The use of 8ves on courses 4 - 6 from late 15th to at least mid-16th
cent. on lutes and Italian vihuelas/violas is widely confirmed by enough
authoritative sources. One or more of the great early German pedagogs
(H.Neusidler, Gerle, Judenkoenig) was/were absolutely explicit on this:
1st course gauge for 4th course 8ve, 2nd for 5th, and 3rd for 6th. On my
early style 6 course lute this works just fine. With the correct
diameter/material/tension gut fundamentals the balance, volume and feel
are perfect. This stringing arrangement does not sound harmonious &
homogenous unless I use all gut, with the sometimes grudging exception
of a newnylgut or nylon treble. (But not the 4th course 8ve!) I believe
Adrien LeRoy's method was translated into English & published in the
1560's- he too called for 8ves. Ironically, I use my 8ve strung 6 course
lute for John Johnson more easily than for some of the polyphony
composed a generation earlier!
However, the aggressive 4th course 8ve. can be a problem for my ears- I
have had trouble reconciling it with the counterpoint of Francesco,
Marco, Alberto, and others; and often prefer to play those specific
types of polyphony on slightly anachronistic instruments- my 8 course
(8ves starting at 6) or Spanish style (Chambure copy) vihuela, 8ves
starting at 5. The Spanish vihuela has been a bone of contention. It is
now accepted by some of us, based on the research of Mimmo Peruffo and
others, that the Spanish vihuela may also have been strung with 8ves.
and perhaps Pisador (and/or Fabritio Dentice) may be the one who got the
unison thing rolling with just a 4th course unison. Sounds "reasonable"
to my own - but corrupted by 20/21st century guitar and other influenced
ears. Again on the other hand (running out of hands here) 3 part
frottole, superius, tenor, and bassus, do sound "empty" (sans altus)
unless I play them on the all-8ve'd 6 course lute. Same for most of the
early German intabs as well- the 4th & 5th course 8ves fill the sense of
harmony very nicely.
Because of Dowland, I tried to maintain 6 course unisons on some of my
instruments for years- sometimes it worked- but in the end the net gain
was was outweighed by the net losses explained in this thread by other
posters. I now use a 6 course unison only on my d-minor 13 course
Baroque lute- a longer string length, and that course is A, a whole
tone higher. But there is zero historical precedent for that, I just
can't stand some of those 8ves in Weiss when the parts are fighting each
other in that range.
Dan
On 1/20/2013 7:21 AM, William Samson wrote:
Dear Collective Wisdom,
I believe that 6c lutes are often strung with octaves on the 6th, 5th
and 4th courses.
Would you use that stringing for all parts of the lute repertoire that
needs only six courses, or would other arrangements be appropriate for
parts of the repertoire?
I'm particularly fond of the 6c English music that is found in many
mid-late 16th century sources. Playing with an octave on the 4th
sounds intrusive to my ear, but maybe I need to train my ear to accept
it?
Bill
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