Le 3 juin 08 à 16:32, howard posner a écrit :
On Jun 3, 2008, at 6:24 AM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
the lute
player on the cover of Hoppy's 'Vieux Gaultier' CD
(who's the artist?) plays an instument with the first
and second courses red but also the BASS string only
of the 7th course. All the other ones are pale.
Why?
Maybe as a visual cue, the way harpists color their C and F strings
today...
--
But surely a harpist, can look at the strings, that is more difficult
for a lutist?
It could be that those top strings had undergone some special
treatment, which still might not be loading, but that is pure
speculation on my part.
It could also be a whim of the painter, looking for some sort of
symmetry with the basses, or a string maker could have become famous
for his red basses, and be cashing in on that fact tby dyeing other
strings red.
That does of course mean that just the fact that some strings are
coloured, does not form a sufficient argument in favour of the
loaded gut string hypothesis (loading could exist that gives no
colour whatsoever, or a yellow colour, indistinguishable from gut).
The fact that these red or brown strings are frequently the basses
that you would need to load today, is a small argument in that
direction, but it is the accumulation of such arguments, in which no
one is conclusive, that may lead us to prefer this hypothesis, to the
alternatives, which I have discussed, particularly when we consider
the existence of short Baroque lutes with very small bridge holes.
Nevertheless, the other alternatives, as Martyn has said (low tension
strings, and toroidal ropes), should not be brushed aside without due
consideration.
Please note that when I say, "should not be brushed aside", I am only
talking about hypothese on historical strings. Even if we were to
prove that one hypothesis was far weaker than the others, it does not
necessarily mean that soundwise the solution is bad. Both Charles
Besnainou and I think Satoh, have two-headed 14 course lutes.
Perhaps, these did exist, but Charles told me he built his as an
interesting experiment with no particular thought to authenticity.
They may still be able to play superb music on these, by getting the
maximum out of the strings they each prefer.
I think there is an argument in favour of trying to rediscover the
sound structures (string types, lute shapes, etc) around which a
particular lute piece might have been constructed, especially when we
are talking about a composer whose compositions search out the full
potential a particular technology can produce, but that does not
exclude other aproaches to the same material, including clever use of
metal-wound basses, and lute shapes which allow the performer to
acheive more with pure gut than perhaps any historical performer
managed to do. I don't see anything wrong in that per se. Different
approaches to the music are going to lead to less uniformity, and
hopefully more interesting performances.
Anthony
Le 3 juin 08 à 16:32, howard posner a écrit :
On Jun 3, 2008, at 6:24 AM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
the lute
player on the cover of Hoppy's 'Vieux Gaultier' CD
(who's the artist?) plays an instument with the first
and second courses red but also the BASS string only
of the 7th course. All the other ones are pale.
Why?
Maybe as a visual cue, the way harpists color their C and F strings
today...
--
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