Dear David,
I too heartily concur about lack of standardisation in 'olden times'.
Another area worth mentioning is theorbos: the modern fashion seems to
be generally for double re-entrant instruments (even where not
necessary because of the small size!) whereas in the 17th century,
instruments with just the first course an octave down seemed just as
usual (if not more so...).
And don't get me started on the modern widespread use of single strung
theorbos (and even archlutes!) when so much evidence points to double
stringing for the fingered courses...................
regards
Martyn
__________________________________________________________________
From: David Van Edwards <[email protected]>
To: William Samson <[email protected]>
Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, 28 July 2013, 21:15
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Portrait of William Lawes holding a lute
Dear Bill,
Yes I agree about the lack of standardisation! We're obsessed with
defining things these days.
I've had a go at altering the levels on that picture and with a bit
of jiggery-pokery it shows that we will never know what sort of lute
he's holding. He's sitting with his left arm over the back of a
Spanish style chair and the head of the lute is clearly well off the
bounds of the picture. So it could be anything!
I'm sure you're right about local makers being involved in many of
the alterations. In fact the little Mest 12 course in Linkoping is
almost certainly a case in point, the neck and pegboxes are much
poorer quality work than the beautifully made back.
Best wishes,
David
At 13:25 +0100 28/7/13, William Samson wrote:
> Hi David,
>
> Yes - It's interesting to consider the 'Molenaer'-type
double-header as
> an alternative to the curly headed one with stepped nuts. From
the
> Rauwolf and those paintings where the strings can be counted, the
> straight extension type seem to be 11-course instruments. My own
new
> one is only 10 courses, so it is conjectural (and anyway it looks
cool,
> which is the whole point *;) winking ). Looking at the
iconography,
> there's a much greater variety of pegbox configurations than we
tend to
> see in these times when 'standardisation' seems to be the thing.
It
> makes me wonder if alterations of lutes to bring them up to date
were
> sometimes done locally, by people who weren't top-notch luthiers,
and
> so we get this wonderful variety in the iconography.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Bill
> From: David Van Edwards <[1][email protected]>
> To: William Samson <[2][email protected]>
> Cc: "[3][email protected]" <[4][email protected]>
> Sent: Sunday, 28 July 2013, 12:26
> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Portrait of William Lawes holding a lute
> Dear Bill,
> Thanks very much for alerting us to that. No, I don't know the
> picture at all and I notice that the first question in the
comments
> section is asking where it is. No answer as yet, maybe he will
> respond later.
> There is also the conjecture which Lynda Sayce put forward that
his
> "theorbo", which was destroyed after being kept until the 19th
> century in an Oxford college, was in fact, like Pepys,' a 12
course
> double header, of either sort. And this picture *could* be
consistent
> with either of those. So possibly you're again up with the
zeitgeist
> in building your extended neck double-header!
> On that design, it is noticeable that there are many more of them
in
> French iconography than of the English/Netherlandish curly pegbox
> sort and that they do die out pretty quickly. So maybe Mary
Burwell
> tutor is referring to that sort when it talks of the French taking
> them up and then dropping them. True it refers to Gaultier having
> invented the form and we have the engraving of Gaultier holding
the
> curly sort but it is at least conceivable that he actually
"invented"
> the straight form while still in France and then later in England
> taking up or "inventing" the curly form with its stepped basses.
> Certainly the Burwell tutor's disparagement of "them long basses"
> fits rather more with the straight form, several of which are
shown
> with really quite long basses. As indeed has the Rauwolf survivor
in
> Copenhagen.
> Best wishes,
> David
> At 09:19 +0100 28/7/13, William Samson wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > In today's Telegraph (I hope those of you from outside the UK
will
> be
> > able to access this link!) there's an article about Lawes and
his
> music
> > and it's accompanied by a portrait of him that I've never
seen
> before
> > now.
> >
> >
>
[1][1][5]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classical-music-guide
/10
> 199
> >
>
855/Ivan-Hewetts-Classic-50-No-31-William-Lawes-Fantazy-from-Consort-Se
> > tt-a-6-in-F.html
> >
> > I would guess it's a 10-course instrument, but it's
impossible to
> tell
> > from the image.
> >
> > Bill
> >
> > --
> >
> >References
> >
> > 1.
>
>[2][6]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classical-music-guide/1
019
>
9855/Ivan-Hewetts-Classic-50-No-31-William-Lawes-Fantazy-from-Consort-S
> ett-a-6-in-F.html
> >
> >
> >To get on or off this list see list information at
> >[3][7]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
> --
> The Smokehouse,
> 6 Whitwell Road,
> Norwich, NR1 4HB
> England.
> Telephone: + 44 (0)1603 629899
> Website: [4][8]http://www.vanedwards.co.uk/
>
> --
>
>References
>
> 1.
[9]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classical-music-guide/10199
> 2.
>[10]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classical-music-guide/101
99855/Ivan-Hewetts-Classic-50-No-31-William-Lawes-Fantazy-from-Consort-
Sett-a-6-in-F.html
> 3. [11]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
> 4. [12]http://www.vanedwards.co.uk/
--
The Smokehouse,
6 Whitwell Road,
Norwich, NR1 4HB
England.
Telephone: + 44 (0)1603 629899
Website: [13]http://www.vanedwards.co.uk
--
References
1. mailto:[email protected]
2. mailto:[email protected]
3. mailto:[email protected]
4. mailto:[email protected]
5. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classical-music-guide/10
6. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classical-music-guide/1019
7. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
8. http://www.vanedwards.co.uk/
9. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classical-music-guide/10199
10.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classical-music-guide/10199855/Ivan-Hewetts-Classic-50-No-31-William-Lawes-Fantazy-from-Consort-Sett-a-6-in-F.html
11. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
12. http://www.vanedwards.co.uk/
13. http://www.vanedwards.co.uk/
