Anthony, I see the reason of T.O not only in terms of stretch, but in relation to the role of the bass in the music of the 17th and 18th century, where the bass is much more active and perhaps also needs a heavier sound. The Thumb index alternation is no longer used because the thumb has to play the lower lines, so we need to alternate index and middle with the help of slurs.
This could be an explanation of baroque lute's technique but why Dowland would do such a change is a mistery to me. Most of his pieces require only a 7 course lute... > > > I agree, Bruno, you have put it in a nutshell. There is probably > not > one single cause for the change from TI to TO, either musical (for > increased "treble bass polarity", as suggested by J. Edwards, 1997), > or mechanical (the number of strings making TO necessary for stretch, > as suggested by Martin, below and at http://tinyurl.com/2zentd). The > two causes, musical goals and string technology, tend to feed each > other. > > -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
