Out of curiosity: There should be estimates around of how many keys say a Monteverdi opera goes through. I am pretty sure Claudio didn’t worry about the fretted guys temperaments, did he? unless they had a different axe per movement. RT
==== http://turovsky.org Feci quod potui. Faciant meliora potentes. > On Jul 21, 2019, at 6:16 AM, tribioli <[email protected]> wrote: > > I know only one thing: for me 1/6 comma practically works. No slanted > frets nor tastini. I don't bear anymore to play early Renaissance music > in equal temperament which on the other hand I use on all the later > music as it allows to play in other keys than the "standard" > Renaissance keys. > > I think there were not so many rules in the past. Galilei advocates > against tastini, so there were people using them and meantone > temperament. How many we don't know. Piccinini advocates playing with > nails, others say not. Besard says to stretch the thumb out, some > others say to do so if your hand allows it (for instance, I have a > short thumb, one falanx shorter than usual). In any case, Besard (if I > remember correctly) blames those who play shaking their hand, so there > were some musicians that still played thumb under at his time. How many > we don't know. Lately, some, many?, people played with the pinky very > close or behind the bridge, so they probably had lower string tensions, > which is probably good for instruments with many strings, and a > completely different sound of what now people think is nice. Even our > instruments are biased by our ideal, sweet, sound, which BTW is > different from what was considered a good sound thirty years ago, but > if one reproduces exactly the thickness and bar dimensions of the > surviving boards, the sound that comes out is much brighter. Ok, it > depends on the board stiffness too, but that's it. > > It is a modern, romantic, idea that everything in music must be > written, the thecnique must be absolutely that etc. The old masters, > simply did what they liked more and worked better for them, of course > to the degree the instrument allowed. They wrote their own music or > freely adapted what was composed by others, simplifying or adding > diminutions as they thought was fit and their thecnique allowed. As in > the case of the lute there is no continuity because no one have played > it for a couple of centuries, we can only guess and try to stay close > to what they "probably" did. If we like to do so, because at the end no > one wrote a law so the lutenists have to play only old music! Freedom > (in art, at least)! > > Happy plucking > > -------- Messaggio originale -------- > Da: Matthew Daillie <[email protected]> > Data: 21/07/19 11:23 (GMT+01:00) > A: "[email protected] list" <[email protected]> > Oggetto: [LUTE] Re: Wishful thinking on lute temparaments was Re: Lute > Temperaments > > OK, I stand corrected, you know best. Have a nice day. > Matthew > Le 21 juil. 2019 à 11:15, Martyn Hodgson > <[email protected]> a écrit : >> 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 >> > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
