There seems to be some confusion here: the reference wasn't to exotic instruments (such as the lute-harpsichord/lautenclavicymbal etc) but to normal run of the mill English harpsichords in which an additional row of jacks placed closer to the bridge than the main ones was/is called the 'lute stop' (sometimes 'theorbo stop'). Hence my remark that this also supports a closer to the bridge (and more brittle/brilliant sound) hand position than is the fashion today for 'baroque' lutes.
MH --- On Wed, 20/1/10, David Tayler <[email protected]> wrote: From: David Tayler <[email protected]> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Thumb rest stroke - 'lute stop' evidence To: "lute-cs.dartmouth.edu" <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, 20 January, 2010, 19:07 As far as renaissance goes, the Mueller harpsichord has many of the qualities of a lute, tone transposition and a crank that moves the plucking point closer to the bridge and closer to the center. I can imagine that most players would vary their plucking points, though some would prefer to stay planted until the divot burnishes through. dt At 10:55 AM 1/20/2010, you wrote: >Agricola wrote: > >"... heard a 'Lautenclavicymbel' in Leipzig in about 1740, designed >by Mr. Johann Sebastian Bach and made by Mr. Zacharias Hildebrand, >which was smaller in size than a normal harpsichord but in all other >respects similar. It had two choirs of gut strings, and a so-called >little octave of brass strings. It is true that in its normal setting >(that is, when only one stop was drawn) it sounded more like a >theorbo than a lute. But if one drew the lute-stop (such as is found >on a harpsichord) together with the cornet stop, one could almost >deceive professional lutenists." > >I think we have to take this with a large pinch of salt - like you >say, modern reconstructions of lautenwerks sound exactly as you would >expect - like a gut-strung harpsichord with leather plectra. > >Andrew > >On 20 Jan 2010, at 18:37, <[1][email protected]> wrote: > > > Yes. Also compelling are the contemporary descriptions of the > > lautenwerk as being nearly sonically indistinguishable from the > > lute. There are even reports that professional lute players could > > be fooled if the instruments were played behind a screen. From > > the sound of the modern lautenwerks I've heard, I have never once > > feared that I might make the same mistake! > > > > Chris > > >-- > >To get on or off this list see list information at >[2]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. http://uk.mc263.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] 2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
