Luca raises and interesting point, why so few old lute group (I invent
the term for the variations) instruments left from their heyday. I
suggest an answer. We often forget how many cycles France went through
in the 18th C. between royalist, populist and dictatorship. It is only
in recent years I've read about them. My lady of many years is French,
but schooled in France on the history as interpreted in the early to mid
19th C. When we have discussed her country I've often gone to the books
to look things up. There were repeated rising of populists, and
reactions from centralists, for nearly 80 years after the French
Revolution - which itself devolved into a nihilist government under
Robespierre. Could it be that lutes, and the other instruments of their
group, were intentionally destroyed as representative of the "ruling
class" by the several populist take overs?
I am no longer playing lute, except now and then on my flat-back pseudo
lute made from a Music Maker's kit. Being less than a month from my 80th
birthday I put most of my practice time on my beloved Celtic harp as my
finger memory has been reduced. Despite that I enjoy the comments on
Lute-Builder and hope you accept my interest. A lovely instrument, and
one that retains the history of music as it developed. Perhaps one of
you might look into my thought on the loss of historical instruments in
France. It is a pure guess, but it does fit with the general history of
the destruction of remnants of the past by various "new world movements"
in various countries. Ancient temples have been destroyed recently as
they represented anathema to the faithful rather than being respected as
monuments to the progress of mankind.
Best, Jon
On 8/16/2015 9:20 AM, Luca Manassero wrote:
Dear David,
as usual your knowledge in this field is really enlighteninga| In fact
the Jean Desmoulins lute having been so heavily modified, it would
carry very limited informations about the French lute building in the
XVII century.
I've always been surprised that, in spite of the important amount of
French music of the period, we have next to zero surviving lutes. It
makes me think that, right after the lute vague expired in France, all
lutes and theorbos went to the waste bin. A shame.
Best,
Luca
To get on or off this list see list information at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
