[LUTE] Re: Lute for Sturt
Dear Alan, According to Robert Spencer's article in New Grove: Sturt's seven extant lute solos were written for a ten-course lute in aEUR~old' tuning with the lowest course lowered to B a(TM) A for two of the pieces. Fret material (and strings for that matter) would have been gut. We can't know for sure the exact size and pitch to which Sturt's instrument would have been tuned - this is arguably less crucial in any case, since lutes in all manner of different sizes survive from the period, and would no doubt have been tuned accordingly. If there was ever such a thing as concert pitch at that time in England, Bruce Haynes has suggested that it might have been about a tone lower than modern pitch. Since Sturt was employed at court and was involved in masque entertainments, one might assume that he sometimes played at this pitch. Assuming he thought of his lute in G, this corresponds to a string length of about 66cm. Assuming (again) that he had 8 or possibly 9 frets tied on the neck, one can then work out the body size (roughly). Or one can examine surviving instruments with this string length. Lot's of assumptions I'm afraid - I wouldn't get too bogged down in the dogma! Good luck! Sam On 28 February 2013 21:17, Alan Sturt [1]alanst...@gmail.com wrote: --f46d0408395de054f104d6ce93f3 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 A A A A I am interested to know what kind of lute would have been played by John Sturt in England (1610-1625) - see attached. A A A A I am a guitar player and would like to get involved with the lute - and I would like to play John Sturt's music on an instrument he would have used. I have not yet proved that he is part of my family tree but Sturt is an uncommon name - even in England. A A A A I would like to know string number, body size, fret material and any other details that would help define the instrument. A A A A A Thanks in advance A A A A Alan Sturt --f46d0408395de054f104d6ce93f3 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable A A A A I am interested to know what kind of lute would have been played by John Sturt in England (1610-1625) - see attached.divA A A A I am a guitar player and would like to get involved with the lute - and I would like to play John Sturt#39;s music on an instrument he would have used. I have not yet proved that he is part of my family tree but Sturt is an uncommon name - even in England./div divA A A A I would like to know string number, body size, fret material and any other details that would help define the instrument./divdivA A A A A Thanks in advance A A A A Alan Sturt/div --f46d0408395de054f104d6ce93f3-- -- To get on or off this list see list information at [2]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- Sam Chapman Oetlingerstrasse 65 4057 Basel (0041) 79 530 39 91 -- References 1. mailto:alanst...@gmail.com 2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: Lute for Sturt
Dear Alan, Therefore he collected music for the whole gamut of renaissance lutes! the six course lute is rather a different instrument from the 10 course and different again from the 12 course. See this brief history of the lute http://www.vanedwards.co.uk/history1.htm for some idea of the differences. You *could* play everything on a 10 course lute but it would give a rather false idea of the 6 course music. He might easily have had two or three lutes. The M.L. lute book, c.1610-40 [music] : London, British Library, additional MS 38539 generally known as John Sturt's lute book reproduced four-fifths original size : containinng 88 solos and duets for 6-to 10-course lute in renaissance tuning, c.1610-25, a continuo harmony table for 10-course lute in renaissance tuning, c.1625, one duet for 12-course lutes in 'flat French' tuning, c. 1630-40 / with an introductory study and guide to concordances by Robert Spencer Bib ID 1411132 Format Music Description Kilkenny, Ireland : Boethius Press, c1985. 1 ms. score (xxxvi, [76 p.]) : facsims., ill. ; 38 cm. ISBN 0863141021 Series Musical sources (Boethius Press) ; 25. Notes Facsim. of manuscripts. Subjects Lute music. Other authors/contributors Spencer, Robert, 1932- | Sturt, John, fl. 1607-1625 Also Titled John Sturt's lute book. At 15:17 -0500 28/2/13, Alan Sturt wrote: --f46d0408395de054f104d6ce93f3 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 I am interested to know what kind of lute would have been played by John Sturt in England (1610-1625) - see attached. I am a guitar player and would like to get involved with the lute - and I would like to play John Sturt's music on an instrument he would have used. I have not yet proved that he is part of my family tree but Sturt is an uncommon name - even in England. I would like to know string number, body size, fret material and any other details that would help define the instrument. Thanks in advance Alan Sturt --f46d0408395de054f104d6ce93f3 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Y Y Y Y I am interested to know what kind of lute would have been played by John Sturt in England (1610-1625) - see attached.divY Y Y Y I am a guitar player and would like to get involved with the lute - and I would like to play John Sturt#39;s music on an instrument he would have used. I have not yet proved that he is part of my family tree but Sturt is an uncommon name - even in England./div divY Y Y Y I would like to know string number, body size, fret material and any other details that would help define the instrument./divdivY Y Y Y Y Thanks in advance Y Y Y Y Alan Sturt/div --f46d0408395de054f104d6ce93f3-- -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- The Smokehouse, 6 Whitwell Road, Norwich, NR1 4HB England. Telephone: + 44 (0)1603 629899 Website: http://www.vanedwards.co.uk --
[LUTE] Re: Lute for Sturt
David Van Edwards wrote: You *could* play everything on a 10 course lute but it would give a rather false idea of the 6 course music. He might easily have had two or three lutes. Spoken like a true luthier! [And quite right too :) ] I'll just add that I currently have six lutes, and they're nothing like enough - so two more are on the way . . . Still, if I was to have just one lute, it would be a 10-course one. It will cover more of the repertoire than any other single lute. Bill -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
