Le 10 févr. 09 à 00:08, Mathias Rösel a écrit :
I'm assuming the Vermeer doesn't count
dt
Well, okay, you might as well count Santa Cecilia (Saraceni) or
"Gaultier" (de Reyn). I haven't found out which Vermeer you might have
in mind. But wouldn't you say it's clear as the sun that
close-to-the-bridge was the home position with baroque lutes?
Mathias
Positions
I think it depends on what you mean by "close to the bridge".
There is evidence of little finger behind the bridge, on the bridge,
in front of the bridge, an eight of the distance between the rose and
the bridge forward of the bridge, a quarter of the same distance
before the bridge, and probably a little further.
Little finger glued to the belly, little finger sliding on the belly.
TO: Thumb level with the fingers (J Gautier), ETO: Thumb forward in
relation to the fingers (Ch. Mouton).
These giving quite a large combination of positions.
Causes for the change from near the rose to near the bridge:
Was the change from near the rose to near the bridge 1) due to string
technology, low tension strings (Satoh) or loaded ones (Mimmo, or to
dampen the rich harmonics of Dm Lutes; 2) due to the prevalence of
old lutes (Bailes), or loading of the table (Mimmo); or 3) for some
musical motive (a preference for a harder more percussive harpsichord-
like sound). I think someone, here, recently suggested it could be
because the renaissance aesthetic called for a blending of sound,
while the Baroque didn't (sorry I do not remember exactly).
Conclusion on historical correctness:
You have said that the cause is irrelevant (and not worth
researching), but I would think if you adopt any of the above
positions you would want to have a good understanding of the
implications in relation to the above causes, or you could be making
a historically incorrect aesthetic choice, in spite of having a
historically correct position.
Does the above tendancy make anyone who doesn't play in one of those
positions, with one of those TO shapes (little finger glued or
shifting) totally irrelevant from an EM point of view?
No doubt many of us will indeed fall out of fashion as attitudes to
EM change, but can we be sure which ones?
I hope I was concise enough.
Anthony
That quote by Barto was bearing on the baroque lute,
distinctively. I'm
not aware of even one painting / engraving / whatever of baroque
lute
players, showing a different position.
Mathias
At 12:33 PM 2/8/2009, you wrote:
From: ""Mathias Rösel"" <[email protected]>
"All instruction from the period tell us and the pictures
show us that the right hand was at the bridge. How
seriously should we take this?" Barto
Perhaps like with a traffic sign when driving a car? I mean, not
religiously, of course >B)
Mathias
An unexpectedly Gallic opinion!
RT
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