Hi All,
I don't think there was ever a "norm" for string length. Lutes were
always made in a variety of sizes, and if our focus today is on solo
lute music that is not necessarily typical of what happened in the
past. Many people sang to the lute, and the guiding principle would
have been whether the size (therefore pitch) of the lute was suitable
for your voice.
To the extent that there were some more or less standard sizes in
northern Italy in the the late 16th C, they are 44cm, about 59cm, about
67cm, and about 78 cm (with a putative "bass" of about 88cm rather
lacking in historical examples). In terms of the fossil record, the
67cm size is probably the commonest, but one could debate whether or not
that was the size most commonly used for solo music. The 59cm and 67cm
sizes are a tone apart, which suggests they may be the sizes intended
for tone apart duets, for instance, and by implication, also suitable
for solos (in the Matelart duets, one part is a solo).
Modern lutenists have been unduly fixated on the idea that a lute must
be "in G" and at modern pitch and have therefore gravitated towards the
59cm size, whereas historically things were obviously much more varied.
In fact the 67cm size is perfect for us, as we tend to be a bit larger
than our Renaissance forbears. Paul O'Dette has very small hands and a
marvellous technique, and I doubt that "stretches" per se figure very
largely in his calculations.
Just for the record, I have quite small hands (not as small as Paul),
and I can play that Ab chord (f1b2d4b6) on my 67cm lute quite
comfortably, so I reckon most people can manage that size of lute
reasonably well. I know people's hands vary not just in size, but in
stretch, and I agree with all the notes of caution about not straining
yourself.
One interesting thing about historical lute fingerings is how they
depart from modern "norms". Just to give a couple of examples, there
are times when it makes sense to use the first and second finger "the
wrong way round" when they are required on the same fret (e.g. c1a4c5
can be played with the first finger on the first course and the second
on the fifth course, as documented by Newsidler); and using one finger
to cover two courses (e.g. a1b2b3d5, h1f3f4d6, f1c2d3e4e5c6; and an
interesting example from Waissel, c1c2d3c6, where most of us would use a
barré, but he preferred to cover the first two courses with the first
finger.
Best wishes,
Martin
On 10/08/2011 17:58, Edward Mast wrote:
The more I read about the lute during the 16th century, the more it seems to me
that the norm for string length then was closer to 65 cm than the 60 cm which
seems more favored and common today. Are we (myself included) - who choose the
shorter mensur - wimps? If classical guitarists of all shapes and sizes can
manage a 64 cm mensur, should we lutenists not be able to do likewise? Just
wondering . . .
-Ned
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