BTW, in a concert of early baroque music I heard last year Lee Santana switched at the end of a piece from theorbo (which he plays excellent IMHO) to a small A lute (I think it was 12 course Dutch/French/English style), just when the text was about something heavenly, eternally. The effect was marvelous!
Stephan Am 12 Jan 2004 um 15:50 hat Andrew Hartig geschrieben: > > Dear Nigel et al: > > I am not a regular member of this list, but I did have this message > forwarded to me since I have a 10 course lute in A [currently for > sale]. If you reply to this message, I will not see your post unless > you include my address in your message... > > The 10 course A lute that I have is around 50cm, but I have always > tuned it in A-440. At this sounding length, the bass string response > is quite different than on a longer instrument. In general though, I > think string length is only part of what will determine the sound, as > changes in stringing also have a significant effect. After many > experiments, I finally strung my bass courses with wound silk strings > by Alexander Rakov -- a sound close to gut, but with a bit more > transparency. With this different stringing (aside from roped gut > basses) I noticed a significant difference in sound, although it is > also not the "boomy" gut sound one may be used to on larger > instruments. > > Likewise, I found that on the smaller instrument the corpus size had > more to do with sound than with the string length. A smaller > soundboard means that more of the surface area is taken up by the > bridge. String tension can have a *very* significant effect in this > case. I thought that higher tension would be louder (it is for many > instruments), but quite in fact the opposite was true. Again, during > many experiments, I found that I got less and less sound the more > tension I put on the bass courses. Finally I discovered (after > lowering the string tension before going traveling with the > instrument) that I suddenly had a much more lucid sound. Since then I > have learned to play this instrument with lower tension, closer to the > bridge. > > In both cases, I had to change my expectations and assumptions. > Despite this, I have discovered that a small instrument is not the > same as the smaller version of a larger instrument. Instead, it seems > to have its own sound and rules. The bass strings do not "carry" a > piece as they do on a larger instrument so much as "accompany" or > "grace" it. However, with the smaller string length I have found great > facility in playing things quickly and easily -- chord shapes could > not be much easier, and the high range on the fretboard is easily > assessable. > > I have used this lute for Vallet quartets, Adrianssen lute > trios/duets, as Besard's "nova testudo" from his Novus Partus, as well > as a solo proto-Baroque instrument for pieces in several of the > accords nouveau and (of course) viel ton. > > What else can I say? > > Best, > -A: > > PS If you are interested in seeing more info about this instrument, > please see http://www.theaterofmusic.com/altolute . > > > > > > >------ Forwarded Message > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 13:49:30 +0100 > >To: baroque-lute cs dartmouth edu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Subject: 10-course in A > > > >Not sure that I managed to send this message yesterday, I apologise > >if you have already received it: > > > >Has anybody owned or tried a 10-course lute in A? The string length, > >at 415, would have to be around 57cm in order for the basses to sound > >well. Some air de cours need such a lute. Any personal experience > >with a lute of this kind? > > > >Regards > > > >Nigel > > > > > > > > > >------ End of Forwarded Message > > > >
