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Paul's Guitar Museum 10. Theorbo or Lute?

"Lute Player" 1667  (theorbo/lute)

Gerard Ter Borch: 1617-81, Dutch genre and portrait painter. He portrayed the life of the wealthy Dutch burgher class in elegant and serene paintings. His most famous pictures include The Guitar Lesson (National Gall., London) and the celebrated group portrait The Peace of Münster (1648; National Gall., London). http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/TerBorch/TerBorch.html

Paul: I looked in my humble library of musical instrument books and found several instruments very much like the "lute player" painting above. In "The world of medieval & renaissance musical instruments" by J.Montague I found three theorbo's: a Panduan Theorbo made by Wendelin Tieffenbrucker in 1595 (Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna) A Venetian Theorbo made by Matteo Sellas in 1637 (Victoria & Albert Museum, London) Roman theorbo (archlute or chitarrone) by Magno Tieffenbrucker in the second half of the 16th century (Kunthistoriches Museum, Vienna) In "The World of Musical Instruments" by A. Kendall I found four theorboes: in a painting: "The Sharp Family on the Thames" by Zoffany, a venetian theorbo two more Venetian style theorbo's 1) Michael Rauche, London 1762 and 2) J.H. Goldt in Hamburg 1734 both in the "Victoria & Albert museum , London an archlute Theorbo (roman theorbo) in a painting "The Theorbo Player" by Jan Brockhorst early 1600's painting by G. Terboc in a book "String instruments of the Middle Ages" by H. Panum. All of the theorboe's I found have a" straight head" kinda like a fender where the head has a "jog" in it then it keeps going strait. Lute's on the other hand have a head that is close to 90 degrees from the fingerboard and here's the clincher - the instrument in the painting "the lute player" is identified as a "Theorbo-Lute" & it has BOTH characteristics: a head like a theorbo and a head like a lute. See other Lute sites: Bach Plucked! This site is devoted to the playing of music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries on the lute and guitar. The site is constructed by an experienced classical guitarist with over twenty year's experience who also plays Bach on the lute. The musical notation is drawn from both the guitar and the lute.

"Lute"- A Greek word?   The most common definition about the word "Lute" is that comes from the Arabian "Al oud". There is an interesting statement though, in an old spanish dictionary, refering that the origin of the word "Lute", derives from the Greek Language. The dictionary "Tesoro de la lengua Castellana", by Sebastian Covarrubias Orosco, (Madrid - 1611), says that the name is derived from the Greek, like a corruption of "halieut", taking away the "ha". The full name in Greek is "Halieutica", and it means the little boat of the fishermen, which is short, with a belly shape."halieut" - "lieut" - "liuto" (Italy) - "leud" - "laud". From The Lute Page in Greece

Guitar-vs-Lute. Differencies  A first difference is the way of playing and the quality of producing sound by the courses (the double strings of the Lute). Another basic difference is the right hand's technique. The guitar's technique is trying to "equalise" all the fingers of right hand, to produce almost the same sound. In Lute the basic playing element is the articulation and frazing between the "strong"(good) and "weak"(bad) notes. That goes straight back to the principles of Renaissance music. From The Lute Page in Greece Musee pictural de la guitare Guitar or lute players painted by artists from the 15th century.

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