> From: "Alexander Batov" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2006 23:55:12 -0000 > To: <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu> > Cc: "Roger E. Blumberg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: 6-course Viola-Vihuela with 11 pegs? > > 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 the 11-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
Alrighty, thanks for the clarifications. I wasn't aware that some 12 peg instruments had bridges allowing for only 11 strings, interesting. BTW, do you have a close-up of the Pinturicchio instrument's peg-box around (that I could see)? Thanks Roger To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
