The sizes (and therefore pitches) of lutes around 1600 is still a matter of debate. VERY briefly: Wirth ( 2005) and Nurse (1986) looked at surviving Venetian and Paduan lutes and on this evidence proposed an average string length of around 66/67cm for a G lute which would suggest a pitch around a whole tone below modern A440. Of course we have no means of knowing how representative a sample of early period lutes this study represents.
Indeed, Praetorius, who is usually pretty accurate, gives the string length of a common G lute at 61/62cm. Other evidence (eg the sizes of liuto attiorbato a tone apart sizes -64cm and 57cm in nominal G [or F depending on the local pitch centre] and A [or G]) also does not support this view. There is also the question of the physical demands required by the tablature (eg 'barre' at the 1st fret with first course stopped at the 5th fret, etc) which is more subjective but cannot be overlooked. Finally, and even more problematical is a proper study extant iconographic representations (ie not just a couple of isolated examples) - work still to be done I'm afraid. For what it's worth, I currently think the size of the most common G lute in this period was around 63/64cm which suggests a pitch about a semi-tone below A440 so your idea of tuning down to A415 would be, on this hypothesis, quite reasonable. Clearly all this is subject to considerations of local pitch standards and national preferences....................... MH --- On Fri, 13/2/09, Caroline Usher <[email protected]> wrote: From: Caroline Usher <[email protected]> Subject: [LUTE] Transposed Dowland songs?? To: "lutenet" <[email protected]> Date: Friday, 13 February, 2009, 2:57 PM A singer has asked me to accompany her on "Come heavy sleep" and "Time stands still." The problem is, she wants to sing them in F (down a whole step) because it's a better range for her voice. Has anyone tried transposing them down? Any thoughts on how well (or not) this works? I could tune down to 415 but I'm not sure she'll go for that. thanks, Caroline -- ***** Caroline Usher, Dept. of Biology Box 90338 Durham NC 27708 919-613-8155, fax 660-7293 -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --
