Dear Michael, I find this statement very interesting indeed. I am unaware of Burwell mentioning anywhere anything about the use of metal in strings. Where is that quote? This is what Burwell said (I cut & pasted this quote from Martin's web site, as it would be too tedious to re-type it all): ************* From the Mary Burwell Lute Tutor, c.1670, f.7 (full stops editorial): The good stringes are made at Rome or about Rome and none that are good are made in any other place except the great strings and octaves that are made in Lyons att Fraunce and noe where else. They attribute that to the clymate and to the waters. The stringes are made of sheepes and catts gutte and are twisted with a good deale of art. To be good they must be hard and transparant smooth and well twisted hard and strong and now they are preserved in a white paper dipped in oyle of almonds or in a hogges bladder. They endure noe moisture nor any opressive heate noe more than the lute but they will have a temperate ayre and place but of the twoe the moisture is the worst. When they are open there goodnes is knowne thus holding the twoe ends in both hands and strikeing the string with the middle finger if they parte in twoe onely or if being laid uppon the lute they doe not jarre. If the twoe stringes can be made of one bunch they will agree the better but it is hard to find twoe good stringes of a length therefore you must choose them as neare as you can to the same bignes, the string must not be full of knotts or gowty or rugged nor be bigger in one place then in another. *********************
Burwell goes on to write about the 11th course (for the 11 course lute) and she writes, "Concerning the 11th string, which is the last bass, the good masters of the lute do use only the octave (that is, the little one), because the 11th bass is a superfluous string that has been added to the lute of late to give ease to the hands; for the "d" of the sixth, is the same thing (i.e., in unison) with the 11th, and if we must stop a string below the neck with the "d" of the sixth, 'tis hard and sometimes impossible to do it; then we must use the eleventh instead of the "d" in the sixth. Therefore, it were necessary to discharge the lute of that burden. Making the bridge and nut smaller and taking from the head the superfluous pegs, the lute would sound better and the hands would find more ease. The eleventh string being alone ought to be something bigger than if it were an octave; her bigness must be between the size of the fifth and the great sixth. The lute-masters have taken away that great string because the sound of it is too big and smothers the sound of others." Her reference to bigness and smothering to me does not imply metal or wound strings. In chapter XVI: "Concerning the errors and abuses that are committed about the lute", she goes on to talk about the English Gaultier having had lutes made that have two heads. She states that although England accepted this orientation, the French masters kept the old tradition of only keeping the small eleventh. She accuses Gaultier of being "feeble", in asserting that the longer length made a "longer & bigger sound", which she states is wrong, because all the strings "must have the same length of sound". She states it creates discord, creates a "sound like when one sings in the nose", one "cannot stop upon them long basses", a lack of symmetry in proportion of the two heads, and the result is "not the sound of a lute, but a bastard instrument between a lute and theorbo". In conclusion, she states "if one does not have a light hand (as English Gaultier had) one maketh and ugly and confused noise upon them long basses". Does anyone have reference of Burwell writing about metal? Sincerely, ed At 05:00 PM 2/4/2005 -0700, Michael Thames wrote: > The shift to fan bracing would also suggest the use of more dense bass >strings, perhaps they played around with metal wound strings. The Burwell >tutor instructing not to use metal wound strings, implies that in fact they >were used, does it not? One hundred years or so, earlier than Weiss >developments. Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (218) 728-1202 To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
