Yes, regarding German continuo, perhaps the best informed modern discussion of this is Tim Burris's PhD dissertation "Lute and Theorbo in Vocal music in 18th Century Dresden: A Performance Practice Study" available from UMI. The below is largely informed by that.
It is absolutely clear that the German therobo was in d-minor tuning. Baron makes this clear in the Untersuchung. He says it is tuned in the "neue Lauten- Stimmung", i.e., the accords nouveaux: d-minor. If this could be doubted, there are other confirming statements. On the same page, Baron writes that this tuning is used because "it would make things too inconvenient if a lutenist a to mentally switch to the old theorbo tuning whenever he played it on that instrument." So unless we can doubt that Baron was referring to the d- minor lute when he says "lutenist", that the d-minor lute was tuned in d- minor, and that it was the lute commonly used in Germany in this time, we must accept that the German therobo was in d-minor. Case closed. (An important thing to note, however, is that the new German theorbo was not used everywhere in Germanic lands, and that it existed side by side with the old Italian tuning as well. In Vienna, for instance, Conti was still playing with Italian tuning.) Baron is clear as to the tuning of his theorbo. It is in d-minor, strung with single basses, with fretted courses doubled (whether this was true of the top course is unclear) with a top string of D. In his "Essay on the Notational System of the Lute and Theorbo" Baron writes: "...the lute requires a chanterelle; but on the theorbo, which begins a third lower (calculatd from the first string, i.e. not on F but on D)... the chanterelle is omitted because it would break due to the long mensure." Furthermore, what Baron says speaks for Weiss too, since when Baron was appointed to the court he was immediately granted leave to go buy a theorbo; instead of having one made, he bought Weiss's theorbo from Weiss himself. I got this from the "New" New Grove's article on Baron. This is current scholarship. And yet, although it is quite clear what was most commonly meant by a "German theorbo", and that what Baron and Weiss played can be known, this instrument was never a set genre like the Italian theorbo. (Some) German players simply began adapting their Italian theorboes into d-minor after about 1720. Since Italian theorboes range from 75-100 cm., perhaps some smaller German theorboes did exist with the top F? Single or double strings? They doubtless both existed. Although Baron makes clear what the norm was - at least or him and Weiss - I'm sure if you showed up in Dresden for a gig in 1740 with any variant of the above - or an Italian theorbo, or archlute - you wouldn't get any funny looks. Hope this helps. Best, Benjamin In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > 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] > > >
