Chitarrone, Theorbo and Archlute

7/21/2019 Chitarrone, Theorbo and Archlute

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/chitarrone-theorbo-and-archlute-56e34f893c29c 1/18



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Defining

the

differences between

the

chitarrone,

theorbo

and

archlute

has

always

been difficult.

Mersenne

(1637)

was

confused,

and few

readers

of his

book

on

instruments seem

to have noticed

that he

renamed

his

theorbe,

arciliuto.

Many

modern

writers

have

given

definitions as

though

they applied

in

any

country

at

any

date.

It

is

easy

to

forget

that

poor

and

slow communications

allowed

regional

character to

develop.

This

attempt

to

distinguish

instruments

of the

lute

family

with more than one

peg

box is based on a

study

of

surviving

nstruments,

music

written for

them,

and

contemporary

comment,

not

forgetting

much-

appreciated

discussion with Michael

Lowe,

James

Tyler,

Ian

Harwood,

Nigel

North,

Tim

Crawford,

and

Anthony

Bailes.

Chitarrone

The

chitarrone as most

probably

evolved

c. 1580

by

a

member of the Camerataof Florence, as a necessary

adjunct

of

the new

style

of

song

writing,

musica

recitativa. t

supplied simple

harmonic

support

for the

voice,

often

being

played

by

the

singer

himself.

Malvezzi

1591)

tells

us

that

Peri

sang

to

his

own

chitar-

rone

accompaniment

in the

1589feste.1

Piccinini

(1623)

says

that

chitarroni

were

developed

from bass

lutes,

whose

strings

were raised

in

pitch

(I

suggest

from

D

to

G)

when

used for

song

accompaniment.

Owing

to

the

long string-length

of

the

bass lutes

the

top

two

courses

had to be lowered

an octave.

He adds that Caccini

used such

an instrument to

accompany

himself before

1594.2

Note that he

says

nothing

about

long

un-

stopped

bass

strings,

which

Piccinini

says

he invented

for the arciliuton 1594.

I

suggest

that before

1594 the

chitarrone

may

have

been

exactly

what

Piccinini

says:

bass lutes

restrung

at

higher

pitch

with the

top

two

courses lowered

an

octave,

but without

very

long

contrabassi.uch

an instrument

is

shown

in

Fig.

1.

In 1600 the

preface

to Cavalieri's

Rappresentatione

i

anima

e di

Corpo

isted

'a chitarroneor

theorbo,

as

it

is

called'

('un

Chitarone,

6

Tiorba

che si

dica').

That

is,

by

1600 the

words

chitarrone

nd

tiorba

were con-

sideredsynonymous,a fact later confirmedby Agazzari

(1606),3

Piccinini

(1623)4

and

Kapsberger

(1640).5

We

must therefore consider

why

there were two

names for

the same instrument.

Three

possibilities

suggest

themselves.

First,

similar

instruments with different names

may

have

been in-

Detailfrom

The

Duet

(c.

1630)

byJan

Molenaer

1609/10-68),

Seattle

ArtMuseum.

The

owest

courses

of

this

10-course

nstrument

rehousedn a

second

peg-box.

The

ame

nstrument

s

depicted

n

Molenaer's

Young

Man and

Woman

Making

Music

(c.

1630)

in

TheNational

Gallery,

ondon,

nd a

similar

econd

eg-box

housing

he wo

owest

ourses

of

an

8-course

instruments

shown

n

St

Cecilia and

the

Angel

(c.

1610)

in

theGalleria

Nazionale,

Rome

illustrated

n M.

Pincherle,

n

Illustrated

History

of

Music,

London, 962,

p

84).

vented

simultaneously

in different

parts

of

Italy,

a

sup-

position

backed

by

the nomenclature

of

Praetorius

(1620):

Paduanische

Theorba and

Lang

Romanische

Theorba:

Chitarron.6

Second,

if

my

suggestion

is

correct

that the earliest chitarrone

as

only

a

restrung

bass

lute,

a new name

(the

tiorba)

would

have

been

required

for

an

instrument,

which

although

tuned

in a similar

manner,

had additional

long

contrabassi

trings.

By

1600

(S. Rossi,

II

primo

libro de

madrigali)

this

modi-

fication was

adopted

by

the

chitarrone.

nd

thirdly,

one

instrument

could have been

strung

with

gut,

the other

with metal. Both Praetorius

and Piccinini

mentioned

the

optional

use

of

metal

strings,

but neither

said

that

they

were exclusive

to

the

chitarrone.

raetorius

illus-

trated

both instruments

as

being single-strung.

His

chitarron

ad fourteen courses

of

which

6

were

on the

fingerboard,

his

Paduanische

Theorba ixteen

courses

with

eight fingered.

His chitarron

ad a

smaller

body

but

longer

overall

length

than

his theorba

Fig.

2).

Apart

from these

distinctions,

which

anyway

are

not

con-

firmed

by

some

large-bodied

and

double-strung

10

Overleaf:

Lady

with a

Theorbo

(c. 1670?)

by

ohn

Michael

Wright

1617-71700)

Columbus

allery

fFine

Arts,Ohio,

U.S.A.

408



instruments

by

Buechenberg

of

Rome,

the

present

state

of researchdoes

not enable us

to statewith

cer-

tainty

any

difference etween hitarrone

nd

tiorba

fter

c.1600.

Caccini

(1602)

said that 'the

chitarrone

s

better

suited

to

accompany

the

voice,

especially

the

tenor,

than

any

other

instrument'.7

More than

60 books of

songs

printed

1600-41 name

it for

accompaniment.8

In these

the

player

had to

improvise

a

simple

chordal accom-

paniment

from a bass

line,

frequently

unfigured,

though

a

few books

(Rossi

1600;

Kapsberger

610,

1612,

1619;

Corradi

1616)

have a tablature

accom-

paniment

which

gives

a

precise

indication of

style.

It

accompanied

the voice without

a

bowed

bass.

Banchieri*

gave

this

tuning

for a chittarrone:

0'come

lace'

.e.

whicheverctave

ou

refer

or

tring

He

did not

say

whether

it was

double-

or

single-

strung,

nor

how

many

courses

were

fingered.

Note

that

course

1

could

be,

and course 2

was

at lute

pitch,

which

implies

either that the

stopped

string-length

was

short,

or that Banchieri

was

unsure of

his

facts.

Praetorius

(1619)

also

gave

a

G

tuning

for his

Theorba ith 6

stopped

strings,

which

corresponds

with

his illustration of a chitarron:

O-

Stopped

strings

-0

Q

Unstopped

trings

n

o

o

o

o

Notice

that

courses

1

and

2

are

lowered the

octave and

that it is

single-strung.

However,

the

tablature

song

accompaniments

of

Rossi,

Kapsberger

and

Corradi

indicate a

tuning

a tone

higher,

in A.

This

higher

tuning

was

adopted possibly

because a continuo

part

could be

played

with

greater

facility

in

the

much

used

key

of

A,

as well as those of

C, D, E,

F

and G. Also the

instrument would

sound better at a

higher

pitch.

Despite

the

octave

displacement

of

the first two

courses,

solo

music

in

tablature was

printed

for

the

I

latt~

KoomaW4it

hcorba:

Chiurron

abuanffib

heorba

- -

f

2----

-••

-T•

-

2

Lang

Romanische Theorba:

Chitarron

(detailfrom late

V)

and

Paduanische

Theorba

(detailfrom

late

XVI)

with heir

calesmarkedn

Brunswickfeet:from

.

Praetorius

heatrum

Instrumentorum

(Wolfenbiittel,

620).

One

Brunswickfootquals

11.235

inches r

28.536cm

(N.

Bessaraboff

ncient

European

Musical

Instruments

(Boston,

1941,

p

353).

Tuningsfrom

M.

Praetorius,

yntagma

Musicum,

Tomus

2:

De

Organographia (Wolfenbiittel,

619),

p

27.

chitarrone

by Kapsberger

n

1604,

1616,

1626,

1640,

and

by

Piccinini

in

1623.

Kapsberger

wrote for a

19-course

chitarronen

his

1640

book,

but

courses

15-19

only

supply

the

accidentals

missing

between

courses

6 and

13. Both

composers

wrote

instructions for

playing

technique,

and

Piccinini

recommended

playing

with

right-hand

nails.

The Archivo di

Stato of

Modena

has

a

chitarrone

ablature

dating

from

c.

1614-19:

(MS

Musica

4).

The

word

chitarrone,

earing

in

mind

that

the

instrument

was

invented

by

the

humanist

409

*

op.

cit.,

p

53.



.

i...i..

.

i i~iiii:q

~iiiii•ii

3

Chitarrone

(?

or

tiorba)

by

Magnodieffopruchar

Venice,

1608),

overall

length

95cm:

6'4j". London,RoyalCollege fMusic,

no.

26.

Camerata,

probably

means

large

kithara,

the instru-

ment

played by

the

classical

Greek

poets.

The

word

was

last

used

in

printed

music

in

Fontana and

Laurenzi

1641 and

Cazzati

1653,

being

gradually replaced

during

the

1630s

by

the

tiorba.

A

measured

drawing

by

Ian

Harwood

of

the

chitar-

rone

(or

tiorba)

llustrated

(Fig.

3)

can be

obtained

from

the

Instrument Museum

of the

Royal

College

of

Music,

London.

This chitarrone

has

six

double courses

on

the

fingerboard

with

a

stopped

string-length

of

93.3 cm, and eight single unstopped basses measuring

170.7 cm.

Tiorba

The

word

tiorba

first

appears

in

print,

to

my

know-

ledge,

in

1598,

when

John

Florio included it in his

Italian-English

dictionary,

A

Worlde

of

Wordes. Some

modern books

quote

its inclusion in

the 1544 inven-

tory

of

the

Accademia

Filarmonica,

Verona,

though

I

suspect

Una

tiorba

was added at the end of the

century.

(Short

of

going

to Verona

and

examining

the

manu-

script

I

can see no

way

of

resolving

my

doubts.)

Cer-

tainly

there seems to

be

no

musical

need

for

a

tiorba

until at

least the

mid-1570s,

when the

Camerata were

experimenting

with their nuove musiche.

Mersenne

(1637)

says

that it

was

invented in

Florence

'thirty

or

forty years

ago'

by

le

Bardella,9

i.e. Antonio

Naldi,

whom Caccini also

praised

for his continuo

realizations.10 From c. 1600 the tiorba was

considered

synonymous

with the chitarrone. t is named

in

printed

music

from

1600 until the 18th

century.

Solo

music in

tablature

was

printed

by

Meli in

1614,

1620;

and

by

Castaldi in

1622.

This latter book contains

a

portrait

of

Castaldi

(Fig.

4)

playing

his

tiorba,

which

is seen

to

be

single-strung

and

to have

a

single

rose

in the

sound-

board,

a

possible

distinction

from the chitarrone

also

depicted

by

Praetorius

(1620).

An

instrument

of

this

type

in

original

condition

is to be

found in the

Vienna

collection

(Fig.

5).

It has six double

courses on

the

fingerboard with a stopped string length of 75.7 cm

and

eight single

unstopped

basses

measuring

121.2

cm.

However,

Fig.

6 shows a

large-bodied

instrument

with a

triple

rose,

six

stopped

courses doubled

in

unison

except

for

the

first

which

is

single,

and nine

single

contrabassi.The

page

of

Italian tablature

on

the

left

is

inscribed corente

per

la

Tiorba,

thus

confirming

that

this

instrument

is

also a

tiorba.

Fig.

7

depicts,

presumably, yet

another variation

of

tiorba,

on which

the

contrabassi

appear

to be taken over their nut

to

be

housed

in

a second

peg-box

open

at

the

back

of the

extension-neck.

A similar

arrangement

is shown

in

two

other

paintings-The

Education

of

Marie de

Medicis

(c.

1622)

by

P. P.

Rubens

in

The

Louvre, Paris,

and

Amor

Vincit

Omnia

(c. 1640?)

by

Jan

van den Hoeke

in

the

Kunsthistorisches Museum

(no.

3554),

Vienna.

Pittoni added

a

figured

bass

for

organ

or

clavicem-

balo in his

sonatas

for

14-course

tiorba,

1669.

But

the

tiorba

was used

mainly

to

accompany

songs, taking

over

from

the chitarrone

as

the most

named

instrument

in

the 1630s. Mersenne

gave

the

tuning

of the

'Tuorbe

pratique

ai

Rome'"

as:

.o

?

n

He

added

the

correction that

his

engraving

of

a

tuorbe

(Fig.

16)

should be called

arciliuto,

and that the tiorbe

was

larger

and

single-strung.

Castaldi wrote

duets

for

the tiorba

to

play

with the

tiorbino,

tuned an octave

higher;

and

in

1645 was

printed

the

anonymous

410



j

?l

I

1

4

ct

nll~CI-l.

~h~-All.(

I.

4.

AW

N~

P:m

i

Ilt Cl."m

Left:

Bellerofonte

Castaldi

with

his

tiorbafrom

is

Capricci

a

Due Stromenti

(Modena,

1622)

p

28V

Centre:

iorba

(?

or

chitarrone)

by

Wendelio

Venere

Padua,

1611)

overall

length

140cm:

4'7j".

Vienna,

Kunsthistorisches

useum,

o.

SAM

43.

Right:

Geronimo

Valeriani,

lutenist

to

the Duke of Modena

by

Lodovico ana

1597-1646).

Photo

ourtesy

f

Sotheby,

arke

Bernet

&

Co.

Conserto

Vaga

for

11-course

tiorba,

liuto

and

chitarrino.

Both these works

were

written out

in

tablature.

Starting

with the

trio

sonatas

of

Cazzati

n

1656,

the

tiorba

was used

for the

following

thirty

years

as an

alternative

to the

violone,

reading

from bass

clef.

The

tiorbawould play the bass and add

harmony

to that of

the

organo

part.

From

the 1680s

the

arciliuto

gradually

replaced

the

tiorba,

probably

because

the

upper

two

courses,

being

at lute

pitch,

gave

the arciliuto

greater

range

for

the

bass,

and

allowed

room

for

harmony

above

that

bass.

The

tiorba

was used

on its

own to

accompany

a solo

voice

in

opera

(Legrenzi,

Eleocle,

1675)12

and

church music.

From 1614

St

Mark's,

Venice

employed

singers

who doubled

as

theorbists,"

the last

theorbist

there

dying

in

1748.'4

Schiitz

marked

a

section

of 'Veni

dilecte

mi'

in

Symphoniae

acrae

(Venice, 1629)

voce con

la Tiorba,

and

Cavalli's

Ave

Maris

Stella

has a

separate

part

for tiorba

written out in

Cavalli's

autograph.

As

late as

1717

motets

were

printed

with a

part

for

violone

Tiorba."

Theorbo

The

theorbo

(or

theorbo-lute:

Mace used the

terms

interchangeably

for

the same

instrument)16

s

first

referred

to

in

John

Florio's

Italian-English

diction-

ary,

A

Worlde

of

Wordes

1598),

when he

translated

Tiorba

as 'a

kind of

musicall

instrument used

among

countrie

people'.

Both

that definition and

that of

the

1611

edition,

'a musical

instrument that blind

men

play upon

called a

Theorba',

show that the

instru-

ment was unknown in Englandat that time. Dr Plume

noted

that

Inigo

Jones

first

brought

the

theorbo into

England

circa

1605.17

Angelo

Notari came to

England

c.

1610 and

published

a book of

songs

con

la

tiorba

n

7

Detailfrom

A Musical

Company

by

Gysbert

ander

Kuyl

d.

1673).

Photo

ourtesy

f

Sotheby

arke

Bernet

&

Co.

.Awn~:

411



8

Detailfrom

arySidney,Lady

Wroth,

holding

a theorbo

c.1620)

attributed

o

John

de Critz

1555 1641).

Penshurst

lace,

Kent.

London in 1613.

He

may

well have introduced the

theorbo. Michael

Drayton

(1613)

implied

that

the

theorbo

was

wire-strung.18

In The

Maske

of

Flowers

(1614)

a

song

was

'sung

to

Lutes

and Theorboes'.19

n

the

well-known

portrait

(c.1620)

of

Mary Sidney

(Fig.

8)

she is

holding

a

13-course

single-strung

theorbo

closely resembling that illustrated by Praetorius.

Walter Porter's

Madrigales

1632)

call

for

'Theorbos',

followed

by

Child's

(1639)

and Wilson's

(1657)

Psalms.

A number

of

manuscript

collections

of

songs

with

tablature

for

theorbo have

also

survived.20

In

1652

John

Playford printed

the

first of his

collections

of

Ayres

to

sing

to the Theorbo'.

Almost

every

song

book

until

the end

of the

century

called

for

the 'theorbo'

or

'theorbo-lute'.21

Samuel

Pepys

the

diarist

played

the

theorbo,

calling

it

interchangeably

'theorbo'

or 'lute'.

On 9 October 1661

he

wrote,

'put

my

theorbo out to

be mended'. On

25

October,

'saw

my

lute,

which is

now almost

done,

it

being

to have

a

new neck

to it

and

to be made to double

strings'.

On

28

October,

'my

Theorbo

done

...,

and

costs me

26s.

to the

altering.

But

he

now tells me it is as

good

a lute as

any

is in

England,

and is worth well

?10.'

On

the

subject

of

value,

theorbos cost about ?15

right through

the

17th

century.22

Pepys

wrote

on

15

November

1667,

'we did

play,

he

[Pelham

Humfrey,

lately

returned

from

France]

on the

theorbo,

Mr

Caesar

on his

French

lute,

and

I on the

viol,

but

made but mean

musique,

nor do

I

see that this 'Frenchman'do so much wonders

on the

theorbo'.

Thomas Mace

(1676)

gave

instructions

for

playing

solo and

continuo on

a

theorbo tuned thus:

6or

At least 7 courses were on

the

fingerboard.

He

added

that

some

players

lower the second

course an

octave

if

the

theorbo

is

very

large,

and that smaller

theorbos

should be

tuned a tone

higher,

in

A.23

His

engraving

(Fig.

9)

of The

Lute

Dyphone

hows the distinctive

peg-

box

peculiar

to some

English

theorbos,

which allowed

basses to increase

in

length

as

they

lowered

in

pitch.

I

know

of

no

surviving

instrument

of this

type,

but see

Lady

with

a

theorbo

Fig.

10)

painted

by

J.

M.

Wright

c.

1680. This

theorbo seems to

have

11

courses,

of

which

4 are

unstopped.

All

are

double,

except

the first.

James

Talbot

(c.

1700)

gave

this

tuning

for

an

'English

Double Theorboe':

Stopped

strings

5

nuts

giving

strings

lengths

of

Stopped

string

length

88.5

cm

105.5,

10.7,

118.4,

127.0,

135.9 cm

0 0

@?

and this

tuning

for an

'English

Single

Theorboe':

Stopped "Treles"

Unstopperd

Basses"

O

*

0

412



9

The heorboalof The LuteDyphone. T.Mace,Musick's Monument

(London,

676)

p32.

He said both could

have either

9

or

10

frets

on

the

neck,

and

gave

many

variants of

octave

or

unison

double-stringing.24

Returning

to

music for the

theorbo,

about

1650

John

Wilson

wrote

out

solos

in

every key

for

a

12-

course

instrument

with

only

the

first

course

tuned

to

the lower

octave. Of the

tablature

song

accompani-

ments

in

the

same

manuscript,

36

indicate

a

theorbo

tuned in G, and only 5 in A.2 Perhaps Henry Lawes

was

referring

to

the outlandish

keys

of

the

solos

when

he wrote:

That hou hast

gone,

in

Musick,

nknown

wayes,

Hastcuta

path

where

here

was

none

before,

Like

Magellan

raced

n

unknown

hore.26

Thomas

Mace

printed

a

long

Fancy-Praelude,

r

Voluntary;

Sufficient

Alone

to make a Good

Hand,

Fit

for

All

manner

of

Play,

or Use. About the

mid 1680s the theorbo

was

gradually

replaced

for

song

accompaniment

by

the

harpsichord,

probably

because it could not

cope

as

well with the new

melodic

importance

given

to the bass

by

composers

like

Purcell.

The advertisement

which

appeared

in

the

Flying

Post of

8

February

1701-J.

Hare

offers

for sale

'a

large

Consort

Theorbo

Lute'"27was

perhaps

indicative

of the

disuse into

which

the

theorbo had fallen.

However,

in 1707 Walsh

printed

A

CompleteMethodfor

...

Thorough

Bass

upon

...

Theorbo-Lute,

by

...

Godfrey

Keller,

though

in

a later

edition

'Theorbo-Lute'

was

replaced by

'Arch

Lute'.

In the same

year

Francesco Conti

played

'upon

his

GreatTheorbo' in London.28 Handel wrote parts for

teorbaor theorba

n his London

productions

of Giulio

Cesare

(1724),

Partenope

(1730),

Esther

(1732),

and Saul

(1739).

One silent

musical

use

of the theorbo

was recorded

in the Burwell

Lute

Tutor

(c.

1660-72):

'in a

Consort

one

beates

it

[time]

with the

motion

of

the necke

of

the

Theorbo,

and

every

one must

have the

eye

upon

it

and

follow

in

playing

his

motion

and

keepe

the same time

with the other

players'.29

Theorbe

The

thiorbe

(tuorbe)

was

probably

introduced

into

France c.1650

by

Nicholas Hautman

(Fig.

11),

who

died in 1663.30There is mention of its use

in

Mauduit's

concerts

of c.

1610,31

but then

nothing

until

Mersenne

(1637).

Presumably

the

thiorbe

was rare

in

France at

that time because Mersenne's well-known

picture

(Fig.

16) is in fact of an arciliuto, s he took pains to point

out

later

in

the

book.

In

the text he described the

Tuorbe

pratiqu

'

Rome

as

having

14 courses

singly

strung

in

A,

with

the

first

two courses tuned down

an

octave.

In

1647

ConstantijnHuygens

sent the

manu-

script

of his

Pathodia Sacra et

Profana

to

Ballard the

printer

in Paris. The

songs

then

had a tablature

accompaniment

for

theorbo,

but Ballard

persuaded

Huygens

to

replace

this with a

figured

bass that could

be used

by keyboard

players.2 Presumably

there

were

few theorbists

in

France then.

Part of

his

own theorbo

can

be seen

in

a

portrait

of

Huygens

dated 1627

(Fig.

12).

From 1660 a

number

of continuo tutors were

printed.33

In

1668

B.

de

Bacilly

had

printed

his Trois

Livresd'airswith

a

figured

bass

'pour

le Theorbe'.

Six

important

tablature

manuscripts

of solo

music

sur-

11

Nicolas

Hautman

(d.

1663),

engraving

y

Samuel

Bernard

1615-87).

LL

A4lonslet.r

lahniman

excellent-l'oueur

Je

VV;olle,

etJ-e

Lat

.

413



vive

for

thiorbe.34

his solo

music

may

have

been

played

on a

smaller instrument

than

that used for

continuo.

Talbot

gave

details of

two

sizes of

'French

Theorboe'.3"

First was the normal

accompanying

instrument,

tuned

as

Mersenne's,

to

which were

attached

the

names

Crevecoeur

and

Dupre,

who

supplied

Talbot with

his

information and

instruments

to

measure.

Unfortun-

ately he gave no measurementsfor this theorbo, but

we

do

know

that in

1703 a

'Mr

Dupre,

Lute

Master

has

set

up

a School

...

[in London]

where he

teaches

to

play

...

the

Theorbo

in

Consort',

and there

was

a

benefit concert

for him

the

following

year.36

A

12-

course instrument of this

type

is shown in

Puget's

painting

of 1687

(see

cover).

Of

the

fingered

courses

the first is

single,

and

six

are double

in

unison. The

five

diapasons

are

doubled

at the

octave. The second of

Talbot's instruments is

called 'lesser

French Theorbo

for

Lessons' and he

gave

a

tuning

a 4th

higher

than

that for

playing

thorough-bass:

0

76cm

C129.2 cm G

S

He added that a 'French Theorboe

may

have

10

Frets'

and that

Crevecoeur

told him that the 'Fr.

single

[strung]

Theorboe

...

[is]

fitter for

Thorough

Bass

than Arch

Lute,

its Trebles

being

neither below the

voice

nor Instrs

in

Consort,

as

Arch

Lute'. I

confess

I

can

make

little sense of

this,

since

the

archlute was

tuned

only

one tone lower than the

thorough-bass

theorbo,

and

its first

two courses were

not

lowered the

octave.

Perhaps

Crevecoeur

was

recommending

the

lesser

French theorbo

(tuned

in

D)

for

continuo

work,

and

Talbot failed to

grasp

the

distinction.

Or,

more

likely,

he has muddled the reason for

preferring

the

theorbo.

In

1701 Sauveur

gave

the standard

A

tuning

for a

14-course

Theorbe,

he first two courses

down

the

octave, adding that pour les Pieces (solos) the theorbe

should have 10

frets,

but

only

9

pour

jouer la

Basse

con-

tiniie.37

On

further

reflection

I think

the instrument

in

Watteau's Charmesde

la

Vie,

c.1719

(Early

Music,

April

1976,

p.

166)

is

probably

a thiorbe

pour

les

pidces.

In 1716

De

Vis&e

printed many

of

his theorbe

ieces

en

partition,

dessus

et Basse or

harpsichord

or violin

and

bass-viol,

because he said so few could read

tablature.38

n the

same

year

Campion

the

theorbist called tablature

pernicieuse

n his Trait6

d'Accompagnement.39

It is

likely

that

the

theorbe

as

taken to

Germany

and

Prague

from

France,

along

with

the French

lute,

so

the

use

of the

theorbe

n

those

countries

will

be

considered

here.

Silvius

Leopold

Weiss,

more famous for

his

playing

of the

solo

French

lute,

also

played

an

equiva-

lent of the

theorbo. He said in

a

letter

from

Dresden

dated 1723 that he had accommodated one of his

instruments for accompaniment in the orchestra and

in

church. This had

the

size,

length,

power

and

sonority

of a theorbo but was

tuned

differently.40

Baron

(1727)

said that

Weiss

played

thorough-bass

exceptionally

well on lute

or

tiorba,

nd that the

Theorba

of his

day

often

employed

die neue

Lauten-Stimmung

D

minor

tuning)

with

double-strung fingered

courses but

single

basses."

Weiss,

in

the same

letter,

confirmed

Mace's statement

that the

theorbo was

played

with

right-hand

nails. The tiorba

was

used

in

Vienna,

Prague

and Berlin

during

the 18th

century.42

When

giving

his

seating

plan

of

an

orchestra

(1752),

Quantz

wrote

that

the theorbist should sit behind the second harpsi-

chord,

between

two

cellists.43.

Baron was

the theorbist

Quantz

worked with in

Berlin from 1741 to 1760.

As

late as

1780 La Borde

distinguished

between

the

Thiorbe

de

pieces

and the

Theorbe

d'accompagnement.

He

wrote that

the first was

monte' la

quarte

i.e.

in

D?),

and

that

the

second was

au

ton naturel

in A?)

and

had a

larger

body;

his

theorbe

ad

14

strings,

6

fingered

and

8

basses,

and 10

frets.44

Liuto attiorbato

The

liuto

attiorbato

as a lute

of

7 or

8

double courses of

stopped

strings,

with 6 or 7

single

or double courses

of

unstopped diapasons.

This instrument

was

used

principally

for solo

music,

but was also

called

for

(as

liuto)

to

provide

continuo.

Courses

1

and

2

were

at

correct lute

pitch,

not

lowered an

octave

as on

the

tiorbaor chitarrone. his

implies

an

instrument with a

smallish

body

and

a

stopped

string-length

no

longer

than that of

a

normal lute.

Many

instruments made

by

Matteo Sellas

in

the

1630s

seem

to

have the

right

pro-

portions

for

a

liuto

attiorbato.

(Fig.

13).

Piccinini

(1623)

says

he

invented

this

type

of

instru-

ment in Paduain 1594. He calls it arciliuto ecause the

name

liuto attiorbato

uggests

that it was derived from

the tiorba

which

he

knows to be untrue because he

in-

vented

it.45

His

book also

gives

very

full

instructions

on

the

technique

of

playing

the

liuto

attiorbato,

ncluding

recommending

the use of

right-hand

nails.46

Graces

are

explained

in Meli

(1614)

and

Piccinini

(1623).

The

liuto

attiorbatos

named

in

printed

music between 1614

and

1623

only:

but after

about

1611

(Kapsberger's

Intavolatura di

lauto,

which is for 10-course

lute)

liuto

414



means with few

exceptions

liuto

attiorbato

n

Italy.

The

old

G

tuning

was

carried

right through

the 17th

into

the

18th

century

while

other

European

countries

experimented

with new

tunings, culminating

in the

D

minor

and 'Flat French'

tunings.

Solo music in

tablature was

printed

by

Saracini

in

1614

(14

courses);

Meli

in

1614, 1616,

and

1620

(13

courses);

Piccinini

in

1623,

1639

(13

courses);

and

Gianoncelli in 1650

(14

courses).

L. Theorbatos called

for

in a

manuscript

of

Italian tablature in the

Biblio-

theque

Nationale,

Paris

(Res 1108).

Eleven

courses

are

used on

f.

14v-15,

and

12

on

f.42.

Other

manuscripts

of

Italian tablature for

11

or

12-course

Liuto are:

Nuremberg,

Staatsbibl.,

Mus. MS.

271/3; Florence,

Bibl. Naz.

Cen.,

Mus.

Codex. XIX.105

(dated

1635);

Venice,

Bibl. Naz.

Marciana,

Codex

1.IV.

1793

(dated

1657-8).

The

anonymous

Conserto

Vaga

(Rome,

1645)

for

tiorba,

iuto

and

chitarrino

implies

that the liuto

is

tuned

in

A,

but

only

8

courses

are

used.

Praetorius (1620) illustrated a Laute mit Abziigem

[extension]

oder

TestudoTheorbata

Fig.

14).

This

shows

an

instrument

smaller

than

his

Paduanische

Theorba,

with

strings

taken over or

through

the

bridge

to the

capping

strip,

which would

only

be

necessary

if

they

. 0 - O o o o

12

Detail

ofConstantijn Huygens

(1627)

by

Thomas e

Keyser

1596/7-

1667).

London,

National

Gallery,

o.

212.

were made of metal.

An instrument

of this

type

sur-

vives in the Paris

Conservatoire

Mus'e

(Fig.

15),

on

which the soundboard

is 'bent'

to

withstand

the

tension

of metal

strings.

Praetorius

(1619)

is

speaking

of the testudo

heorbata

hen he

says

that the lute

of

his

day has seven or eight double courses on the finger-

board

and six

single

diapasons

alongside.47.

His

theorba

differs

from it in

having single

strings throughout

and

courses

1

and

2 lowered an

octave.

He

gave

this

tuning

for

Lauttemiteim

langen

Kragen

long

neck]

48

Left:

?

Liuto

Attiorbato

by

Matteo

ellas

Venice,1638).

7

double

stopped

ourses

8.8cm,

7

double

ofitrabassi

84.3cm,

overall

length

12cm:3'8j".

Paris

Conservatoire,

usie

Instrumental,

o.

E

1028 C

1052.

Centre:

estudo Theorbata

(detail

rom

plate

XVI)

with ts

scale

n

Brunswickfeet,from

.

Praetorius

heatrum

Instrumentorum

(Wolfenbiittel,

1620).

Its

tuningfrom

M.

Praetorius

yntagma

Musicum,

Tomus 2:

De

Organographia

(Wolfenbittel,

619)

p

27.

Right:

? Liuto

Attiorbato

(anon,

undated).

There

re

8

holes

n

the

capping-stripfor

itch-pins.

stopped

ourses

13

strings)

4.7cm,

5

contrabassi

courses

8

strings)

4.0cm,

but heneck as

probably

een hortened.

aris

Conservatoire,

usie

Instrumental,

o.

E

528 C

229.

14

13

15

-

I

'ttrmit

Ubl•fim bcr

eflIudoTheorbara

.autte

mitirno

ean

In

eragen.

415



0

00

@

Arciliuto

As

mentioned

above,

Piccinini

preferred

the

word

arciliuto

o

liuto

attiorbato

ecause

the latter

implied

a

relation

to

the

tiorba

which

he,

the

inventor,

denied.

Mersenne

(163

7)

was

confused

between tiorba

nd ar-

ciliuto,

which

perhaps

indicates

only

that

neither

was

common in

Paris

at

that time. In

the text

he

called this

instrument

(Fig.

16)

Tuorbe,

ut

in

his

errata he

wrote

that

the Italians called it

Arciliuto

though

he

would

have

preferred

Luth d

double

manche. He

gave

this

tuning

for

the

11

courses,

though

in

the text

he

implied

that

others

tuned

the arciliuto

tone

lower

:49

)-

Stopped

trings

)

-

Diapasons-

However,

the word arciliuto

did

not

gain

universal

ac-

ceptance

until

the

1680s,

by

which

time two

impor-

tant

new

factors called

for a continuo

instrument to

replace

the

tiorba.

First,

covered

strings

had been

in-

vented

in

the middle

of

the

century

(first

mentioned

in

print

in

1664)o0

which enabled

a fuller

sound

to be

produced

on a

string

length

shorter

than that

of the

tiorba.

Secondly,

Corelli and his

contemporaries

were

writing

wide-ranging

bass lines

that stretched

the

theorbist: both his

fingers,

and the

upper

register

of

his

instrument,

so

that he had no

higher strings

for

the

harmony

above the bass. Or if he did

try

to

play

har-

mony

on

the

upper

two

strings,

it sounded

below

the

bass because of their octave

transposition.

The

arciliuto

solved

both these

problems.

It

carried

on

the

tuning

of

the

liuto

attiorbato ith the

upper

strings

at lute

pitch,

thus

enabling

the

bass to rise

higher

and still have

at

least

one

string

left for

a

harmony

note above

it.

And

the shorter

stopped

string-length

(say,

67 instead

of

90cm)

made

it

feasible

to

play

with

greater

facility.

Corelli

named the arcileuto s a

possible

alternative

to

the

violone n

his trio sonatas from 1681. It would

have

played

the

bass line and added

harmony

to that

of

the

organo.

Many

other

composeres,

e.g.

Sammartini,

Vitali and

Veracini,

named the arciliuto

n this

way.5'

I

suggest

that the

instrument

by

M. Harz of

Rome

dated 1665 (Fig. 17) is an arciliuto. t has 6x2 stopped

strings

measuring

67cm and

8 x

1

diapasons

of

143.7cm. This

stopped

string-length

does not

seem

long

enough

for a

theorbo,

that

is,

there

is no need

to

lower

the

top

courses

an

octave,

and

the

chitarrone

s

last

named

in

printed

music

in 1641

and

1653.

In

planche [3]

of his

Principesd'Acoustique

oseph

Sauveur confirmed the distinctionsbetween

theorbend

archiluth,

nd that the latter

had 14 courses tuned in

G

with the

top

courses

at lute

pitch.

In 1703

Brossard

said that when a

thiorbe s

double-strung,

with

dia-

pasons

in

octaves,

the

stopped strings

unison

and

the

first

course

single,

it

is

then called Archileuto

or

Archiliuto

by

the

Italians,

and Archiluth

by

the

French.52

G.

Bononcini wrote

a

part

for arciliuto

n his

opera

II

16

Arciliuto

nd

ts

uning,

etail

from

he

ngraving

n M.

Mersenneeconde

Partie

de

L'Harmonie

niverselle:

ivre

Premier es Instrumens

(Paris, 1637)

p

46.

B~i

t

1iiiI

_____l___l____ll"

.

M

I• I illt i

II

I11111

ii

ll 11..

-r

416



Xerse,

written

in

1694

in

Rome,

and A. Scarlattiscored

for leutoin

his

opera

II

Prigioniero

ortunato

(Naples,

1698)."3

n 1708 Handel

scored

for arciliuto

olo n

his

Resurrezione,

nd

gave

a

fully

written out

part

for

arciliuto

n

the

aria

'Come

la

Rondinella' from his

cantata

Clori,

Tirsi e

Fileno.

A

cantata

(1738)

by

G.

Bonno includes the aria

'Qual

sara

l'anima'

for bass

with a

written

out

part

in

staff

notation for arciliuto

solo.54

I have in

my

own

library

an

anonymous

Italian

manuscript,

written

c.

1720,

containing

two

Concertini

Per

Cammera

ConArciliuto

obligato,

Violini

d

Bassoand

a

Sinfonia

" olo

di Arciliuto.The

arciliuto

part

is

written

in

staff notation on

one

stave

transposed up

an

octave

(as

guitar

today),

alternating

between solo sections and

figured

bass

(Fig.

18).

These

compositions

illustrate

the

advantage

of arciliuto

ver

tiorba

or

continuo,

in

that

solo

sections

are

possible

if

the

top

strings

are at lute

pitch.

There

is a

painting

by

Johann

Georg

Platzer

(1702-60)

in

The

Hermitage, Leningrad,

in

which an

arciliuto s being played with violin, cello, transverse

flute and

cembalo to

accompany

a

singer.

Archlute

The

archlute

argely replaced

the

theorbo

in

England

at

the

beginning

of the 18th

century.

About

1700

James

Talbot

measured an

'Arch Lute' with this

tuning:"

o

trebles,

measuring68.5cm

m

basses,measuring

52.7

cm

O

Vol

Notice how

close the

stringing

and

measurements

are

to

the

Harz

instrument illustrated

above.

A

manu-

script

of

c 1680

contains

on

fl 1-20v

Italian

songs

with

tablature

accompaniment

for either

archlute or

theorbo.

The two

solo

'Menuetts'

on

f16'

seem to call

for

the

upper

strings

to be at the

upper

octave.

If

so,

this would

be a

very early

use of the

archlute

in

England.s6

Between 1703

and 1708 Thomas Dean

advertised London

concerts

in

which he

played

the

archlute to

accompany

in

turn the

violin,

the

German

flute and the

voice."7

John

Blow scored for 'lute'

(pro-

bably

intending

archlute)

n

an anthem to celebrate the

Battle of Blenheim

(1704).8

John

Walsh the

publisher

listed the archlute for

continuo

in

nine of his music

books

1705-17.s9

In

1715 a 'lutanist' was

appointed

to

the

Chapel Royal.6o

This was

John

Shore the

trumpeter,

whose

archlute Talbot had measured some

years

earlier,

and

who,

according

to

Hawkins,

in-

vented the

tuning

fork 'to

tune

his

lute

by'."'

In

the fol-

17

?

Arciliuto

by

Martinus

Hart

(Rome,

1665)

with

ts

original

ase.Overall

length

167cm:

5'5

".

Edinburgh

niversity,

ollection

of

Musical

Instruments.

lowing

year

John

Weldon

specified

the

'arch-lute' to

provide

continuo for

his

anthems

in

Divine

Harmony,

and the lutenist

can

be seen

in

the

frontispiece

view of

the

Chapel.

Handel wrote a

figured

bass

part

for

'archilute'

in

'Gentle

Airs'

from Athalia

(Oxford,

1733),62

but

its

range

and

style

is

indistinguishable

from

his

teorbe

parts

(London,

1724-39).

It is

possible

that his

choice of instrument was

governed

by

the

availability

of

particular players

and the

instruments

they played.

After Shore's death

in

1752

the archlute is

mentioned

only

in

histories

(Hawkins,

1776)

and

dictionaries (Hoyle, 1791), but these merely repeat

earlier writers.

Postscript:

lutes

with

two

heads

1.

The

Two-headed lute

The

type

of lute shown

in

the illustration

(Fig.

19)

is

sometimes called a

theorboed-lute

or

theorbo-lute.

I

417



18

Musicfor

rciliuto,

igured

ass

hanging

o

solo,

rom

Concertino

er

Cammera

on

Arciliuto

bligato,

Violini

e Basso

c.1720)

owned

y

R.

Spencer.

think this is mistaken. Mace (1676) made it clear that

his theorbo-lute

was

synonymous

with

his

theorbo62a

(Fig.

7),

not a

different

instrument.

The other

half

of

his Lute

Dyphone

he

called

'French

lute'

(Fig.

20)

and

on

p

50

referred

to

its 'two

heads'.

Mace's

'Flat-

French'

tuning

can

be deduced

by

reading

p

50, 83,

115,

and

190:

0

Stopped

strings

?-

G-

basses-

The

Burwell

Lute

Tutor reads

'English

Gaultier

...

hath

caused

twoe

heads to

be made

to the Lute.

All

England

hath

accepted

that

Augmentation,

and

Fraunce

at

first;

but

soon after

that

alteracon

hath

beene

condemned

by

all

the

french Masters

who

are

returned

to

theire

own

fashion.'62b

The

engraving

(Fig.

20

The

French

ute

with

wo

heads)

halfofThe

Lute

Dyphone.

T.

Mace's

Musick's

Monument

(London,

676)

p

32.

21)

of

Jacques

'English'

Gaultier,

made

by

Jan

Lievens

c.1630-33, shows

him

holding

a two-headed

lute.

James

Talbot

(c.

1700)

called

this

type

of lute

'English

Two

Headed

Lute' and

noted

many

details

about

it.63

'It

has

four

small

Nutts

bearing

off

obliquely

(as

Theorboe)

which

carry

each

two

single

strings

viz

1

bass

and

its

octave

string.

....

The

8 Basses

have

their

upper

head

lying

straight

as

the

Theorboe:

the

15

Trebles

have

the

(lower)

head

bearing

back

as

the

French

Lute

of

which

this

seems

to

be

an

improve-

ment.'

He

gave

this

tuning:

63.5 to 81.6 cm

0

trebles,

59.7 cm

@

in

four

steps

D

e

a

e

Notice the short

stopped

string-length,

making

it

quite

obvious that the instrumentis intended for solo music.

The

large

number

of

paintings

which

depict

the two-

headed lute indicate

its wide

popularity,

but

very

few

instruments have

survived,

and

none

of these

looks

wholly

convincing:64

some

could

have

been

renecked

less than

a

century

ago

to sell

to

collectors.

2.

The German

baroque

lute

(?

or

theorbo)

It

is

difficult

to

decide

whether

the

type

of

lute shown

in the illustration(Fig. 21) should be called a lute or a

theorbo.

Whatever

its

name,

I'm sure

it was

strung

in

the

normal

D

minor

tuning

used

for

solo

music:

0

Stopped

strings

@

1

basses

@

So

the

lutenist

could

play

solo

music

on

this

instru-

ment.

But,

did he?

The French lute at the end of the 17th century had

11

courses,

tuned

as

above

down to

the

11th

course,

with

the

pegs

housed

in a

single

peg-box.

Such

an

instrument

can

be

seen

in the

portrait

(c

1690)

of

Charles

Mouton.65

When

the

centre

of

lute

activity

shifted

from

France

to

Germany

towards

the end

of

the

century,

the

new

composers

wrote

for

a

13-course

instrument.

Many

existing

11-course

lutes

were

adapted

by

the

addition

of

a bass

rider

to

house the

four

extra

pegs,

or

new

instruments

were

made incor-

porating

this second

peg-box.66

About

the

same

time

a

new

design

was

evolved

(as

in

Fig.

22),

which

gave

greater

length

to

the

five lowest

courses.

The earliest

instrument

of this

form

that

I have

noted

is dated

1692.67

I have called

it the German

baroque

lute

in

order

to

distinguish

it from

the

11-course

French

lute

and

because

it

appears

to

have

been

developed

in

Leipzig

to

play

German

music.

There

is no historical

justification

for

this,

but

it

seems

desirable

to

have

a

distinguishing

name

for

ease

of reference.

An

argu-

ment

in favour

of

considering

these

instruments

418



19

Detailfrom

The

Lute-Player

(1661)

by

Hendrik

Martensz

orgh

(1611-70).

Amsterdam,

ijksmuseum,

o.

2213.

theorbos

is that

the basses would

ring

on

too

long

for

solo

music,

whereas

this added

resonance

would

be

lost

in an ensemble.

Secondly,

Baron

(1727)

said

that:

'Today

the

theorbo

(Paduanischen

Theorben)

com-

monly

has

the new

lute

tuning,

which

our

own

lute

still

has,

because

it

was

too much trouble

for the

lutenist

to

have

to

suddenly

rethink

everything

when

he

picked

up

the old theorbo.

Today

the theorboes also havedouble

courses

except

for the

basses which

are stretched

freely

to

the second

peg-box.

From

this Herr Mattheson

can

see

first that the

theorbo

and

lute have never

differed

except

with

respect

to

their

size and

range,

and

second-

ly

that

the

lute,

because

of

its

delicacy,

serves well

in

trios

or other

chamber

music

with

few

participants.

The

theorbo,

because

of

its

power,

serves

best

in

groups

of

thirty

to

forty

musicians,

as

in churches

and

operas.'68

Already

we

see

arguments

here for

con-

sidering

the

instrument

under

discussion

a lute.

The

basses are double, and Schelle himself did make

theorbos

of traditional

17th-century

design

with

single

basses,'69

hough

the

string-length

of

88.0

cm would

have

precluded

the

D

minor

tuning

suggested

by

Baron.

And the

long

basses

would

not have

been over-

bearing

if

they

were

on

the

'lute' Baron

mentions

for

the new

style

of 'trios

or other

chamber

music'.

In fact

the

length

would

have

been

necessary

to

supply

the

volume

required by

the

new.extrovert

'galant'

style

employed

in

solo

music.

__

.

.•.

'

.

.

----.,?=f;-.'?•,---

i-

--?--s

211

Detail

ofJacques

Gaultier,

engraving

c.

1630-33)

byJan

Lievens.

We

have

reversed

he

print eft

o

right

because

he

original

ngraving

hows

the

utewith he

bass

trings

n

the

reble

ide.

Another

piece

of

evidence should be considered

(Fig.

23).

I

think

it more

likely

that

Falkenhagen

would

have wished

to be

depicted

as a soloist rather

than

as

an

accompanist.

His

music

paper

is

ruled with

six

lines

for solo

tablature,

not

five

lines

for continuo

bass.

A

portrait

of Christian Gottlieb

Scheidler dated

1811-1370

shows

him

playing

a similar

instrument.

Perhaps

it will be

possible

to categorizethese instru-

ments

definitely

lutes or theorbos after

further dis-

cussion,

but

I take comfort from Praetorius who said

when

considering

the theorbo:

'Since

constant

changes

take

place

in

these various

matters,

nothing

very

definite

may

be stated about

them here.''

FOOTNOTES

1

C.

Malvezzi,

IntermediiVenice,

1591)

libro

nono,

p

12.

'Questo

Ecco

fu cantato da

Jacopo

Peri

...

con

maravigliosa

arte

sopra

del

chitarone'.

Elsewhere

spelt

chitarrone:

o mention

of

tiorba,

but 'Due

Leuti

grossi,

due

piccoli'.

2

A.

Piccinini, Intavolatura

di

liuto,

et

di

chitarrone;

ibro

primo

(Bologna,

1623:

facsimile ed.

1962),

p

5.

Cap.

XXVIII:

'Dell'Origine

del

chitarrone

...

che

la

prima

corda,

non

potendo

arriuarecosi

alta

vi

posero

in

vece

di

quella

vn' altra

corda

grossa

accordandola

vn'

ottaua

piiA

bassa

...

questi

Liuti

grandi,

per

esser

cosi

dolci,

fossero

molto i

proposito

d'vno,

che

canta,

per

accompagnamento;

ma

trouandoli

molto

pidi

bassi

del

bisogno

loro,

furno

necessitati

for-

nirli

di

corde

piu

sottili tirandoli

in

tuono

commodo

alla

voce.

E

perche

le

seconde

non

poteuano

arriuare con

l'essempio

dell'altra

corda le accordomo

vn'ottaua

piu

bassa;

8

cosi hebbero

il

loro

intento

?

questo

fu il

principio

della

Tiorba,

6 vero

Chitarrone;

e di

poco

tempo

inanzi ch'io facessi

fare

la tratta

a

i

contrabassi,

era

venuto

a

Ferrara,

il

Signor

giulio

Caccini

... il

quale

haueua vn

419



Chitarrone

d'Auorio

accomodate

in

quella

maniera

medisima ch'io

ho detto

di

sopra,

della

qualle

si

seruiua,

per

accompagnamento

della

voce;

fuori

poi

dell'

occasione

del

catare

nissuno

suo suonaua

di

Chitarrone....'

3

quoted

in

A.

Banchieri,

Conclusioniel

suono

dell'

organo Bologna,

1609:

facsimile

ed.

Milan,

1934),

p

69:

'Il

Chittarrone,

6

Tiorba,

che

dire

la

vogliamo'.

4

Piccinini,

op.

cit.

I

Libro

quarto

'involatura

i

chitarrone

Rome, 1640),

p

2: 'Accordo del

Chitarone ouer Tiorba

19 Ordini.'

6

Theatrumnstrumentorum(Wolfenbiittel,1620),platesXVIand V.

'

G.

Caccini,

Le Nuove Musiche

Florence, 1602),

sig.

C2V

Ai Lettori

...

del

Chitarrone

..

essendo

questo

strumento

piu

atto ad

accom-

pagnare

la

voce,

e

particolarmentequella

del

Tenore,

che

qualunque

altro.'

8

see

E.

Pohlmann,

Laute,Theorbe,

hitarrone

2nd

ed.

Bremen, 1972),

pp

187-8.

9

M.

Mersenne,

Seconde artiede

l'Harmonie

niverselle:

ivre

septiesme

des instrumens

Paris,

1637),

p

77:

'Page

45

&

46

&c

j'ay

nomme

la

seconde

figure

i

main droit

Tuorbe,

ue

les Italiens

appellent

Ar-

ciliuto,

&

qui

doit

plustost

estre

appell

Luth a double

manche,

parce

qu'outre que

le

Tiorbe est

beacoup plus

grand,

il

n'a

qu'une

chorde

a

chaque

rang,

&

n'y

a

que

trente

ou

quarante

ans

que

le

Bardella

l'inuentaaFlorence.'

10

G.

Caccini,

op.

cit.

sig.

C2v.

'I

Mersenne,op.cit.,Livre remier es nstrumens, 88.

12

D.

Arnold and N. Fortune, The Monteverdi

Companion

London,

1968),

p

292.

13

E.

Selfridge-Field,

'Bassano and the orchestra of St

Mark's',

Early

Music,

April

1976,

p

157.

14

E.

Selfridge-Field,

'Annotated

membership

lists

of the Venetian

Instrumentalists'

Guild

1672-1727',

R.M.A. Research

Chronicle,

o.

9

(1971),

p

15.

11

P.

C.

Albergati,

Motetti,

p.

12

(Bologna,

1717).

16

T.

Mace,

Musick'sMonument

London, 1676),

p

207.

17

Maldon,

Essex. Plume's

Library,

pocket

book

no.

25,

f.92v:

'Inigo

Jones

first br.

ye

Theorbo

in.

Engl.

circa an 605.

at

Dover it

w.

thought

sm

Engn

br. fr6

Pop.

cuntris to destr.

ye

K

& He &

t

sent

up

to

Cn.

Tabl'.

is

M.

Drayton,

Poly-olbion

London, 1613),

p

63:

'Some

that

delight

to

touch the sterner

wyerie

Chord,

The

Cythron,

the Pandore,and the Theorbo Strike.'

19

TheMaske

ofFlowers

London, 1614),

sig.

C2.

20

a.

London,

B.L.

E.g.

2013

(?c

1650).

Songs

with

l

1-course

theorbo tuned

in

both

A

and G: 7th

course

fingered.

b.

London,

B.L.

Add MS.

38,539,

f.1

(?c 1630).

Thorough-bass

exercises for theorbo

(?)

tuned

in

G:

only

10

courses

used.

c.

London,

Lambeth

Palace,

MS. 1041.

Ann

Blount's

song

book

(?c

1640).

English,

French

and Italian

songs

with 13-course

theorbo tuned

in

both

A

and G. At end a table

of cadences

for

theorbo tuned

in A:

only

10 courses

used.

d.

Oxford, Bodleian.

mus. sch. F.575

(?

c

1660)

songs

with 10-

course theorbo tuned

in

both

A

and

G.

e.

Oxford,

Bodleian. MS.

Don.

c.57

(?c 1640).

Songs

with

11-

course theorbo tuned

in

G.

f.91':

'Steps

upon

the

Theorbo':

10 courses used.

f. Glasgow UniversityLibrary,MS. Euing 25 (formerlyR.d.43),

f.50,

135-154v.

Thorough-bass

exercises for

theorbo(?)

tuned

in G:

only

10 courses

used (c

1699).

g.

Tokyo,

Nanki MS.

n-4/42

(c 1680).

Songs

with

13-course

theorbo

(or archlute?)

tuned

in

G.

h.

New

Haven,

U.S.A. Yale

University.

Filmer MS. A.14 Miss

Wallis's

song

book

(?c

1640).

Italian,

French and

English songs

with

10-course theorbo tuned in A.

21

A

full list

will be found in C.

Day

and E.

Murrie,

English ong

Books

1651-1702

(London,

1940).

22

H.

C. de

Lafontaine,

The

King's

Musick

(London, 1902),

p

80

(1632)

?15;

p

83

(1633)

?15;

p

253

(1673)

?15;

p

257

(1673)

?6 (on which

to

teach

children

of

the

Chapel Royal);

p

343

(1679)

?14.

23

Adam Falkenhagen(1697-c.1765), engraving

c.1755)from

he

life

by

J.

W. Stdr

of

Nuremberg.

23

Mace,

op.

cit.,

pp

207-30.

24

M.

Prynne,

'James

Talbot's

Manuscript:

IV

Plucked

Strings

The

Lute

Family',

Galpin

ocietyJournal

IV

(1961)

pp

59-60.

25

Oxford,

Bodleian,

MS.

mus.b.

1.

26

J.

Wilson,

Psalterium

arolinum

London, 1657),

sig.a'.

27

M.

Tilmouth,

'A

Calendar of references to

music

in

newspapers

published

in

London

and the

provinces,

1660-1719,'

R.M.A.

Research

Chronicleo.

1

(1961),

p

36.

28

Tilmouth,

op.

cit.,

p

68

(1

April).

29

The BurwellLute

Tutor,

.41

(facsimile

ed. Boethius

Press,

Leeds,

1974).

30

S.

de

Brossard,

Dictionaire

e

Musique

Paris,

1703).

'Theorbo:...

depuis

environ 50

ou

60 ans a

succed&

u Luth

pour jouer

les

Basses-

Continues.... On

pr6tend

que

c'est le Sieur Hotteman ...

qui

en a

&t?L'Inventeuren

France.'

31

A.

Cohen,

'A

study

of Instrumental ensemble

practice

in 17th-

century

France',

Galpin

ocietyJournal

V

(1962),

pp

4,

6.

32

C.

Huygens,

Pathodia

Paris, 1647);

modern

edition

by

F.

Noske

(Amsterdam,

1957):

preface, p

viii.

33

a. N.

Fleury,

Methode

our apprendre

.. le Theorbe

Paris, 1660);

facsimile ed. Minkoff

(Geneva,

1972).

14-course

thiorben A.

b. H.

Grenerin,

Livre de

Theorbe

Paris,

1668).

11-course

thieorbe

in A.

c. A. M.

Bartolomi,

Table

pour

apprendre

..

le Theorbe

Paris,

1669).

14-course thiorbe

uned

in A.

d. D.

Delair,

Traiti

d'Accompagnementour

e Theorbe

Paris,

1690);

facsimile

ed.

Minkoff

(Geneva,

1972).

14-course thiorbe tuned

in A.

34

a. New York. Pierpont Morgan MS. 17,524. Tablature for 14-

course

thiorbe,

y

Hurel.

b.

Paris,

Bibl. Nat.

R6s

1106.

Tablature for 14-course thiorbe

by

De

Visbe,

Du

But,

Couperin,

Lully.

c.

Paris Bibl. Nat. Vm

7-6265.

Tablature

for 14-course thiorbe

by

De

Visbe,

Lully,

Marais,

Le

Moine.

This seems to

be

a

rough

draft

from which

b.

was

copied.

d.

Besangon.

Bibl. de la

Ville

MS.279152.

Manuscript

written

by

de

Saizenay

in

1699 of

thiorbe

ablature

by

De

Vis&e,

Le

Moyne,

etc.

e.

Vienna. Oster.

Nat-Bibl. Mus. MS.

17,706.

Includes tablature

for

14-course

thiorbe.

f.

Paris.

Bibl.

de

Mme

de Chambure ms for thiorbe

by

De

Visie.

420



31

Prynne,

op.

cit.,

pp

58-9.

36

Tilmouth,

op.

cit.,

p

50

(10June).

37

J.

Sauveur,

Principes 'acoustique

Paris, 1701),

planche [3].

38

R.

De Visbe,

Pieces

de Theorbe

t de

Luth,

misesen

partition,

dessus

t

Basse

(Paris,

17

16).

'Avertissement

..

le nombre de ceux

qui

enten-

dent

la

tablature est si

petit

... le but de cette

impression

est

le

clavesin,

la viole

et

le violon.

..

.'

39

F.

Campion,

Traiti

d'Accompagnement,

p.2

(Paris,

1716),

p

24.

'Je

dirae

ici

que

l'usage

de la

Tablature

d'abc,

est

pernicieuse pour

ceux

qui

veulent

fair

quelque progres

sur le Theorbe.

....'

He also

noted

on p 7, 'IIy a une manibretoute particulibrede faire ces octaves sur

le

Thborbe

...

qui

est

de

l'invention de

seu M.de Maltot mon Pre-

decesseur

en l'Academie

Royale

de

Musique'.

40

J.

Mattheson,

Der neue

g6ttingsche

..

Ephorus.

Lauten-Memorial

(Hamburg,

1727),

p

117f.

English

translation

by

D. A.

Smith. Baron

and Weiss contra

Mattheson,

inJournal

of

the

Lute

Society

fAmerica

VI

(1973),

pp

60-62,

where however arciliuto

s

mistranslated

chitarrone.

41

E.

G.

Baron,

Untersuchung

es

Instruments er Lauten

Nuremberg,

1727),

pp

78, 131;

transl.

D. A. Smith

(Redondo

Beach, 1976),

pp

7

1,

110.

42

J.J.

Fux,

Orfeo

d Euridice

Vienna,

1715),

Costanza

Prague,

1723);

C. H.

Graun. Montezuma

Berlin,

1755).

43

J. J.

Quantz,

Versuchiner

Anweisung

ie

Flate

(Berlin, 1752);

transl.

E.

R.

Reilly

(London,

1966),

p.

212.

44

J.

B.

de

La

Borde,

Essai

ur

a

musique

(Paris, 1780),

pp

304-5.

41

Piccinini,

op.

cit.,

p

8

Cap

XXXIIII

'Dell'Arciliuto,

e dell' Inuen-

tore d'esso: Doue h6 nominato il

Liuto,

h6 voluto intendere

ancor

dell'

Arciliuto

per

non

dire,

come

molti

dicono,

Liuto

Attiorbato,

come

se l'inuentione fosse

cauata dalla

Tiorba,

6

Chitarrone,

per

dir

meglio,

il

che e

falso,

e

lo

so

io,

come

quello,

che sono

stato

l'Inuen-

tore

di

questi

Arciliuti ... io l'Anno MDLXXXXIIII ...

andai

i

Padoua

alla

Bottega

di

Christofano

Heberle ...

8c

li

feci fare

per

proua

un liuto

...

tal che

ne feci far'un' altro con

la Tratta

al

manico'.

46

English

translation

by

S.

Buetens,

'The

Instructions

of

Alessandro

Piccinini,'

in

the

Journal

of

the Lute

Society

f

America

II

(1969),

pp

6-17.

41

M.

Praetorius,

Syntagma

Musicum

I: De

Organographia

Wolfen-

bittel,

1619;

facsimile

Kassel, 1968),

p

50.

English

translation

by

H.

Blumenfeld

(Barenreiter,

New

York, 1962),

p

50.

48

Praetorius,

op.

cit.,

p

27.

49

Mersenne, op.cit., p 48. 'Oudl faut remarquer que ie n'ay pas mis

le G re sol sur la 6

chorde,

comme sont

plusieurs.'

so

J.

Playford,

A

brief

Introductiono the

Skill

of

Musick4th edition

(London,

1664),

2nd

pagination,

p

45v:

'There

is

a late

invention of

strings

for

the Basses

of...

Lutes,

which sound

much

better and

lowder then

the common Gut

String,

either under

the Bow or

Finger.

It is

small Wire

twisted

or

gimp'd

upon

a

gut string

or

upon

Silk.

I

[i.e.

John

Playford,

1623-86]

have made

tryal

of

both,

but

those

upon

Silk do hold

best

and

give

as

good

a

sound. ..

.'

5"

Pohlmann,

op.

cit.,

p

190.

52

Brossard,

op.

cit.

'Toutes ces

Chordes sont

ordinairment

simples,

mais

il

y

a

en a

qui

doublent les

Basses

d'une

petite

Octave,

& les

Chordes du

petit

Jeu

d'un

unisson,

la reserve de la

Chanterelle;

8c

pour

lors,

comme il a

beaucoup plus

de

rapport

an Luth

que

le

Thiorbe

I

l'ordinaire;

les

Italiens le nomment

Archileuto u

Archiliuto,

& les

FranCoisArchiluth'.

53

London,

British

Library,

Add. MS.

22,

102;

Add.

MS.

16,

126.

"

Vienna,

Oster.

Nat-Bibl,

Mus. MS.

18,290.

'Festadi Camera

per

Musica: la Pietadi Numa'.

"

Prynne,

op.

cit.,

pp 60-61.

56 Tokyo,

Japan.

Ohki collection

of Nanki Music

Library.

N-4/42.

The

manuscript

could have been

written out

possibly by

Cesare

Morelli

who

spent

some time in

Rome before

coming

to

England

in

1675. He was

employed

by

Samuel

Pepys

the

diarist,

so

comparison

with his

music

manuscripts

in

the

Pepys

Library

at

Magdalene

College

Cambridge

should resolve this

possibility.

"

Tilmouth,

loc.

cit.

58 Cambridge, Fitzwilliam

Museum, Music MS.

240 [31.H.1)

f.

9-19V

O

e,

:

,15:

iiii:

-iiiiiiiii

22

German

baroque

ute

(?

or

heorbo)

y

Sebastian chelle

(Nuremberg,

721).

Overall

ength

118cm:

'

10j".

Nuremberg,

ermanisches

ationalmuseum,

no. MIR

902.

'Awake,

utter

a

Song'.

Blow

also used the lute

in

the

anthem 'Let the

Righteous be glad' ibid,f.21-29v. I am grateful to Dr Watkins Shaw

for these references.

19

Listed

in

W.

C.

Smith,

A

Bibliographyf

themusical

works

ublished

y

John

Walsh

during

he

years

1695-1720

(London,

1948).

60

E. F.

Rimbault,

The

Old

Cheque-Book

..

of

the

Chapel

Royal

(London, 1872),

p

28:

'Aug.

8

1715

...

there

were

added

in

King

George's

establishment ... a

second

composer

...

MrJohn

Welldon

S.

.

A

Lutanist,

which

place

Mr

John

Shore was sworn

and admitted

to.'

61

J.

Hawkins,

A General

History

of

Music

(London, 1776);

new

edi-

tion.

(London

1875),

p

752.

62

London,

British

Library:

RM.

20.

h. 1.

f21.

autograph

score.

62a

Mace,

op.

cit.,

p

207.

62b

op.

cit. f68.

63

Prynne,

op.

cit.,

pp

55-7.

"

a.

Luzern-Treibschen.

Wagner

Museum.

no.

2. lute

by

M.

Tieffenbrucker,

1610. see

Pohlmann.

op.

cit.,

p

377

and

photo

after

p

297.

b

The

Hague,

Gemeentemuseum. no. Ec.

556-1933 lute

by

P.

Massaini,

1570. Photo

in

A.

Baines.

European

nd

AmericanMusical

Instruments

London,

1966)

no.

172.

Neither a. nor b.

have the

basses

stepped

as

shown

in

17th-centurypaintings.

c.

Leipzig.

Musikinstrumentenmuseum

der Karl

Marx

Univ.

no.

494.

ivory

lute

renecked with two

heads.

65

by

F.

de

Troy,

engraved

by

G.

Edelinck,

illustrated

in

Early

Music,

October

1975,

p

354.

66

Leipzig,

Musikinstrumentenmuseum

der

KarlMarx

Univ.

no. 497

'Thomas

Edlinger'

Augsburg,

before

8

Oct.

1690,

when

he

died. lute

421



SA

JJ

4w r.

--?--

4-B.astaldi,Capriccia due

stromenti

(Modena, 622),p

72

(detail)

B.

Castaldi,

apricci

due

stromenti

Modena,622),

p

72

(detail)

with

2x

1,

9x

2

stopped

tringsmeasuring

7.8cm.

2x2

basseshoused

in bass

rider,

82.2cm.

67

Nuremberg,

Germanisches

ationalmuseum,

o.

M

1

245

Martin

Hoffmann.. Leipzig1692',2x1, 6x2 stoppedstringsmeasuring

69.5cm.5x2 basses

measuring

7.5cm.

68

Baron,

p.

cit.,

pp

71,

110.

69

Nuremberg,

ollection

F.

Hellwig.

Theorba

y

Sebastian

chelle

f

Nuremberg,

728,

with

7

double

stopped

ourses

measuring

8.0cm

and 8

single

basses of

163.0cm.

The

soundboard measures

67.8x40.5cm

ndhasa

single

ose.

70

byJohann

Xeller.

n

Frankfurt

.

M.

HistorischenMuseum.llus-

trated

n W.

Tappert.

ang

nd

klang

usalter

eit

Berlin,

906).

71

Praetorius

1619),

p.

cit.

Acknowledgements

I

am

grateful

o

Dr

Patrick

Corran

or

supplying

me with a trans-

lation

by

MissKarenVitonof

Caps

XXVIII nd XXXIIII

f.n.

2);

to

David

Nutter or

drawing

my

attention o Conclusioniel

suono

ell'

organof.n.3);

to

DanielFournieror

drawingmy

attention o

Prin-

cipes

'acoustique

f.n.37).

Abbreviations

Agazzari,

A. 1606

Letter

printed

in

A.

Banchieri,

Conclusioniel

Suono

dell'

Organo,

p.

20

(Bologna,

1609),

p

68-70

Castaldi,

B.

1622

Capricci

Due Stromenti

Modena)

Cazzati,

M.

1653

Messa

Salmi,

op.

14

(Venice)

1656

Sonate

Due Violini

ol.

..

l'Organo

t ...

Tiorba,

op.

18

(Venice)

Child,

W.

1639

The

First

Set

of

Psalms ...

with

...

Theorbo

(London)

Conserto

1645 Anon Conserto

Vago

...

con

Liuto

Tiorba et

ChitarrinoRome)

Corradi,

F.

1616 Le

Stravaganza

d'Amore ... con

...

Chitarrone

(Venice)

Fontana,

G. B.

1641

Sonate ...

per

...

Violino et

...

Chitarrone

(Venice)

Gianoncelli,

B. 1650

I1

Liuto

Venice)

Kapsberger,

1604 Libro

rimo..

di

Chitarone

Venice)

G. G.

1610

Libro Primo di Villanelle

...

con

...

Chitarone

(Rome)

1612

Libro Primo di

Arie

Passeggiate

...

con

...

Chitarone

Rome)

1616 Libro

econdo..

di

Chitarone

Rome)

1619 Libro Terzo di

Villanelle ... con

...

Chitarone

(Rome)

1626

Libro

Terzo..

di

Chitarone

Rome)

1640 Libro

Quarto

.. di

Chitarone

Rome)

Laurenzi,

F.

1641 Concerti

..

con ..

Chitarrone

Venice)

Mace,

T.

1676 Musick'sMonument

London)

Meli, P. P. 1614 Intavolatura i LiutoAttiorbato,ibro ' (Venice)

1616 Intavolaturai

Liuto

Attiorbato,

ibro

0

(Venice)

1616 Intavolaturai

Liuto

Attiorbato,

ibro

0

(Venice)

1620

Intavolatura i

Liuto

Attiorbatodi

Tiorba,

ibro

0

(Venice)

Mersenne,

M.

1637

Seconde

artiede

L'Harmonie

niverselle

Paris)

Notari,

A. 1613

PrimeMusicheNuove

..

con

a

Tiorba

London)

Piccinini,

A.

1623

Intavolatura

di

Liuto

et

di

Chitarrone,

ibro

10

(Bologna)

1639 Intavolatura i

Liuto

Libro

0]

(Bologna)

Pittoni,

G.

1669

Intavolaturadi

Tiorba,

op.

la,

Sonate da

Chiesa

(Bologna)

Intavolatura i

Tiorba,

p.

2a,

Sonateda Camera

(Bologna)

Praetorius,

M.

1619

Syntagma

Musicum,

Tomus

2:

De

Organographia

(Wolfenbattel)

1620

Theatrum

nstrumentorum

Wolfenbiittel)

Rossi,

S.

1600

II

PrimoLibro

de

Madrigali

5

con

.. Chitarrone

(Venice)

Saracini,

C. 1614 LeMusiche

Libro

0]

Venice)

Wilson,

J.

1657 Psalterium Carolinum ..

set

to

...

Theorbo

(London)

422



k

M

i_

I s i ;

sm

A M i

C*

tN

4.4

Chitarrone, Theorbo and Archlute

Documents

Transcript of Chitarrone, Theorbo and Archlute