On Sat, 25 Nov 2006 04:17:06 -0800 Roger E. Blumberg wrote: == 6-course Viola/Vihuela with 11 pegs/strings, 16th cent ==
> I take it Alexander and maybe others are looking for iconographical > evidence > of one of these? Or is it just an occurrence of asymmetrical L-R peg-count > and arrangement on the _later_ style of peg-box that matters here? http://www.vihuelademano.com/abrantes-vihuela.htm Yes, Roger, it is an occurrence of asymmetrical peg arrangement on a flat-type peg head, also with the odd number peg configuration. It may also be that some instruments (vihuela / viola da mano) with an even number of pegs (in this case, symmetrically positioned on a flat-type peg head) were actually designed only to be strung with an odd number of strings. The only surviving example that illustrates this is the Quito vihuela: 12 symmetrically positioned peg holes but the slots in the bridge only allow to string it up with 11 strings. > In any event, I accidentally noticed the same today on this (old familiar) > icon, 6 (left) and 5 (right) pegs, for an early "eleven string viola" > Girolamo Libri 1520: Actually all known to me occurrences of odd peg numbers (either 9 or 11) on viola da mano with a viol-type peg head (lateral pegs) are listed on this page: http://www.vihuelademano.com/rcmdias.htm (about one-third down the page, or see below) (quote) A number of early 16th century iconographical sources show instruments which can equally be qualified either as viola da mano or vihuela. Their main difference is in the shape of the body which appears to have either a c-shaped (cornered) or incurved waist but such features as peg head construction and the number of pegs seem to have been shared by both types. On some of the well-known depictions of such instruments their peg heads are clearly shown and the number of pegs can be exactly counted. This number is predominantly either nine or eleven for five- and six-course instruments accordingly. Those depictions are: Anonymous (Sardinian school), Madonna and child with angels musicians, c.1500 (Castelsardo) - 9 pegs; Bernardino Pinturicchio, fresco, c.1492 (Rome, Vatican) - 11 pegs? ; Luca Signorelli, Coronation of the elect, c.1500 (Orvieto Cathedral) - 9 pegs; intarsia door in Palazzo Ducale, c.1507 (Mantua) - 11 pegs; Anonymous fresco, Santa Maria della Consolazione, c.1503 (Ferrara) - 11 pegs; Girolamo di Libri, Madonna and child with saints, c.1520 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) - 11 pegs.(end of quote) I suppose one more representation the11-string viola da mano can be added to this list, also by Girolamo dai Libri ('Madonna and Child with St Anne', the National Gallery, London) that shows a smaller viola da mano with a guitar-like shaped body. Alexander To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
