Lute - Citizendia

For other uses, see Lute (disambiguation).

"Lutes" redirects here. For the surname, see Lutes (surname). Lutes is a surname and may refer to Eric Lutes (born 1962 American actor Franklin W

Lute

Classification
Necked bowl lutes String instruments
Related instruments
Angélique (instrument) Archlute Balalaika Barbat (lute) Bağlama Biwa Bouzouki Charango Chitarra Italiana Dombra Domra Dutar Komuz Lute Mandocello Mandola Mandolin Mandolute Oud Pandura Pipa Tanbur Tanbur (Turkish) Tembûr Theorbo Tiorbino Topshur

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either fretted or unfretted) and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes. A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music. A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a Musical instrument that produces Sound by means of Vibrating strings In the Hornbostel-Sachs A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music. The angélique (French from Italian angelica) is a plucked string instrument of the Lute family of the baroque era The archlute (Italian arciliuto, German Erzlaute, Russian Архилютня) is a European plucked String instrument developed around 1600 The balalaika (балала́йка) (also Balabaika балаба́йка - is a stringed instrument of Russian origin with a characteristic triangular body and The barbat is a Lute of ancient Persian origin History The barbat originated in Persia in ancient times and was refined during the The bağlama is a stringed Musical instrument shared by various Cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Central The biwa ( 琵琶) is a Japanese short-necked fretted Lute, and a close variant of the Chinese Pipa. The bouzouki ( gr το μπουζούκι pl. τα μπουζούκια (plural sometimes transliterated as bouzoukia) is the mainstay of modern This article is about an instrument For the album by British Trip-Hop band Morcheeba, see Charango. Chitarra Italiana is a Lute -shaped plucked instrument with 4 or 5 single (sometimes double strings in a tuning similar to that of guitar The dombra is a long-necked Stringed instrument possessing a wooden resonating chamber somewhat similar to a Banjo Not to be confused with Dombra The domra (Russian language домра is a long-necked Russian String instrument The dutar ( Persian: دو تار, Uzbek: dutor (also dotar or doutar) is a traditional long-necked two-stringed Lute The komuz ( Kyrgyz: комуз koˈmuz is an ancient Fretless String instrument used in Kyrgyz music closely related to other The mandocello (mandoloncello, liuto cantabile or liuto moderno is a Plucked string instrument of the Mandolin family The mandola (US and Canada or tenor mandola (Europe Ireland and UK is a fretted stringed Musical instrument. A mandolin is a musical instrument in the Lute family (plucked or strummed A Mandolute is a North African instrument derived from the more traditional Oud. The oud ( عود ʿūd, plural أعواد, a‘wād; kaban; Persian: بربط barbat; ud The pandura is an ancient String instrument from the Mediterranian basin The pipa ( is a plucked Chinese String instrument. Sometimes called the Chinese Lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body The term tanbūr ( Persian: تنبور) can refer to various long-necked Fretted Lutes originating in the Middle East Tanbur (spelled Tambur in keeping with TDK conventions is a fretted string instrument of Turkey and the former lands of the Ottoman Empire The tembûr, a Fretted String instrument, is a form of tanbūr. A theorbo (tiorba also tuorbe; tiorba Theorbe is a plucked string instrument A tiorbino, a little Theorbo ( tiorbo in Italian is a rare stringed instrument a type of long-necked Lute resembling a Theorbo but significantly Topshur (Топшур in the Cyrillic alphabet of the Altayans) is a two-stringed plucked or strummed lute played by the Altayans. The neck is the part of certain String instruments that projects from the main body and is the base of the Fingerboard, where the fingers are placed to stop the strings A fret is a raised portion on the neck of a Stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck

The European lute and the Near-Eastern oud both descend from a common ancestor, with diverging evolutionary paths. The oud ( عود ʿūd, plural أعواد, a‘wād; kaban; Persian: بربط barbat; ud The lute is used in a great variety of instrumental music from the early renaissance to the late baroque eras. The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Baroque art redirects here Please disambiguate such links to Baroque painting, Baroque sculpture, etc It is also an accompanying instrument, especially in vocal works, often realizing a basso continuo or playing a written-out accompaniment. Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer Musical notation used to indicate intervals, chords and Nonchord tones in relation

The player of a lute is called a lutenist, lutanist, or lutist, and a maker of lutes (or any string instrument) is called a luthier.

Etymology

The words "lute" and "oud" derive from Arabic al‘ud (العود; literally "the wood"). Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language [1] Recent research by Eckhard Neubauer suggests that ‘ud may in turn be an Arabized version of the Persian name rud, which meant "string," "stringed instrument," or "lute. " Gianfranco Lotti suggests that the "wood" appellation originally carried derogatory connotations, because of proscriptions of all instrumental music in early Islam. For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation.

Construction

A baroque- or classical-era lute.

Soundboard

Lutes are made almost entirely of wood. The soundboard is a teardrop-shaped thin flat plate of resonant wood (usually spruce). The sounding board or soundboard is the part of a String instrument that transmits the vibrations of the strings to the air greatly increasing the Loudness Spruce refers to Trees of the genus Picea, a genus of about 35 species of Coniferous Evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae In all lutes the soundboard has a single (sometimes triple) decorated sound hole under the strings, called the rose. The soundhole is not open, but rather covered with a grille in the form of an intertwining vine or a decorative knot, carved directly out of the wood of the soundboard.

Renaissance lute (holding position).

Back

The back or the shell is assembled from thin strips of hardwood (maple, cherry, ebony, rosewood or other tonewoods) called ribs joined (with glue) edge to edge to form a deep rounded body for the instrument. There are braces inside on the soundboard to give it strength; see the photo among the external links below. Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either Fretted or unfretted and a deep round back or more specifically to an instrument from

Neck

The neck is made of light wood, with a veneer of hardwood (usually ebony) to provide durability for the fretboard beneath the strings. The neck is the part of certain String instruments that projects from the main body and is the base of the Fingerboard, where the fingers are placed to stop the strings The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments is a part of most Stringed instruments It is a thin long strip of Wood that is Unlike most modern stringed instruments, the lute's fretboard is mounted flush with the top. The pegbox for lutes before the Baroque era was angled back from the neck at almost 90° (see image), presumably to help hold the low-tension strings firmly against the nut, which is not traditionally glued in place, but is held in place by string pressure only. A pegbox is the part of certain stringed Musical instruments ( Violin, Viola, Cello, Double bass) that houses the Tuning Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 and 1750. The tuning pegs are simple pegs of hardwood, somewhat tapered, that are held in place by friction in holes drilled through the pegbox. A tuning peg is used to hold a string in the Pegbox of a stringed instrument. As with other instruments using friction pegs, the choice of wood used to make pegs is crucial. As the wood suffers dimensional changes through age and loss of humidity, it must as closely as possible retain a circular cross-section in order to function properly, as there are no gears or other mechanical aids for tuning the instrument. Often pegs were made from suitable fruitwoods such as European pearwood, or equally dimensionally stable analogues. Matheson, ca 1720, stated if a lute-player has lived eighty years, he has surely spent sixty years tuning.

Belly

The geometry of the lute belly is relatively complex, involving a system of barring in which braces are placed perpendicular to the strings at specific lengths along the overall length of the belly, the ends of which are angled quite precisely to abut the ribs on either side for structural reasons. Robert Lundberg, in his book "Historical Lute Construction," suggests that ancient builders placed bars according to whole-number ratios of the scale length and belly length. He further suggests that the inward bend of the soundboard (the 'belly scoop') is a deliberate adaptation by ancient builders to afford the lutenist's right hand a bit more space between the strings and soundboard. The belly thickness is somewhat variable, but hovers between 1. 5 and 2 millimeters in general. Some luthiers tune the belly as they build, removing mass and adapting bracing to ensure proper sonic results. The lute belly is almost never finished, though in some cases the luthier may size the top with a very thin coat of shellac or glair in order to help keep it clean. The belly is joined directly to the rib, without a lining glued to the sides, although a cap and counter cap are glued to the inside and outside of the bottom end of the bowl to provide rigidity and increased gluing surface.

After joining the top to the sides, a half binding is usually installed around the edge of the belly. The half-binding is approximately half the thickness of the belly and is usually made of a contrasting color wood. The rebate for the half-binding must be extremely precise to avoid compromising structural integrity.

Bridge

The bridge, usually made of a fruitwood, is attached to the soundboard usually at 1/5 to 1/7 the belly length. It does not have a separate saddle but has holes bored into it to which the strings attach directly. Typically the bridge is made such that it tapers in height and length, with the small end holding the trebles and the higher and wider end carrying the basses. Bridges are often colored black with carbon black in a binder, often shellac, and often have inscribed decoration. The scrolls or other decoration on the ends of lute bridges are usually integral to the bridge, and are not added afterwards as on some Renaissance guitars (cf Joachim Tielke's guitars). Joachim Tielke ( October 14, 1641 – January 19, 1719) was a German maker of Musical instruments.

Frets

The frets are made of loops of gut tied around the neck. A fret is a raised portion on the neck of a Stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck They fray with use, and must be replaced from time to time. A few additional partial frets of wood are usually glued to the body of the instrument, to allow stopping the highest-pitched courses up to a full octave higher than the open string ,though these are anachronistic and do not appear on original instruments. Given the choice between nylon and gut, many luthiers prefer to use gut, as it conforms more readily to the sharp angle at the edge of the fingerboard.

Strings

Strings were historically made of gut (or sometimes in combination with metal), and are still made of gut or a synthetic substitute, with metal windings on the lower-pitched strings. Modern manufacturers make both gut and nylon strings, and both are in common use. Gut is more authentic, though it is also more susceptible to irregularity and pitch instability due to changes in humidity. Nylon, less authentic, offers greater tuning stability but is of course anachronistic.

Of note are the "catlines" used as basses on historical instruments. Catlines are several gut strings wound together and soaked in heavy metal solutions which increase the mass of the strings. Catlines can be quite large in diameter by comparison with wound nylon strings for the same pitch. They produce a bass which is somewhat different in timbre from nylon basses.

The lute's strings are arranged in courses, usually of two strings each, though the highest-pitched course usually consists of only a single string, called the chanterelle. A course is a pair or more of adjacent strings tuned to unison or an octave and usually played together as if a single string In later Baroque lutes 2 upper courses are single. The courses are numbered sequentially, counting from the highest pitched, so that the chanterelle is the first course, the next pair of strings is the second course, etc. Thus an 8-course Renaissance lute will usually have 15 strings, and a 13-course Baroque lute will have 24.

The courses are tuned in unison for high and intermediate pitches, but for lower pitches one of the two strings is tuned an octave higher. (The course at which this split starts changed over the history of the lute. ) The two strings of a course are virtually always stopped and plucked together, as if a single string, but in extremely rare cases a piece calls for the two strings of a course to be stopped and/or plucked separately. The tuning of a lute is a somewhat complicated issue, and is described in a separate section of its own, below. Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either Fretted or unfretted and a deep round back or more specifically to an instrument from The result of the lute's design is an instrument extremely light for its size.

History and evolution of the lute

Ancient Egyptian tomb painting depicting lute players, 18th Dynasty (c. 1350 BC)

Ancient Egyptian tomb painting depicting lute players, 18th Dynasty (c. "Amarna period" redirects here For information on Amarna see Amarna The Eighteenth Dynasty (1550-1292 BC is perhaps the best known of 1350 BC)

The origins of the lute are obscure, and organologists disagree about the very definition of a lute. The highly influential organologist Curt Sachs distinguished between the "long-necked lute" (Langhalslaute) and the short-necked variety: both referred to chordophones with a neck as distinguished from harps and psalteries. Smith and others argue that the long-necked variety should not be called lute at all, since it existed for at least a millennium before the appearance of the short-necked instrument that eventually evolved into what is now known as the lute, nor was it ever called a lute before the 20th century.

Ancient Egyptian painting depicting a player of the long-necked lute (center), 18th Dynasty (c. "Amarna period" redirects here For information on Amarna see Amarna The Eighteenth Dynasty (1550-1292 BC is perhaps the best known of 1422-1411 BC)

Various types of necked chordophones were in use in ancient Egyptian (where they were introduced from Asia in the Middle Kingdom), Hittite, Greek, Roman, Bulgar, Turkic, Chinese, Armenian/Cilician cultures. Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family and established Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC The Turkic peoples are Eurasian peoples residing in northern central and western Eurasia who speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National The Armenians (Հայեր Hayer) are a Nation and Ethnic group originating in the Caucasus and in the Armenian Highlands A large Geography Cilicia extended along the Aegean coast east from Pamphylia, to Mount Amanus ( Gavurdağı Mount) which separated it from Syria The Lute developed its familiar forms in Arabia, Persia, Armenia, and Byzantium beginning in the early 7th century. The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية šibh al-jazīra al-ʻarabīya or جزيرة العرب jazīrat al-ʻarab) The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani This article is about the city See also Byzantine Empire. Byzantium ( Greek: Βυζάντιον Latin: la BYZANTIVM These instruments often had bodies covered with animal skin, as do the modern American banjo, Persian tar, Indian sarod, West African xalam, or Chinese sanxian. The banjo is a Stringed instrument developed by enslaved Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments For other uses of this term including another kind of musical instrument see Tar (disambiguation. The sarod is a stringed musical instrument used mainly in Indian classical music. Xalam, also spelled khalam, is the Wolof name for a traditional stringed musical instrument from West Africa. The sanxian ( Chinese: 三絃literally "three strings" is a Chinese Lute &mdash a three-stringed Fretless plucked

As early as the 6th century the Bulgars brought the short-necked variety of the instrument called Kobuz to the Balkans, and in the 9th century Moors brought Oud to Spain. The komuz ( Kyrgyz: комуз koˈmuz is an ancient Fretless String instrument used in Kyrgyz music closely related to other The oud ( عود ʿūd, plural أعواد, a‘wād; kaban; Persian: بربط barbat; ud The long-necked Pandora/Quitra had been common Mediterranean lute previously. The Quitra didn't become extinct however, but continued its evolution, its descendants being Chitarra Italiana, Chitarrone and Colascione, aside from the still surviving Kuitra of Algiers and Morocco. Chitarra Italiana is a Lute -shaped plucked instrument with 4 or 5 single (sometimes double strings in a tuning similar to that of guitar A theorbo (tiorba also tuorbe; tiorba Theorbe is a plucked string instrument

In about the year 1500 many Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese lutenists adopted vihuela de mano, a viol-shaped instrument tuned like the lute, but both instruments continued in coexistence. Vihuela is a name given to two different Guitar -like String instruments one from 15th and 16th century Spain, usually with 12 paired strings and the The viol (also called viola da gamba) is any one of a family of bowed, Fretted stringed Musical instruments developed in the 1400s This instrument also found its way to parts of Italy that were under Spanish domination (especially Sicily and the papal states under the Borgia pope Alexander VI who brought many Catalan musicians to Italy), where it was known as the viola da mano.

Another important point of transfer of the lute from Muslim to Christian European culture might have been in Sicily, where it was brought either by Byzantine or later by Saracen musicians. There were singer-lutenists at the court in Palermo following the Christian Norman conquest of the island, and the lute is depicted extensively in the ceiling paintings in the Palermo’s royal Cappella Palatina, dedicated by the Norman King Roger II in 1140. By the 14th century, lutes had disseminated throughout Italy. Probably due to the cultural influence of the Hohenstaufen kings and emperor, based in Palermo, the lute had also made significant inroads into the German-speaking lands by the 14th century.

Medieval lutes were 4- or 5-course instruments, plucked using a quill for a plectrum. A course is a pair or more of adjacent strings tuned to unison or an octave and usually played together as if a single string Often called a pick or plec, a plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. There were several sizes, and by the end of the Renaissance, seven different sizes (up to the great octave bass) are documented. Song accompaniment was probably the lute's primary function in the Middle Ages, but very little music securely attributable to the lute survives from the era before 1500. Medieval and early-Renaissance song accompaniments were probably mostly improvised, hence the lack of written records.

In the last few decades of the 15th century, in order to play Renaissance polyphony on a single instrument, lutenists gradually abandoned the quill in favor of plucking the instrument with the fingertips. In Music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent Melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice ( Monophony The number of courses grew to six and beyond. The lute was the premier solo instrument of the 16th century, but continued to be used to accompany singers as well.

A man playing a lute, painted by Jan Kupetzky, ca. 1711

By the end of the Renaissance the number of courses had grown to ten, and during the Baroque era the number continued to grow until it reached 14 (and occasionally as many as 19). These instruments, with up to 26-35 strings, required innovations in the structure of the lute. At the end of the lute's evolution the archlute, theorbo and torban had long extensions attached to the main tuning head in order to provide a greater resonating length for the bass strings, and since human fingers are not long enough to stop strings across a neck wide enough to hold 14 courses, the bass strings were placed outside the fretboard, and were played "open", i. The archlute (Italian arciliuto, German Erzlaute, Russian Архилютня) is a European plucked String instrument developed around 1600 A theorbo (tiorba also tuorbe; tiorba Theorbe is a plucked string instrument The torban or teorban is a Ukrainian Musical instrument that combines the features of the Baroque Lute with those of the Psaltery. e. without fretting/stopping them with the left hand.

Over the course of the Baroque era the lute was increasingly relegated to the continuo accompaniment, and was eventually superseded in that role by keyboard instruments. Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer Musical notation used to indicate intervals, chords and Nonchord tones in relation The lute fell out of use after 1800.

Lute in the modern world

The lute enjoyed a revival with the awakening of interest in historical music around 1900 and throughout the century, and that revival was further boosted by the early music movement in the Twentieth Century. Early music is commonly defined as European classical music from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque. Important pioneers in lute revival were Julian Bream, Hans Neemann, Walter Gerwig, Suzanne Bloch and Diana Poulton. Julian Bream OBE (born July 15, 1933) is an internationally celebrated British guitarist and Lutenist widely recognized Lute performances are now not uncommon; there are many professional lutenists, especially in Europe where the most employment is to be found, and new compositions for the instrument are being produced by composers.

During the early days of the early music movement, many lutes were constructed by available luthiers, whose specialty was often classical guitars. Such lutes were heavily built with construction similar to classical guitars, with fan bracing, heavy tops, fixed frets, and lined sides, all of which are anachronistic to historical lutes. As lutherie scholarship increased, makers began constructing instruments based on historical models, which have proven on the whole to be far lighter and more responsive instruments.

Lutes built at present are invariably replicas or near copies of those surviving historical instruments that are to be found in museums or private collections. They are exclusively custom-built or must be bought second hand in a very limited market. As a result, lutes are generally more expensive than mass-produced modern instruments such as the guitar, though not nearly as expensive as the violin. Unlike in the past there are many types of lutes encountered today: 5-course medieval lutes, renaissance lutes of 6 to 10 courses in many pitches for solo and ensemble performance of Renaissance works, the archlute of Baroque works, 11-course lutes in d-minor tuning for 17th century French, German and Czech music, 13/14-course d-minor tuned German Baroque Lutes for later High Baroque and Classical music, theorbo for basso continuo parts in Baroque ensembles, gallichons/mandoras, bandoras, orpharions and others. A theorbo (tiorba also tuorbe; tiorba Theorbe is a plucked string instrument The mandora or mandore, also known as the gallizona or gallichon, is a type of 6 or 8-course bass Lute (possibly a descendant of Guiterne The orpharion is a plucked instrument from the Renaissance. It is part of the Cittern family Lutenistic practice has reached considerable heights in recent years, thanks to a growing number of world-class lutenists: Robert Barto, Eduardo Egüez, Edin Karamazov, Nigel North, Christopher Wilson, Luca Pianca, Pascal Monteilhet, Ariel Abramovich, Evangelina Mascardi, Luciano Contini, Hopkinson Smith, Paul O'Dette et alia. Robert Barto is an American Lutenist specializing in the Baroque period specifically the oeuvres of Sylvius Leopold Weiss and Bernhard Edin Karamazov is a Bosnian musician- Lutenist (born in 1965 in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia) Nigel North (born 5 June 1954) is an English Lutenist and guitarist. Christopher Wilson (born August 23, 1979) is a sports humor columnist for Fox Sports ' J Luca Pianca is Italian-Swiss musician- Lutenist born in Lugano, Switzerland (his specialty is Archlute) Hopkinson Smith (born 1946 is an American Lutenist Born in New York, he graduated from Harvard with Honors in Music Paul R O'Dette (b Columbus, Ohio, February 2, 1954) is an American Lutenist, conductor, and music researcher Singer-songwriter Sting has also played lute and archlute, in and out of his collaborations with Edin Karamazov, and Jan Akkerman released two albums of lute music in the 1970s while he was a guitarist in the Dutch rock band Focus. Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, CBE (born October 2, 1951) better known by his Stage name Sting, is a three time Academy Award Edin Karamazov is a Bosnian musician- Lutenist (born in 1965 in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia) Jan Akkerman (born 24 December 1946) is a Dutch Guitarist. Jan Akkerman is a distinctive guitarist constantly experimenting with new equipment and A musical ensemble is a group of two or more Musicians who perform instrumental or vocal Music. Focus is a Dutch Progressive rock band It was founded by classically trained organist / Flautist

Lutes of several regional types are also common in Greece: laouto, and outi.

Lute repertoire

Notable composers of lute music include:

Renaissance--Italy

Vincenzo Capirola
Francesco Canova da Milano
Francesco Spinacino
G. A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance Vincenzo Capirola (1474 &ndash after 1548 was an Italian composer lutenist and nobleman of the Renaissance. Francesco Canova da Milano ( 18 August 1497 – 2 January 1543) was a Virtuoso Italian lutenist and composer Francesco Spinacino (fl 1507) was an Italian Lutenist and composer M. da Crema
Vincenzo Galilei
J. Vincenzo Galilei (c 1520 &ndash July 2, 1591) was an Italian lutenist, Composer, and music theorist, and the father of A. Dalza

Renaissance--Central Europe

Renaissance--England

Baroque--Italy

Baroque--France

Baroque--Germany

Modern and Contemporary (also see the Index of Contemporary Lute Music by David Parsons and Lynda Sayce)

Johann Nepomuk David--Germany
Vladimir Vavilov-- Russia
Sandor Kallosz-- Hungary and Russia
Stefan Lundgren-- Germany and Sweden
Toyohiko Satoh -- Japan and Netherlands
Ronn McFarlane -- USA
Paulo Galvão-- Portugal
Robert MacKillop--Scotland
Jozef van Wissem-- Netherlands
Alexandre Danilevsky France and Russia
Roman Turovsky-Savchuk -- USA and Ukraine
Jacopo Gianninoto -- Italy
Maxym Zvonaryov-- Ukraine
Lodovico Bollacasa -- Italy
Martin Pals -- Netherlands
Mikhail Puchkov -- Russia
Nikita Koshkin -- Russia

Many historical lute pieces were published, but great many more are found only in manuscripts, perhaps belonging to the composer or perhaps belonging to some amateur lutenist who would copy unpublished pieces, or have a renowned guest inscribe a new composition while visiting. Bálint Bakfark (his name is variously spelled as Bacfarc, Bakfarc, Bakfarkh, Bakffark, and occasionally his first name is rendered as Valentin Diomedes Cato (1560 to 1565 – after 1618 was an Italian -born composer and Lute player who lived and worked entirely in Poland. John Dowland (1563 &ndash buried February 20, 1626) was an English Composer, singer and Lutenist He is best known today for his John Johnson ( c 1545 &ndash 1594 was an English Lutenist, Composer of songs and Lute music attached to the court of Philip Rosseter (1567/1568 – May 5 1623) was an English composer and musician as well as a theatrical manager Thomas Campion, (sometimes Campian) (12 February 1567 &ndash 1 March 1620 was an English Composer, poet and Physician. Thomas Robinson (c 1560 – after 1609? ( Julian calendar)) was an English renaissance Composer and music teacher Alessandro Piccinini (1566-1638 was an Italian lutenist and composer Johann(es Hieronymus Kapsberger (also Giovanni Girolamo or Giovanni Geronimo Kapsperger) (c Robert de Visée (c 1650 - 1725 was a Lutenist, guitarist, theorbist and viol player at the court of Louis the XIV as well as a singer and Denis Gaultier (1603 &ndash January 1672 was a French Lutenist and Composer. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section.2 This article is written in British English including maximised use of "-ise" Silvius Leopold Weiss ( October 12, 1687 – October 16, 1750) was a German Composer and Lutenist Born in Bernhard Joachim Hagen (April 1720 in or near Hamburg (? – December 9, 1787 in Ansbach) was a German composer violinist and Lutenist Adam Falckenhagen (1697 to 1761 was a German lutenist / composer of the Baroque. Karl Ignaz Augustin Kohaut (Carolus Ignatius Augustinus (baptised August 26, 1726 – August 6, 1784) was an Austrian Lutenist Lynda Sayce is a lutenist and Theorbo player living near Oxford, United Kingdom known also as a scholar of musical history and a writer on the history of the lute Johann Nepomuk David ( November 30 1895 &ndash December 22 1977) was an Austrian symphonist who wrote a number of orchestral works Vladimir Vavilov ( 5 May 1925 – 3 November 1973) was a Russian Guitarist, Lutenist and Composer. Paulo Galvão - (born 1966 in Lagos, Algarve, Portugal) is a Composer, Lutenist, Theorbist and Guitarist, noted Rob MacKillop (born in 1959 in Dundee) is a Scottish Composer, Lutenist, Theorbist, vihuelist, and Guitarist Jozef van Wissem (born Maastricht, 1962) is a Dutch Minimalist Composer and Lute player Alexandre Danilevsky ( Russian: Александр Данилевский born in 1957 in St Roman Turovsky-Savchuk is a painter and Lutenist - Composer. He was born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1961 and emigrated to New York City in 1979 Jacopo Gianninoto is an Italian lutenist guitarist and composer Nikita Koshkin (born February 28, 1956) is a Classical guitarist and Composer born in Moscow.

The modern repertoire is largely drawn from historical publications and manuscripts, though quite a few modern compositions do exist. The historical corpus is vast, consisting of over 40,000 pieces, and about half of it exists only in the original manuscripts and has never been published. Much material circulates among lutenists in facsimiles of the manuscripts or as photocopies of handwritten copies. Historical lute music is most commonly written in tablature, though sometimes in ordinary musical notation instead. Tablature (or Tabulature) is a form of Musical notation, which tells players where to place their fingers on a particular instrument See also Modern musical symbols Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived Music through the use Several computer programs now exist designed specifically for the editing and printing of lute tabulature of many types.

Ottorino Respighi's famous orchestral suites called Ancient Airs and Dances are drawn from various books and articles on 16th- and 17th-century lute music transcribed by the musicologist Oscar Chilesotti, including eight pieces from a German manuscript Da un Codice Lauten-Buch, now in a private library in northern Italy. For the astronomer see Lorenzo Respighi (1824—1889 For the crater named after Lorenzo Respighi see Respighi (crater.

Orazio Gentileschi's young lutenist, painted ca 1626, plays a 10-course lute, typical of the time from around 1600 AD through the 1630s. Orazio Lomi Gentileschi (1563 - 1639 was an Italian Baroque painter one of more important painters influenced by Caravaggio (the so-called Caravaggisti Music stands appear very rarely in paintings of the period — the music is most commonly laid flat on a table, as seen here.

Tuning conventions

Lutes were made in a large variety of sizes, with varying numbers of strings/courses, and with no permanent standard for tuning. However, the following seems to have been generally true of the Renaissance lute: A 6-course Renaissance tenor lute would be tuned to the same intervals as a tenor viol, with intervals of a perfect fourth between all the courses except the 3rd and 4th, which differed only by a major third. The viol (also called viola da gamba) is any one of a family of bowed, Fretted stringed Musical instruments developed in the 1400s The tenor lute was usually tuned nominally "in g"(there was no pitch standard before the 20th century), named after the pitch of the highest course, yielding the pattern [(G'G) (Cc) (FF) (AA) (dd) (g)] from the lowest course to the highest. (Much renaissance lute music can be played on a guitar by tuning the guitar's third string down by a half tone. )

For lutes with more than six courses the extra courses would be added on the low end. Due to the large number of strings lutes have very wide necks, and it is difficult to stop strings beyond the sixth course, so additional courses were usually tuned to pitches useful as bass notes rather than continuing the regular pattern of fourths, and these lower courses are most often played without stopping. Thus an 8-course tenor Renaissance lute would be tuned to [(D'D) (F'F) (G'G) (Cc) (FF) (AA) (dd) (g)], and a 10-course to [(C'C) (D'D) (E♭'E♭) (F'F) (G'G) (Cc) (FF) (AA) (dd) (g)].

However, none of these patterns were de rigueur, and a modern lutenist will occasionally be seen to retune one or more courses between performance pieces. Manuscripts bear instructions for the player, e. g. 7^e choeur en fa = "seventh course in fa" (= F in the standard C scale).

The first part of the seventeenth century was a period of considerable diversity in the tuning of the lute, particularly in France. However, by around 1670 the scheme known today as the [2]"Baroque" or "d-minor" tuning became the norm, at least in France and in northern and central Europe. In this case the first six courses outline a d-minor triad, and an additional five to seven courses are tuned generally scalewise below them. Thus the 13-course lute played by [3]Weiss would have been tuned [(A"A') (B"B') (C'C) (D'D) (E'E) (F'F) (G'G) (A'A') (DD) (FF) (AA) (d) (f)], or with sharps or flats on the lower 7 courses appropriate to the key of the piece.

6-course Early Renaissance lute tuning chart.

10-course Late Renaissance/Early Baroque lute tuning chart.

14-course Archlute tuning chart.

15-course Theorbo tuning chart.

13-course Baroque lute tuning chart.

Modern lutenists tune to a variety of pitch standards, ranging from A = 392 to 470 Hz, depending on the type of instrument they are playing, the repertory, the pitch of other instruments in an ensemble and other performing expediencies. No attempt at a universal pitch standard existed during the period of the lute's historical popularity. The standards varied over time and from place to place.

References

Bibliography

A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance by Douglas Alton Smith, published by the Lute Society of America (2002). ISBN-10: 0-9714071-0-X ISBN-13: 978-0971407107
The Lute in Britain: A History of the Instrument and its Music by Matthew Spring, published by Oxford University Press (2001).
Historical Lute Construction by Robert Lundberg, published by the Guild of American Luthiers (2002).
La musique de luth en France au XVIe siècle by Jean-Michel Vaccaro (1981).
Articles in Journal of the Lute Society of America (1968-), The Lute (1958-), and other journals published by the various national lute societies.
Eckhard Neubauer, "Der Bau der Laute und ihre Besaitung nach arabischen, persischen und türkischen Quellen des 9. bis 15. Jahrhunderts," Zeitschrift für Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Wissenschaften, vol. 8 (1993): 279–378.

Quotations

The art of playing the lute formed a major part of instrumental music making in the Renaissance before keyboard instruments assumed central significance. It was a refined, soft, and at the same time colorful art, in sharp contrast to the agitated times in which it was practiced.
— Karl Schumann [1]

This style knows nothing of the otherwise usual requirements and prohibitions of voice-leading; it can only be understood in relation to the fingering technique; it frequently applies the sound of open strings and in no way avoids the otherwise so despised parallel 5ths and octaves or unisons. In Music, voice leading is the relationship between the successive pitches of simultaneous moving parts or voices. The dissonances and other conflicting sounds which appear so often. . . strike me as exciting and revealing.
— Carl Orff [1]

[1] Quotation taken from the liner notes to the Wergo edition of Orff's Kleines Konzert, with English translations by John Patrick Thomas. Carl Orff ( &ndash) was a 20th-century German Composer, most famous for Carmina Burana (1937

External links

Lute societies

Lute music online and other useful resources

ABC Classic FM presents: Lute Project videos Watch Tommie Andersson play the theorbo, 7-course & 10-course lutes.
Wayne Cripps' lute pages
The Lute Lieder Site, library of songs and lieder with baroque lute accompaniment.
The Ukrainan Lute Page Torban, a Ukrainian variety of lute/theorbo.
Lute History by István Kónya
Joachim Tielke The website for the great Hamburg lutemaker Joachim Tielke
Musick's Handmade Facsimiles/Scans (Dowland, etc. ) and pdfs - by Alain Veylit

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