7- to 9-course lutes

There are many surviving Italian lutes from c.1580-1610, mostly from Venice and Padua. Few are in original condition, but quite a lot of information can be gleaned from these instruments, and they exhibit a high degree of standardization, so we can be a little more confident about our reconstructions. The first course was usually double, though most players nowadays prefer a single top string: I usually build this type of lute so that it is easy to change from single to double first course. There were usually eight tied frets. The backs were made up of 13 to 39 or more ribs, and were often made of yew, cut so that each rib contains some of the cream-coloured sapwood, giving a striped appearance. Unfortunately, yew of this quality is now almost unobtainable, but there are several alternatives which were also used by the old makers and seem to work very well today (cypress, sycamore, rosewood, plum).

Seven-course lutes are occasionally to be seen in paintings from the first decade of the 16th century.  They are mentioned by Virdung (1511) and some of the music in the Thibault manuscript (c.1495) is written for seven courses.  However, the most usual procedure for obtaining lower notes was to tune the sixth course down a tone, a practice which is evident in the earliest tablatures (Dalza, 1508 used a tuning in which the fifth course is lowered a tone as well) and continues right through the 16th century.  The earliest use of seven courses in printed books is in Barberiis (156?), Melchior Neusidler (1574) and ???.  Vincenzo Galilei (1584) mentions seven-course lutes with disapproval – he regards six courses as adequate, and the sound of a seventh course too weak to be useful (quote/ref).   Terzi’s first book (1593) is for a seven-course lute (with the seventh usually tuned a fourth below the sixth) and his second book (1599) is for an eight-course lute.  The only two large collections specifically for eight-course lute are those of Reymann (1598) and Molinaro (1599).   Some music for eight courses also appeared in various manuscripts and in later printed collections.  The first printed book for nine courses is Francisque’s Le Tresor d’Orphee, published in
Paris in 1600.  With Besard’s Thesaurus Harmonicus (Cologne, 1603) and Dowland’s Lachrimae (five viols and lute, London, 1604) we are led to conclude that the nine-course lute was quite widespread in Northern Europe by the early years of the 17th century.  The rapid expansion in the number of courses (from six to nine) in the last thirty years of the 16th century has often been attributed to changes in string technology and it may reflect the development of techniques for increasing the density of bass strings.  Unfortunately we have no definite historical information on this point (see Gut strings ancient and modern).  A seventh course tuned a fourth below the sixth expands the open string range to two octaves and a fourth, while a ninth course only expands it one tone further because the eighth course is tuned to one of the intermediate notes.  Even the ten-course lute does not represent an expansion of the open string range beyond that of a nine-course lute.  Once string technology allowed an open string range of two octaves and a fourth it was inevitable that the expansion in the number of courses was rapid, due to the convenience of having more notes available as open strings.

The Lute Consort

Lutes had always been made in a variety of sizes: Laux Maler (d.1552) seems to have made at least three sizes, and seven are distinguishable from the Fugger inventory of 1566.   Praetorius (1618) lists seven sizes, giving the pitch of the top string as follows:

 

1. small octave lute in c” or d” (presumably “octave” because it is an octave above the “bass”)

2. small descant lute in b’

3. descant lute in a’

4. ordinary chorist or alto lute in g’ (shown in his scaled drawings as having a string length of about 60.6 to 62.4cm, with nine courses)

5. tenor lute in e’

6. bass lute in d’

7. octave bass lute in g (i.e., an octave below the Chorlaute)

 

The surviving lutes made in Northern Italy towards the end of the 16th century group very impressively into proportionate sizes, where string length is directly related to the intended pitch (see the article by Ray Nurse in the Bibliography).  Using Praetorius’ terminology, they give us a 44cm “small octave” lute in d”, a 59cm “descant” in a’, 67cm “alto” in g’ and 78cm “tenor” in e’(Praetorius’ pitch was probably different from that of the earlier Italians, but if we imagine a pitch about a tone below modern, these sizes seem to fit well – but see Historical Pitch and the Lute).  The fit to a strict proportional scheme is almost perfect, except that an 88cm “bass” seems to be missing.  Robert Lundberg suggests that the surviving Harton lute of 93.7cm might be a “bass” (in C rather than D) instead of an “octave bass” as has usually been supposed.

 

The fossil record contains very large numbers of lutes around 67cm, which may suggest that this was the size most commonly used.  Sixteenth century lute duets for lutes at different pitches most commonly involve lutes a fourth apart, also a tone apart, and a few a fifth apart. The lute trios of Giovanni Pacoloni (1564) require a Superius a fifth above, and a Tenor a tone above, the Bassus.  The trios of Emanuel Adriaensen (1584) require lutes a tone, a fourth, and a fifth above the bass.  The lute quartets of Nicolaes Vallet (1620) require lutes a fourth, a fifth and an octave above the bass.  The splendid trio by Alessandro Piccinini (published 1623, but probably written much earlier) requires lutes a tone and a fifth above the bass (it’s a pity he didn’t publish other pieces for lute trio – he performed with his two brothers during the 1580s and 90s and must have had plenty of pieces for this combination of lutes).   We can accommodate all of this music with five of the sizes given by Praetorius: small octave, descant, alto, tenor and bass.

1. 44 cm, after Venere (Vienna, C39)
This is one of two almost identical lutes now in Vienna, made in the Venere workshop in Padua around 1600, with the brandmark “WE”.  It has a 19-rib back in striped yew, a plain beech neck and pegbox and seven double courses.  The string spacing at the bridge is very narrow for modern hands, and most people would prefer a slightly wider spacing.  You can see photographs of the original lute on the front cover of Robert Lundberg’s book (see Bibliography).  £3250.

[lute made in 1990, photos 2007: heartwood yew with ebony spacers, ebony-veneered neck and pegbox]

2. 58.5 cm, 25 ribs, after Venere, 1592 (Florence)
This is one of the very few seven-course lutes to have survived in near original condition, and has therefore attracted much attention from modern makers.  It has a back of 25 ribs in yew heartwood, with pale-coloured (sycamore?) spacers.  The neck and pegbox are veneered with stripes in ebony, ivory, and a brownish mahogany-type hardwood.  It has been superbly documented by Grant Tomlinson.  £3750.

3. 60 cm, 13 ribs, my own design based on Venere
This is my own design, combining characteristics of the Venere lutes of 1582 and 1592, in order to obtain a slightly wider body than a simply scaled down version of the 1582 lute.  £3250.

[sonokeling rosewood with holly spacers, rose after Harton]

4. 60 cm, 31 ribs, my own design based on Venere
This is the same as the previous lute, except for the number of ribs, and the body sections which are more typical of multirib lutes from the Venere workshop.  £3950.

[cypress ribs with ebony spacers, rose after Venere (1592)]

5. 64 cm, 13 ribs, scaled from Venere, 1582 (Vienna, C36)
This is a scaled down version of no.6 below.  £3300.

[figured sycamore ribs, rose after Sellas]

6. 67 cm, 13 ribs, after Venere, 1582 (Vienna, C36) 
This lute was at some point converted to five-course guitar stringing, but the bridge and pegbox appear to have survived more or less intact.  It has a back of 13 striped yew ribs.  £3350.

[yew ribs, rose after Wendelin Teiffenbrucker]

7. 67 cm, 35 ribs, my own design based on Paduan models
This is very similar to the previous lute but with a multirib back.  £4050.

8. 76 cm, 11 ribs, my own design based on Maler
This was designed as a bass lute in D for someone who did not want the large, rounded body shape of the Harton lute (No.9 below).   I designed it primarily as a six-course lute but this particular one was made as a seven course.  £3450.

[rose after Matteo Stegher]

9. 78 cm, 35 ribs, after Harton, 1599 (Nuremberg, MI 56)
This is one of two large Harton lutes in Nuremberg which were restored in 1967 by Friedemann Hellwig.  The necks, pegboxes, and bridges are not original, but in their present form these lutes are plausible reconstructions of MI56 as an eight-course lute and MI44 as a seven-course lute.  The MI44 lute has a string length of 93.7cm.  £4200.

[ribs in American black walnut with holly spacers]

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