The Lute
The lute, the most prolific instrument during the 16th century, was “in almost universal use in western Europe” because it was treasured for its ability to arouse emotions through its “expressive and finely shaded tone”. Since the lute was so abundant during the Renaissance period “it is one of the first instruments for which we find any large quantity of written music” in which polyphonic singing and secular songs as well as dances were merged together. The lute, because it was so profuse, was one of the main instruments to help music evolve during the Renaissance period. It helped bring about vertical harmony and the influence that the lute dance suites had on later keyboard suites is clearly seen . However, none of this would …show more content…
However, by the Renaissance period this practice was out of date and players were using only their fingers to pluck the strings. The lute originally only had only four single strings but by the end of the 15th century the treble string had been added, lower strings had become courses of two strings, and the sixth course was added. The strings were “tuned at intervals of a fourth, broken by a major third in the middle”. Although there were no absolute pitches that the strings were tuned to, the general idea was to tune the treble string as high as the string could handle. The lower strings were then tuned according to the treble string. This caused the normal tuning to be somewhere around G C F A D G or A D G B E A from the highest to lowest string which came to be known as the “old English lute tuning”. Somewhere in the mid 1500’s a seventh course was added in the bass on some lutes; although, the six course lute was still in …show more content…
It was not unheard of to have to tune a bass course up or down a tone to play a different song; however, new tunings which originated in France during the 1600’s through 1630’s made the performer retune all of the strings in order to play a different song. There were several different tunings the “sharp tune”, “flat tune”, and “accord nouveau ou extraordinaire” are a few examples. “By about 1650 a single lute-book might contain pieces requiring several different tunings.” This became very annoying to performers who were constantly having to retune their instruments since a decently constructed lute would only require small adjustments to keep in perfect tune. It was said by one, Matthenson, that “a lutenist spent most of his life tuning his instrument”. The reason the new tunings at first became widely used was because the different tunings gave the instrument’s sound a different color, but higher tunings created greater stress on the body which in turn created a need to reinforce it. This had a unfavorable effect on the
The lute, the most prolific instrument during the 16th century, was “in almost universal use in western Europe” because it was treasured for its ability to arouse emotions through its “expressive and finely shaded tone”. Since the lute was so abundant during the Renaissance period “it is one of the first instruments for which we find any large quantity of written music” in which polyphonic singing and secular songs as well as dances were merged together. The lute, because it was so profuse, was one of the main instruments to help music evolve during the Renaissance period. It helped bring about vertical harmony and the influence that the lute dance suites had on later keyboard suites is clearly seen . However, none of this would …show more content…
However, by the Renaissance period this practice was out of date and players were using only their fingers to pluck the strings. The lute originally only had only four single strings but by the end of the 15th century the treble string had been added, lower strings had become courses of two strings, and the sixth course was added. The strings were “tuned at intervals of a fourth, broken by a major third in the middle”. Although there were no absolute pitches that the strings were tuned to, the general idea was to tune the treble string as high as the string could handle. The lower strings were then tuned according to the treble string. This caused the normal tuning to be somewhere around G C F A D G or A D G B E A from the highest to lowest string which came to be known as the “old English lute tuning”. Somewhere in the mid 1500’s a seventh course was added in the bass on some lutes; although, the six course lute was still in …show more content…
It was not unheard of to have to tune a bass course up or down a tone to play a different song; however, new tunings which originated in France during the 1600’s through 1630’s made the performer retune all of the strings in order to play a different song. There were several different tunings the “sharp tune”, “flat tune”, and “accord nouveau ou extraordinaire” are a few examples. “By about 1650 a single lute-book might contain pieces requiring several different tunings.” This became very annoying to performers who were constantly having to retune their instruments since a decently constructed lute would only require small adjustments to keep in perfect tune. It was said by one, Matthenson, that “a lutenist spent most of his life tuning his instrument”. The reason the new tunings at first became widely used was because the different tunings gave the instrument’s sound a different color, but higher tunings created greater stress on the body which in turn created a need to reinforce it. This had a unfavorable effect on the