I stand corrected.
I have lutes in a', g' and d'. Can almost start my own 'classic
quartet'.
David
*******************************
David van Ooijen
[1]davidvanooi...@gmail.com
[2]www.davidvanooijen.nl
*******************************
On 7 June 2015 at 14:16, Geoff Gaherty <[3]ge...@gaherty.ca> wrote:
On 2015-06-07 4:14 AM, David van Ooijen wrote:
Adriaensen (1584)
A A has two pieces for the same combination.
Actually Adriansen's two quartets are for a _different_ combination:
lutes in a', g, e', and d', not d", a', g', and d'.A The earliest
modern performances of these by Anthony Rooley were on g', f', d',
and c' lutes, a second lower.A As someone else said, it's the
intervals that are made clear by the tablature, not the actual
pitches.
I've played in quartets at both sets of intervals, and both are
effective.A The a'g'e'd' combination is often harder to play,
because of the extreme chords on one or two of the lutes, but gives
a richer sound because of all those sympathetic strings at so many
pitches.A I'm convinced that there was no "standard" set of lutes
in the 16th century, but that composers wrote for a particular set
of lutes to which they had access.A Sets of three seem to have been
much more common than sets of four, but these too varied in their
intervals.A To play all the quartets and trios (plus the many duets
at unequal intervals) you actually need a set of FIVE lutes, pitched
at d", a', g', e' and d'.
When Richard Kolb was teaching lute at the Royal Conservatory in
Toronto, he had Mike Schreiner build lutes in a', e', and d', and
persuaded three of us students to buy them in addition to our g'
lutes.A I ended up with the e' lute, based on a Hans Frei body, and
it is a magnificent instrument.A I used it most when I accompanied
a countertenor in lute songs.A Nowadays I mostly keep it tuned in
d', as that is more useful in ensembles.
Geoff
--
Geoff Gaherty
Foxmead Observatory
Coldwater, Ontario, Canada
[4]http://www.gaherty.ca
[5]http://starrynightskyevents.blogspot.com/
To get on or off this list see list information at
[6]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
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References
1. mailto:davidvanooi...@gmail.com
2. http://www.davidvanooijen.nl/
3. mailto:ge...@gaherty.ca
4. http://www.gaherty.ca/
5. http://starrynightskyevents.blogspot.com/
6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
