Dear Matthew,
Thank you for his - though I really do not know why you suggest a
'slanging match'!. My intention is merely to put some historical and
practical perspective on the matter rather than simple personal
assertion. To repeat: you are making the common mistake of discussing
theoretical temperaments (mainly, in practice, only employable on
keyboard instruments) with practical temperaments appropriate for
fretted instruments such as the lute.
Whether or not some modern players might adopt this manner ('meantone')
of fretting is not, of course, the point - perhaps they might
themselves engage in a degree of wishful thinking. Certainly, modern
fashions come and go as fast as fads, and in other areas of lute
performance practice some modern players (even a few professionals who
might be expected to know better) still insist on, for example,
employing thumb-under for repertoire other than the sixteenth century.
In short, such anecdotal reports, even from 'professionals, are not
reliable evidence of historic practice.
regards
MH
On Sunday, 21 July 2019, 09:37:33 BST, Matthew Daillie
<[email protected]> wrote:
I certainly do not wish to get into a slanging match here, I was merely
responding to a request for practical help with temperaments. In my
opinion, the prerequisite for that is to have some understanding of the
basics of the theory and above all, to get one's ears used to hearing
pure intervals, which is no more complicated than hearing octaves (some
would claim that it is actually easier).
It is perfectly feasible to tune a lute to some form of meantone with
fairly minimal means (I do not favour the use of slanting frets). The
proof is that many of the top players do it, both for recordings and
public performances. Once the lute is set up, this merely requires the
adjustment of a fret or two between certain pieces, so hardly rocket
science.
One cannot simply dismiss out of hand the use of meantone on the lute.
It can be enriching and satisfying for those players who wish to
explore the possibilities but it is not a sine que non for playing the
lute. It is often made to appear unnecessarily complicated but the
fundamentals (which are are frequently overlooked) are perfectly
accessible to any lutenist.
I have no bone to pick here (I play the renaissance lute in both
meantone and equal temperaments and the baroque lute almost exclusively
in equal temperament), but I do react unfavorably to sweeping
statements that have little grounding in fact.
Best,
Matthew
Le 21 juil. 2019 Ã 08:07, Martyn Hodgson
<[1][email protected]> a écrit :
> Dear Matthew,
> Yes - of course this is the case. But you are making the common
mistake
> of discussing theoretical temperaments (mainly, in practice, only
> employable on keyboard instruments) with practical temperaments
> appropriate for fretted instruments such as the lute.
> The problem is, of course, that a single fret across the fingerboard
> may have to suit for both a major or a minor semitone depending on
the
> open tuning and key. Such things as slanted frets can sometimes be
> used on the viol when playing simple single melodic lines, but with
> chords, as commonly found on the lute, matters are entirely
different.
> The idea of tastini as reported by Galilei (1584) has also beguiled
> some modern players but in practice they are far from practical for
> works with any significant degree of fingering complexity and,
> moreover, Galilei himself makes it clear that it is not a practice
he
> advocates - indeed, he castigates those few who employ it.
> Incidentally, there's also a real dearth of iconographic evidence to
> support the practice (or indeed slanted frets) on the lute which is,
> surely, very telling.
> In short, all these theoretical meanderings about meantone on the
lute
> is, with the exception of small parts of the repertoire, simply
> self-delusion and wishful thinking ('I have a better sense of tuning
> than you'......).
> As mentioned by others earlier in this thread, early evidence
clearly
> points in the direction of some approximation to equal temperament.
> MH
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