So - I took a quick look: l’Orfeo starts in C and goes through a, d, F, g, G, 
Bb, c and even f. 
A separate theorbo for each key change, I suppose!))
RT 

====
http://turovsky.org
Feci quod potui. Faciant meliora potentes.

> On Jul 21, 2019, at 8:49 AM, [email protected] wrote:
> 
> 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
>> 
> 
> 


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