Thanks, Monica. I only have time for maybe one piece by each composer,
so if you could post me copies or jpgs that would be great.
Regarding the question of body shape - guitar or lute - I have no fixed
or learned opinion, but I imagine different luthiers tried different
things. The guitar shape is an obvious one to start with, as what we
are considering is a guitar with diapasons added. However, the baroque
guitar shape is not conducive to a longer bridge on the bass side. The
lute shape is better in this regard. So it might be possible that some
luthiers preferred a lute shape for their arch-guitars. We might never
know. The Grammatica painting shows only five courses on the fretboard,
and this would be an odd thing to do for an archlute - and the painting
is otherwise very detailed, so I think the artist was being accurate. I
can see the desire of some baroque guitar players to want to play the
role that their lute-playing colleagues were doing in the continuo
section, playing bass lines and chords. Having an archlute in guitar
tuning would be an obvious step for some, I guess.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to experimenting with it for a week.
Rob
2008/8/23 Monica Hall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Well - I have the Granata book and Gallot and so could send you some
of the pieces if you haven't got these. The Gallot has the strings
on the fingerboard tuned to a major major common chord rather than
the usual guitar intervals.
I am bit curious about this though because according to Gary Boye
there is a copy of Granata's 1651 book which has an additional
engraved portrait of Granata with in the background what appears to
be a guitar with extended bass strings. I did query with him
whether the instrument was guitar shaped rather than lute shaped.
He said it was guitar shaped but couldn't find his copy of the
illustration. In his dissertation he gives the RISM sigla of the
book as F:C. I'm not sure whether by this he means the
Conservatorio Library in Florence or an obscure library in France.
Has anyone else seen this copy? It also seems that Granata applied
to be a super numerary lutenist to the Concerto Palatino of San
Petronio in Bologna.
Monica
----- Original Message ----- From: "Rob MacKillop"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Vihuela" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, August 23, 2008 5:57 PM
Subject: [VIHUELA] Chitarrone Francese
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][4]http://www.zupfinstrumente-emmerich.de/English/index.htm -
click on
archlute and scroll down.
Rob MacKillop
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References
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References
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3. mailto:[email protected]
4. http://www.zupfinstrumente-emmerich.de/English/index.htm
5. http://www.zupfinstrumente-emmerich.de/English/index.htm
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