Sorry I’ve come to late to the discussion, but just a few things: The iconography of 6c lutes usually (not always) shows a single first course. Surviving late 16th/early 17th C lutes from the Venere workshop (and others) usually have a double first - i.e. all lutes from treble to bass. Sellas and others seem to have always used double firsts on liuti attiorbati in the 1630s/40s. In England Robinson (1603), Dowland (1610) and (strangely) Mace (1676) used double first. Apart from Mace, the iconography of the 12c (mostly Dutch) usually shows a single first.
The Burwell tutor (c.1670) says that the second course (on 11c lute) is usually single because it’s difficult to find two strings which “agree”, so maybe that was a motivation for the first course as well. Martin > On 21 Jan 2018, at 21:54, Edward Martin <edvihuel...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Dear Collective wisdom, > When did double first courses cease to exist on renaissance lutes? We > know from early on, and from the middle ages, they were double strung > on every course, including the treble. In terms of iconographical > evidence, I looked at the Caravaggio "Lute Player", an the subject (he > or she) is playing a 6 course lute, double strung throughout, including > the treble, and there are 6 pegs on the upper and lower side of the peg > box. Caravaggio's birth- death dates are 1571â1610. So, perhaps his > subject had an old fashioned lute for the time, or perhaps > double-strung first courses lasted longer than we may think. > Vihuelas also her double strung in the first courses, at least the > instruments show 12 pegs for the 6-course vihuela. > I tried to look up some information to answer my questions, but I could > not find any in the sources I used. > So, my questions are: > 1. When did the double first courses stop, or go out of vogue? Was > it universal, or did some countries / nationalities stop the practice > earlier or later than others.? Did Francesco use a double first > course? > 2. Why did the double chanterelle stop? We know that later, lutes > only had pegs and pegboxes to accommodate a single treble. > 3. What evidence is there to support the "when and why" of this > practice? > 4. If a double chanterelle was the norm for a great part of the > renaissance, why is it that it is so infrequently that we see a modern > player doing this practice? > Thanks in advance. > ed > > -- > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
