Dear Bill, Yes I agree about the lack of standardisation! We're obsessed with defining things these days.
I've had a go at altering the levels on that picture and with a bit of jiggery-pokery it shows that we will never know what sort of lute he's holding. He's sitting with his left arm over the back of a Spanish style chair and the head of the lute is clearly well off the bounds of the picture. So it could be anything! I'm sure you're right about local makers being involved in many of the alterations. In fact the little Mest 12 course in Linkoping is almost certainly a case in point, the neck and pegboxes are much poorer quality work than the beautifully made back. Best wishes, David At 13:25 +0100 28/7/13, William Samson wrote: > Hi David, > > Yes - It's interesting to consider the 'Molenaer'-type double-header as > an alternative to the curly headed one with stepped nuts. From the > Rauwolf and those paintings where the strings can be counted, the > straight extension type seem to be 11-course instruments. My own new > one is only 10 courses, so it is conjectural (and anyway it looks cool, > which is the whole point *;) winking ). Looking at the iconography, > there's a much greater variety of pegbox configurations than we tend to > see in these times when 'standardisation' seems to be the thing. It > makes me wonder if alterations of lutes to bring them up to date were > sometimes done locally, by people who weren't top-notch luthiers, and > so we get this wonderful variety in the iconography. > > Kind regards, > > Bill > From: David Van Edwards <da...@vanedwards.co.uk> > To: William Samson <willsam...@yahoo.co.uk> > Cc: "lute@cs.dartmouth.edu" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> > Sent: Sunday, 28 July 2013, 12:26 > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Portrait of William Lawes holding a lute > Dear Bill, > Thanks very much for alerting us to that. No, I don't know the > picture at all and I notice that the first question in the comments > section is asking where it is. No answer as yet, maybe he will > respond later. > There is also the conjecture which Lynda Sayce put forward that his > "theorbo", which was destroyed after being kept until the 19th > century in an Oxford college, was in fact, like Pepys,' a 12 course > double header, of either sort. And this picture *could* be consistent > with either of those. So possibly you're again up with the zeitgeist > in building your extended neck double-header! > On that design, it is noticeable that there are many more of them in > French iconography than of the English/Netherlandish curly pegbox > sort and that they do die out pretty quickly. So maybe Mary Burwell > tutor is referring to that sort when it talks of the French taking > them up and then dropping them. True it refers to Gaultier having > invented the form and we have the engraving of Gaultier holding the > curly sort but it is at least conceivable that he actually "invented" > the straight form while still in France and then later in England > taking up or "inventing" the curly form with its stepped basses. > Certainly the Burwell tutor's disparagement of "them long basses" > fits rather more with the straight form, several of which are shown > with really quite long basses. As indeed has the Rauwolf survivor in > Copenhagen. > Best wishes, > David > At 09:19 +0100 28/7/13, William Samson wrote: > > Hi, > > > > In today's Telegraph (I hope those of you from outside the UK will > be > > able to access this link!) there's an article about Lawes and his > music > > and it's accompanied by a portrait of him that I've never seen > before > > now. > > > > > [1][1]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classical-music-guide/10 > 199 > > > 855/Ivan-Hewetts-Classic-50-No-31-William-Lawes-Fantazy-from-Consort-Se > > tt-a-6-in-F.html > > > > I would guess it's a 10-course instrument, but it's impossible to > tell > > from the image. > > > > Bill > > > > -- > > > >References > > > > 1. > >[2]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classical-music-guide/1019 > 9855/Ivan-Hewetts-Classic-50-No-31-William-Lawes-Fantazy-from-Consort-S > ett-a-6-in-F.html > > > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at > >[3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > -- > The Smokehouse, > 6 Whitwell Road, > Norwich, NR1 4HB > England. > Telephone: + 44 (0)1603 629899 > Website: [4]http://www.vanedwards.co.uk/ > > -- > >References > > 1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classical-music-guide/10199 > 2. >http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classical-music-guide/10199855/Ivan-Hewetts-Classic-50-No-31-William-Lawes-Fantazy-from-Consort-Sett-a-6-in-F.html > 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > 4. http://www.vanedwards.co.uk/ -- The Smokehouse, 6 Whitwell Road, Norwich, NR1 4HB England. Telephone: + 44 (0)1603 629899 Website: http://www.vanedwards.co.uk
