Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/188

176 par J. S. Bach'; lastly, 'Fuga del Signore J. S. Bach' (in G minor), of which the subject—

is to be found in a violin sonata by the same composer. These lute pieces were in MS. May we think with Becker that it was not improbable that Bach played the lute?

To proceed to the description of the instrument. The pear-shaped or vaulted body of the lute is built up of staves of pine or cedar. The belly, of pine, has a sound-post beneath the bridge, [App. p.706. "omit the clause between the commas, as the lute is not furnished with a soundpost"] like a violin, and one or more sound-bars for support and to assist the resonance. It is graduated in thickness towards the edges and is pierced with from one to three sound-holes in decorative knots or rose patterns. Great pains were evidently taken in choosing and making this very essential part of the instrument. Attached to the body is a neck of moderate length covered by a finger-board divided by frets of brass or catgut into a measured scale. The strings were entirely of catgut until towards the end of the 17th century, when silver spun bass strings were introduced. There would appear by comparison of old lutes to have been much diversity in the stringing and tuning, and there is a broad division in the large lutes between those notes, generally in pairs of unisons, which lie over the finger-board and frets, and the diapason notes that are not stopped, and serve only to determine the key or modulation. When off the finger-board these deeper strings were attached to pegs elevated by a second and higher neck. These extended instruments became known as theorboes, and in time virtually banished the older single-necked lutes. [See, and , the bass theorbo.] The fingers of the right hand, without a plectrum, touched the strings pizzicato in melody or chords. The tender charm and colouring of the lute-player's tone can, in these days of exaggerated sonorousness, be scarcely imagined. The frets of the finger-board followed a division by half-tones, and in the old lutes were eight to each pair of strings. Later, as will be presently shewn, they were carried farther in the higher strings. Mace (Musick's Monument; London, 1676, p. 50) said nine was the best number, but there was a limitation to this stopping nearer the bridge, by the proportions of the strings in length, thickness, and weight being unduly disturbed to the detriment of the tone. According to Baron ('Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten,' Nuremberg, 1727) and an older authority, Praetorius, the lute had originally four open notes (a); in course of time two G's were added (b).

Melchior Neusiedler of Augsburg, who was living A.D. 1574, added the F below the bass G, making thirteen strings in all, the highest, or Chanterelle, being a single string. This compass Baron calls Gamaut, and the deeper bass strings he calls Brummer or Bombarte, the finer ones Bombärtlein. Brummer was usually applied, and the appellations in German, Italian, and English were as follows:—


 * G. Quintsaite.—Canto.—Treble.
 * D. Kleinsangsaite.—Sottana.—Small Mean.
 * A. Grossangsaite.—Mezzana.—Great Mean.
 * F. Kleinbrummer.—Tenore.—Counter Tenor.
 * C. Mittelbrummer.—Bordone.—Tenor.
 * G. Grossbrummer.—Basso.—Bass.

At page 122 of his work, Baron gives the compass of an 'eleven course' lute thus,

the two highest (the melody strings) being single, the remainder pairs. His division of the fingerboard has ten frets for the F; eleven for the G; and twelve for each of the highest six. There is