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The lute:
15th-century
new and neglected sources
ChristopherPage
ALi
iA
1 Lutenist with singers. Oxford, St Hilda's College, MS 1 (Dutch, late 15th-century), f.55v
It was the period of Dufay (d1474) that saw the [C/ithara est instrumentummusicumcommuniter[sejunctum/4
development of the 'classic' lute: a fretted, finger- ceterisproptersonorumsuorumsubtilitatem, habensquinquechoros
plucked instrument, tuned in fourths around a third, cordarumsemperduplatas et novem ligaturasin collo,faciens
used for polyphonic as well as monophonic playing, sonorumvarietatesdigitorumtamenregistracione, cuiusconcavum
and associated with its own system of notation. These pectorisclibanumhabetofficium,foramenvero oris;collumvero
habet similitudinem canne pulmonis, super quod digiti
innovations rested upon some two hundred years of
perambulantes habentofficiumepigloti;percussioautemcordarum
lute playing in Europe, yet many makers and players
habetsimilitudinempenularumpulmonisa quibusvox efflatur,sed
still feel that the history of the Western lute really
corde nervalesgerunt lingue et officiumquibus vox formatur.
begins with the first decades of the 16th century.' Citaristaautemhabetofficiumintellectusregistrantis
cantum.
In the hope of casting some light upon these
The lute is a musical instrument which is generally [kept
neglected years of lute playing I have assembled an
apart] from others on account of the delicacy of its sound.
anthology of new and neglected sources for the It has five courses of strings, always double, and nine frets
history of the lute before 1500,2 together with some on the neck making the distinctions of notes with the
well-known but misinterpreted material such as the
application of the fingers. Its hollow vessel performs the
passages from Tinctoris' De Inventione et Usu Musicae. office of the [human] chest; the rose [performsthe office] of
All of the information is practical, pertaining to such the mouth; the neck lof the lutel resembles the human
matters as the physical characteristics of the lute, its windpipe; the fingers running over it perform the office of
tuning, repertory, and social position. the epiglottis; the striking of the strings is similar to the
covering of the lungs by which the voice is blown out, but
A mid-15th-century description of the lute the gut strings perform the task of the tongue with which
In his Liber Viginti Artium (c 1460) the Jewish scholar the voice is articulated. The lutenist performs the task of
Paulus Paulirinus of Prague describes a citharawhich playing the music intelligently.
appears to be a lute:3 In another section of his treatise Paulus comments
Techniques of performance
A great deal of our knowledge about the 15th-
century lute is derived from the printed treatise De
"k
sententia)ceterisestpreferendus.
"
Alii (quod multodifficiliusest) soli cantusnon mododuarum "... a"..*.!
-96tor
partium,verumetiamtriumet quatuorartificiosissime promunt.
Some teams play the top part of any polyphonic song you
please with wondrous decorative figures composed upon it,
so very elegantly that nothing is more excellent. Among
whom Pietrobono lutenist to the renowned duke of Ferrara
is, in my opinion, to be preferred before all others.
Others do what is much more difficult, to play a com-
position alone not only in two parts, but also in three and
four in a most artful manner.
-;twi~~iu:jt,
4
/*,A6•4p,,,
6•, , - • .
"
f' ?
so-
The tuning of the lute
Tinctoris also gives an account of lute tuning which is
well known, but there are three other 15th-century
MW.
accounts of the subject, one of which (a) has been
published but is generally unknown, and two more (b
and c) which have been hitherto overlooked.
a. Cambridge,TrinityCollege,MS 0.2.13
Folios 77-99 of the manuscript compose a paper
notebook compiled within the reign of Henry VII
(1485-1509) which contains miscellaneous materials.9
There are recipes of various kinds, and on f.94 there
begins a series of documents in Latin and English
which amounts to a small, private formulary. One on
J f.94 is headed 'The fourme how warauntz be made',
lff------:
...
, and other documents transcribed into the manu-
..r
script include the forma for letters of attorney and for
letters of obligation.
4 Angel lutenist using a quill, clearly shown to be cut into a 'nib'. Folio 97v of the manuscript (illus. 5) seems to have
Detail from an engraving of the Madonna and Child with musician been arranged with some care. It focuses upon
angels by the Masterof the Death of Mary(Netherlands, 1430-40).
From M. Lehrs, Kritzscher Katalog,Textband 1, pp. 278f; Tafelband literary and musical interests, and at the head of the
1, Tafel34 page are four Versus boni. There is also a list of the
%uu
4000,
At
7 Angel lutenist with other musicians. From the translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus' De Proprietatibus Rerumby
J. Corbichon, revised by P. Ferget (Proprietesdes choses,Lyons, 1491). Detail from prefatory woodcut to Book 2, on God
and the angels. Reproduced by permission from Oxford, Bodleian Library,Auct. I.Q.3.35
>?P.Vi
o- =1 . I
Ap?
4 .o"d
41
&
!
,-
4
pointed out:'9
... three songbooks [Ritson's MS, Henry VIII's MS, and
the Fayrfax MSI contain between them almost the whole
repertory of early Tudor songs-that is, of poems set to
music ... Other musical manuscripts survive, of course,
from the early Tudor period ... But they are of a different
kind and do not contain vernacular songs ... No English
lute music can be dated earlier than 1540, and there are no 13 Lute and harp. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 256
(Flemish, c 1500), f.42v
instrumentaltutors or books of that sort.
4f'
Rede was not, as far as we know, a scrivener. Cely
refers to him as Thomas Rede 'harpar', and there can
be little doubt that he was a professional music
master (and dancing master), and possibly also a
part-time minstrel. If-as seems likely-Rede copied
the bills out himself, then we must view him as a
combined scribe and author selling not merely his
time at the desk (like any scrivener) but also selling
his professional expertise. There were no printed
instrumental tutors at this date as far as we know; the
quality of practical teaching materials depended
therefore on the professional competence of one's
teacher. Pupils paid for the privilege, not merely the ''.
utility of having them, and it is easy to imagine that 14 The lute recommended to tame the lusts of a king. From Basle
their prices would vary greatly according to teachers' University Library, MS O.11.26 (German, 1476), f.12v: Aristotle's
prestige. counsels to Alexander
aloft
Jf
-vr op
Jz,
w4w
Mill
15 A lutenist leading men and women in a dance in the sixth age of the world. From H. Schedel, LiberCronicarum (1493), f.217r. The
accompanying text includes the sentence Cumin traiectohominesutriusquesexussuperpontemcoreisac vanitatibusoperamdarent('In crossing
over the bridge people of both sexes give themselves over to dances and vainglory'). Reproduced by permission from Oxford, Bodleian
Library,Douce 304