At 3:30 PM +0100 8/13/09, Elizabeth Eva Leach wrote:
>Dear Med-and-Ren-Music List,
>I've had the query below from a colleague who works on Spanish
>lyric. I don't know the answer, but I'm sure there are those of you
>out there who might know if Germany was indeed renowned for
>supplying fine gut strings in the early 17thC, or whether this
>should rather be read as an ironic (or ignorant) comment. The
>context is a poem on the Crucifixion, in which the streams of
>Christ's blood are compared to cittern strings, 'finer [finas] than
>those from Germany'.
>Please email [log in to unmask] directly with your answer.
>Many thanks,
>EEL
There is a bit of confusion here. The citterns, as they were known
and played in the early 17th century, were strung with wire, not with
gut, giving them a pleasingly sharp tone quality that contrasted will
with the gut-strung plucked instruments of the time. The closest
modern equivalent would be the mandolin. So if the word "cittern" is
used in the poem, it would almost certainly refer to wire strings,
and to the centers of expertise in drawing fine wire. I'm afraid I
don't know whether the Germanic kingdoms were particularly known for
that expertise. Wire strings were also used on harpsichords, of
course, while gut strings were used for lutes, viols, and instruments
of the violin family.
Citterns were flat-backed, and thus easier to construct than lutes
and probably less expensive. They occupied the popular place in
society occupied today by inexpensive acoustic guitars.
If, however, the poem specifically mentions gut strings, it likely
does not refer to the cittern of that time. (Given, of course, that
musical instrument manufacturing was anything but standardized, and
museum instruments demonstrate that anything that could be envisioned
was probably tried at one time or another!)
John
>Begin forwarded message:
>
>>From: Tyler Fisher <[log in to unmask]>
>>Date: 13 August 2009 14:34:18 BST
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: fine 17th-century strings from Germany?
>>
>>Dear Liz,
>>
>>I hope you are enjoying a beautiful summer -- and I hope you might
>>entertain a musical query.
>>I am working on an early 17th-century Spanish poem (1613) which
>>references fine gut strings from Germany. One Spanish musicologist
>>notes that Spain acquired the most and best quality strings at that
>>time from Bologna, Rome, and Naples. But is there a basis for
>>associating Germany with particularly fine strings in that period?
>>Are there any references you could recommend me?
>>
>>Grateful,
>>Tyler
--
John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music
Virginia Tech Department of Music
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[log in to unmask])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
"We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition
of jazz musicians.
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