Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 08:28:45 -0500
Subject: Re: German lute/guitar
From: Daniel F Heiman 



On Wed, 18 Apr 2001 15:02:11 -0700 "Clive Titmuss" 
writes:
> Actually there is plenty in this topic to interest the contemporary
> performer of baroque and early classical music on the lute and
> guitar,
> because it was this instrument which sparked a renaissance of
> interest in
> the lute, not only in Germany, but later in Austria (for obvious
> reasons)
> and the rest of Europe during the post-war period.
>Confused yet?)
>

>
> It's very likely that  Walter Gerwig would have begun playing on
> such a lute
> before
> switching to instruments by Hans Jordan.

I was under the impression (not sure why) that Walter Gerwig had made at
least some lutes himself, for himself and some students.

>The latter's instruments
> are
> somewhere between our historically accurate models and the
> guitar-lutes of
> the twenties, with bars mortised into linings, heavy bridges with or
> without
> nuts, and somewhat thicker strings and timber than we are now used
> to. For
> those who may not know, Gerwig played everything on a ten course
> lute in
> renaissance G tuning, Bach and other baroque composers included.
> F.J.
> Giesbert's Schule fuer die Barock-Laute, Schott, 1939, would have
> been
> directed at people with such instruments, but 13 courses in d
> tuning.

Umm... The illustration of the lute on p.6 of that book shows a proper
early/mid-eighteenth-century instrument with single stringing on only the
first two of the 13 courses.  It is almost an engineering drawing in
quality, wtih both a plan and a profile. He carefully points out the 24
Wirbel (tuning pegs) and shows a thin neck cross-section having a
cambered fingerboard with a 4mm rise in the center and 10 tied-on frets.
There is a rider for the tuning peg of the chanterelle but no neck
extension for the basses, though he does point out the extended neck as
an option in a note at the bottom of the page.  Admittedly, this does not
prevent the use of the book by people playing one of the Wandervogel
lutars, but it seems he is aiming a bit farther.

It is overall an exquisite piece of work:  ALL of the text is beautifully
calligraphed, not just the tablature.

Daniel Heiman