Micrologus; The Lute

81-22 THE LUTE

The lute, as many of you know, is an instrument with a characteristically pear-shaped back, a peg box which bends back sharply, a multitude of strings, and a long history. It derives from the Arabic instrument known as the ud, which was introduced into western Europe first by the Moors, when they invaded Spain in the 8th century, and then by the Crusaders, who brought back uds from the Holy Land about the 12th century. It is interesting to note that the ud is still in use today, especially in North Africa, and the modern version differs from its ancestor only by the absence of frets, which were a feature of medieval uds and also medieval lutes. Usually, medieval lutes had four pairs--or courses--of strings, and the apparent manner of performance was to play a single line of music, using a feather as a plectrum--or a pick, as the modern guitarist would say. Among the many polyphonic pieces which may have been intended for lute are the ornamented instrumental versions of songs which are found in the Faenza Codex. These works are usually considered to be for keyboard, because they are notated in a manner similar to our modern keyboard score. But, because many of them contain what would be extremely awkward part-crossings and even duplication of notes in the two parts, some people believe they were intended for two melodic instruments, including, quite possibly, at least one lute. One person so convinced is Thomas Binkley, of the Early Music Quartet, whom now we hear, with Andrea von Ramm, harp, in a performance of Landini's "Non avrà la pietà,” from the Faenza Codex. Binkley here adds to the written music some elegant Arabic style ornaments.

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The Faenza Codex dates from the early 15th century, and throughout the remainder of this century there were a number of important developments in the history of the lute. First of all, lute makers increased the standard number of lute courses, first to five and then to six. Lute players developed the repertoire of solo polyphonic music, and scribes devised a system for notating this new literature, namely, lute tablature. Tablature, at first glance, looks a bit like conventional music notation, in that there are groups of horizontal lines going across the page. But, instead of representing a pitch, each of these lines represents a course of the lute. On the lines are placed tiny letters--"a," "b," etc.--which tell the player at which fret to stop the strings. The first appearance of lute tablature in print was the Intabulatura de lauto of Francesco Spinacino, printed by Petrucci in Venice in 1507. From that landmark collection, we will hear a "Ricercare," performed by Konrad Ragossnig.

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Most Renaissance instruments were made in different sizes, and lutes were no exception to this, both in terms of the physical size of the instrument and the number of courses, which pushed slowly upwards to eight or ten by the end of the 16th century. As might be expected from Renaissance composers, where families of instruments are concerned, there was a wish to take advantage of the sound of several lutes playing together, and among the most admired composers in this genre, was Giovanni Pacoloni, who published a collection in 1564. From it, we hear the "Saltarello De la traditora" and the "Saltarello Milanese," performed by Konrad Ragossnig, Jürgen Hübscher, and Dieter Kirsch.

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Another important, but short-1ived, ensemble was the Broken Consort, or Morley Consort, in which the lute combined with bandora, cittern, violin, flute, and bass viol, and was given parts which were much more melodically florid than the usual solo and ensemble repertoire. A fine example of this is "My Lord of Oxenford's Masque," by William Byrd, which we hear now performed in concert by Paul O’Dette, with the Musicians of Swanne Alley, directed by Paul O’Dette and Lyle Nordstrom.

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England is, of course, well-known for its solo lute music around the beginning of the 17th century, and although we had a whole program on John Dowland some weeks ago on Micrologus, it is worth reminding ourselves of his lute music, in the context of this program. This short example is "My Lady Hunsdon's Puffe." The performance, again, is by Paul O’Dette.

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The beginning of the 17th century saw the addition of several bass courses, which unfortunately required such long strings that they necessitated the use of extensions to the neck of the lute. You will often hear such an instrument referred to as a theorbo lute, or chitarrone. But by the middle 17th century, the introduction of wound strings, a core of gut, or silk, wrapped with wire, made it possible to produce these same bass notes, using a string of greater mass and shorter length. Essentially, this meant a return to lutes of about the same physical size as Renaissance instruments, but with more strings. Around this time, there was an important stylistic development taking place in France, the introduction of the stile brisé (broken or arpeggiated style), which was to be so influential in future writing for the lute and for keyboard. The most prominent lutenist composers of France of this time were of the Gautier family, which seems to have included some curious characters. This interesting tidbit recently came to light in the casebook of a London physician for the year 1643.

Mr. Ashbury, a lutenist, at night was bitten by Gotier, the French lutenist in Covent Garden, had a piece of his cheek bitten out, an inch or more on the left side at the corner of the mouth and nether lip, down to the lower part of the jaw. I stitched it and dressed it.

That was probably Jacques Gautier. We will hear a selection by a more famous Gautier, Denis, the "Sarabande and Gigue Panégyrique" from the Suite No. 1 in D major, performed by Hopkinson Smith.

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The last work on today's Micrologus is by an 18th century German lutenist composer, Silvius Leopold Weiss. Johann Mattheson minced no words in 1728, when he called Weiss the "greatest lutenist in the world," and indeed he was the most important composer for the instrument in the waning years of its popularity. J. S. Bach is known to have played lute, as well as keyboard and violin, and it is interesting that Bach's first biographer, a man named Forkel, compared the lute works of Weiss to the harpsichord works of Bach. We will listen to the "Prelude and Fantasy in C Minor" by Silvius Leopold Weiss, performed, once again, by Hopkinson Smith.

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You have been listening to a program exploring the repertoire for the lute from the Middle Ages to the Baroque era.