has just been brought to my attention that your
website contains a scurrilous personal attack on me. Since the attack is based
on a blatant misrepresentation of observations I first made on an internet
site, it is also appropriate to copy my response there. I'm told that you have
a history of making such scurrilous and often inaccurate allegations (including
I'm also informed of accusations of theft by other makers) and, indeed, your
current website has more, including: your English theorbo details being
'copied by another luthier'; a 'mutually-supportive rumour-mill' by those
failing to agree with you about Edlinger,etc. Some may, of course, choose to
ignore your comments as appearing to be deluded irrational rantings but others
believe such public misrepresentations should always be firmly addressed.
In short, you state that my description (and those of my 'cronies' as you put
it) of small theorboes as 'toys' is 'puerile, inaccurate and ill-informed';
and, indeed, it might well be if that is only what I wrote. In fact, if you
read what was actually written in the thread, you'll see that my comment about
'toys' only applied to small instruments (say, fingered string length in the
high 70s) being strung as double reentrant in the A or G tuning and I
specifically excluded single reentrant small theorboes or double reentrant
instruments at a significantly higher nominal pitch (eg the lesser French
Theorbo in D; or the tiorbino) from my comment. It is especially surprising
that you oppose my position since all the double reentrant theorboes in A and G
listed on your own website (other than your 'own design') are directly in line
with it! ie in mm: 930, 895, 860, 860, 890, 984, 900, 840, 865. Further, as
you will also know from reading the thread, the
debate came about because of a particular response to a query about the size
of double reentrant theorbos in A or G; this response stated that 'anything
over 82 (cm) is a speciality instrument only for people with huge hands or for
those who only ever play in high positions'. It is again surprising, my dear
Stephen, that you also now seem to support this view, since all the theorbos
in A or G (other than your 'own design') which you offer are for larger
instruments than 82cm, and many much larger!
Perhaps, in my own case, your antipathy and clumsy personal attacks may stem
from my temerity some years ago in first privately questioning some of your
speculations. However, quite why you feel impelled to personally attack,
misrepresent and generally accuse so many others is a more worrying
characteristic.
Martyn Hodgson
PS You obviously missed my recent recital to the Lute Society and so you also
missed the opportunity to see my gallichon which many admired. It is based on
the 1773 Stautinger and it was in considering the identity of this instrument
which first led me to identify this entire family of instruments (FoMRHI
Quarterly 1979). I should be grateful if you would kindly cite my paper on
your website in the section on mandoras/gallichons. MH.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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--- On Sun, 25/5/08, howard posner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> From: howard posner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Choosing Strings
> To: "LUTELIST List" <[email protected]>
> Date: Sunday, 25 May, 2008, 6:13 AM
> On May 24, 2008, at 10:26 AM, Gernot Hilger wrote:
>
> > Don't say that too loudly. You'll fall prey to
> Stephen Barber's
> > wrath. Ask Martyn!
>
> I'm far more likely to fall prey to Martyn's wrath.
>
>
> --
>
> 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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