Preferring my lute-alikes at ca. 33 cm without diapason, I certainly am daft.
Daftly, Eugene > -----Original Message----- > From: William Brohinsky [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 10:33 AM > To: [email protected] > Cc: lutelist Net; howard posner > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Theorbo by Nic. Nic. B. van der Waals for sale > > On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 3:37 AM, Martyn Hodgson > <[email protected]> wrote: > > However, for mysterious reasons, some modern players string small > > theorboes with low octaves on the second course even when wholly > > unnecessary at the pitch in which they play. > > > > If we have any pretensions to 'Historically Informed Performance' it > is > > clearly daft to ignore historic precedent and practice. > > > > OK, guilty as charged, but. > > Is it somehow illegal to play music for long theorbos on short > theorbos? If you wish to play the music of Kapsberger or Piccininni, > but cannot afford to buy (or cannot manage to borrow) a theorbo longer > than some criteria (which hasn't really been stated, but is obviously > longer than the 92mm/67mm instrument I played last semester), you are > daft. Either you don't tune double-reentrant (thus satisfying Martyn > and screwing up voice leading, which is daft) or you do (which, by > Martyn's definition is daft.) > > The obvious conclusion is that any theorbo player who isn't rich and > wishes to play music written for double-reentrant theorbo is daft. > > So, by logical extension, being poor and wanting to play some of the > most beautiful music (or quirky, or whatever happens to attract you to > the music) means you are daft. > > But then, isn't a fundamental criterion for playing a 5' or 6' long, > delicate instrument with enough strings to pass for a small harp, as > long as it doesn't involve passing through a door, being daft? > > So I guess I don't see the purpose in this particular set of decision > criteria. > > ray > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
