On Jun 11, 2009, at 6:53 AM, morgan cornwall wrote: > Of the 6, 7, and 8 course lutes, it would seem that a 7 course lute > would be most practical. It would allow me to play the earlier > repertoire as well as most of the Dowland pieces. It doesn't > seem like > there is a whole lot to be gained from going to an 8 course > lute. Is > this reasonable?
Because there's an unstated premise in this question and in the answers to it, let's be clear: There is indeed a great deal of music for 7-course lute, but it's two different instruments: one with the 7th course at F and the other with at D. A D 7th course has to be fretted to play music for a lute with F 7th, and an F 7th is pretty much useless in music written for a D 7th. Hence the popularity of 8-course lute these days (and, I suspect, historically): it's not just an 8-course lute, but also both kinds of 7-course lute. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
