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 -- References 1. [5]http://www.zupfinstrumente-emmerich.de/English/index.htm To get on or off this list see list information at [6]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 2. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 3. mailto:vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu 4. http://www.zupfinstrumente-emmerich.de/English/index.htm 5. http://www.zupfinstrumente-emmerich.de/English/index.htm 6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html