So much music, so little time!
Gary
(Aspires to be dilettante)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Winheld" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2009 8:51 AM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Dilettantism
Yes but.. The "but" for me hinges on the words "professional
virtuosi" - as someone who does not earn his bread playing music
(thereby enforcing literal "amateur" status) I have only the time
left over from a job that eats 50 hours weekly. So I don't have time
to keep even one instrument up to a standard I would respect.
Sometimes the Baroque lute sits around unplayed for weeks. These days
it's the vihuela. Can't even remember the last time I even tuned the
poor old viola da gamba- and at one point it had more professional
importance for me than the lutes. The steel-string guitar (my
"stealth" opharion/bandora) sits in the same corner keeping the viol
company. I see them making sad faces at me, bored out of their minds.
At one time, it was the noble amateur who was esteemed as being the
most learned sort of well-rounded human being; for only he (living
off the labor of others, not even burdened by maintaining his own
home & personal chores) who could play a number of expensive plucked
strings, bowed strings, perhaps also a keyboard and wind instrument
or two, AND had time for poetry, tennis, riding and even hunting! One
of the criticisms leveled at the violoncello in the 18th century, I
believe in "The Defense of the Viol against the pretensions of the
Violoncello" (unsure of proper French spelling, amateur that I am)
was that it required a single purpose fanatical training just to play
the fretless instrument in tune, and still too much time to maintain
proficiency, whereas the cultured, well-rounded, educated gentleman
could retain enough ability to stay well practiced enough on the viol
and still have time for a full life, including of course other
instruments. The real professional, then as now, had- and has- more
time, (even if still insufficient for all things) by virtue of it
being his profession.
Dan, grudgingly dilettante to the end.
> Isn't it possible that playing several plucked instruments can be
mutually reinforcing? If I spend all day playing the vihuela, won't
that improve my lute playing? If I work on achieving perfect,
pearl-like tones on my six-course, won't that improve my tone on
the
ten-course? If I learn to play the bass strings on my baroque lute,
won't that help me on the theorbo basses? If I learn to play
continuo
> on the theorbo, won't that make me a better all-round musician?
The lute world consists of a diversity of instruments, and off-hand I
can't think of any professional virtuosi who have confined themselves
to just one of them. My point is that I don't think their virtuosity
has been diminished by the variety of instruments they have recorded on.
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