A Brief History of the Lute,
Part 4
By the beginning of the 18th century, the centre of activity in lute music shifted from France to Germany and Bohemia. The makers extended the range of the instrument still further, and by 1719 composers were writing for 13 courses. There were two types of 13 course lutes developed and it is hard to say which was first, since both are possible conversions from pre-existing 11 course instruments and so labels are not conclusive. Paintings of both types are suprisingly rare. In one version a single pegbox was used like that of the 11 course lute, but, possibly starting as a conversion, a small subsidiary pegbox or ‘bass rider’ with four pegs to take the extra two courses was added to the bass side of the main pegbox.
This had the effect of giving between 5 and 7cm extra length to these two courses. Commonly these lutes were quite large by previous standards with 70 to 75cm being the usual string length.
This fine engraving by Stör of the lutenist Ulric Haffner shows the construction of the bass rider pegbox more clearly.
Though the number of strings is obviously somewhat schematic, the offset bridge which implies that this was converted from an 11 course lute is very clear and probably intentional.
From what has been said so far about stringing this must imply a lower pitch for the main strings. It is clear from the details of the tablature that Weiss wrote throughout his life for this version of the 13 course lute which was developed by the new wave of German makers, working in Bohemia and Germany itself. Among the most important at this time were Sebastian Schelle and his pupil Leopold Widhalm working in Nürnberg (see Martius, 1996), Martin Hoffmann and his son Johann Christian Hoffmann working in Leipzig, Joachim Tielke and his pupil J. H Goldt working in Hamburg (see Hellwig, 1980) and Thomas Edlinger I of Augsburg and his son Thomas II who moved to Prague and set up his workshop there. All these makers were violin makers as well, reflecting the growing importance of this instrument at a time when the lute was becoming less in demand.
These were also the makers responsible for the other version of the 13 course lute with extended bass strings, the German baroque lute. (see Spencer, 1976) This had an ornately curved double pegbox carved out of a single piece of wood, usually ebonised sycamore. This type did not usually have a treble rider, but did occasionally feature a little separate slot carved in the treble side of the main pegbox to take the top string. Typically this kind of lute had 8 courses on the fingerboard and 5 octaved courses going to the upper pegbox, these five being normally between 25 and 30cm longer than the fingered strings.
Supposed portrait of Mozart & Hadyn (?) in Mozarteum, Salzburg.
This design appears to be a modification of the pre-existing angelique form. Some apparently early 13 course lutes, such as the 1680 Tielke, dating from long before the surviving 13 course music which first appears c.1719, seem to be converted angeliques. Others like the Fux conversion in 1696 of a Tieffenbrucker instrument and the 169? 13 course lute of Martin Hoffmann raise more awkward questions of dating. An even more elaborate triple pegbox form of this type was also developed and a few examples have survived, notably by Johannes Jauck, a lute and violin maker working in Graz and Martin Bruner [1724 - 1801] in Ollmouc. These seem to have been functionally the same as the double pegbox form, and they may have been another attempt to obtain a smoother transition from treble to bass courses.
Anonymous lute probably made in Italy in 16th century and converted to triple-headed baroque form by Jauck in Graz
Yale, No. 4565.1960 (photo by Kenneth Bé)
Internally, the barring structure behind the bridge was altered by these makers. Starting with an increase in the number of little treble-side fan bars, finally the characteristic J bar on the bass side of the renaissance lutes was removed and various kinds of fan-barring were introduced right across this area of the soundboard. These seem to have the effect of increasing the bass response. The main transverse bars were also made slightly smaller and more even in height, maybe with the same intention. The body outline of these lutes is remarkably similar to that of the early 16th-century lutes of Frei and Maler and this resemblance may well have been deliberate, for the old instruments continued to be highly prized. It was about this time (1727) that the first systematic history of the lute was written, by E. G. Baron. Referring to the lutes of Laux Maler, he wrote:
But it is a source of wonder that he already built them after the modern fashion, namely with the body long in proportion, flat and broad-ribbed, and which, provided that no fraud has been introduced, and they are original, are esteemed above all others. They are highly valued because they are rare and have a splendid tone.
This echoes the value put on Maler lutes in the Fugger inventory of nearly 200 years earlier, which talks of ‘An old good lute by Laux Maler’ and ‘One old good lute by Sig[ismond] Maler’. Baron’s comment on the possibility of fraud is also interesting in this context, since there are several surviving lutes with supposedly 16th century Tieffenbrucker labels which are clearly the work of Thomas Edlinger working in Prague at about the time Baron was published. Thomas Mace too, writing of Maler, says, ‘..but the Chief Name we most esteem, is Laux Maller, ever written with Text Letters: Two of which Lutes I have seen (pittiful Old, Battered, Crack’d Things) valued at 100l. a piece.’
In the 18th-century a much simpler form of German ‘lute’, the mandora, emerged with the same string lengths and barring system as the baroque lute but usually with only six or eight courses in a variety of tunings,. Apparently mainly used by amateurs, it also found a useful niche in orchestras in place of the 13 course baroque lute.
Throughout the lute’s history the gut strings have been matched by moveable gut frets tied round the neck. The placing of these frets has always been a problem to both theoreticians and players, and many attempts have been made to find a system that will give the nearest approach to true intonation on as wide a range of intervals and in as many positions as possible. A number of writers, including Gerle (1532), Bermudo (1555), the anonymous author of Discours non plus mélancholique (1557), Vincenzo Galilei (Il Fronimo, 1568) and John Dowland put forward various systems, many of which were based on Pythagorean intervals. Late I6th-century theorists in Italy, as well as 17th-century writers such as Praetorius and Mersenne, habitually assumed that the intonation of the lute (and other fretted instruments) represented equal temperament, whereas keyboard instruments were tuned to some form of mean-tone temperament (see Temperaments).
Günther Hellwig: Joachim Tielke, Ein Hamburger Lauten- und Violenmacher der Barockzeit, (Frankfurt am Main ,1980)
Klaus Martius: Leopold Widhalm, und der Nürnberger Lauten- und Geigenbau im 18. Jahrhundert, (Frankfurt am Main, 1996)
Sandro Pasquale & Roberto Regazzi:Le Radici del successo della liuteria a Bologna, (Bologna, 1998)
Ray Nurse: ‘Design and Structural Development of the Lute in the Renaissance’, Proceedings of the International Lute Symposium, (Utrecht, 1988)
Kevin Coates: Geometry, Proportion and the Art of Lutherie, (Oxford, 1985)
Monika Burzik:Quellenstudien zu europäischen Zupfinstrumentenformen, (Kassel 1995)
A. L. Lloyd: ‘The Rumanian Cobza’, LSJ. ii (1960), 13
Edmund A. Bowles: Musical Performance in the Late Middle Ages, (Minkoff, 1983)
Peter Kiraly: ‘Some new facts about Vendelio Venere’ LSJ. xxxiv (1994), 26 and LSJ. xxxv (1995), 73
Peter Forrester: ‘An Elizabethan Allegory and some hypotheses’ LSJ. xxxiv (1994), 11
John Downing: ‘The Maler and Frei Lutes - Some Observations’ FoMRHI Bull. 11 (1978), 60
Mimmo Peruffo: ‘New hypothesis on the construction of bass strings for lutes and other gut-strung instruments’ FoMRHI Bull. 62 (1991), 22
Keith Polk: German Instrumental music of the Late Middle Ages, (Cambridge 1992)
E. Segerman: ‘The size of the English 12-course lute’ FoMRHI Bull. 92 (1998), 31
Lynda Sayce: ‘Continuo lutes in 17th and 18th-century England’ Early Music xxiii/4 (November 1995), 666
Lynda Sayce: ‘Performing Purcell; A question Answered?’ Early Music Review (March 1995),
D. Edwards: ‘Talbot’s English theorbo reconsidered’ FoMRHI quarterly, Bull. 78, (1995), 32
Stefano Toffolo: Antichi Strumenti Veneziani, 1500-1800: Quattro Secoli di Liuteria e Cembalaria. (Venice, 1987)
Peter Päffgen: Laute und Lautenspiel in der ersten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts (Regensburg, 1978)
Peter Lay: ‘French Music for solo theorbo - an introduction’ Lute News, No. 40, (1996), 3
Catherine Massip: ‘Facteurs d’instrument et maîtres à danser parisiens au XVIIe siècle’ Instrumentistes et Luthiers Parisiens XVII - XIX siècles, (Paris, no date)
Catherine Massip: La vie de musiciens de Paris au temps de Mazarin (Paris, 1976)
Elisabeth Wells:‘An Early stringed keyboard instrument’ Early Music Vol 6 No.4 (October 1978), 568
Sandro Pasqual: ‘Laux Maler (c.1485 - 1552)’ Lute News, No.51 (1999), 5 - 15
M.G.Lowe: ‘Renaissance and Baroque Lutes: A false dichotomy. Observationes on the lute in the seventeenth century’. Proceedings of the International Lute Symposium, Utrecht, 1988
Joel Dugot & others: Luths et luthistes en Occident(Paris, 1999)
This forms part of the lute entry in the new Grove Dictionary of Music and has been posted here in lieu of any payment whatsoever for the work done!
