A friend of mine plays a double-strung theorbo. I was not impressed with it, as regards to volume or projection. Strumming was 'fun' though.
David On 1 June 2011 19:02, Bruno Correia <bruno.l...@gmail.com> wrote: > Interesting to hear that someone plays a double string theorbo. I've > never heard or seen it. Does it sound louder or maybe with more > refinement than the single strung version? Does it have octaves on 5th > and 6th courses? > > > > Could it be possible that the double course was used for solo music and > the single only for continuo practice? Than we could argue that for > solo music a small double strung instrument is enough, while > continuo requires just the opposite. > > > > Regards. > > > > > > 2011/6/1 Christopher Wilke <[1]chriswi...@yahoo.com> > > Jorg, > I can only partially answer your question from experience. At > one time I owned a huge theorbo (single strung) with a 99cm string > length. Now I have thankfully gotten rid of the beast and play on a > double strung "toy" with a 76cm fingerboard length. I usually use > synthetic strings, but have used gut in the past and I feel that > there is no sacrifice in terms of volume with the small instrument. > If anything it is much louder, but this has something to do with > the player. > I play close to the bridge, which I can only do on the small > theorbo. With my giant lute, if I tried to pluck by the bridge it > was physically impossible for me to fret notes in low positions. > (I'm six feet tall) By stretching my arms out I could only just > manage to pluck over the rose. This gave a pleasant tone, but one > that was easily covered in virtually any ensemble. If the piece gave > me enough time and I could alter my posture and position so that I > could pluck a bass note closer to the bridge, it sounded fantastic. > Unfortunately, I found rarity with which I had time to manage this > to be musically unsatisfying. And then there were the mistakes from > the ungainly lunge back to "regular" position! I never had double > stringing on this instrument, but I imagine that the strings would > easily jar together because of plucking closer to mid-point of the > string length > As for slurring and what not, I find this no more difficult with > double stringing over single, but again I'm doing this on a smaller > instrument. I find it very effective for strumming, which sounds, > fittingly enough, like a big guitar. > Chris > Christopher Wilke > Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer > [2]www.christopherwilke.com > --- On Wed, 6/1/11, Hilbert Joerg <[3]hilbert.jo...@t-online.de> > wrote: > > From: Hilbert Joerg <[4]hilbert.jo...@t-online.de> > > Subject: [LUTE] Double stringed on a theorbo? > > To: "lute List" <[5]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> > > Date: Wednesday, June 1, 2011, 3:27 AM > > > Dear collected wisdom, > > > > as the old italian theorbos seemed to be quite huge and > > double stringed (for 1-6), I am not aware of anyone to play > > such an instrument in my neighborhood. I recently had the > > possibility to test an instrument of about 90 cm, which was > > amazing but single stringed. Does anybody know such a double > > stringed instrument? Does it really make sense for continuo? > > Are there other experiences in terms of power, playability, > > slurs, comfort etc.? > > > > Thank you very much, > > Joerg > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > [6]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > -- > > References > > 1. mailto:chriswi...@yahoo.com > 2. http://www.christopherwilke.com/ > 3. mailto:hilbert.jo...@t-online.de > 4. mailto:hilbert.jo...@t-online.de > 5. mailto:lute@cs.dartmouth.edu > 6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- ******************************* David van Ooijen davidvanooi...@gmail.com www.davidvanooijen.nl *******************************
