It is square-neume chant notation on the standard four-line staff, and that could date from any time. 1533? 1733? Or even 1933. (I associate the term "black notation" with 14th- and 15th-century polyphony, which this is not.) It might be from a printed book, it's hard to tell. Square neumes are used even today in liturgical books. So it's not evidence that tells us anything.
I passed the e-bay URL on to DAS. He knows an expert on Hoffmann instruments, and would know if the label is familiar. The wording is the same as genuine Hoffmann labels, but that's been common knowledge for a long time. But why is the label so worn looking? To make it look old? The same seller is also advertising for $10,000 a tenor sarrusophone (a kind of metal bassoon) by Evette & Schaeffer (manufactured in France for Carl Fischer in NYC). While one can get a used Conn tenor of the same vintage (ca. 1920) for a $1600 asking price, from a respected, long established dealer in old musical instruments. He has a dozen sarrusophones for sale, a whole consort of them in different sizes. Evette & Schaeffer was a division of Buffet-Crampon (the famous clarinet manufacturers--most professionals play their instruments). The E&S division specialized in student instruments, as the Carl Fischer label indicates. It was mass produced for sale by people like Willson's "Music Man." An E&S saxophone is now going for $51 on e-bay. $10,000 is absurd. It is possible the seller is just ill-informed about musical instruments. Hoping to make a killing on e-bay. It is strange that he does not identify himself, or where he lives. Surely one would do a lot of investigation before shelling out even a few bucks for such a questionable instrument. I smell Markneukirchen, whose museum owns a Hoffman viola da gamba. ajn ----- Original Message ----- From: Caroline Usher To: Rob Dorsey ; lute list' Sent: Friday, April 07, 2006 12:25 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: 1733 ebay lute for a mere ... At 12:01 PM 4/7/2006, Rob Dorsey wrote: > >All, > >I have brightened, enhanced and enlarged the pictures and made them >available at http://RobDorsey.com/Lutes/Hoffmann.htm . My comments are at >the bottom of that page. If interested, take a look and draw your own >conclusions. The scrap of paper above the label looks like black notation to me, not tablature. Caroline **************************************** Caroline Usher DCMB Administrative Coordinator 613-8155, Room B343 LSRC Mailing address: Box 91000, Duke University, Durham NC 27708 To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --
