This week's top 3:
Sididero --Alexander Agricola (Capirola ms.)
Ales regrets --Hayne von Ghizeghem (Capirola)
Ma bouche rit --Ockeghem (Spinacino)
Sean
- Original Message -
From: David Cassetti [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Lute net lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2005
..and many happy gitterns to you all!
Sean
ps, Now, which beard for Dowland?
- Original Message -
From: James A Stimson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Roger E. Blumberg [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: LUTE-LIST lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 1:34 PM
Subject: Re: gittern lute
Barbasol: removing beard hair to create a G string?
- Original Message -
From: bill kilpatrick [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 4:15 PM
Subject: beard
he had the lute
he had the flat
she felt his chin
and that was that
..barbasol!
I recall reading that the variations on Conde Claros would be played to
accompany a long poem or story. Does that story survive? Is there an
English translation? Where could I read more about it?
Sean Smith
To get on or off this list see list information at
Peter,
I used to think I used peripheral vision a lot for years and I always put
myself on my singers' right so I could see them and my left hand in the
same glance. Recently, however, a singer said she heard me better on my
right so I'm looking at my left hand much less. It feels different
Good afternoon Vance,
The Hinge Bar as taught by Pat O'Brien seems to be
an interesting technique. Can anyone elaborate or more completely describe
what this is and how it is done?
Since Stewart did so well w/ the rubato/chord rolling explanation I'll let
him give the better explanation.
Peter,
That's _all_ the printed vihuela books from the 16th century. Narvaez,
Mudarra, Fuenllana, Valderabano, Daza, etc. A wonderful buy for about $75.
You can print pages from it in full color but to print out an entire book
will probably kill one entire color cartridge. Maybe 2 for the big
Many good points, Vance. It was unfortunate to be seperated from lute for a
few years, I'm sure, but when you eventually picked it up again there was a
different vantage point. This is important. Viewing the challenge from a
different place can have many benefits.
I wouldn't wish such an
I'll go out on a limb here, Daniel, and please forgive me if you get better
input elsewhere. Yes, I know it's a little bind moggling.
First off, you might try using G or C as your tonic since more of your
average lute music is in those scales. A is a little problematic since it
often requires
But nevertheless on p.9 of your article there is the following statement:
By
1591 a five-course vihuela is mentioned alongside a six-course one in the
inventory of the goods left by a lady from Barcelona, which reads: 'there
are three viols, one of nine strings ... one of eleven strings and the
Dear Stephen,
I remember being driven to distraction by all those page turns too. That
one and the CNRS N. Vallet (the facsimile has only a few page
turns--hooray). Yes, the piano reduction is a help for some and often gives
some good suggestions from the editor for voicing and those
For an article going into the next LSA Quarterly I'd like to make a few
links to sites dealing with fret placement. If any of you have a favorite
site or even for general meantone information please contact me here or
privately at the above address.
Many thanks in advance,
Sean Smith
Ed-kun
Kore ja nai?
http://www.killroys.com/knots/barrel.htm
Sumisu
At 10:55 AM 7/20/04, you wrote:
Someone showed me how to tie two strings together a year or two ago
but I've lost the email or link and can't remember the knot exactly.
It was a brilliant knot that would work even with
bill,
Perhaps we are adhering to the idea of the lutenet for the lute's sake. For
my own part, yes, I am paying attention and am outraged at that and more. I
hope it's appreciated by other listers that I do my ranting up close and
personal in my own neighborhood, work and social circles.
--Tuned in fourths: when you only bother to tune every fourth string
--Tuned in fifths: no one is lazy enough in the lute world to do it, but
widely in use in the violin family of instruments
Lutes are never tuned in seconds because it usually takes much longer than
that.
Sean
At 07:56 AM 6/7/04, you wrote:
Actually I meant what I said. Without belaboring the point, whether you
think of the tuning of 16c 4 cs guitar tunings (g,c,e,a or a,c,e,a) as
reentrant or not depends on if you think of the bourdon as the primary or
secondary string.
Craig,
Can you cite
What is the book? Is it a facsimile?
The diagaonal line: If it is a CNRS book it may mean to hold that bass note
or sometims inner voices.
The single dot directly underneath and on the off beats usually means to
use the r.h. index finger.
If it alternates w/ a double dot then the composer
Stephen,
I often use Nylgut on the 1st and 2nd courses and 4th course octave of my
6-c lutes.
I like:
the similar density to gut
it's tuning is usually predictable (but the thin ones go a little atonal
after 6 months).
they are inexpensive
I don't like (but deem acceptable):
the hardness (it
Oh, one more thing about nylgut
If you keep a spare topstring in your case for the enevitable breakage,
don't choose nylgut if the situation is critical. Make it real gut if
possible. Synthetics take much longer to stabilize. You might get away w/ a
nylgut if you have an hour lead time
Mostly agreements another 2 more cents.
At 11:25 AM 5/23/04, you wrote:
Hello, may I do some suggestions about nylgut?
Here the first, usefull to stabilize nylgut immediately: stretch generously
by hands each nylgut strings in the midele of the length of bone to bridge
during the tuning and stop
Dear Ed,
Ok, Ed, I've tried it. I had let the old ones wear down a bit and then just
added a new fret that was about 20 microns thicker. For example , I added a
.87 next to a .85 and between the wear of the old fret and the thicker new
one there were absolutely no buzzing problems whatsoever.
At 07:57 AM 4/11/04, you wrote:
Dear Sean,
I used double strand frets on my lutes for years - they do buzz a bit when
they are new and in my experience there is no trick in the tying to stop
that.
Thank you Denys,
My problem is that they usually need a change shortly before concerts which
tend
Grant Tomlinson out there teaching double-fret tying sounds like the
perfect answer! Hooray! No, we'll never be completely authentic but each
step seems to shed some unexpected light on something else. Funny how that
works ;^)
Bill,
Many pictures show double frets on 6c lutes. One of the
Kenneth,
Plane tix bought--now y'all better not be putting me on
Would there be an authority there who really has the know-how tying double
frets? I mean, who's done it before and ends up w/ minimum buzzing. It is a
presentation I certainly wouldn't want to miss. Heck, I'll even offer my
I'm working on To plead my faith by Daniel Bathelar from The Musical
Banquet with a singer and a gambist and am wondering about the intended
tunings of the instruments.
The cantus line gives one flat and starts on a D; the lute part starts on a
Cminor chord w/ the singer's first note given as
, can be whatever you want it to
be - any string length you like, as long as you call it a lute in g'
for To plead my faith.
All the best,
Stewart.
- Original Message -
From: lutesmith [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 8:12 PM
Subject: Lutesong
I'm all for excercises that give you another view of how your muscles and
tendons are working. Thank you, Herbert.
Start slow and see what tends to give out or fail in the situation. Then
visualize the muscles doing what's requested while doing the excercise less
extremely. Then go slower and
I'm a little out of the loop on metal-wound strings but what gives the
teflon its smoothness/lubricant properties may not be compatible w/ the
hardness and ribbed surface of those strings. I'm just wondering if the
strings will cut into the nut over time--especially at the 4th course. Any
At 10:08 PM 1/22/04, you wrote:
Hi Daniel and David,
Hi Daniel,
One possible reason the string makes that quantum jump is that it may
be sticking in the groove of the nut. A good way to smooth out the
groove is with pencil graphite.
This is a way that works but is looking really bad
lutesmith
[EMAIL PROTECTED]To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
bal.net cc:
Subject: Re: More on
tuning
01/23/2004
02:12
AM
is used with some high-performance jets. It's a totally different
physical situation than a string sticking in a groove. I think that you are
probably better off with a fairly smooth groove.
Guy
- Original Message -
From: James A Stimson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: lutesmith [EMAIL PROTECTED
I think there is conscious design element that uses the resonant frequency.
A friend who owns a Chambure copy and tunes his open 6th to its RF which
resides between F and F#. Other lutes have used the RF of the open 5th
course which is equally useful.
Then there is the effect of meantone
Hmmm,
The Turpyn book and a few modern and baroque songs only?
If so, the solo repertoire seems very biased towards sopranos, altos and
female voices. Surely there must have been some technique for setting the
hundreds of motets, chansons and madrigals prior to ~1590 for tenor or bass
to
)
That's why I was curious it was a curious omission that no music appeared
to be for tenor and lute in the Attagnant Tres Breve and Phalese Hortus
Musarum.
cheers,
Sean
At 05:05 PM 1/17/04, you wrote:
On Saturday, January 17, 2004, at 05:34 PM, lutesmith wrote:
...perhaps they transposed the whole
Stephan,
I like that thought. I've noticed too.
Pieces change too. A mood is created from the piece before it; a direction
emerges from the piece that follows and it always changes from the many
circumstances and insights that surround a certain moment's performance.
I've been working up a
It sounds like the vihuelists had a wonderful appreciation of Josquin. I
sincerely look forward to the CD of the collected vihuela books!! (Till
then Valderabano and Mudarra --and all those lute books-- will have to do).
I've been setting a few de Rore madrigals and motets for lute and voice
Chris and all,
I believe there are a couple of movements from this mass in the Capirola
too. I love these intabs since they show a very personal lutenist's view of
the finest in vocal music. Thanks for putting this up.
For those playing it for the first time, try to get a recording and follow
Martin,
Very nice looking lute!
I seem to recall JD expressing a preference for 9 tied frets. Most luthiers
nowadays seem to avoid this since somehow the classic proportions are a
little stretched. Since I am also curious to see how 9 neck frets would
work I wonder what your take on this is.
Jon,
Dr Campion had 4 books of ayres published (they are paired in modern
facsimiles), some books of masks and contributed half of the songs to
Philip Rosseter's songbook. By trade he was a physician but perhaps better
known outside lute circles for his poetry. I often see a poem or 2
I strongly recommend Thomas Campion. I'm sure there are examples of each in
his 4 books of lutesongs. If you don't have access to them I'll give them a
once over and send you something.
Btw, if you were ever planning to learn a few easy lutesongs or have some
ready in case you met a
G'day Daniel,
While others are fussing over facsimiles I'll have a go at your questions
1) What are the early signs that lute strings and frets need to be
replaced? (short of the obvious
late decomposition)
The 3 warning signs of an impending string change are
1) Your gut string is
Dear Herbert:
Proper diameters and more limp are two sides of the same coin. Guitars
are strung at about 5 kilos of string tension, lutes closer to 3 kilos.
Also, tenor lutes are tuned in G, guitars in E, although their string
lengths are similar.
G'day Jim,
When local luthier Mel Wong
Jason,
I just thumbed through the '46-'63 and '71 and didn't see any. He seems to
limit his fingering marks to hold signs only.
Sean Smith
At 08:58 AM 11/25/03, you wrote:
Hello all,
Did Phalese ever use finger dots in his anthology collections (i.e.
Theatrum Musicum)? I'm working with his
Ed,
Working w/ thinner gut strings can be mighty frustrating. I've found over
the years that gut smaller than .40 is simply lacks the integrity its
bigger brothers and while it might work, it takes finesse. The calculations
show that it ought to work but they never last as long as I want and
At 01:11 PM 10/29/03, you wrote:
Does anyone prefer the sound of low-tension strings? Or is it as simple
as:
high tension =
more volume, better tone, less slapping, harder to play
low tension =
less volume, worse tone, more slapping, easier to play
Herb,
Stewart,
This web link from Dr Wiehe
http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/ARTH214/Amb_LuthHymnbook.html#anc
identifies the verso page as Luther's translation of the hymn Veni sancte
Spiritus from Johannnes Walther's Geistlich Gesangbuhli (Holy Hymnbook) 1st
ed (Wittenberg, 1524). The
/2003 -0700, lutesmith wrote:
Stewart,
I think there's enough detail in the globe to the left of the lute to see
that a number of countries are color coded. I think it may even have been
related to religion.
Can't be religion, all of Europe from England through Russia and Greece
are colored
Vance,
It is my understanding that the Lute's music was at some point considered
un-Godly and therefore forbidden in some circles, especially the extremely
contrapuntal compositions.
So, the road to hell is not only paved w/ good intentions, the radio
stations are better too?
I'll be
-
From: lutesmith [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 7:56 PM
Subject: Re: Holbein, addendum
Vance,
It is my understanding that the Lute's music was at some point considered
un-Godly and therefore forbidden in some circles, especially
Stewart,
I think there's enough detail in the globe to the left of the lute to see
that a number of countries are color coded. I think it may even have been
related to religion. I will photo it too and send it to Gernot. Yes, please
make these images avilable to any.
Sean
At 02:02 AM
Very interesting, David, thank you.
Perhaps it's a coincidence but there are no tastini in this group either.
Is there any iconographic evidence for them?. Number 5 does seem to show a
canted first fret that would fit A#'s, D#'s and F#'s. (Of course, like #1
it may only be a drafting error.
Oops!
Number 5 does seem to show a canted first fret that would fit
G# (6th c, 1st fret), C# (5th c, 1st fret) and F# (4th c, 1st fret)
picture 6 which may also be double. I
still think it is possible to read the original photo as showing a
translucent single fret but I do agree it is also possible to see it
as double.
Best wishes,
David
At 2:06 PM -0700 18/10/03, lutesmith wrote:
Very interesting, David, thank you.
Perhaps
I agree 400%. Robert Dowland offered a musical banquet that included
Caccini and JD. Would we be surprised if Caccini and others returned the
sentiment on the furniture of their choice?
Some women can sing Dowland just fine.
Sean
At 08:00 AM 10/16/03, you wrote:
List(en)
Do we know if
At 06:14 AM 9/29/03, Daniel F Heiman wrote:
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/v/vivarini/alvise/ambrose.html (signed 1503)
View this picture alongside:
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/m/montagna/madonna.html (signed 1498) A
*little* better detail can be seen on the Amoursx3 CD cover by K-E
55 matches
Mail list logo
