As far as the frets are concerned, Dowland says it was the French who
lengthened the necks of the lutes to allow ten tied frets, and now
(1610) that's what everybody wants. So I think there must have been
quite a consensus on this.
Martin
On 17/01/2015 00:29, Dan Winheld wrote:
To answer my own post and expand a bit- Tobias Hume may have been a
one-off; I never heard of any other viol player or viol tradition
using pairs of bowed strings in any form. This leads to another bit of
icon bashing- so many lutenists, historical and modern, have had so
much trouble with the 6 course unison (esp. with historic gut or or
good modern equivalents) that despite Dowland's admonition it seems
that most lutenists- even Baroque lutenists whose 6th course is A- use
(or used) the 8ve option. And the 10 tied fret neck option for 9 or 10
course lutes seems to be really a tough tweak for the luthiers- so I
have to wonder: Was Dowland himself a bit of a "one-off" in regard to
most common, standard practice among even other elites of the lute
world of his time- not to mention later?
Dan
On 1/16/2015 2:25 PM, Dan Winheld wrote:
And may I offer one off-the-wall bit of perspective on the matter of
8ve strings on 6,5, and 4th course?
Tobias Hume, in his Bass Viol/"Leero Viole" book published in 1605,
advises viol players thusly:
"If you will heare the Viol de Gambo in his true Majestie, to play
parts, and singing thereto, then string him with nine strings, your
three Basses double as the Lute, which is to be plaide on with as
much ease as your Violl of sixe stringes."
There we have it- play parts, singing with the instrument. We can
take it for granted he wasn't talking unison pairs on a bowed bass
instrument. And 1605! Granted, Hume was English; but in his
professional military career he was on the continent a lot- but not,
of course playing duets except with martial instruments.
I have NEVER seen or heard of a modern viol specialist playing an
early 17th century English viol set up this way, and viol players are
otherwise doing everything documentable & recoverable from the past
eras. Or have I missed anything? A viol so set up would be something
to hear & play.
Dan
On 1/16/2015 1:02 PM, howard posner wrote:
On Jan 16, 2015, at 12:49 PM, David van Ooijen
<[email protected]> wrote:
Dowland could have included the G on the fourth course without
making it difficult to play.A His not doing so means either
that he
didn't care that the bass line dropped a seventh for no good
reason,
or that he assumed octave stringing on the sixth course,
supplying
the middle G.
Or that the printer omitted the middle G. There are more
mistakes/misprints/omissions in the lute parts of Dowland's lute
songs.
Perhaps, but how many of those errors are omitted middle Gs in the
third measure of the lute part in the 19th song in the book?
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