One of the Minnesota Ren Faire's that I went to when I lived there in the early eighties included a booth for Dan Larson, who must have been just starting his business. I nearly ordered one of his six course instruments to replace my old German heavy lute (Steiner), and I wish I had. Apart from that, I haven't seen much in the way of authentic music at any of the Ren Faires that I've attended. It's mostly filk singing (spelling is correct...), random folk music, and Celtic music, especially the headliners.
That said, I've always enjoyed them, but more in the sense of "recreating the Middle Ages as they should have been". Guy -----Original Message----- From: lute-...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Daniel Shoskes Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2019 3:31 PM To: Chris Wilke Cc: Lute List Subject: [LUTE] Re: Renaissance/Medieval Fairs A few years ago I went to the Great Lakes Medieval Fair with my kids with zero expectation of seeing anything remotely historically lutenistic. Sure enough, in the distance I saw someone playing a lute. As I got closer I saw that it had real tied gut frets. Closer still and the performer was clearly playing thumb under and I could hear real Dowland. Turns out it was Oberlin lutenist Michael Manderen. He plays lute and gamba at Great Lakes and also the Michigan Renaissance Fair. Careful with those bets Chris! Danny > On Sep 26, 2019, at 4:44 PM, Christopher Wilke > <chriswi...@mail.cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote: > > One of those "Ye Olde Renaissance Fayres" once made me some easy money. > I attended with a friend who was a classical guitarist. I was going > just for the fun of it with no expectation of historical accuracy. My > friend said, "I'll bet YOU'RE super excited to be here." I asked why he > thought I'd be so especially enthusiastic about the event. "Because > you'll get your fill of lutes," he replied. I said I'd be surprised to > see a single lute. He bet me $50 we would. I had a real nice dinner > that night. > > Chris > [1]Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone > > On Thursday, September 26, 2019, 10:00 AM, Braig, Eugene > <brai...@osu.edu> wrote: > > "Lucky America: having looked through musical performances at > Renaissance Fairs, we see many ensembles actually performing > appropriate songs and dances." > > This may be a bit too generous. Some make/made real efforts (for > example, spanning two or three decades, Ohio State University [OSU] > held a "Renaissance Faire" that strove to book performers of 16th and > 17th music). However, most feature performers in renaissance garb, > badly aping modern cockney accents, and strumming new songs in > imitation of Irish drinking tunes on modern steel-string guitars. Even > OSU's went the "fantasy" route around a decade or two ago andâafter a > total run of 45 yearsâfinally ceased to exist by 2019. > > In OSU's ren-faire glory days, I approached a friend who specialized in > English lute music. I wanted to split a set with her playing > Elizabethan lute pieces (she has a lovely 7-course Watanabe) and me > playing vihuela music on, of all things, vihuela (pre-Chambure > discovery, mine is based on iconography) to highlight the "armada" > conflict. It never came together, and I have thus never played such a > "faire." Not owning a period costume, I don't really have the > incentive any longer. > > Eugene > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [2]lute-...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu > <[3]lute-...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu> On Behalf Of Tristan von > Neumann > > Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2019 9:30 AM > > To: [4]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu > > Subject: [LUTE] Renaissance/Medieval Fairs > > So here's something different for a change. > > Why is it that in the US there are "Renfairs", all dedicated to mainly > the 16th century (and some really stretching it by allowing some > fantasy elements), while in Germany we only have "Mittelaltermärkte" > (Medieval Fairs). > > What I don't like about the Medieval Fairs in Germany (though some are > quite good and only allow painstakingly recreated authentic stuff), is > the music. > > Since we don't know much about instrumental music of the Middle Ages, > many people take this as an excuse to brutally treat the crowd with > Techno-like monster beats by huge drums and ear-shattering bagpiping. > > I have very rarely heard "real" Medival Music apart from some Walter > von der Vogelweide favourites and the occasional Oswald von > Wolkenstein. > > Even the popular "Estampies" are rarely heard, and we rarely get even > simplified versions of tunes from British Library Add. 29987. > > If you're not blasted by bagpipes, there will be bawdy songs in > pseudo-medieval folk style, of course played on totally inappropriate > instruments. > > While I think I would love to take my lute to such an event, I would be > totally anachronistic, and I do not want to join the "Medieval" > > musicians presenting 16th century music like Susato or even Praetorius > as "medieval". > > These events have musically corrupted the ear of the common audience. > > Whenever someone hears 16th century lute music they consider it > "medieval"... > > Lucky America: having looked through musical performances at > Renaissance Fairs, we see many ensembles actually performing > appropriate songs and dances. > > Here's a great example (if the lute player is here: good job you two) > > [5]https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D-RptxRpTiHo&data=02%7C01%7C%7C2c7d1950cbfc41687d5a08d742d17117%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637051339622138993&sdata=H4Va50xKKHODV5oqF8VO30yKLmEr5DPEmGMTYdNgKUw%3D&reserved=0 > > Also madrigal singers: > > > [6]https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DjYc7AqSTZXY&data=02%7C01%7C%7C2c7d1950cbfc41687d5a08d742d17117%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637051339622138993&sdata=yM0uQ4v1vBDwPd1vWnyzDgB%2Bf2QKVV0ZCRny3Mk2vI0%3D&reserved=0 > > Anachronisms are sometimes good fun, as the madrigal version of Katy > Perry shows, but it seems madrigal singers really enjoy the original > material like Dowland songs or Italian vocal music. > > > [7]https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DCIsHkuVTzDE&data=02%7C01%7C%7C2c7d1950cbfc41687d5a08d742d17117%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637051339622148998&sdata=w%2BQbOF7sHD6SxwMEaz4GKknYoZnbGamw9WhD1u3DYKY%3D&reserved=0 > > Of course there are some of those folk singers too, but the style is > more appropriate for the age represented. > > So here's the survey - how many of you have at least performed once at > a Renaissance Fair in the US (or other countries) - or in case of > Germany, at a "Mittelaltermarkt"? (are there attempts to establish a > Renaissance fair beside the Medieval ones?) > > How is the response to actual lute music? > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > [8]https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http:%2F%2Fwww.cs.dartmouth.edu%2F~wbc%2Flute-admin%2Findex.html&data=02%7C01%7C%7C2c7d1950cbfc41687d5a08d742d17117%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637051339622148998&sdata=yxSasTBby3MCuqhdVCwfFtPWllUoQx%2Bq%2BneQLg26Uas%3D&reserved=0 > > -- > > References > > 1. > https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Foverview.mail.yahoo.com%2F%3F.src%3DiOS&data=02%7C01%7C%7C2c7d1950cbfc41687d5a08d742d17117%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637051339622148998&sdata=3stD%2BH8ukrFY2b%2FngBuZgEuBpkrNOfa30qm6GWFF84k%3D&reserved=0 > 2. mailto:lute-...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu > 3. mailto:lute-...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu > 4. mailto:lute@cs.dartmouth.edu > 5. > https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D-RptxRpTiHo&data=02%7C01%7C%7C2c7d1950cbfc41687d5a08d742d17117%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637051339622148998&sdata=dOAU5y5OmhAMAdfkX3JNzo9EUCIrWfbdjSfkXG%2Fa7Vk%3D&reserved=0 > 6. > https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DjYc7AqSTZXY&data=02%7C01%7C%7C2c7d1950cbfc41687d5a08d742d17117%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637051339622148998&sdata=RVV%2BnqjwvgEF26q14NVJMQ%2BXBZS7pUks0uC763%2FtRnM%3D&reserved=0 > 7. > https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DCIsHkuVTzDE&data=02%7C01%7C%7C2c7d1950cbfc41687d5a08d742d17117%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637051339622148998&sdata=w%2BQbOF7sHD6SxwMEaz4GKknYoZnbGamw9WhD1u3DYKY%3D&reserved=0 > 8. > https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http:%2F%2Fwww.cs.dartmouth.edu%2F~wbc%2Flute-admin%2Findex.html&data=02%7C01%7C%7C2c7d1950cbfc41687d5a08d742d17117%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637051339622148998&sdata=yxSasTBby3MCuqhdVCwfFtPWllUoQx%2Bq%2BneQLg26Uas%3D&reserved=0 >
