On Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:04:48 +0100, Markus Lutz wrote
> Hi Shaun, Hi Martyn,
> unfortunately I cannot say too much on this topic, at least for the
> 17th century.
>
> [...]
> Another important source, though late, on all topics of life is
> Krünitz, Oeconomische Encyclopädie. Probably it also depends on the
> encyclopedy of Diderot and on other encyclopedys, for sure at least
> some things will have been copied.
>
> It has 242 volumes and describes many things very detailed.
> He has big articles on the lute and on strings
>
> Krünitz,
> Artikel Laute (lute, vol. 66, p. 380ff, 1795)
But this is rather late as a source for information on 17th century
lute practice (or even for the first half of the 18th century).
There have been two changes in lute building during that time:
first, the extension of the bass range by adding a second pegbox
(swank neck lutes) and then the change to bass rider style lutes
during the 18th century (the later could well be a in response
to a wider availability of overspun bass strings).
> [...]
> Artikel Saiten (strings, Vol. 130, p. 1822)
> Man färbt die Saiten auch blau und roth; blau, indem man sie durch
> eine kalte Brühe von Lackmus mit Potasche, roth, indem man sie durch
> den Auszug der türkischen Schminklappen und Potasche durchzieht.
> Sowohl die gefärbten, als die weißen Saiten werden nachher
> geschleimt, weil der Schleim den Ton stumpf macht. Die blaugefärbten
> Saiten nehmen im Schwefeln eine rothe Farbe an.
>
> (Here he describes in detail how strings are made, the short part
> tells how the strings had been colored blue with litmus and potash,
> and red with turkish paint cloth (?Schminklappen?) and potash).
"Schminklappen" are coloured/dyed pieces of cloth that were used to give
to give the skin a redish teint. The cloth (or paper -> "Schmikpaier") was
made wet (humid) and rubbed over the face.
Turkish might give a hint at the colour used: probaly turkish "Krapplack"
(Rubia tinctorum, eng. dyer's madder), a widely used colour until the
19th century.
> Krünitz is very late, but he sums up everything from the 16th to the
> 18th century. In his article on the lute he mentions beside others
> Besard, Baron, Weiss etc.
Yes, so utterly unuseable as a source for when things fist show up ;-)
Cheers, Ralf Mattes
--
R. Mattes -
Hochschule fuer Musik Freiburg
r...@inm.mh-freiburg.de
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