> Ron's question, made relevant for the listers, freely translates to what's the > point of playing lute. There is no point, of course, which is exactly the point.
That sounds like a koan. I'm not so sure, however, that there's no point in playing the lute for most of us. I think there must be. Otherwise there wouldn't be such a lot of arguments on HIP-lute-related topics. The lute bears meaning to many of us. For some, it's a kind of beauty that our present world is lacking. For some, it's the encounter with certain parts of the world past. For some, it's both, difficult as that may be. > Art is a personal expression of universal value, That concept of the arts has developed in Western Europe in the wake of political emancipation during the 18th-19th centuries. Before that era, artists would usually not consider themselves autonomous so as to make use of their art in order to express themselves. Most lute music dates from times older than that. > Western art music is rather coded. As is any kind of art music. That's part of the art. > I believe that for a player it helps to understand the coding to play the > music more convincingly. A pivotal point IMO: Convincingly for whom? The experts in the audience? Remember the arguments about Sting's Dowland-CD? Some accomplished lutenists loathed it, the broader public loved it. Beauty sounds in the ears of the listeners. > The sound is part of the coding. Francesco had > another sound in his head when composing his pieces, than Dowland, Weiss or Still an unanswered question, isn't it? Viola da mano, lute, artificial nails (forgot the exact term) ... > Performing their music with another sound will give different results. Let's split some hairs. Wouldn't you say that performing music with different instruments is different in itself, notwithstanding the results (pleased / disappointed / disgusted audience)? The music is different, although the score / tab may be the same, because the aesthetics are different. Some modern guitarists play Weiss on their 13strings-guitars, and that's fine with me, as long as it isn't pretended that this is lute music. > I think sound is an integral part of composition That is, for those who have been trained to appreciate it. I love your recordings, David, but I know people who hate that sound. It's not what they expect a real minstrel's lute to sound, you know ... Mathias To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
