Hi Markus, where does Baron tell us the tuning of Weiss theorbo? In "Untersuchung" he only speaks in general terms about a new tuning similar to the "new" baroque lute tuning of the instrument. He gives the old tuning as a renaissance-tuning not based on A as we would expect for a theorbo but in G. In his later tractatus from 1756 he says a "singing" top course of the lute would be needed but not on the theorbo which would start on third deeper (and having one or two courses more in the basses) than the lute and the top course would not retain because of it's length. That would mean the top course is d. I haven't found any reference to S.L.Weiss here.
Do you mean with the written out Continuo parts the ones in Dresden accompanying some pieces by Hasse? This would suggest a usual d-Minor lute. I would wonder if an experienced (continuo) player like Weiss would have written down his continuo parts. The context of the source also suggests it could be done for a pupil who doesn't own a suitable continuo instrument and wnats to accompany these songs. Best wishes Thomas Am Mittwoch, 9. März 2005 10:23 schrieb Markus Lutz: > Hello Michael, > which instrument Weiss meant I'm not at all sure , but it is very probable > that it was similar to the d minor tuning if not equal. When Weiss writes > that the instrument is similar to the theorbo (size, force etc.) but in a > different tuning, he possibly means that it has the new tuning. The "old" > theorbos were tuned in Renaissance lute tuning, as is stated in many notes > even in late baroque. And also Baron tells us that Weiss used the new > tuning on the theorbo. One suggestion is, that this theorbo was tuned like > a d minor lute without the first chantarelle. Therefore it's bass range > would have been down to F. As far as I know, there are even some notated > theorbo voices written by Weiss, that show that. > > best > Markus > > > > On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 16:47:16 -0700, Michael Thames wrote: > > MT> This is quite a miss leeding statement, your mixing apples and > oranges, MT> concerning what Weiss did. Weiss said himself that he > invented a new MT> instrument the same size as a therobo, but it had a > different tuning. MT> Clearly not a 13 course lute. > MT> Michael Thames > MT> www.ThamesClassicalGuitars.com > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- Thomas Schall Niederhofheimer Weg 3 D-65843 Sulzbach 06196/74519 [EMAIL PROTECTED]