Some inspiring quotes:
"I once had a lute whose frets were loose,
and I could play nothing, nothing but the blues ... " (Robert Johnson)
"Temperaments are affairs of taste, not affairs of state." (Talleyrand,
quoting Rameau quoting Aristotle's lost treatise on music).
"Playing a lute with loose frets is to music what driving a car without
a steering wheel is to public safety. Highly hazardous." (Public
knowledge, and the reason why Volkswagen recalled all its lutes
manufactured in 2015).
"Loose frets on a lute is why I play the guitar" (Eddie Van Halen)
"You need a lot of guts to be playing the lute theses days" (anonymous
sheep not wanting to get confused for a cat).
"If your frets are in the spot your lute maker told you to put them,
don't f---ink move them!", George Carlin.
I agree with George, even though sometimes my lute will disagree... From
personal experience, the more you move a fret, the more it will move of
its own accord, and rarely a graceful one.
Alain
On 7/22/19 5:01 AM, Ron Andrico wrote:
Yes, Howard, I am very good at distilling complex ideas into concise
terms, and I am tempted to stop at saying thanks for your laudatory
statement, barbs and all. But we dwell in an age that places far too
much value on the shaping of public perceptions through subtle language
via platforms such as ours, and it will not do to let your accusations
stand without remarks.
We all approach music from a different perspective and I value the
insights and the musical skills of many performers who are and have
been on the public stage for many years. What I do not value is the
manner in which various players claim authority by stating that their
particular approach is the one true way. And I do not value the manner
in which a large helping of attitude has been foisted on the public by
mavens of marketing in the pursuit of greater notoriety, and thus
sales.
As lutenists, players of ancient instruments that became outmoded for
very good reasons, we do the historical research and eventually come to
understand how the machine evolved and how it works best for each of us
today as applied to our chosen repertory. Martyn H pointed out, as I
have in the past, that all this noise about temperaments really has to
do with making keyboard instruments sound less bad in the pursuit of
music that contains more intervallic spice as time and taste marched
on. There survive some historical discussions of lute fretting but the
language is unclear or otherwise flawed. A sideways application of
modern interpretations of keyboard temperaments to the lute and fretted
viol is a bit of an awkward stretch.
As for the lute, the frets move. Move them until the music sounds
right.
RA
__________________________________________________________________
From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu <lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu> on behalf
of howard posner <howardpos...@ca.rr.com>
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2019 2:01 AM
To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Lute Temperaments
> On Jul 20, 2019, at 4:22 AM, Ron Andrico <praelu...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
>
> musicians who
> understand music and who explore the more interesting repertory for
> lute follow the precepts of Galilei, which approximates equal
> temperament.
You just trashed most of the best musicians in early music, and,
apparently, most of the best music, in a single sentence. As a person
who writes for a living, I can only admire your efficiency with words.
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