Sterling, Still some debate here. The very early (say late 17th/early 18th C) gallichon (ie tuned in A string length in 90s) does seem to have been differentiated from the mandora (in D string length in 60s/70s) at that time. But towards the mid 18th C as the smaller instrument became more popular (esp amongst amateurs possibly as a result of the complexities of the 13 course Dm lute) the instrument in D also came to be called the gallichon and, indeed, some sources use the two words at different places in the MS. I speculated way back in '79 that size or the peghead style (ie bent back lute style or viol style) might have been used to distinguish the two but this is only based on the fact that some of the early large A gallichons had viol type pegheads. We're little further on from this.... A bit like the 'chitarrone' and the 'tiorba' the names might have been interchangeable by the 1750s. MH
sterling price <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I had a chance to play a mandora\gallichon for the first time last summer at the lute making workshop with David Van Edwards. Of course, I also had a hand in making it too:) It was fun to play and Martyn was kind enough to send over some mandora music for us to try out on the instrument. Not sure-is there a difference between a mandora and gallichon? Are gallichons usually bigger than mandoras? Sterling Subject: [BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Bach's bass lines Despite what the Barbarous Barber might say, Martyn is a very talented man - he made his own gallichon, and is also a leading scholar in the world of the gallichon, and although I've never heard him play, I'm told he is a fine performer too. Maybe he would make you one, Dale? If not, I'm sure most luthiers would like to try. The questions are: what pitch, string length, single or double courses, and how many courses? It does seem to have been overlooked my most of us as a very useful continuo instrument. High Baroque bass lines do tend to get very chromatic, and the gallichon does seem to be the only instrument of the lute family which could play them. Rob On 21/02/2008, Dale Young wrote: > > Martyn, > I want one! Who built yours? Dale > -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs --------------------------------- Sent from Yahoo! Mail. A Smarter Inbox. --
