--- On Tue, 17/2/09, Martyn Hodgson <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Martyn Hodgson <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [LUTE] Re: Theorbo by Nic. Nic. B. van der Waals for
sale
To: "David Rastall" <[email protected]>
Date: Tuesday, 17 February, 2009, 8:30 AM
That it is not a historic definition is precisely why it appears in
inverted commas (as in 'toy' theorbos)
In fact not just me who uses 'toy': for example Lynda Sayce.
Historically single re-entrant theorboes were not uncommon (eg England
in the 17thC) and are no less theorboes for not requiring both top
courses to be at the lower octave.
MH
--- On Mon, 16/2/09, David Rastall <[email protected]> wrote:
From: David Rastall <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [LUTE] Re: Theorbo by Nic. Nic. B. van der Waals for
sale
To: [email protected]
Cc: "lutelist Net" <[email protected]>
Date: Monday, 16 February, 2009, 8:27 PM
On Feb 16, 2009, at 2:10 PM, Martyn Hodgson wrote:
A small theorbo is called a 'toy' theorbo when, because of its
relatively small size
As I recall, "toy" is your own appellation, rather than some general
historical definition.
which only really requires the first course to be
at the lower octave, the second is also unnecessarily lowered: it's
all down to how the individual player strings it, not some
inherent
characteristic of the instrument itself.
You're saying that size brings about the necessity to use double
reentrant tuning. But that's not to say that people with smaller
instruments do it "unnecessarily." I'm sure many of us (myself
included) do it because of the way double reentrant tuning sounds. My
theorbo is small enough at 79cm on the fretboard to use single
reentrant tuning, but I personally prefer the sound of double reentrant
over single. With single reentrant there's too much second-string
sound, at least in my mind anyway. Besides, double reentrant provides
the characteristic uniqueness of the theorbo! It's what makes a
theorbo a theorbo, regardless of size. I can tune my 10-course in
double reentrant if I want to. That would truly be a "toy" theorbo!
Davidr
[1][email protected]
--
References
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