> We are all suiting ourselves. Anyone's notion of vihuela is legitimate, > regardless of the fact that it is based on wishful thinking, given the > "profusion" of tangible vihuela evidence. Some of this wishful thinking is > exceptionally good when translated into lutherie, Cezar Mateus' for example. > I haven't heard Sasha Batov's vihuelas yet, but I am looking forward to a > possibility. > In short, "vihuela" is fair game, like in an old joke about an Armenian and > his purple horse. Asked how come his horse was purple, the Armenian > answered: "It is mine, and I paint it any color I choose." > RT >
I emailed Alexander Batov about the Russian guitar a while ago and in his reply he talked about 'the Russian guitar and its culture'. I was intrigued by the addition of 'and its culture'. Looking for a difference between the viola/vihuela and the guitar purely in constructional terms misses out the difference between the the vihuela and its (rather elevated) culture and repertoire and that of the guitar. ----------------------------------------- Email provided by http://www.ntlhome.com/ To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
