Dear Matthew, What was possible for the old lutenists should be also possible for us today. I send you a link to a chart with the most important tunings from Vieil ton to the Nouvel accord ordinaire (NAO; d-minor). http://www.accordsnouveaux.ch/de/DownloadD/files/From_VT_to_the_NAO.pdf You see that with my system the 1st string will be lowered 2 or 3 semitones, the 2nd course 2 ST for VT to edeff and fedff. Or I have to tune up the 3rd +1 ST and the 4th +2 ST from the NAO. Take lutebooks of the early period of accords nouveaux and have a look on the tunings used in this book (or at leat in the early period of such a source). ffeff, fdeff, fedff and edeff were used in the same period. Of course it's possible that they tuned one lute in an accord nouveau with a thicker top string and an other lute in vieil ton. But who had more than one lute? That's a small cercle. But there are two important points: - The playing technique was thumb out with the little finger just at the bridge. - The groundbreaking exercise is the tirer et rabattre in this position - in other words not with the right side of index, but with the top. These two points lead to a completely different feeling - also for string tension.
Then have a look to a book which was written between 1640 and 1642: CH-Zz Q 907. It's a very important source because it's the first manuscript which demands the 11-course lute in combination with the NAO. http://www.accordsnouveaux.ch/de/DownloadD/files/CH-Zz_Q_907_Edition.pdf The used tunings (only the first 6 courses): ddeff f.ex. f1 d1 b g d A edeff f.ex. f#1 d1 b g d A dedff f.ex. f1 d1 bb g d A dfedf f.ex. f1 d1 a f d A (NAO) efdef f.ex. f#1 d1 a f# d A (D-major tuning) The changing courses: 1st course: f#1 / f1 = +/-1 ST 3rd course: b bb a = +/- 2 ST 4th course: g f# f = +/- 2 ST So at least +/- 2 ST is normal! I'm just preparing a suite by Jacobi which was composed around 1720, I think. The tuning: dfehc* [ceghk] = f1 d1 a f Bb Ab / G F Eb D C I have to tune down he 5th course -4 ST, the 6th -1 ST. Of course, it's a special feeling to play the very low 5th course - but it's possible. My point: The tuning +/- 2 ST is absolutely normal and was made on lute types in most of the time between 1623 until around 1800 (mandora). So I as a modern player have to find solutions to handle this. Restringing was normally not the way - exceptions are possible, of course. For me it seems to exist a direct connection between the variablilty in the accords and the right hand technique. All the best, Andreas Am 29.08.2017 um 17:03 schrieb Matthew Daillie <dail...@club-internet.fr>: > Well Andreas, I really don't know how you manage to tune your > chanterelle down from g' to eb', for example and your second course > down from d' to c' and still be able to play correctly. I certainly > can't. Gut bass strings are certainly more tolerant of changes of pitch > and can work at different tensions but treble strings are quite another > matter. > Best, > Matthew > On 29/08/2017 16:23, Andreas Schlegel wrote: > > I'm playing since years and years some transitional tunings on my 10c lute, > norm > ally tuned in VT, without changing any strings - and other accords nouveaux > lute > types which are normally tuned in the nouvel accord ordinaire (d-minor) > withopu > t changing any string. And it works. > Of course the feeling changes - but I can handle it. > If I make a concert program, I have normally one instrument in the dedff and > the > other in edeff and fedff tuning. For the tunings see: > [1]http://www.accordsnouveaux.ch/de/Abhandlung/Accords/Accords_Darstellung/Accor > ds_Darstellung.html > or > [2]http://www.accordsnouveaux.ch/en/styled-5/styled-9/index.html > (the beginning of the translated homepage... the remaining pages and a better > fo > rmatted design will follow in the next months...) > > It's simply not thinkable that the lutenists of the transitional period > restring > ed their lutes for every tuning! So we have to find solutions which are near > by > the old practice. > > By the way: With gut strings it's more comfortable to change tunings than > with m > odern string materials. > > All the best, > > Andreas > > -- > > References > > 1. > http://www.accordsnouveaux.ch/de/Abhandlung/Accords/Accords_Darstellung/Accords_Darstellung.html > 2. http://www.accordsnouveaux.ch/en/styled-5/styled-9/index.html > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html Andreas Schlegel Eckstr. 6 CH-5737 Menziken +41 (0)62 771 47 07 lute.cor...@sunrise.ch
