Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 11:31:35 -0400
From: Matanya Ophee 
Subject: Re: German "lute/guitar"

At 06:42 AM 4/18/2001 -0700, Sal Salvaggio wrote:
>Friends
>
>An elderly woman called the other day who found
>two instruments behind a false wall in her attic which
>seem to fit the description of turn of the century
>"lute/guitars" I believe they were made in Germany.
>Her father was a woodworker who repaired instruments
>as well .I will be seeing these monuments of lute -
>building this Friday when she comes over for a lesson
>and was wondering if someone could point me in the
>direction of it's music, history, tuning and general
>uses. It appears that the instrument's have six single
>strings - seems to be a nationalistic folk instrument
>of some sort?

In a sense it was. An integral part of the Wandervogel movement in Germany
in the 1920s. The repertoire is simply any guitar music of the period, A
lot of it was specifically written fuer der Laute oder die gitarre, and
most of it was simply 19th century guitar music that was being reprinted in
bulk by several publishers then. There are also thousands of song sheets of
German folk songs published at the time.

Matanya Ophee
Editions Orphe'e, Inc.,
1240 Clubview Blvd. N.
Columbus, OH 43235-1226
Phone: 614-846-9517
Fax:     614-846-9794
mailto:m.ophee@orphee.com
http://www.orphee.com