Thank you, Yuval: you're absolutely right. I'm always been really curious about poor Monsieur Maltot, about whom we know absolutely nothing, besides François Campion's citation... ---- Attivato Sun, 18 Aug 2019 18:43:17 +0200 Yuval Dvoran <yuval.dvo...@posteo.de> ha scritto ----
I'm not sure if it was stated earlier, but actually Campion makes his teacher Maltot (who is, apart from the appearance in Campion's treatise, completely unknown) responsible for having invented the theorbo with 8 strings/courses on the fretboard, most possibly resulting from the invention of wound strings some years earlier. See Campion, Addition (available online on gallica.bnf.fr) for more details.Am 18.08.2019 18:00 schrieb Luca Manassero <[1]l...@manassero.net>: > > Dear Magnus, > thank you for all these interesting points. Personally, I fully > agree (as you may have noticed from my remark about all these theorbos > showing 8 fretted single courses...) > I think I saw the seven course Koch theorbo in Berlin, being now nearly > ein Berliner, I went more than a couple of times to that small, but > interesting museum. On the other side the Schelle theorbo has been > built in 1728, most probably then tuned in D therefore with the first > course tuned in d. Focused on a completely different repertoire I can > more easily understand it would have seven fretted courses: then you'll > a fretted G and a fretted F, nicely offering you a G# and an F# on the > first fret... > It's also a foldeable theorbo, which makes it a really noticeable > instrument, by the way. > I think I remember another seven course theorbo in Paris at the Cit de > la Musique, but I do not have the catalogue with me, so couldn't check > whether and why I remember it. > If the 8 course "vague" started with Franciolini, that's a really nice > hint, David! > All the best, > Luca > ---- Attivato dom, 18 ago 2019 08:59:25 +0200 magnus andersson > <[2]maan7...@mail.cs.dartmouth.edu> ha scritto ---- > > Dear Luca, dear David, dear Howard, > thanks for the infos! > It is indeed interesting- checking the lautenweltadressbuch database, > entering "G" as type and looking for instruments with more than, say, > 80 cm long petit jeu, I could only find the Berlin instrument by Koch > and the Schelle in Nuremberg to have more than 6 courses on the > fingerboard. > To my knowledge: > there is zero extant solo (French/Italian) music written for a theorbo > with more than 6 courses on the fingerboard- ranging from Kapsperger to > Robert de Vis e. > All extant theorbo continuo (Italian and French) tutors- with the > noteable exception of Francois Campion- use instruments with 6 courses > on the fingerboard. > The iconographic surviving material of plausible theorboes shows a > dominance of 6 single fretboard stringed instruments in the 17th > century. > On a personal note- as a modern player- I find it much more important > that I have an instrument which works well for the main bulk of the > repertoire, i.e. the 17th century, than having a short F and G to fit > those low chromatic F sharps / G sharps in. > For the 18th century, as it is much more accompanied with addition of a > bowed instrument (at least it, imo, ought to be more than the music of > the early 17th century ), I feel happy to leave those few notes out or > play them at a higher octave. > It is not to be taken lightly, the feeling of playing Monteverdi in big > spaces on a big theorbo with the long strings commencing from the 7th > and downwards. The instrument tends to do most of the work itself then! > Best, > Magnus > On Saturday, August 17, 2019, 10:25:28 PM GMT+2, David Van Edwards > <[1][3]da...@vanedwards.co.uk> wrote: > Dear Luca, > I have the original string lengths down as 823 > and 1677. Indeed it is odd how many theorbos > there are with 8 courses on the fingerboard, it > seems to have been a fashion started by that > well-known authority Leopoldo Franciolini. > Best wishes, > David > At 20:29 +0200 17/8/19, Luca Manassero wrote: > > Dear David, > > thank you!! > > The two pictures are finally big enough to be understandable. > > I was also curious about the original string lengths, if you > happen to > > know them. > > By the way, if all chitarroni I see in museums had 6 single or > double > > courses (I think I remember one with seven fretted courses at the > Cit > > del la Musique in Paris, but I'm not sure thou), WHY ON EARTH do I > see > > almost all chitarroni with 8x1 fretted strings?? > > All the best, > > Luca (who really doesn't want to start ANY flame on this > subject...) > > ---- Attivato sab, 17 ago 2019 20:21:21 +0200 David Van Edwards > > <[1][2][4]da...@vanedwards.co.uk> ha scritto ---- > > > > Dear Luca, > > I forgot to add: is there any other info you'd like? I have a few > > more photos. It is indeed on display in Rome at the Museo > Nazionale > > degli Strumenti Musicali, and the catalogue number is 976. Luisa > > Cervelli: La Galleria Armonica, Catalogo del Museo degli strumenti > > musicali di Roma, Roma 1994, pp. 297-299 from where I got my > photos. > > Best wishes, > > David > > At 18:34 +0200 17/8/19, Luca Manassero wrote: > > > Dear common wisdom, > > > seven years ago I had the opportunity to buy a theorbo from a > German > > > friend: it had been built by Hendrik Hasenfuss in 1993 and has a > very > > > nice bowl made of 35 ribs of yew. > > > Looking for the model, I think I came to a theorbo built by > Pietro > > > Raillich in Padova, possibly around 1655 (strung as 6x1, 8x2). > The > > > original seems to be on display in Rome at the Museo Nazionale > degli > > > Strumenti Musicali, where it is (err To get on or off this list see list information at [5]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. mailto:l...@manassero.net 2. mailto:maan7...@mail.cs.dartmouth.edu 3. mailto:da...@vanedwards.co.uk 4. mailto:da...@vanedwards.co.uk 5. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html