Baroque lute
The generic term baroque lute describes various European types of lute from the 17th and 18th centuries. It is characteristic that in addition to the choirs on the fingerboard ( petit jeu ) there is an expansion of the bass register with additional, diatonic bass strings ( grand jeu ). In addition to the baroque lute, there are other lute instruments from the baroque period such as theorbo , angélique and mandora .
Transition period
From around 1580, music for lute was increasingly composed in Europe with seven and eight choirs. The number of strings on the lute was increased to up to twelve choirs by around 1620 . There were also experiments with the tuning of the playing strings. In the relevant secondary literature, over twenty different tunings of the playing strings have been counted. Antoine Francisque's lute book Le Tresor d'Orphee , published in Paris around 1600, is one of the earliest examples of the new string tuning (“à cordes avalées”). The two most prominent tunings are likely to have been the so-called tone ravissant (with almost a thousand preserved pieces) and the sharp tuning (with over five hundred preserved pieces).
Tone ravissant / French flat tuning according to Mace: g '- e' - c - a - e - H - A - G - F - E - D - C
Sharp tuning (10ch. Lute): e '- c' - a - f - c - G - F - E - D - C
Flat save the 3rd sharp (10ch. Sounds): f '- d' - h - g - d - A - G - Fis - E - D
The actual pitch should have been based on the string material.
Finally, various structural solutions for the recording of the bass register were tried out. Was very common in the transitional period the lute with two pegboxes later "double-headed lute" or "double-headed lute" called, in addition to the bent backwards peg box , a second, not kinked peg box for up to four bass choirs was appropriate.
Italian baroque lute
In Italy, the baroque lute retained the Renaissance tuning of the six playing strings in fourths and a major third , nominally: G - c - f - a - d '- g'. In addition there are up to eight drone choirs that are conform, depending on the key.
The structural solution for accommodating the bass strings consisted of theorbing, ie a short extension with a second pegbox was attached to the pegbox attached in the longitudinal direction of the neck. Today this type of building is often called Liuto attiorbato .
Alessandro Piccinini , who claimed to have invented this type of lute in 1594, rejected the name Liuto attiorbato as improper, called the instrument Arciliuto and emphasized that it was a lute, not a theorbo .
More than a hundred years later, Silvius Leopold Weiss pointed out that theorbo and arciliuto "differ completely among themselves."
The following composers should be mentioned: Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger , Alessandro Piccinini , Pietro Paolo Melii , Bernardo Gianoncelli , Giovanni Zamboni , Filippo dalla Casa .
Georg Friedrich Händel used the instrument in its large form with a strongly elongated second neck and single strings in the bass as a continuo instrument in the orchestra ( Liuto attiorbato ).
French baroque lute
After the experimental phase in the first half of the 17th century, the baroque lute prevailed in France with eleven choirs. The playing strings are tuned in fourths and in minor and major thirds. Nominally - the actual pitch should have been based on the string material - the tuning can be specified as follows: f '- d' - a - f - d - A - G - F - E - D - C (later so called " New French "or" D minor tuning ").
In terms of construction, the French lute makers reverted to the Renaissance model of the simple kink-necked lute without bass rider or theorbing. Especially renaissance lutes by the German lute makers Laux Maler (1518–1552, Bologna) and Hans Frei, whose workshops had been in Italy, were bought there in the 17th century, brought to France and converted into baroque lutes here.
At the court of Louis XIII. there was a real cult around the lute (even Richelieu took lessons from Ennemond Gaultier ). Due to the widespread imitation of French culture and way of life, the French baroque lute gained popularity throughout Europe (except Italy) during the 17th century. With it, French lute music spread and its own style (represented by composers such as Jean-Baptiste Besard , René Mézangeau , Ennemond Gaultier, Denis Gaultier , François Dufault ), which was initially also played by clavecinists such as Johann Jakob Froberger , Louis Couperin and Nicolas Antoine Le Bègue was mimicked.
German baroque lute
The Dresden virtuoso and composer Silvius Leopold Weiss added two more choirs to the French baroque lute in the bass from around 1720. There were mainly two structural solutions for these additional strings:
- A bass rider placed on the bent pegbox
- Theorbing, ie the pegbox is not kinked, but just as with the theorbo attached to the neck and extended by a second pegbox, again placed lengthways, which can accommodate five bass choirs .
This second pegbox is called the gooseneck because of its curved connection . Lutes with a total of three pegboxes have also been preserved.
In the form of a gooseneck lute, the baroque lute survived into the early classical period ( Bernhard Joachim Hagen , Adam Falckenhagen , Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht , Christian Gottlieb Scheidler ).
literature
- Josef Klima: On the renaissance of the baroque lute. In: Guitar & Lute. Volume 9, Issue 6, 1987, pp. 27-31.
- Thomas Mace: Musick's Monument . London 1676. Facsimile reprint ed. from the Center National de la Recherche Scientifique, 2nd edition, Paris 1966
- Andreas Schlegel: The lute in Europe - history and stories to enjoy. A. Schlegel Verlag, 2007 ISBN 978-3-9523232-0-5
- Ekkard Schulze-Kurz: The lute and their moods in the first half of the 17th century. Dissertation, Wislingen 1990 ISBN 3-927445-04-5
- Franz J. Giesbert: School for the baroque lute. Schott, Mainz 1939 ISMN: 979-0-001-04377-9
- Stefan Lundgren: The Baroque Lute Companion. Lundgren Edition, Munich 1993
- Toyohiko Satoh: Method for the Baroque Lute. Tree Edition, Munich 1987
- Michel Serdoura: Method for the Baroque Lute. Ut Orpheus Edizioni, Bologna 2008, ISMN 979-0-2153-1599-0
Individual evidence
- ^ François-Pierre Goy / Andreas Schlegel, Accords Nouveaux
- ^ Konrad Ragossnig : Handbook of the guitar and lute. Schott, Mainz 1978, ISBN 3-7957-2329-9 , pp. 19-23.
- ↑ Peter Päffgen: Oh Elslein, my dear Elslein! Guitar music editions. A guide. Part III. In: Guitar & Laute 6, 1984, Issue 1, pp. 43–46.
- ^ A. Piccinini: Intavolatura di Liuto et di Chitarrone. Libro primo. Preface translated from the original Italian into German by Sigrun Richter and Alexis Fernández. In: Guitar Laute 3, 1981, Issue 1, pp. 21–30, and Issue 2, pp. 38–45; here: issue 2, p. 44 f.
- ^ Letter of March 21, 1723 to Johann Mattheson , in: Konrad Ragossnig : Handbuch der Guitar und Lute. Schott, Mainz 1978, ISBN 3-7957-2329-9 , p. 102.