Dear All,
On 07/10/2010 13:52, François Pizette wrote:
Dear Anthony, and allI was one of these two french luthenists.In fact
Titanium nylon trebles is my best solution to have a great tensile
strengh and an easy to handle diameter, so a lower density is the most
important thing. My aim is to play on my "classical" archlute by
Gyorgy Lorinczi according with my personal choice of a 67 cm string
lenght in Ensemble Music at modern pitch A =440Hz with the first
course doubled.A very good surprise is the smootheness of the contact
and an easier expressivity compared with Perlon or Nylon.Nylgut and
gut would breakCarbon would be too thin.Please Excuse my ...English
Original message:[LUTE] Re: Carbon strings + Titanium Nylon?Anthony
HindTue, 05 Oct 2010 06:26:03 -0700
I felt I just had to comment on this. It may well be that Titanium
nylon is the only way that Francois can get a 67cm archlute up to G at
a'=440, especially with a double first, but what is the point?
17th C archlutes were indeed about 67cm string length and used gut
strings for which the highest practical pitch was about a'=392 or
possibly lower. It follows that the ensembles in which they played must
have used these low pitches. Incidentally this is one area in which
lutenists have an important role to play in informing any debates about
historical pitch standards - the modern standard "baroque = 415" is as
unhistorical as anything else.
For me, the music is what is important, not the "historical accuracy" -
so matters of tempo, phrasing and articulation are easily more important
than whether or not you use gut strings, or what pitch you play at.
That does not diminish my fascination with what this music *might* have
sounded like, an enterprise which is very much concerned with things
like pitch and string materials.
For modern performances we can use whatever instruments and materials we
like, but we don't see too many electric guitars in early music
ensembles because they might frighten the public - so I think there's a
danger of dishonesty here as well. Apparently there are some ensembles
who are happy to use "historical-looking" instruments but are unwilling
to play at a pitch other than 440 and as a result have to make all sorts
of nasty compromises. I'm not joking about the electric guitar - why
not use it?
Best wishes to all, and sympathies to Francois who is obliged to suffer
these indignities,
Martin
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