> "Historical practice" was tuning small theorbos in dm, although even this is not > very certain (it's mostly based on a few examples, like the pieces by visee which > exist in staff notation and theorbo tablature).
That's news to me, indeed. There is a theory that some theorbos were tuned in D, but vieil ton, not D minor. The tablature pieces in Saizenay are ordered by key, thus making it clear that the required instrument was tuned in A. The theorbo pieces of de Visée's publication en musique stand a 4th higher than the correspondent tablature versions. You could take a tablature version and play it on a theorbo in D, so as to accompany the flute, but you would double the upper voice. I don't think the edition en musique was meant to be executed that way. Lesser theorbos (Talbot) were used for solo music, or so I think. Is there any evidence other than late Baron for the idea that theorbos were tuned in D minor? Mathias To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
