The German luthier, Wolfgang Emmerich has made a copy of the instrument from the Grammatica painting, which some believe to be a Chitarrone Francese - a sort of archlute for guitar players. The painting has only five courses on the fretboard. Robert Spencer thought the music by Fontanelli, the Sonate per il Chitarrone Francese, was for this instrument. Richard Pinnell has identified the music of Granata and Gallot also for this instrument.
Now, Wolfgang is visiting Edinburgh in September and is leaving the instrument with me for a week before he takes it home. I hope to make an mp3 or two and maybe a video of it before I hand it back. So, could someone please send me a jpg or two of some pieces I might be able to play on it? I'm not in the market for such an instrument, but having it for a week is very interesting. You can see pictures of the original painting on Wolfgang's website: [1]http://www.zupfinstrumente-emmerich.de/English/index.htm - click on archlute and scroll down. Rob MacKillop -- References 1. http://www.zupfinstrumente-emmerich.de/English/index.htm To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
