Hello Theo,
in fact the first movements in the London manuscript have been written
for 11-course lute. Some others, later ones, may have been composed
originally for 11-course lute also.
But on folio 20r (S-C 4,4) - if we leave aside the singular pieces in G,
that have been copied probably later - we find the first piece intended
for 13-course lute.
And later on most of the pieces do have 12 or 13 courses.
As we know that the first pieces had been written in the London ms in
1717 (Suite Nr. 1 for 11-course, with later added courses 12 and 13 )
and the manuscript had been completed in the following years (latest
entry around 1724), the date 1718 for the first occurence of 13 courses
might be quite right.
If we go on to S-C 5, there are 12 courses in some movements
(originally), S-C 6 has 13 c. , etc. .
It is very interesting to see, that the 13th c. was used very seldom in
the beginning, which shows in my eyes, that Weiss had to become used to
it first. Maybe also the sound was not so good??? (But that is speculation).
We could go on and then you would see, that only in the very first
suites the 12th and 13th had been added later.
I never claimed that the London ms in the whole was intended for 13
course. Please read more carefully.
But it is in fact the first musical testimony for the existence of
13-course baroque lutes.
With kind regards
Markus
Tadeyev schrieb:
Hello all,
Interesting information regarding the 13 course lute. I was never able
to get a hold of Lundberg's article and it
is great to get a condensed overview here.
The only point I want to bring up is that it is continuously stated
that the London MS is meant for the 13 course lute.
This is simply not the case as (nearly all) of the 4's and 5's have
been added later in a different hand.
It is also mentioned briefly in the German preface.
If the information of Lundberg is true, then this would seem to be
strange situation indeed.
Yet to claim that the London MS (originally) is meant for 13 courses
is also not in the least self evident.
This is just hair splitting of course...I imagine that any composer
worth their salt would be more than glad to use/experiment with
new musical developments of their instrument. And if it sounds
beautiful on 13 courses I am not going to complain :-)
Just my 2 cents
Theo
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