Well, it's hard to say whether the train of this argument has run its course or whether it's all gone off the rails now. I still think some sort of ren. guitar would be possible in Dalza's Italy and have heard no evidence that it couldn't. We may disagree as to the instrument portrayed in the intarsia. Personally, I'm unconvinced it is a vihuela, or more to the point, unconvinced it is a six-course vihuela. I'm less moved by instruments described (or defined) significantly outside Dalza's dates and area. There is too much leeway in definitions, too many terms and too few descriptions of instruments used in a typical Dalza performance. I believe his (and G. Pacaloni's) are only two of very few publications --and may include the Castelfranco ms.-- actually written with working bands in mind and, as such, allowed a greater variety of possible instruments than those listed in titles and notes. And I doubt either cared about Tinctoris' definitions.
A strummed C chord on it works fine for the formal Dalza duets (especially with a second lute) and there are other dances and intabulations where the melody and harmony sit rather nicely to my poor yank ears. I will refrain from intabulating motets and writing anything more complex than deRippe fantasies for it. (Could his have been written before coming to France? Does his Mantouan nature make them, by definition, Italian guitar fantasies, albeit published posthumously for a French public? and furthermore in a book containing the frottole-era, Scaramela?) I will continue to use it in an upcoming performance of frottole (replacing an A-lute with a second singer singing bass) as well as proper G and E lutes for other pieces. Instrumentation in some ways is like orthography: it is a poor imagination indeed that can think of only one way to spell a word. That said, I do appreciate the time and work by all showing the variety of sources and arguments pro- and con- as well as observations on the inconclusitivity of the evidence. I'm impressed with the going-to-the-matt certainty wherever it developed though such bruisings are hardly necessary in the paucity of evidence. I had hoped for more evidence pro- of course but I will continue to take the intarsia at its probable (for me) face value of a 4-c waisted instrument whatever its title. I worked with a builder a few years ago to design such a 4-c instrument based on the intarsia and we reckon the measurements and ratios will yield a pretty instrument. It will probably be the next instrument in my zoo when the time is right. Many thanks to all who weighed in. Sean To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
