While it's true that most 8-course music is playable on a 7-course lute, by stopping the low F or retuning, and the choice between the two largely comes down to personal preference (some 7c pieces become harder on an 8c, but some become easier; often there's not much difference), it seems to me that the main advantage of an 8c in terms of repertoire is that you can play a lot more of the later (9c &10c) literature on it with no adaptation, because you can tune the 8th course down to C. If you count all those pieces, there are many you can't play on a 7c (at least not without taking the low Cs up an octave).
Joshua On 21 Aug 2014, at 05:42, Herbert Ward <wa...@physics.utexas.edu> wrote: > > What is the extent and nature of the historical > liturature which is playable on an 8-course > Renassiance lute, but not on a 7-course? > > In other words, is a 7-course instrument a > workable subsitute for an 8-course? > > This assumes the 7-course lutenist is willing > to retune his 7th course between pieces. > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
