Glad to have a little more professional and scholarly approbation for the
lute that's more than seven but less than nine. Understanding the qualms
of championing such a fleetingly brief transitional form- whose Cherry
Blossom time was shorter by far than the rarely played (these days)
12-course two-headed "French"("Dutch"?) lute- I have always excused it's
use by referring to it as a "Double Seven" the magical 7 course lute
that has both an F and a D! I personally prefer the 9- I no longer care
enough for the 10 course literature to need all 10, but there are just
enough pieces in the Elizabethan/post-Elizabethan repertoire that
absolutely require that bottom low C (Holborne, Danyel, Robert Johnson).
And one can still finger the 8th-D over the 7th as necessary. (Some
players, of course, switch F & D for improved fingering access, never
felt quite right for me).
'there are a couple of important pieces that are "conceived" in
8-course tuning...'
How about the entire volume by Simon Molinaro? Including 25
fantasias by his uncle Giovanni Batista dalla Gostena. The two Terzi
volumes bounce the 7th from F to D so often that less than 8 courses is
almost unthinkable. Laurencini also needs either two sevens or one
eight. However, that clear, quick-speaking & direct "early" feel of a
good 6 course lute can still include a 7th course, but not an 8th.
Having an 8 course lute, I feel the need for my 6 course. The neck is
different, the octave stringing is different- it is a different
instrument. Two of my most hard core Renaissance lute students prefer
the early & mid 16th century music, but need the occasional- usually F-
low note, and don't like all that excess string resonance from even one
more extra course.
LBA is a serious affliction unless you're truly rolling in it. When I
worked briefly in a guitar repair shop with late, great Blues guitarist
Johnny Nitro he came up with a bumper sticker "My wife's walking out on
me if I bring home one more guitar. I'm really gonna miss her". Of
course, Raymond Fugger is shaking his head & laughing at us from his
present location. That's one dude who won by dying with the most toys.
Dan
On 10/4/2014 11:32 AM, David Tayler wrote:
I've slightly revised my views on this, I think you can make a case
that there are a couple of important pieces that are "conceived" in
8-course tuning, but the number is small.
It would seem on the basis of contrapuntal analysis that the
version of
Lacrimae of Dowland in G Minor was written for 8 course, as well as
his
other early work in Francisque. The problem is that in the span of
just
a few years, you start to see 9 courses and ten courses, and
there's no
way to match works with specific lutes within a short span of time.
Also, there's many examples where you can play the F fretted. I think
you can argue that there were early adopters, just like today, so
there
was a lot of overlap.
So you can almost always use the 7c for the eight, but the fact is,
the
8c is almost always more resonant. You could argue that the 7 and 6
sound more "early", and I think that is for sure true. When in doubt,
buy two, that is always the way of the LBA (lute buyers addiction).
Also in terms of LBA, maximize the usefulness of your collection. So
for example if you want to a play lute duets a tone apart, make one of
the lutes a 6 or a 7c, and the other an 8 or 10, and use the lower one
for English and French lute songs, as well as 8c-10c literature. It
isn't like having two matched 7c for Pickering, but it keeps the LBS
under control.
8c is very popular--there's a reason for that. Sort of like a minivan
with the "sport" suspension.
dt
On Wednesday, August 20, 2014 8:45 PM, Herbert Ward
<[email protected]> wrote:
What is the extent and nature of the historical
liturature which is playable on an 8-course
Renassiance lute, but not on a 7-course?
In other words, is a 7-course instrument a
workable subsitute for an 8-course?
This assumes the 7-course lutenist is willing
to retune his 7th course between pieces.
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References
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