I-The lute in its historical reality by Mimmo Peruffo

7/30/2019 I-The lute in its historical reality by Mimmo Peruffo

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The lute in its historical reality by Mimmo Peruffo'Now divine aire, now is his soule ravisht, is it not strange that sheepes guts should hale soules out of mens bodies?'

William Shakespeare,Much Ado about Nothing

Foreword by the Author

The present work is the synthesis of a research (we might call it historical-archaeological) that began inthe 1980s.

A synthesis we still have to consider as provisional, since liable to be expanded or modified afterpossible new discoveries or further reasonings on the subject of stringing the Lute in its severalhistorical seasons.

For each historical period of the Lute I listed the diverse, concomitant historical evidence I haveknowledge of (both treatises, and of a technological, epistolary, iconographical nature) dealing with

strings, to which are added mathematical verification and experimental tests (every hypothesis mustalso work in practice in order to be accepted as plausible). The conclusive hypothesis, as harmonizedsynthesis of all sources, is expressed at the end of the exposition of the documentation.Of course I tried to make sure it does not contradict any of the listed documents. When so, I left adoubt, or a different interpretational model, open.

On the other hand, wherever different points of view exist, I took care to expose them together withtheir reasons, pointing out their weak points (in the light of historical sources, mathematical calculationsetc.).

To better tackle this task I drew on the synergic competence acquired from my former activities as

chemical analyst, amateur lute maker and (again, out of passion) lute student.

To this sum of experiences is to be added my profession as string maker, which integrates theteachings received from my mentor, Arturo Granata (the last string maker in Italy who exercised histrade for many decades), in the active research in the fields of ancient string making and historicaldocumentation and treatises on the Lute and other string instruments.

My activity as string maker plays here a fundamental role: the fact of never having seen and handledfresh gut strongly limits the very formulation of hypotheses that first of all must take into accountwhether gut can eventually produce what we expected it would do.

So a long and thorough study was necessary of the technologies in use in the 16th and 17th centuries

(especially regarding the dyeing of leather, fabrics, silk, hairs etc. and then the techniques of metalwire), constantly supported by Franco Brunello, one of but a few experts in the world on the subject ofapplied chemistry to the tanning of leather and dyeing of fabrics and silk in the 16th-18th centuries.It was thanks to his support that I had the good luck of having at my disposal original historical texts


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or now very rare16th and 17th century reprints of a technological nature, which allowed me to carry out,in the period 1983-1990, at least 1,500 tests after ancient (and partlymore recent) recipes from thedyeing and tanning trades, in the hope of being able to apply them to the loading of gut for bass strings.

Besides, I read several ancient recipe books and went through a few hundreds of volumes of lists of

16th and 17th century manuscripts from the principal Italian libraries, in the hope of finding some usefulinformation about string making technology (and this is how the Statutes of Roman and Neapolitanstring makerswere found).

This kind of research was also extended to the State archives of cities that had been historical stringproduction centres like Rome, Pistoia, Florence, Bologna, Naples, Lyon, Strasbourg etc.

It was, again, thanks to Brunello's personal knowledge and to his books that I eventually realized thatthe incorporation of insoluble pigments had been a very common practice in the past, prompting me toapply it to loading of gut and test its efficacy.

Very helpful was, specifically, the in-depth study of Renaissance techniques of silk treatment with

minerals and so was my knowledge of chemistry applied to goodsand of the mineral chemicalcompounds known in the past.

The research carried out in the museums of Vienna, Nuremberg, Paris, Florence, Bologna, Rome,Barcelona, Innsbruck, Berlin, Eisenach, or in private collections (with the scope of measuring thediameters of bridge holes on surviving Lutes) and at the same time the analysis of the iconographicalsources of the time finally closed the circle.

At this point I would like to mention the surviving pieces of historical strings found in some Europeanmuseums (Rome, Innsbruck, Brussels, Vienna, Nuremberg), on which I am keeping a constantlyupdated database that presently counts hundreds of specimens that can be defined as 'ancient'.

Finally, I would also like to mention the filmed interviews (with practical demonstrations of workingtechniques, tools, processes, etc.) with the last, very few, elderly Italian string makers, heirs of ahistorical technological tradition passed on from father to son, just in time to prevent its finaldisappearance.

Fortunately we were able to achieve that task before it was too late and we can now state that everyphase of the whole historical production cycle is safely recorded and perfectly reproducible.

I hope that this work will help stimulate further debate and practical research rather than simply supportthe formulation of certainties (or, at the other end, superficial opinions) based, only too often, on scarce(or partial) knowledge of the documents, of the mechanical and acoustical properties of strings and ofthe technological resources of the past which, in archaeological work, nearly always only add toconfusion and leave things as they were.

MP


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A few words on the Lute

strumento perfectissimo et eccellentissimo

The Lute is no doubt the instrument on which the ancient lute and string makersinvested all they could invest to obtain the maimum acoustical performance from theinterface string-instrument.

The limited working tension, the sound emission obtained through !ust one initial

impulse from the fingers "and not a continuous one as obtained with a bow# and theremarkable open string range "especially on instruments with ten or eleven courses on asingle neck# made it a gymnasium of pro!ectual and constructional abilities$

%ust as any architect has to use a brick&s mechanical properties as his starting point, theancient lute makers designed their instruments be they Lutes, Violon darco or Viole da!ra""o starting from the mechanical and acoustical properties of the available gut

strings, and not the other way round$ (obody would design a new internal combustionengine and afterwards start looking for the right type of fuel$

)oncerning the string makers, we can safely assume that they always produced stringsof the best possible *uality compatible with the technology at their disposal$

+s eample in our opinion, the Lute st strings in the early -th century had alreadyreached, as far as the tensile strength is concerned, their ultimate degree of perfection

"whereas their potential falseness remained an unsolved problem#$

We must point out that improvements in the string *uality never took place through agradual, steady perfecting of production techni*ues but through sudden technological leaps,which always specifically dealt with the development of .ass strings of a betteracoustical performance$

The success of such improvements always had important conse*uences on our

instrument, first of all an increase in the number of bass strings "originally on one singleneck#$


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Let us now try and eplain by what criteria the Lute was the result of the optimi/ation ofalread#available strings, starting from a few basic elements0

1) Working tension: frequency and string length being equal, it only dependsfrom the thickness of the string: the diameter was to be chosen so that the string

would be neither too stiff, nor too slack to the touch

!) "qual feel: once the diameter that granted the #right$ tension was found itshould be applied to all strings on the instrument

%) &nharmonicity of thicker strings: the thicker a string is 'tension, string length,

quality of the material and manufacturing technique being equal) the lower itsounds, but at the same time the o(erall acoustical qualities decrease in aprogressi(e manner, until beyond certain diameters the increase in stiffnessmakes them completely unsatisfying

Let$slook at things in detail:

Points # and 1# are working conditions that are decided by the player alone$

Point 2# is a problem that has to do with a law of Physics, whose practical opposite is0any strategy apt to reduce the string&s diameter can only go in the right direction$

The solutions leading to a reduction in diameter, fre*uency being e*ual, are0

1) reduced working tension

!) longer string length

%) increased string elasticity

*) increased specific weight

Point # depended on the player "neither too taut nor too slack strings#3 points 2# and 4#only depended on the string makers and were the cause of real organological and musicaleras, as they introduced novelties onto the market$


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The only point directly concerning the lute maker was thus point 1#0 string length anddiameter are inversely proportional and in order to optimi/e the acoustical performanceof strings it was necessary to adopt the longest possible string length$ This was done tothe benefit of the .asses, the thickest strings and therefore most liable to suffer frominharmonicity, in order to reach the smallest possible diameter and conse*uently the bestpossible acoustical performance$

5n the other hand it was not possible to increase the string length at will, the breakingpoint of the treble being the limiting factor$

Let us see why:

When a string of any material is put under increasing stress between two fied points"string length# a fre*uency will be eventually reached at which it will snap$ This pointcoincides with the linear breaking load, which for gut eperimentally averages24kg6mm1 "an average value we can assume as reliable on proven grounds whosedemonstration lies beyond the scope of this article and applicable also to gut treblesfrom the -th and 7th centuries#$

Such limit, called brea$ing fre%uenc#, is completely independent counterintuitive as itmay sound of diameter, and that can be easily verified both mathematically, throughthe general formula of strings, and eperimentally$

This fre*uency is directly proportional to the string length3 so if you, say, half the stringlength the fre*uency will be twice as high$ 8n other words, the product of the stringlength "in meters# by fre*uency "in 9ert/# is a constant, called !rea$ing &nde$

:perimentally, the mean .reaking 8nde of a modern lute&s treble breaking at24kg6mm1 is 1-; 9/6mt "that is, a string meter long will break, will be epected to at1-; 9/, which e*uals a stress of 24kg6mm1#$

8n fact, the lute maker must reason the other way round0 the fre*uency of the treble is

the first parameter taken into account when designing an instrument$

+ccording to the above described proportions, dividing the .reaking 8nde by the


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8n the case of a lute in = "g>2?1 9/ at + 44;# we obtain0 1-;62?1>$--mt$


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%ust like a li*uid, when poured into any vessel, immediately occupies the maimumsurface available, the characteristic of the Lute, strumento perfectissimo et eccellentissimo, wasthat of eploiting to the largest possible degree the mechanical and acoustical propertiesof the available strings$

:ven in its constructional optimi/ation, though, it was bound, at both ends, to its limits0but whereas the upper one could never be eceeded "the tensility of gut chantarelles wasthatand remained that#, the lower one was the real, practical field of eperimentation forthe coming centuries$

---------------------------------------------

The strings and their namesStrings produced in the -th, 7th and Fth centuries, unlike today, were identified by names thatimmediately pointed to the place of provenance, as a clear sign of *uality$

This particular aspect, in a historical period where copyright did not eist, eplains the utter severitywith which the corporations of string makers prosecuted commercial frauds, including string makerswithin the same corporation if they were caught cheating$

=iving the client absolute guarantee that Munich strings were actually produced in Munich remained anabsolute priority throughout centuries of Lute history$

+nother point to underline is the manufacturing speciali/ation typical of different geographical areas0 insome regions, for instance, string makers would devote themselves to bass strings, in other regions totreble strings, reaching astonishing commercial successes$


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Let us now e5amine the historical sources

16th century

We have no commercial denomination whatsoever for Lute strings$

12th century

The earliest mention of different types of strings come from the manuscript of the Denetian nobleman7incen8o 9apirola"c$ G7#0 for the first time we have a description of strings of superior *ualityfrom Munich ".avaria#3 a type of string called (an"eris also mentioned, whose origin is not *uite clear,although it might hint at a roped structure "see below#$ Bnfortunately )apirola does not specify whereon the instrument the strings he mentions were employed$

+nother known source isAdrien Le 0oy"A !riefe and plaine instruction..., London G74#$ Le Aoy writesthat the best strings are those manufactured in Munich "or near it#, or in the town of L&+*uila, in 8taly0the best come to us of Almaigne, on this side the toune of Munic, and from A%uila in &talie$&$.

+fter this interesting start he goes on to describing how to tell a good string from a false one$ 9e, too,gives no further information about where on the instrument the strings he mentions were employed$

This scanty information is all we have from the -th century$

13th century

The first author who finally throws a bit of light on the *uestion of Lute strings isohn owland,-; "Varietie c...# 9e divides strings as follows0

Trebles0 Kfrom /ome and other parts of &tal#&3 Kfrom Monne$in andMildorpe&"most probably Munich andMeldorf, both in =ermany#3 besides, he mentions other thin strings, which c.

;mall and


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8n the =ary /urwell Lute tutor"c$ -7;# we read0 K0he good stringes are made at /ome or about /ome andnone that are good are made in an# other place ecept the great strings and octaves that are made in L#ons att 1raunceand noe where else.

9ere, too, no particular novelties0 it confirms what already stated by Mersenne "-2-#, that the beststrings came from Aome$ What is new, though, is that .ass strings and octaves were made in Lyon$

Thomas =ace"-7-# is definitely our most ehaustive and valuable source$ Like Cowland, hedescribes three typologies of strings0

Trebles0 top three courses and octave -th0Mini$ins2

=eanes0 4th and Gth and all remaining octaves0 Venice catlins3

/asses0 3isto#s and L#ons$

Mace, like Cowland, also mentions coloured strings, but is also not clear whether they were used asTrebles or Meanes "or both#$

/omans, Venice 4atlins and L#onsappear again inames Talbot&s manuscript "c$ -?G#, as strings forviolin and bass violin$

This sums up all the information we have about string typologies in the 7th century$

1>th century

We have no specific terminology about Lute strings$

8n conclusion, the names given to Lute strings in the 7th century always refer to their place of origin,with two eceptions0 )atlins "or )atlines# and =ansars$ The former were produced, at least inCowland&s time, in 8taly$ We do not know what the 8talians called them, though$ 8n the Fth centuryterms like 4atlins54atlines, L#ons, 3isto#s c disappear completely, to give place to a more generic

denomination like0 strings made in...

+llgut bass strings made by string makers gave way to wound basses, which were wound up by the lutemaker or even by the player himself$

+n era had thus come to an end$

MP


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The three ages of the Lute and the three ;ortsof strings

"From here on, where we talk of string Sorts, we understand them in Dowland and Mace's sense, asin Varietie of Lute Lessons and in 'Musik's Monument'#

The history of the lute "meant as family of instruments#, seen in relation to the stringmaking technologies which were developed in then course of the 7thand Fthcenturies,can be divided in three basic periods, which, generally speaking, are essentiallyconnected to the types of available bass strings0

Lutes from about the mid16th century to about 163?>? '2 course lute and(ihuela)

Lutes from about 16>? to the end of the 13th century '3, >, 4, 1? course lutes, longand short e5tended archlutes, theorbos, 11 course and 1% course dminor lutes

with no, or short, e5tension and baroque guitars)

1>thcentury lutes '11 and 1% course dminor lutes without e5tension, 1% course dminor lutes with swanneck e5tension, archlutes, theorbos, mandoras andbaroque guitars)

We know that as from the early 7th century "i$e$ the time when the lute had an openstring range of 6 octaves and a fourth# the ancients felt the necessity to identify three 7orts ofstrings"see Cowland, -;#0Trebles, =eanesand /asses$

+fter a long period of study and practical eperimentation we came to the conclusionthat, far from being a simple commercial description, the scope of such distinction wasto achieve some kind of switch thorough the registers from trebles to lower bass$The acoustical and mechanical problems in the lower registers increase with theincreasing string diameters and can only be solved by switching, at the right point, fromone type "i$e$Sort# of string to the net$ 8n other words, since it was not possible to

unlimitedly increase the diameters, it was necessary to employ different types of strings,each able to overcome the limits reached in the previous register$


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ust like today when we have to work out a complete range of strings for the lute, weassume that ancient string makers followed, from the late -thcentury on, three

different manufacturing processes in order to produce0

Treble strings"Cowland&s and Mace&s Trebles3 i$e$ /omans, Mini$insetc#, i$e$ the firstthree courses of both Aenaissance and .aro*ue lutes$

=id register"4thand Gthcourses, Cowland&s Meanes, which he divides in Small and=reat Meanes3 i$e$ (ansars#$

Low register "from the -thcourse down, the .asses3 L#ons, 3isto#s, 4atlins#$

That different manufacturing processes were not interchangeable is evident both inCowland "-;# and in Mace "-7-#0 the former says that (ansars"which in his opinionmade ecellentMeanes# could not be used as 0reblessince they would immediately breakunder stress$ 5n the other hand, had theMeanesbeen manufactured the same way the0rebleswere, we believe they would have presented serious acoustical performanceproblems, since they would have been much too stiff0 0reblesas described by Cowlandwere rather stiff and prickly to the flesh of the thumb pressing against the string's tip$

+lso Thomas Mace, -- years after Cowland, underlines the fact that the thinMini$ins"treble strings# are so strong that if you pull them with your handsthey 'willman# times endanger the cutting into #our flesh, rather than it will brea$, although it be a small 0reble-

Mini$in string'$ 5n the contrary, '#our Venice4atlins"i$e suitables for the 4thand Gth

courses# will scarcel# be bro$en, b# a mans 8reasonable9 strength',in spite of being thicker$

0esearch in the old sources and practical eperience in the field of historical string

making technologies prompted some hypotheses on what should be today "and probablywere in the past# the mechanical and acoustical *ualities of each Sort the *ualities wesuccessfully obtained with our tests through three different manufacturing approaches$5n top of that we also employ reckoning criteria strongly biased towards feeling, ratherthan kilograms, in selecting the lute setup$

At the end of the da#, wor$ing out gut stringing for the lute loo$s more li$e anarrow path than a room# highwa#, and therefore we believe that the solutions

we adopted must probabl# be the same as in the past.


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Trebles"/omans,Mini$ins#

What we aim for here are the highest possible tensile resistance and mechanicalresistance under the action of the player&s fingers$

8n order to achieve this we must sacrifice the elasticity$ We find trace of this in some oldsources0 Cowland "-;#, to *uote him once again, stated that a good treble must feelstiff and prickly to the thumb3 .aron "717# claims that a good Aoman treble can last upto 4 weeks$ )ould, say, a couple of weeks playing life have been the rule@

Late -th, and 7thcentury sources add to treble strings for lute, guitar and violin only thead!ective rinfor"ato reinforced "see Patri/io .arbieri&s K/oman and Neapolitan (ut 7trings,GG;?G;& in the =S% May 1;;-, pp$ 7-7#$

We believe that this term was only reserved to strings that underwent particulartreatments "as reported in some historical sources, like Skippon&s description of astringmaking workshop in Padua, c$ --;, for instance# apt to stiffenthe gut$

This kind of strings also needs a low degree of twist, as well as other epediencies, toreach a high breaking point and resistance to abrasion


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=ichelangelo =erisi da 9ara(aggio '1642 ca): detail of thin gut strings

@or the second and third coursesit is appropriate to moderately increase the amountof twist and leave out the Kreinforcing& chemical treatment0 we need to start increasingthe elasticity a bit, sacrificing a bit of tensile resistance, which is not *uite as critical asfor the trebles, here$

=eanes"(an"er, (ansars, thin Venice catlins#

.y increasing its thickness, string length remaining e*ual, a string will gradually lose itsacoustical *ualities, until it becomes completely dull$ This is due to the inner dampingeffect, called 8nharmonicity$ 5n the Aenaissance lute the problem begins to appear asfrom the fourth course, becoming increasingly serious as we move down the registers$Pairing octave strings on the lower courses was the epedient the ancients employed toretrieve the lost harmonics "see Dirdung, G#$

8n order to remedy this loss of acoustic capacity it is necessary to achieve the highestpossible degree of elasticity, which is here the most important parameter$ This is


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obtained, no doubt, at the cost of tensile resistance but it is no real problem, since we arefar away from the .reaking


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/asses

Lute7ihuela bass strings before c 163?: hightwist or roped+

Bere are our update considerations, based on some recently acquired sources"see Patri/io .arbieri0 /oman and Neapolitan gut strings, GG;G?;, =S%, May 1;;-, pp 7-7$#0

1) roped strings were already in use on musical instruments as from mid of the Gth

century "Bgolino of 5rvieto0 '+eclaratio musicae disciplinae' Liber *uintus, )apitulum 8E0'+e cordarum seu nervorm instrumentalium subtilitate et grossitie'$ 42;4; ca$#

!) the presence of orditori "i$e$ wheels with three or four rotating hooks used to makeropes# in some -thcentury roman stringmakers workshop inventories$

The .rditori

"from Patri/io .arbieri0 K/oman and Neapolitan gut strings, GG;G?;&, =S%, May 1;;-, pp7-7$#


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%)musical roped strings were probably already in use well before the Gth century0 seehere an eample from the late Aoman imperial period0

$

*)there is a *uestion of acoustical importance strictly connected to lute "and other gutstrung plucked instruments of the time# stringing with double courses rather than single

strings$

+s known, a course consists of a string of a given diameter paired with a unison or, inthe bass register, with a much thinner one, tuned one octave higher, both to be frettedand plucked simultaneously$

9ad the lute bass strings from the first half of the -th century been of the ordinaryhigh twist type we should epect the intonation to be rather critical "it would vary a lotby a minimum turn of a peg# and, by fretting, a noticeably higher fre*uency increase onthe thick string than on the thin octave3 a thick string, being stiffer, would also manifest


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a remarkable fre*uency instability, depending on amount of pressure and side pulleerted by the fretting finger$

This would have caused the two strings in the course to be constantly out of tune$


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The two-octaveopen string range typical of the - course lutewas clearly the acousticallimit for the ears of the time0 complaints about the feeble sound of lute basses sound*uite actual0

%ohannes de Tinctoris "+e &nventione et :su Musicae, c 4F7# already wrote0 'An arrangementof five, sometimes si, principal strings was first adopted, & believe, b# the (ermans; vi". two inner onestuned in a third, and the other ones in fourths h# that? /ecause the thick strings cannotbe heard so loud in the distance as the thinner ones. 0herefore octaves are added, so that

the# be heard li$e the others'0

;ebastian 7irdung '=usica


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So we can assume that, at least from the string manufacturing point of view, onl# two

7ortsof string were used on the - course lute$


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The (ihuela case: unisons or octa(es+

18talian and =erman string making technology before G7; ca$ "the best of that time#was not so advanced as to grant the production of efficient enough bass strings "octaves

were needed to provide the harmonics#, as made clear by Dirdung and Tinctoris$

!Spain, in the -th century, ruled over large parts of 8taly and, indeed, the Viola da manoen!oyed a certain popularity0 hard to believe that they could possess any Ksecret&technology for the production of bass strings without 8talian and =erman string makers,the most renowned in :urope, knowing anything about it$ We also know that Spainimported large *uantities of strings from Munich, to be precise and, had they hadbass strings of a superior *uality themselves, it would be fair to epect an intensiveeporting activity to the rest of :urope, as was later the case with Aome in the -th

and7th

century, for eample$

%Pisador "GG1#, talking about the 4th course, made it clear it ought to be strung inunison0

Such a statement could imply that the use of octaves was standard but he did not like it,

or it was not appropriate for his music$ 9ence the necessity to write down somethingthat was outside the musicians& common practice$

*


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him, while it would have been natural to refer to the vihuela$ +gain, we know nothingabout the Gthand -th$

2.ermudo also says that if you wish to turn a vihuela into a guitar "4thwith octave, all

other courses in unison# you simply have to take off the

st

and -

th

courses$ This wouldsuggest that the vihuela had a unison 4th "but sometimes also a paired octave, as impliedby Pisador see above 2$#, i$e$ guitar 2rd, and the Gth, i$e$ guitar 4th, with octave$ 8t followsthat the -thmust also have had an octave$

35n top of that .ermudo also discusses slanting the bridge "ch$ LEEED#, in order tocompensate for the amount of space taken by the large knot of the -thstring, which isalways referred to in the singular, never in the plural$ So the course must have had a pairedoctave$ The larger amount of space taken by the $not"not by the knotsJ# and the resultingneed to slant the bridge in order to keep the length of all strings e*ual, clearly indicate

that the string must have been pretty thick$

8f the basses were that thick, they could not, owing to their high 8nharmonicity 8nde,have had such a good acoustical performance$ The stringent conse*uence is that itneeded an octave$

>The only sourceclearly mentioning unison stringing on the vihuela dates back to-, a fairly long time after the instrument had fallen into disuse$ This source "Sebastiande )ovarrubia&s 0esoro de la lengua castellana, -# does not specifically treat musicalmatters$ 8t is a dictionary compiled at a time where the progress made in the stringmaking technology already allowed to dispose of octave strings on the lute$ So it is ananachronism to apply a piece of information from the early 7thcentury to an instrumentthat was in use in the mid -thcentury$ +pplying the same principle we could assume,reading Cowland, that


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Lute gut bass strings after c 163? '3C >C 4C 1? and 11course lutes)

"The 7trasbourg and Nurenberg basses3 Venice 4atlines, L#ons, 3isto#s#

According to some documents we could eamine, as from about G7;7G a seventh coursewas added on lute, tuned a 4thor Gthbelow the sith course0 K0he Lutes of the newe inventionwith thirtene str#nges, be not subiecte to this inconvenince, where of the laste is put be lowe; whicheaccord#ng to the maner now abaies, is thereb# augmented a whole fowerth&, remarks +drien Le Aoyin his 'A briefe and plaine instruction...' in G74$

The problem&f, as by now pro(en, ropelike strings were already in usein the mid 16thcentury,and the 2 course lute needed paired octa(es in the bass register to compensatefor the poor sound, what made it possible to e5tend the basses down another *th

or 6th+

Maybe at the beginning the acoustical *uality of the new basseswas not e5cellent"'...and (od $nows how well one can hear them... and ...although the# are perceived b# the ear as notver# sweet, because of their poor sound...' comments Dincen/o =alilei in G-F, in his 1ronimo90

7incen8o


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but thingsimpro(ed quite rapidly, implying an important manufacturing development0Michele )arrara&s Kmanifesto&, printed in Aome in GFG, already describes an F courselute with the 7th course tuned one 4th, and the eight course one Gth, below the -thcourse$

The new basses were probably developed to their best in a region between


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What can we say in matter of the new basses+

Here are some considerations

1) Lute bridge holes0we found consistently small diameters of string holesin bridgesregarded as original0 over a period of ten years we carried out a thorough survey onsome si5tylutes "and on some bowed instruments# from several european collections$

+bout half of them have bridges we thought we could trust to beoriginal.

oan ;eelos 1244 /ridge Eray Faris, =usGe &nstrumental "6*? 9!12

The measuring of the bridgeholes was carried out with accuracy, using rods ofincreasing eact diameters thus we have verified the maimum passing diameter$ 8t willbe worth mentioning that by so doing we do not obtain the actual stringdiameter butthat of the hole, which was obviously drilled with a certain empirical oversi/e$


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2th bass bridgehole on the


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*th !% mm hole crossingdiameter on the 9harles &E Andrea Amatis (iolaAshmolean =useum, .5ford !??3

(atural gut bass strings fitting such small diameters would have to work under a meantension of about $1$2 kg3this is the e*uivalent of a modern lute strung with a tensionof 2$; kg per string and then tuned down F or ? semitones "see :phraim Segerman0 'BnCistorical lute 7trings 0#pes and 0ensions',


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+nd a loss in diameter inevitably implies a lower working tension$

So, the combination of these two parameters "lower density and longer strain# result intensions which are, in fact, reduced to some 74 to F2I of the value previously calculated"depending on whether they are 'knotty' ropelike strings with a high stretching inde orsmoothpolished and not too 'stretchy'#$

&n conclusion, where the result of theoretical calculation "unstretchable string and $2gr6cm density# is a tension of $1 kg, the actual tension will only be between $? and $;kg, for ropelike strings$ Thus, given a theoretical estimate of $G kg, the actual tensionwill result in $ $1 kg$5n a modern lute, strung with an average 2$; kg tension per string, the correspondingintonation would be some ; semitones lower$%ust try it once on your all gut strunglute$

&f we consider the traditional gut strings, there are only twooptions for such small stringholes:

a) .nly the basses worked at a much lower tension

This is historically not tenable0 it clashes against all -th

and 7th

century treatises weknow of, where the concept of e%ual feelis always insisted upon "which is broadl# spea$inga light scaled tension#$

9ere is, for instance0

Thomas =ace "Musi$'s Monument, London -7-#0 N0he ver# principal observation in thestringing of a lute. Another general observation must be this, which indeed is the chiefest2 vi". that whatsi"'d lute soever, #ou are to string, #ou must so suit #our strings, as 8in the tuning #ou intend to set it at9

the strings ma# all stand, at a proportionable, and even stiffness, otherwise there will arise two greatinconveniences2 the one to the performer, the other to the auditor. And here note, that when we sa#, a luteis not e%uall# strung, it is, when some strings are stiff, and some slac$O$

The =ary /urwell lute tutor "ca$ -7;#0 N>hen #ou stro$e all the stringes with #our thumbe#ou must feel an even stiffnes which proceeds from the si"e of the stringes$


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ohn owland"'Varietie of Lute Lessons', di Aobert Cowland, -;#0 N!ut to our purpose;these double bases li$ewise must neither be stretched too hard, nor too wea$e, but that the# ma#according to #our feeling in stri$ing with #our thombe and finger e%uall# counterpo#se the treblesO$

b) Lutes were generally (ery low strung throughout

8tis likewise not tenable0 with a mean tension of $1 kg or less, the first two or threecourses would re*uire such small diameters as to be technically impossible to produce"for eample, the first three courses on Cminor baro*ue lute with a 7; cmstring lengthat a4G 9/ pitch would be0 st> $1G mm, 1nd > $2; mm, 2rd> $4; mm#$

8n other worlds they are much more thinner than allowed by a fundamental string

making rule in the -th

century, i$e$ one single whole lamb's gut must be employed toproduce a treble string as described, for instance, by +thanasius Qircher in his KMusurgia:niversalis& "Aome -G;#0

Athanasius Iircher: #=usurgia Jni(ersalis$ '0ome 126?)

5ur tests shows out that, starting from one single whole lamb gut "as +$Qirchersuggested#, gauges had !ust an average of $4G$4F mm, not less$

8t has to be borne in mind that with a tension of about $1 kg or less, gut basses not

only hardly give any sound at all, but also feel more like rubber bands and are very hard tocontrol by the thumb of the right hand$


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9owever, the spontaneous *uestion is0 for whatplausiblereason should theystring the basses only at such low tension@ Why did they not simply drillslightly bigger holes@

!)The remarkable performance of allgut basses in use towards themiddle of the 7thcentury as opposed to thepoor %ualit# of bass strings in use in the firsthalf of the -thcentury "see Dirdung, G, and =alilei, G-F#0 here is what we read in theMary .urwell lute tutor "c$-7;#, about the allgut basses on the lute with shortetension0 K...the confusion that the length of sound produce it alsoe.. and ...ever# basse sound ma$ea confond with ever# string..$& and, talking about the eleventh course K...the lutemasters haveta$en awa# that great string because the sound of it is too long and smothis the sound of the others&$

"nglish


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.ur tests pointed out that, on short e5tended necks, nomodern roped or high twist gut string was able to reach suchhigh performances

%) =ersenne"'Carmonie :niverselle', -2-#0 the thbass of a lute "without etension#can ring up to 1; seconds0 K... et %ue le son des grosses chordes de Luth est apperceu de loreilledurant la sisieme partie, ou le tiers dune minute...& a performance that&s hard to obtain evenwith a modern wound string, never mind by a thick ropelike string$ 9ere, though, wecan&t hide the feeling that Mersenne might have somewhat eaggeratedJ

=arin =ersenne DBarmonie Jni(erselleD, Faris 12%2

*)&conographical sources0

a)Most of the 7th )$ paintings show bass Lute strings with apparently very thingauges0 they recall us the narrow bridgehole diameters

b)Where we find coloured basses, they are always coloured in a homogeneous way andeactl# where we have to impl#, toda#, wound strings, i$e$ all the same red colour "or brown etc#from the -thcourse down$

c)The chromatic transition is not a gradual one, i$e$ strings do not get darker and darkeraccording to the increasing thickness of the strings, but by sudden changes, from yellowishhigher strings to completely different colours$


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Some iconographical examples

Lutes

;e(en course lute by anonymous 'late 12th c+): detail

0utilio =anetti, ;iena 12!*: detail on the brown Lute bass strings


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ean de la 0eyne: lute playerC 12*? ca

etail on bass brown strings


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Anonymous @rench painter, 1st half of the 13th 9 'Amburg Iunsthalle)


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Anonymous @rench painter, 1st half of the 13th 9: details of the lute bass redstrings


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Anonymous utch painter, !nd half of the 13th 9: detail of the red bass stringson a 1! course lute


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Anonymous utch painter, !nd half of the 13th 9: detail of the red bass stringson a 1! course lute


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@Le Troy '124? ca) etail of the 9harles =outons portrait


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utch painter '+), !nd half of the 13th 9: detail of the bundlered bass string-ote the straight string profile due to the stringweight


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@rancois le Troy, !nd half of the 13th 9: detail on the brown basses


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/owed instruments

0utilio =anetti, ;iena 12!*: detail of the 7iolin brown %rd K *th strings 'Dbeststrings are 0oman 1st K !nd of 7enice catlins: %rd K *th best be finest Ksmoothest Lyons, all * differ in si8eDames Talbots manuscript, 1246


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/ilcius '+) !nd half of the 13th: detail on gamba head


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d) Such dyed strings must have also been quite supple3 see the details of the bass stringknots at the bridge0

detail on the pliable brown basses

etail of the pliable bundlered bass string


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6) owland"-;#0 the fact that he prescribes a unison -this a strong suggestionthat the basses of his time possessed a high acoustic performance, unknown before andunthinkable in a ropelike string$ 8n practical terms, his -thcourse strings must have beenthin enough to grant a lower 8nharmonicity inde and thus allow the use of unisons$

2)=ace"-7-#0 the best lute bass strings in his time were '...d#ed in a deep dar$ redcolour...&$

The surface of bass gut strings=ersenne"-2-# affirms that gut strings were well polished by the use of a grass with

an abrasive properties, but do not says anything that leads to believe that this procedurewas deserved only to thinstrings$Thomas =ace"-7-# state clearly that Pistoys were smooth0 ''0he# are indeed the ver# best,

for the basses, being smooth and well-twisted strings...'This does not imply, automatically, thatLyons were not$ 8n fact nothing at all is said about the surface of the Lyon bass strings$

ames Talbot"end of the 7th)# says that DiolinLyons were smooth0'!est strings are/oman st 6nd of Venice catlins; Erd th best be finest smoothest L#ons, all differ insi"e...'.

The=ary /urwell Lute Tutor"--; ca#, describing the best strings for the Lute"/omansfor Trebles, and L#onsfor .asses and respective octaves# eplain that animportant feature from strings is eactly that the surface should be well smooth and freefrom $notteand rugged, Lyons basses included$

=ace, in addition, states that the "thin# Denice )atlins for Meanes were smooth "'0heLute made Fasie', )hap D8 p$-7#, so when he also states that 'Pistoys' were but thickerDenice)atlins we must infer that they, too were smooth0 '7econdl#, when #our 7tring is well

open, and #ou find it smooth, and free of $nots...'$

&n conclusion it seem that the 7enice 9atlines, Lyons, Fistoys'i e the most common basses in the late 12thfirst half of the13th centuries), all had a smooth surfaceand ne(er a knottyone like a rope


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Fainters accuracy: see the 9isters roped bass wire string against the smoothbass Lute strings '0utilio =anetti, ;iena 12!*)

The historical sources pointed out that the 9ister bass strings were made withtwo metal wires twisted together like as rope 'see /acon 12!3C Trichet 12*?CFlayford 126!C Talbot 1246 ca)


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The two instruments both in the same painting


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9ister$s roped twisted wires


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Lute smooth gut basses


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iscussion

The question:

What type of string can satisfy all the abo(e mentioned pointsat once+

The new solution devised by the string makers of the time must result into strings

having the following features, as emerged from historical, iconographical andtechnological sources, as mentioned before0

a)Aeduced string diameter, granting at the same time the same working tension "i$e$feel# as the higher strings "the e*ual feel of Mace, Cowland, .urwell L$ T$#

b)Smooth surface

c)Low inharmonicity

d).etter acoustic performance than previous .asses "see Dirdung's =alileicomplaints, G G-F#

e)


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acoustical limit# cannot eceed that same diameter$ 8n order to achieve that thecalculation is *uite simple the specific weight of the material employed cannot be lessthan twice that of natural gut$

=odern loaded .ass strings that can achieve that can present different shades of darkred, brown or blackish colour, but also light #ellow depending on the oides or sulphidesemployed$

Litharge 0ed lead

+lso metal powders like metalliccopper "which is what we use on our loaded strings because isnot toic# achieve the same goal0 we still have ancient recipes describing how to producethe finest copper powder "we tried them *uite successfully#, like the one by Con +lessioPiemontese K& secreti...&, printed in Denice in GGG0 the resulting colour, too, looks very

much like what we see on iconographical sources$

8ncorporating finely insoluble powdered solid pigments into a matri of different naturewas a fairl# common practicein the -thand 7thcenturies0


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on Thimoteo 0ossello ella ;umma de ;ecreti Jni(ersaliM, 7enice 1636


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;everal ancient recipes could have been easily employed for Kloading& gut "see, forinstance, =iovanventura Aossetti&s recipes for dyeing fabrics, silk and leather in his'3lichto de larte de tentori che insegna tenger pani, telle, banbasi et sede si per larthe magiore come perla comune', Dene/ia, G4F#0


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Some of these describe how to incorporate cinnabar "red mercury sulphide# or Litharge"yellow lead oide# or Aed lead "red lead oide# into wa, leather, silk, wood, hair, inksc$0 indeed, only a short step away from gut0

Lead, &ron and =ercury o5ides


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The colours we see on the 7 th )$ paintings are dark red "Thomas Mace&s 3isto#s@#,brown or blackish0 all colours that would point to the presence of heavy pigments like

Mercury oides or sulphides "brown, red, blackish#, Lead "scarlet red, canary yellow,brown# or metallic )opper powder "reddish brown#$

+nyway, it is possible to acheive a significant loading of gut "by the use of canaryyellow lead oide#without causing any noticeable chromatic changescompared tothe colour of natural gut$

Thus, the painter could only paint all the strings as being homogeneously the samecolour "of natural gut#$ 8t is clearly a not negligible detail$

(o trace, in the basses, of the green, blue or carnation0 colours used to dye the thinnerstringsfor aesthetical reasons, as described by Cowland and Mace$ Why@

We discoverd that, in order to acheive a really efficient 'loading' process "in order toobtain a specific weight of no less than twice that of the natural gut#, insolublecompounds must be employed, worked into a very fine powder and possessing a specificweight of more than G - H gr5cmI.

(ow, none of the green, blue, pink etc$ compounds known in the -thand 7th centuriespossess, simultaneously, all these *ualities$ %ust to give an eample0 assuming that the

volumes of the materials add one to the other perfectly " gut and copper powder, foreample#, in a loaded gut string made 1$ times denser than a natural gut, a good -;7;Iif its total weight "that is e*uivalent to 4; G;I of its volume# comes solely from theloading agent$

See here some tables concerning some Lead oides0

Aed Lead0 http066www$gravitaindia$com6redlead$html

ellow Lead0 http066www$gravitaindia$com6litharge$html

Those bridge holes were certainly made by the lutemakers of the past to a si8eapt to accommodate any sort of bass gut strings then a(ailable on the market

We are allowed then to assume that the technological matri5 common to Lyons,Fistoys and may be, in owlands case, also the lowest 7enice 9atlins, may ha(ebeen the loading of gut
http://www.gravitaindia.com/redlead.htmlhttp://www.gravitaindia.com/litharge.htmlhttp://www.gravitaindia.com/redlead.htmlhttp://www.gravitaindia.com/litharge.html


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&'T&*+*+ T T&* C,T--'

The first hypothesisagainst ":phraim Segerman in


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The second hypothesisagainst ":phraim Segerman in


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%)+ssuming a 1$2 mm thick thstring, and that to be FGI of the bridge hole diameter,the latter would turn out to be at least 1$7 mm0 presentlywe ha(e no e(idenceof suchdiameters on historical lute bridges$

We should also point out that, in his monumental and indispensable work, Mersennemade a few errors in evaluating the mechanical properties of materials employed instring making$


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.ur considerations

1)This hypothesis simply discards the technically easier solution0why not simply drillslightly bigger holes in the bridge++nd what about the peg hole@ 8t must necessarilybe big enough for the resulting roped string0 why make holes of different diameterswhen it is perfectly straightforward to have the same hole at both ends@

!)Were the strings to be twisted by the lutenist they would certainly present a knottysurface, since it would have been impossible to polish them on the instrument0 historicaliconography always shows bass strings, of any kind, smooth and never bumpy like arope$

Twisting two strings into some sort of C8 rope still re*uires the strings to be wettedbeforehand and then carefully twisted with some toolin a perfectly regular manner0 no

treatise of the time ever mentions a lutenist needing such a comple knowhow, nor thathe should employ a long thin string and rope it himself, nor that he should sit still for anhour holding the string&s end securely between his fingers waiting for it to be perfectlydry$

%)(o iconographical source we know of ever shows any special type of knot at the backedge of the bridge as would be necessary to secure the string to it$

5n the contrary, the knots used "the same we use today# never seem to consist of twoends knotted together0

Laurent de la Byre: #Allegory of music$: detail '12*4)


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/ilcius '+), !ndhalf of the 13 th 9 detail of the bridge of a 1! course lute


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*)Such a method of roping a string still does not solve the enigma of the remarkableacoustical *ualities of gut strings on short lute etensions, as described in the Mary.urwell lute tutor and by Thomas Mace, which no gut string at its natural density canever achieve$

/owed instruments:

Some iconographical sources have led us to think that this way of fiing a string mayhave been in use, at least on bowed instruments$ 8t is, in fact, a particular way of securingstrings with a stopknot between string holder and bridge, whose purpose is to get rid ofthe Kwolf& problem and to better balance the stress of the string on the bridge, keepingthe latter from bending towards the holder under the string's pulling action$ + string

knotted in such manner between bridge and holder would present an elongated loopthat can be so misleading$

The fourth hypothesis to the contraryconcerns coloured strings$ .oth Cowland andMace mention strings that are coloured for aesthetical and commercial purposes$Therefore the coloured bass strings could be conse*uence of an aesthetical treatmentand not of a gut loading process$

.ur considerations

1)Such a hypothesis is not really convincing since it ignores more concrete argumentssupporting the string loading theory, such as0

a# the small bridge and string holders hole diameters

b# the great acoustical euberance of 7th century allgut bass strings

The only colours mentioned by Cowland and Mace are red, green and blue$ .othadvise to choose the more lightly coloured strings$ +nd that is the opposite of what wesee in iconographical sources, where we find dark red, brown or blackish, and yellow$

+s already stated in point *), the bass strings colours are rather homogeneous, lackingany gradual chromatic transition from thinner to thicker and, besides, they appeareactly where we, today, resort to wound strings "i$e$ from the -th course down#$

Wherever colours are employed for aesthetical purposes only they appear anywhere onthe instrument, trebles included, with no discernible logic$


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Bere are two different e5amples

yed strings for aesthetical purposes 0ed basses: they suggest a loading treatment

=iscellaneaTo conclude this review we would like to mention other doubts raised$ +lthough, these,

in our opinion are devoid of any ade*uate analytical or organological support "see+nnette 5tterstedt0 'The Diol' 1;;1, p$ 14?#0

a)the colour of the loaded strings today available on the market does not resemble thered of the basses as from 7th century paintings

b)bass strings from some iconographical eamples from the 7th century seem to bedarker close to the bridge and become gradually lighter and lighter towards the nut end0therefore such eamples cannot support the hypothesis of string loading, which shouldgive the whole string an even colour

c)gut strings, especially the unbleached and thicker ones, get darker over the years

d)very rarely can bridge holes on historical Lutes be considered to be original

e)modern reproduction of such strings implies such a substantial use of glue "to bindthe gut fibbers together# that we end up, in fact, playing more on glue than on gut


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.ur considerations

1)Points a)and e)are completely irrelevant to the gut loading hypothesis$ They simplycritici/e some physical properties of modern loaded gut strings$ 8n any case it has to be

pointed out that there are no problems in loading gut with red lead or iron oidepowders, which would give the strings the epected red hue$

=lue does not serve the purpose of binding gut fibres together but as means fordistributing the powder in a more even and homogeneous way$

8ncidentally, we would like to point out the presence of barrels of hide glue in somestringmaking workshops in the 7th century0 D :n barilo""o con dentro libbre E@ in circa dicolla cerviona - a small barrel containing about E@ pounds of hide glue-D"see Patri/io .arbieri0

/oman and Neapolitan gut strings, GG;G?;, =S%, May 1;;-, p$ ?7#

)ontainers with reddye are also mentioned "but of course we can not know whetherthat was employed for staining or loading gut#

!)Point b)is not relevant in our case0 as a matter of fact, we were very careful to selectonly iconographical eamples where the colour of strings is homogeneous not onlyalong the length of the string, but also between ad!acent strings on the instrument undereamination$ We do agree that a string's uneven colour would give ground for doubt$

%))oncerning the point 9)0 there is no links to our iconographical eamples$ Saying thatstrings "especially the unbleached ones# become darker with time should be better*ualified, i$e$ if they have been oiled we can partly agree because of the oidation processof oil$ We must point to the eclusivel# modernpractice of treating strings with linseed oil0in this specific case the strings ac*uire in a short time a reddishbrown colour that is dueto the *uick polymeri/ation process of the siccative oil$ This is not the case with the oilsactually used in the past, olive or almond oil, which are nonsiccative$

8t is hard to understand, though, what kind of relevance this point could have in our

theory0 nobody can say how old the strings on the instrument were at the time thepainting was done$

*)What stated at point d)was not supported by any detailed physicalorganological analysis of each of the eamined bridges that could lead to an obJective"andverifiable# conclusion$ We eamined about 7; bridges3 some G;I were considered, onthe basis of the elements produced by the museums staff, asprobabl#original$


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=odern solutionsMid 7thcentury sources, as !ust seen, tell us that gut basses like Lyons and Pistoys

possessed a remarkable acoustic e5uberance, unknown on the si course lute =alileiand Dirdung complain about to the point of causing the serious problems of acousticalconfusion, even on a lute with short etension, as described in the Mary .urwell tutorand by Mace, which had to be dealt with by giving up the etension and readopting the


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=odern reconstruction of the =aces deep dark red coloursFistoys '!??> year)

"the th bass string gauge is of $2; mm > 1$;; mm of e*uivalent solid gut$ Workingtension0 2$; Qg3 standard pitch0 4G 9/#


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0ight hand positions

-ote0 Bn a modern lute completel# strung with gut at E.@ Kg tension per string 8-E courses

octaves plain gut2 - courses Venices2 - basses loaded gut strings9 the best performance wasachivied when pla#ing closer to the bridge and with the thumb out2 as suggested b# old lute treatises andsome paints;

@Le Troy '124? ca): portrait of 9harles =outon, detail


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...and b# the finger- mar$s that are on some original d- minor course lutes 8that had never beenrestored9 of the KremsmOnster 8Austria90

Cans 1rei in !ologna2 Matthias 1u5/m GE'


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'Magno dieffopruchar a venetia5@ Matthias 1u5/Pm. Qays$ May 6 Coff-Lautenmacherin >ien G5 "uegericht'


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"no label#

'Qa$ob >eiX5Lauthen-und (ei-5R genmacher in 7alt"burg'$ 2 course lute with broken bassrider


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"5amples of the finger mark behind the bridge

Cere is a Lau Maler's lute modified in a course d minor lute 8>ien, Kunstistorisches Museum, 4.E69 with a deep finger mar$ behind the bridge;


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...and again the Cans 1rei lute 8>ien, Kunstistorisches Museum, 4.EE9 with a deep finger mar$behind the bridge;


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Archlutes, theorbos, e5tended

dminor lutes+ll considerations so far epressed regarding the lutes without etension apply also tothose with etension$ The only difference lies in what sort of strings we choose for theetended basses$ Let us consider two basic typesof instruments0

a) Theorbos and archlutes with long e5tension and singlediapasonsThe purpose of very long etensions is twofold0 on the one hand we reduce the stringdiameters for a better acoustical performance "string length and thickness are inverselyproportional#, on the other hand and this is probably the more precious advantage weobtain a noticeabl# better sustain, an indispensable factor for continuo playing$(o document gives us any clues about what kind of strings might have been used as

diapasons "apart from Piccinini, who mentions using silver wire for Gth, -thand etendedbasses, but calls the instrument .andora#, but we feel we can eclude loaded gut strings,both on organological "bridge holes diameters# and iconographical grounds$

Bere are some 6thand 2thfingerboard$s course bridgeholes diameters:

)hitarrone 6archlute NMagno Ciefopruchar a DenetiaO, ")4G# Dienna,Qunsthistorisches Museum0 Gth course $7mm gauge both string holes of the course3 -th$? mm both string holes of the course$ Dibrating string lengths0 -1>-7 cm3 F>41cm$

Theorbo N-6Padoua Dvendelio DenereO, ")47# Dienna, Qunsthistorisches Museum0Gth course $2 mm to the bass side string3 $4 mm for the octave$ -th course0 $G mm forthe bass side, $2 mm for the octave side$ Dibrating string lengths0 -1>7- cm3 F>1cm$

)hitarrone NMatheus .uechenberg6 Aoma -4O, "?;FF1#3 London, Dictoria and+lbert Museum3 Gth and -th course stringholes0 no$-4 drill "N)both strings of eachcourse$ Dibrating string lengths0 -1>F? cm3 F>G? cm$


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)hitarrone 6archlute N+ndrea Taus, Siena -1O, "G?F?FG?#3 London, Dictoria and+lbert Museum0 Gth course both stringholes no$GF drill "N#$ -th course0 6- of inch"Y$GF mm# to the bass side hole3 no$GF drill "N# for the octave side$ Dibrating stringlengths0 -1>-7 cm3 F>42 cm$

)hitarrone by anonimous, "77GGF-1#3 London, Dictoria and +lbert Museum3 Gth and-th courses0 all stringholes no$GF drill "Z#$ Dibrating string lengths0 -1>7; cm3 F>4Fcm$

)hitarrone N)hristoph Qoch /u dem =ulden +dtler6 in Deneding %ul$ -G;O, "Qat$ (r$2GF#3 .erlin, Staatliches 8nstitut R[, from a letter sent to me by Cr$ +nnette 5tterstedtin ??- year0 NThe holes in the bridge look rather wide for metal strings[O$ Dibratingstring lengths0 71>F2 cm3 7>-7 cm$

N0he e%uivalent gauge, in mm, was not specified

The choice falls between strings with natural specific weight, like our Denice or thetraditional high twist$ 8t is worth remembering that the 8nharmonicity limit of thethickest diapason on a theorbo or archlute was pretty much the same as the -thon the -course lute$ 8n other words, the product of fre*uency by string length results in a similar+coustic Uuality 8nde and long diapasons need not be of the third ;ort

b) Archlutes and dminor lutes with short e5tension and pairedocta(e bassesWe have no historical sources to suggest what strings ancient lute players used asdiapasons, we must therefore proceed by eclusion$The use of octaves on etended basses would suggest that it was necessary to remedy aloss of acoustical *uality$ Logic would suggest nonloaded gut strings, at least as longas the string diameters fall within about $4 mm "i$e$ an average -thon a - course lute#$


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The octa(e (s unison question on *th, 6thand

2thcoursesa) 3, >, 4 and 1? course lutes

8nformation about the string disposition on 4th, Gthand -thcourses is very scanty"courses below the -thalways had a paired octave#$ Cowland prescribes unisons down tothe -thcourse included$ 8conographical sources, on the other hand, show the use of anoctaved 4thcourse even on ; course lutes3 see Terbruggen, ca$ -14, in the (ational=allery in London0

whereas some rare sources show a unison 4th

, while Gth

and -th

have octaves "see AutilioManetti, ca$ -14, in Cublin#$


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William .arley "+ (ew .ooke of Tabliture, G?-# recommends using octaves on 4th, Gth

and -th$ %ohn %ohnson,


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Anton (an yck 'ca 12%?): archlute$s playerC details of single treble andocta(es on 6thand 2thcourses ;ee also the long thumbnail


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Lute bass strings in the 1>th

centuryWe believe that the late 7thcentury lute was not affected, as a rule, by the appearance ofwound strings, which were developed in the second half of that century0 the earliestmentions known to us of wound strings dates back to -G? "9artlib Papers Pro!ect3:phemerides0 (orets$# hath an invention of lute strings covered with silver w#er, or strings whichma$e a most admirable music$. Mr !o#le.


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Surviving treatises "Thomas Mace, -7-, and %ames Talbot, ca$ -?;, amongst others#point towards allgut basses$

5n the ground of circumstantial evidence, though, we believe that, as from about thebeginning of the Fthcentury, the =erman 2 course lute might have been strung withthis new type of string$ 8n a document from 72 =ianbattista Martini, in +ugsburg atthe time, mentions keyboard instruments strung with K...corde ramate, come il Leutto...& coppery strings, like the lute$s "see Patri/io .arbieri&s /oman and Neapolitan (ut 7trings,=S% May 1;;-, pp$ 7-7#$

+nother source mentioning wound strings on the lute is


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8n the Fthcentury, wound strings can be grouped into three categories, all built arounda gut core "at least up to the second half of the century the earliest mention of woundon silk known to date is after 7-;#0

1 double wound 'ie a first winding is co(ered by a second one)! close wound% open wound 'called demifilTby the @rench)

.pen wound K close wound strings

Type 1was probably used for bowed instruments with particularly short string lengthand low pitch ")ello da spalla, Diola da Spalla c$#$

Type !$ would seem to be the right one for the 2 course lute0

;tradi(ari wound strings, =useo ;tradi(ariano Cremona: Oueste sono le mostredelle corde grosse, quella che mostra 'che) sono di budella (a filata a (idalba


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'These are the e5amples of the thick stringsC the string that show the gut corebetween the wire turns must be wound like the 7italbas plant):

The 7italbas plant

but we would rather opt for type %upon an important consideration0 from what weknow about the metallurgic technology of the time it seems that it was not possible, atleast in the common practice, to produce wires thinner than about $1 mm "see for eample%ames =rassineau OMusical +ictionaryO London, 74; under the world 'wires'3 see also the)ryselius's wire gauges and the Fth(uremberg's wire gauge tables#$

+s a conse*uence we think that it was not possible to produce wound strings for the -th,7thand Fthcourses for the dminor lute, even if we reduced the gut core to the point of

completely unbalancing the Metallicity 8nde and the mechanical stability of the string$


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The manual machine for making o(erspun strings "ncyclopPdie, ouictionnaire raissonnP des sciences, des arts et des metier QRM, /riasson et al,

Faris 1361>?

An open wound string was simple and efficient0 by spacing the winding it was possibleto get aroundthe wire diameter problem, with one limitation0 here, too, it was the thinnestavailable wire that had to be employed in the production of the -thstring$What we are saying here is that open wound strings were not a transitionalphenomenon, in the sense of bridging over the gap between allgut and close woundstrings, they were a clever stratagemthat made it possible to come around the technologicallimitations of the wire manufacture of the time$

Bow do we know that open wound strings were really used in the 1>th centurylutes+

.ne piece of e(idence and several probative elements point in that direction0

a)The direct evidence comes from the pieces of strings on a Lute by Aaphael Mest$9alf wound strings were in use only in the Fth century and it is hard to imagine a lateraddition of this particular kind of string on an instrument that had already fallen intodisuse0


87/102

b)+ strong vertical ovali/ation of bass bridge holes and signs of abrasion on the upperplate edges on original Fthcentury bridges0 an open wound string does not runsmoothly"not as smoothly as a close wound does# but acts like some kind of file on thehole edges$ We hardly find this kind of wear on modern lutes, for instance, where we use

close wound basses$

"5ample of (ertical wear in the bridge of a 1% course lute of the


88/102

c)The diameters of bass bridge holes on 2 course lutes with bass Krider& are rathercompatible with open wound strings, while holes for the noticeably thinner close woundstrings would be epected to be smaller "a half wound string for the 2thcourse with a

working tension of about 2 kg presents a diameter of about $- mm against a statisticalaverage of $F$? of hole diameter as measured on original lutes#$ Bnfortunately, thisevidence does not work with the swanneck lutes$

Table 1

Lute

isposition 9ourse ma5imum

passingdiameterLeonhard 3radter in3rag GH

4G 6 ($:$ 4?

QunsthinstorischesMuseum Sammlung

+lterMusikinstrumente

Wien, +ustria

Thirteen courseslute "1, ?1$11#

v$l$ 7$- cms

7-$; cms

th

1th

2th

$FG mm

$-; mm S

$7G mm S

NCans !ur$holt"er,Lautenmacher in1iessen5 HN

":dlinger 7;G#

S+M 446(:$ 4F

Qunsthinstorisches

Museum Sammlung+lterMusikinstrumente

Wien, +ustria

Thirteen courseslute "1, ?1311#

v$l$ -F$; cms

72$;cms

th

2th

$4; mm S$4G mm S

NVendelio Venere6N "Thomas:dlinger 714#

S+M --

QunsthinstorischesMuseum Sammlung

+lter

Thirteen courseslute "1, ?1,

11#

v$l$ 71$; cms

7-$; cms

th

1th

2th

$FG mm S

$F; mm

$?G mm


89/102

Musikinstrumente

Wien, +ustria

NQa$ob >ei5Luthen-

unnd (ei-5 Rgenmacher in 7alt"burg874#

Qremsm]nster

+ustria

Thirteen courses

lute "1, ?1311#

v$l$ 7$G cms

"7-,;cms@#

;th

th

1th

2th

$7; mm

$7G mm

$7G mm S

1$;G mm

=a5imum passing hole diameters on some dminor


90/102

M& (

Germanische ational

Museum

!rem"erg, German#

v$l$ 71$- cms

?-$G cms

th

;th

?th

Fth

$4G mm

$4G mm

$2; mm

$GG mm

$Se"astian Schelle,

]rn"erg )*+)$

M& .+

Germanische ational

Museum

!rem"erg, German#

Thirteencourses lute

"1, -13 G1#

v$l$ 7;$G cms

?2$2 cms

2th

1th

th

;th

?th

Fth

$7G mm

$?G mm

$?; mm

$-G mm

$-G mm

$?; mm

/ohann 0ristian

1offman, Lei23ig

)*.4$

&n5, 6 +7

Germanische ational

Museum

!rem"erg, German#

Thirteencourses lute"1, -13 G1#

v$l$ 71$; cms

?F$G cms

;th

?th

Fth

7th

-th

$4; mm S

$4G mm S

$4G mm

$4; mm

$4; mm

Leo2old 8idhalm

M& .9

Germanische ational

Museum

!rem"erg, German#


v$l$ 74$; cms

??$F cms

2th

1th

th

;th

?th

Fth

$?; mm

$-G mm S

$7G mm

$-G mm

$-; mm

$-; mm

:och

M& 77

Germanische ationalMuseum


v$l$ -?$F cms

?G$G cms

2th

1th

th

$7G mm

$FG mm

$7; mm


91/102

!rem"erg, German#

Leo2old 8idhalm

M& 7)

;sound"oard onl#hanks to &5o Magherini ? @nton# 1ind for the Anglish translation from the &talian original


100/102

BAppendix

>here are some organological curiosities concerning the German )9 course lute in D minor "oth

with the "ass rider or with the swanneck% Cne of them is certainl# its string length, generall#within the *.-*9 cm "rackets%

>uned at the )*+* aron'skammerton F ;in 2ractical terms corres2onding to @ at +. 13< the

treble works close to breaking point;the 8orking &ndeE- range is of +99-+9 13mt


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Lets now consider the Iuestion of swan-neck eEtension lutes with this sort of eEtension "egan to

a22ear a"out )*9. and, in the light of our 2resent knowledge, we "elie5e the "ass strings used were

not2lain gut "ut wound ones%

ophany, 133? ca: detail of the ;harp familyC see the #white$ basses


102/102

1ere the Iuestion arises if "asses were reall# made of 2lain gut, wh# was the eEtension limited to

7-).. cm, wh# did the# not make them longer for "etter 2erformancesJ sa# )+.-)9. cms=

8e can onl# 2ut forward a h#2othesis ;lacking historical e5idencesolely based on experimental

data< connected again with the string Iuestion it was within this range that it was 2ossi"le to use

the same wound stringsalread# em2lo#ed on the (th, *th and 4th courses% @nd that would gi5e afeeling of stiffness eIual to the fretted coursesJ onl# for the )+th and )9th "asses new wound strings

had to "e added on%

@s we said, the "ass string on the (th course was 2ro"a"l# wound with the thinnest wire a5aila"le%

@n eEtension longer e5en "# a small amount would ha5e raised the 2ro"lem of what string would

ha5e "een a5aila"le for the first eEtended ;i%e% th< "ass, since it could not ha5e "een a wound one

an#more and 2lain gut would ha5e "een 5er# un"alanced with the lower wound- eEtended "asses%

Vivi felice

MK, Ccto"er +..4

The Lute in its Bistorical 0eality by Mimmo Peruffo is licensed under a )reative)ommons +ttribu/ione(on commerciale(on opere derivate 2$; Bnported License%
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I-The lute in its historical reality by Mimmo Peruffo

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