The whole point about extended basses is that they produce a stronger
(louder) sound than shorter strings - hence why they were invented (by
Picinnini?).
I know of no study which has identified theorbo usage in the 17th
century between 'amateur' and 'professional' (ie paid to perform)
players. By the mid 18th century when the theorbo's appearance/record
became rarer use had dwindled (but seems to have continued in some
operas) mostly 'orofessionals' played them (eg Conti).
The use of re-entrant tuning seems to show that the Old Ones were
perfectly satisfied with what some moderns may perceive as an imperfect
('incomplete') instrument
MH
--- On Sat, 18/7/09, Lex Eisenhardt <eisenha...@planet.nl> wrote:
From: Lex Eisenhardt <eisenha...@planet.nl>
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Murcia
To: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Date: Saturday, 18 July, 2009, 9:21 PM
The only information we have are some vague pictures (though the
portrait of Granata allows some speculation about rather long bass
strings). Notwithstanding a slender waist some guitars had long
strings
on the fingerboard.
Why should a guitarre theorbee have loud basses? It's a typical
amateur
instrument, not a theorbo! .
Perhaps the wish to have a complete instrument was as much something
of
the 17th century. An imperfect instrument improved.
These new basses must have been so important to the composer (?)
that
he forgot to make use of the fourth and fifth course.
Should one assume that inconsistency was something desirable, in
particular for guitarists, their instrument and their music?
Lex
----- Original Message -----
From: [1]Martyn Hodgson
To: [2]Lex Eisenhardt ; [3]Monica Hall
Cc: [4]Vihuelalist
Sent: Saturday, July 18, 2009 5:44 PM
Subject: Re: [VIHUELA] Re: Murcia
Following on from our earlier discussion, one of the problems with
the
lower octave tuning for the theorboed basses is the relatively short
string length of the theorboed guitar basses to produce a
satisfactory
bass response with plain gut. From what I can see the=the extended
basses on these instruments were nothing like as long
as theorbo/archlute basses (150 - 170cm) which have the same/v
similar low bass pitching. I suspect the low bass option is more a
matter of modern wishful thinking (ie wanting a 'complete'
instrument).
The use of higher octave basses, essentially leading from the 3rd
course down, allows the repertoire to be played with strong sounding
basses and an idiomatic ('inconsistent') guitar (rather than
archlute/theorbo) style.
MH
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