Tinctorius defines these two instruments thus...
The gittern
-a small tortoise shaped instrument invented by the Catalans which some
call ghiterra, others ghiterna The ghiterra is used most rarely, because of
the thinness of its sound. When I heard it in Catalonia, it was being used
much more often by women, to accompany their love songs, than by men.
The vihuela -
an instrument invented by the Spanish, which both they and the Italians call
the viola, but the French the demi-luth. -this viola differs from the lute
in that the lute is much larger and tortoise-shaped, while the viola is
flat, and in most cases curved inwards on each side.
At some stage the Spanish started calling the small 4-course vihuela a
guitarra. The rest as they say is history.
To my convoluted mind there is a bit of a question mark hanging over some of
the instruments which Bermudo refers to as a guitarra especially those which
he says have five or six courses.
But like so many things - we just can't be sure what these terms refer to
and if the music is simply in tablature and all we know is the number of
course and the intervals between them we are still really in the dark.
As ever
Monica
Crawford Young (in 'A Performer's Guide to Medieval Music') lists some of
the names used up until the late 15th century for lute instruments, citole
instruments and gittern instruments. Here are just some from the gittern
list: chitarre, chitarra, quinterna, guisterne, chitarino, quiterne,
ghiterra (not actually 'gittern'!) Here are some more names from medieval
times for the little gittern from Christian Rault: guinterne, gitarra,
gyterne, ghiterra.
So I don't think that you have to worry that a' chitarra' is a little
lute, it had been a little lute for centuries. The puzzle is why little
figure-of-eight things were called guiterns, guitars etc.
Stuart
The safest thing to say is that there is no surviving Italian repertoire
for the 4-course guitar.
Monica
----- Original Message ----- From: "Martyn Hodgson"
<hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk>
To: "Monica Hall" <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
Cc: "Lutelist" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 11:28 AM
Subject: [LUTE] 4 course guitar in Italy - was Calata de StrAmbotto
Dear Monica,
You write 'There('s) no hard evidence that the 4-course guitar was
played in Italy' and, of course, you're quite right.
But it was played in Spain, then a major influence in all Hapsburg
lands and in some Italian states as well as Naples. So I don't see it
being played in the leading maritime centre of Venice as particularly
far-fetched. And I'm referring to the figure of eight shaped
instrument
- I think we're in danger of going a bit too far down the invisible
path of supposing a mandora shaped guitar was the default.
regards
Martyn
--- On Mon, 21/1/13, Monica Hall <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
From: Monica Hall <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Calata de StrAmbotto
To: "Sean Smith" <lutesm...@mac.com>
Cc: "Lutelist" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Date: Monday, 21 January, 2013, 10:38
I am afraid the pieces in Barberiis are probably not for the 4-course
guitar
but - as Stuart has kindly pointed out with the appropriate
reference -
for
a small 4-course lute or mandora.
Renato Meucci, Da 'chitarra italiana' a 'chitarrone': una nuova
interpretazione; in Enrico Radesca da Foggia e il suo tempo Atti del
Convegno di studi, Foggia 7-8 Aprile 2000, pp. 30 - 57.
There is a case to be made that this music by Bareriis isn't for
figure-of-eight 'normal'-if-tiny 'Spanish guitar but for a small
gittern/mandore-type instrument.
There no hard evidence that the 4-course guitar was played in Italy.
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean Smith" <[1]lutesm...@mac.com>
To: "lute" <[2]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2013 10:51 PM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Calata de StrAmbotto
>
> Thanks for the reminder, Arthur. I knew about these but had
forgotten
them
> (too). It is more support that the little guitar was being played
and
even
> written for.
>
> Sean
>
>
> On Jan 20, 2013, at 2:32 PM, Arthur Ness wrote:
>
> The link is at the very bttom.
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Arthur Ness"
<[3]arthurjn...@verizon.net>
> To: "Monica Hall" <[4]mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>; "Sean Smith"
> <[5]lutesm...@mac.com>
> Cc: "Lutelist" <[6]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
> Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2013 5:21 PM
> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Calata de StrAmbotto
>
>
>> Monica surely has simply forgotten about these Italian guitar
pieces.
>> Just four pieces in a century is virtually the same as saying
there
are
>> no pieces.<g>:
>> See [1][7]http://purl.org/rism/BI/1549/39 Sigs, Gg24v-Hh1v (last
two
>> pages)<<<snip>>>
>> References
>> 1. [8]http://purl.org/rism/BI/1549/39
>> 2. mailto:[9]mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk
>> 3. mailto:[10]lutesm...@mac.com
>> 4. mailto:[11]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
>> 5. mailto:[12]lutesm...@mac.com
>> 6. mailto:[13]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
>> 7. mailto:[14]lutesm...@mac.com
>> 8. mailto:[15]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
>> 9. [16]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>>
>
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> [17]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>
>
--
References
1. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=lutesm...@mac.com
2. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
3.
http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=arthurjn...@verizon.net
4. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk
5. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=lutesm...@mac.com
6. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
7. http://purl.org/rism/BI/1549/39
8. http://purl.org/rism/BI/1549/39
9. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk
10. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=lutesm...@mac.com
11. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
12. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=lutesm...@mac.com
13. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
14. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=lutesm...@mac.com
15. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
16. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
17. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
