Bkna Dal Cortivo

No. 51 April 1988

FOMRHI Quarterly
BULLETIN 51 2
Bulletin Supplement 9
New Acqisitions to the Kenneth G. Fiske Museum ... for 1986 and 1987 11
Membership List Supplement 39

COMMUNICATIONS

860 New Grove DoMI5 E.s. no.95 H and I entries E. Segerman 14

861 Comments on Comm 731 J . Downing 17
862 On English and French vocal and viol style ... E. Segerman 18
863 On accreditation D. Leigh 23
864 Further to comment 849 M. Ransley 25
865 Comments on woodwind restoration B. Ackerman 26
866 J o b s t Meuler or the secret of a Nuremberg wire drawer R. Gug 29
867 On English lute sizes and tunings c. 1600 ... E. Segerman 37

FELLOWSHIP OF MAKERS AND RESEARCHERS OF HISTORICAL INSTRUMENTS

Hon. Sec. J . Montagu, c/o Faculty of Music, St. Aldate's,

Oxford OX1 1DB, U.K.
bull. 51, p. 2

FELLOWSHIP of MAKERS and RESEARCHERS of HISTORICAL INSTRUMENTS

Bulletin 51 _ ., 1 0 0 0
Aprll, 1988
It is beginning to look as though 1988 isn't going to be our year. We're
r V ^ n g ..° n e " c k " u P a f t e r another. First there was the late, late posting
of Q 49. That was followed by a pretty late posting of Q 50. And then,
only last Thursday (Maundy Thursday), after I got back from holiday and
didn t find a great pile of renewals waiting for me, I rang Eph and asked
when the reminders had gone out. He said "They're going today" - and that
was the date that I'd set as the deadline for things for this Bulletin! It
also looks suspiciously as though none of those who have sent their renew-
als since Q 50 went out have been sent that Q (Barbara is checking this
with Eph; the trouble is that she hasn't been sent the stock so that she
could do this and we rather doubt whether Eph has thought to do it; it's
not normally part of the job that's done in Manchester). I've had to warn
Eph that if these cock-ups go on too far, FoMRHI will need a new Hon. Sec.
(there's a limit to what I can stand) and that it'll probably need a lot of
new members, too, as there's likely to be a limit to what you can stand,
also.
Apparently what has been happening is that Djilda has opted out of organis-
ing much of the donkey work (she used to tell the various part-time people
who worked for NRI what to do for FoMRHI), and it's taking time for Eph to
find out what should be done, what hasn' t been done, and how to organise
things so that it will be done.
So can you and I please be patient for a bit longer and give him a chance
to sort it out?
LIST OF MEMBERS: One result of the failure to send out reminders is that
we still have only just over half of the membership renewed. There seems
little point in producing a List of Members at this stage; the next Supple-
ment would be almost as long as the main List. So the main List is post-
poned until July. I hope this won't cause you too much inconvenience; you
are up to date if you use the Supplements.
LOST MEMBER: Anybody know where Alessandra Fadel has moved to? And we've
still not traced Clive Du'mont.
FURTHER TO: Bulletin Supplement in the last Q: I can do fully just if ed propor-
tional spacing on this machine, too. It comes out the same size as normal 12
pitch (it only works in this one size), and it gives me three or four more let-
ters per line, but I don't like it as much as the normal 12 pitch because it
seems to squash things up a bit too much. I don't think that any computer's
proportional spacing works as well as proper letter-press does. Still, if you
prefer this paragraph, which is in proportional spacing, to those above and
below, let me know, and I'll use it in future. I have used it in some Bate
publications simply to get things into a limited space, but I normally avoid it.
Comn. 849: See a note from Michael Ransley elsewhere in this Q. Also one
from David Leigh of the Conservation Unit, sorting out some of my misappre-
hensions; do write to him if you want to take advantage of any of his
offers.
I have had letters from various people involved in conservation, some of
whom are FoMRHI members, and some who have been members in the past. The
uniform reaction in their letters is "what business is this of FoMRHI's?",
and on reflection, I think they are probably right. I was asked to attend
the meeting I told you about, probably because they didn't know whom else
to ask (our original name, you'11 remember, was F of M & Restorers of M I,
 bull. 51, p. 3

and they were not necessarily to know that it was at the request of the
conservators that we changed it to Researchers. Whatever our name, we are
more obviously a hands-on-the-instruments group than the various other org-
anological societies, and therefore the likeliest to be interested. But
the reactions I've had strongly suggest that even if we are interested, and
I assume that some of us are, we should not get involved. We are too loose-
ly organised and too informal a Fellowship for anything like this. So my
apologies for having raised the matter and perhaps worrying some of you.
However, if the Conservation Unit goes on keeping me in touch with what is
happening, I will keep passing the news on, since some of you are likely to
be interested, but I won't involve FoMRHI in anything with them.
REVIEWS: You'll have seen Comm. 854 in the last Q. Remember that once any-
thing has been sent to us for review, anybody is welcome to comment on it.
The more extensively books are reviewed, the more useful it is to all of
us, for different views are always valuable.
AIDS a REEDS: When AIDS first became a "problem, Basil Tschaikow had a long
note in the London leaflet of the Musicians' Union monthly send-out. He
had asked the Ministry of Health and all sorts of doctors, etc, what the
risks were for reed-players (who are always swapping reeds to and fro).
Most of the time he got no answer, and when he did get an answer, it was
the bland assurance that there was no evidence that the virus was transmit-
ted by saliva. Paul Hailperin tells me that he had the same response and
that "I got the impression that they consider anything to be impossible
which hasn't yet been demonstrated. For me that's too late; I don't want
to be the guinea pig. Dr. ElsBsser of the Gesundheitsamt [I'm not sure if
I've read his handwriting correctly here] Freiburg told me that the casing
of the HIV has been demonstrated to be safely destroyed by 10 minutes in
50Z isopropanol. She assumed that 70% isopropanol, which is commonly sold
by chemists here, would do it much faster, in no more than 5 minutes. I
have been using the latter, and can only report that I have noticed no
negative effects on the playing quality of the reeds. The stuff is not
only poisonous (because it is highly volatile, my consultants felt it was
not dangerous for us) but it has a persistant bad taste, so I find it nice
to have a glass of rinse-water at hand. "
I have consulted local chemists in Oxford, and they are happy to sell iso-
propanol in whatever dilution I want, and have said that if it's going to
be rinsed off in water, there' s no need to worry about it being poisonous.
Henceforth, there will be some available in the Bate for use on reeds, and
on brass mouthpieces, too. Paul also says that "Bruce Haynes received in-
formation that any alcohol [isopropanol is one form of alcohol], e.g. your
favorite brand of vodka, would disinfect for a large number of possible
diseases that can be transmitted by reed." So maybe it's a matter of com-
paring prices of isopropanol and vodka! Personally, I'm more inclined to
follow the first definite medical advice we've been given.
QUERIES: Michael Ransley writes: " The Mary Rose was brought up several
years ago and with it probably the most important wind instruments to be
found in Britain. What has happened to them and why have no detailed draw-
ings (adequate enough for reconstruction at tempts) been made and no photos
taken? Surely the best way to conserve instruments and ensure their survi-
val, at least in some form, is to make careful comprehensive drawings and
photos and then publish them."
JM adds that for many years a number of us have been very disturbed by this
protracted silence, especially with regard to the shawm. We all remember
Frances Palmer's note on the instruments, with sketches of them, in Early
b u l l . 5 1 , p. 4

Music, J a n u a r y 1983, and H e r b e r t M y e r s ' s r e s p o n s e in t h a t same j o u r n a l in

J u l y of t h a t year, i n which he i d e n t i f i e d t h e shawm a s t h e m y s t e r i o u s dou-
c a i n e , p o i n t i n g out t h a t i f i t were a normal shawm i t would be t h e unique
example i n England, whereas i f i t r e a l l y were a d o u c a i n e , i t would be u n i -
que i n t h e world and a t l a s t our answer t o T i n c t o r i s ' s t a n t a l i z i n g l y vague
description. You may a l s o remember my n o t e a f t e r t h e 1983 H o r t i c u l t u r a l
H a l l E x h i b i t i o n when I r e p o r t e d C h a r l e s F o s t e r ' s t e n t a t i v e r e c o n s t r u c t i o n
<p. 7 i n t h e B u l l e t i n of Q 34, J a n u a r y 1984). Anyway, when t h i s Q appears,
I* 11 send a copy t o t h e Mary Rose p e o p l e i n Portsmouth and we' 11 s e e whe-
t h e r t h e y can produce a n y t h i n g . They a r e not o r g a n o l o g i s t s and i f they
d o n ' t l i s t e n t o e a r l y music performances, t h e y may not r e a l i s e j u s t how
important these instruments are.
Robert Greenberg a s k s :
Recently arrived from France and into my shop is a single-manual French harp-
sichord. It is not in pristine condition, having been reworked many times. One
confusing point is the original compass. The keyboard now in the instrument is
old but not, like the case, from the late 17th or early 18th centuries. Its com-
pass is BB-d3. The top two notes have been fitted into the compass by thinning
the c3 key and trimming the keyboard sideboards. The balance r a i l shows no
repinning. My confusion s t a r t s with the arrangement of the tuning pins of the 2
X 8' choirs. There is enough congruence with French practice to show that the
builder of the instrument knew the staggering of tuning pins according to their
being n a t u r a l s or accidentals. But the pins do not end on the same top note, the
top one of the f i r s t choir representing a "d" and the top note of the other
r e p r e s e n t i n g a "c". The alignment of the pins for each choir proceeds downward
according t o usual logic t o the center of the compass. There i t dissolves into
a l t e r n a t i o n of natural and accidental notes r a t h e r than following their keyboard
layout. In the bass, the typical French representation of the keyboard by the
tuning pins i s restored. The wrestplank itself seems of an age with the case
sides (pine but for the longside, which is walnut). Has anyone seen other such
occurrences of nearly-but-decidedly-"wrong" arrangement of tuning pins? I want
to call the wrestplank a replacement. But i t probably isn't. Any opinions?
—Robert Greenberg
2325 3rd Street, #425
San Francisco. CA 94107 USA
REQUESTS: Two from Jan Hermans: Can anyone p r o v i d e him with p l a n s for Re-
n a i s s a n c e a l t o and t e n o r shawms, p r e f e r a b l y at A=440 or 465; he could r e c i -
p r o c a t e w i t h o t h e r drawings. And does anyone know of any museum with plans
or d r a w i n g s a v a i l a b l e ?
And can anyone t e l l him how t o make a c l a r i n e t mouthpiece for a 2 or 3-key
i n s t r u m e n t , or b e t t e r s t i l l could t h e y w r i t e a Comm. about i t ?
Dr. Martha C l i n k s c a l e i s c o m p i l i n g " a comprehensive database of information
on old pianos, 1720-1860." She has i n f o r m a t i o n on "more than 1,650 instru-
ments in major museums in Europe and the United States, as well as in pri-
vate collections" and would be g r a t e f u l t o hear from anyone who knows of an
u n c a t a l o g e d [ s i c ] p i a n o of t h e s e d a t e s or who has i n f o r m a t i o n on i n s t r u -
ments t h a t have passed t h r o u g h s a l e r o o m s . She w i l l send d a t a b a s e input
forms t o anyone who w r i t e s t o her at Department of Music, U n i v e r s i t y of
C a l i f o r n i a , R i v e r s i d e , CA 92521, USA. I ' m a f r a i d t h a t a s far as we a r e
concerned, I ' v e not time t o f i l l in her form, which i s p r e t t y d e t a i l e d ,
even for t h e t h r e e i n s t r u m e n t s we have.
PLANS AND THEIR PRICES: Jan Hermans o r d e r e d some of t h e Leningrad | i l i i r .
from me and commented: "you won't mind that I find drawings very expensive
 bull. 51, p. 5

nowadays. Too expensive? Famous makers who sell instrument(s) every week,
can afford." I'd be interested in your comments on this. As most of you
know, I put up the prices of Bate plans a year or two ago, from about £2 to
about £10. I was influenced by four main factors:
1) the original price was rather insulting to Ken's excellent work (he
certainly felt that);
2) other museums were charging a lot more than we were (and we're still
not at the top end of the price range);
3) most people who bought plans were selling the resulting instruments
at prices in which the cost of the plan was a negligible item;
4) we have no purchase fund, and what we get from plans, guides, post-
cards, etc is all that we have to buy more instruments with.
Are our prices too high? And if so, what should they be (bearing in mind
my reasons above and the fact that I can think of no way of achieving the
obvious solution: having one price for amateurs/beginners and another for
professionals)? I do think that it is our duty to disseminate information
(one reason that I spend time on FoMRHI), but I do also want to build up
the Collection, and I don't want to be taken for a ride by those who sell
their instruments at high prices. I don't know the answer and I'd be
grateful for any helpful comments.
PUBLICATIONS: The NEMA Register that I mentioned last time costs £3.00 and
can be obtained from the address I gave: 8 Covent Garden, Cambridge CB1
2HR.
A welcome to a new French contemporary, Larigot, Bulletin de 1'Association
des Collectionneurs d'Instruments a Vent. The treasurer of the Association
is Hugues Molet, 98 bis rue du Cheche-midi, 75006 Paris, France, and sub-
scription costs 100 francs a year, plus 50 francs for airmail abroad. The
first issue has an interesting article on early clarinets, with a measured
drawing of a bell, and a very sketchy note on the history of brass instru-
ments.
Antico Edition (71 Queen Street, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 2AU) have sent me
their latest list (printed pale black on brown and thus difficult to read)
of early music. So have London Pro Musica (address as for Bernard Thomas
in our main List) (printed black on white and easy to read). I know how
good the LPM editions are, but not how the Antico compare. However, they
don't overlap, so if you don't know either one or both, write for their
lists. Both are reasonably priced, but Antico don't seem to do the reduc-
tion for quantity which LPM do, enabling the use of a score by each player.
Research Publications, the parent body of Harvester Microform (in the
Americas 12 Lunar Drive/Drawer AB, Woodbridge, CT 06525, USA; elsewhere
POBox 45, Reading, RG1 8HF, UK) are about to publish microfilms of all our
(mostly ex Morley-Pegge) and Philip Bate's own collection of instrumental
tutors on microfilm. The whole collection covers ten reels, but I've
persuaded them to arrange the reels sensibly so that anyone interested can
buy flute tutors, oboe and clarinet tutors, bassoon tutors, horn tutors,
and so on, without having to buy the whole lot; because of the economical
size of a reel, there is bound to be some combination, so that recorder
players will have to put up with having flute tutors as well as recorder,
but we have kept such combination to the minimum practicable. I felt that
this was important, for these are the prime sources for performance on ori-
ginal instruments in the 18th and 19th centuries, and that it was our duty
to ensure that they would be available to players as well as to libraries.
I should have a fully detailed list by the time the next Q appears. What
is even more exciting is that we have started something with this project,
bull. 51, p. 6

and that our tutors will be followed by those of other libraries, including
the Brussels Conservatoire.
I've had a letter from something called Craftfinder (74 Birdhurst Road,
South Croydon, CR2 7EB). This is a computer database, free to craftsmen
who wish to be on it (amateurs or professionals), which anybody who is
looking for a maker of cuckoo clocks or one-key ophicleides (my examples,
not theirs) can consult, for a smallish fee, and they will then be sent a
list of those who produce such things. If you want to be on their list,
which is in effect free advertising, write and ask them for their registra-
tion form.
MEETINGS: The Galpin Society AGM will NEXT year (1989) be in Scotland,
with a weekend of meetings in Edinburgh, Burntisland and Dundee. Dates are
16-19 June, and the weekend is not restricted to members of that Society.
So if you want a chance to see the major Scottish collections, note the
dates and, if you aren't a Galpin member (which you should be; its Journal
is still the most important publication in our field) ask Arnold Myers (who
is in charge of local arrangements and is in our List of Members) to send
you more information nearer the time.
You have already been told of the NEMA Conference on Early Keyboard Music
and Instruments. This will be at the Guildhall School of Music in the
Barbican on 21-23 July this year, and all the top keyboard people will be
talking and playing. The conference fee is £30. 00 (£24. 00 to NEMA members;
if you join, your membership of £10 will cost you only £4 more as you' 11 be
saving £6 of it, so this could be the moment to do so), or £12.50 for any
one day (members £10). Book places at the address on the previous page in
the first paragraph of PUBLICATIONS.
SUMMER SCHOOLS: The Bate Collection has three this year:
Javanese Gamelan, 10-15 July, a chance to get to grips with playing this
music, which is not only very approachable but is probably the easiest of
all exotic musics for Europeans to learn. The cost is £60 (non-
residential), and since numbers are limited by the number of instruments in
a gamelan, bookings should be made as soon as possible with a deposit of
£30 (50% returnable until 1st June);
Baroque Oboe a Bassoon, 22-27 July, with Paul Goodwin, Dick Earle, Lorraine
Wood, Andrew Watts and Paul White. A good chance to play on Bate instru-
ments as well your own (at A=415, please). Tuition will, of course, in-
clude reed-making, instrument maintenance and performance practice, as well
as playing, and doubtless if there were enough demand for some aspects of
making, there'd be some response. The cost is £100 (non-residential),
booking with deposit of £50 (also 507. returnable till 1st June);
Renaissance Recorders, 12-15 August, with Alan Davis and Lewis Jones, using
our !! !! basset, which is unfortunately our only original; other instru-
ments will be by Bob Marvin (Lewis's and ours) and others. Tuition will
include subjects much as the previous. Cost £60 (non-residential) (booking
with deposit £30 as above).
I would be interested to hear of any demand for other subjects for future
years (as well as, I hope, repetitions of these). The more the Bate Col-
lection is used for such purposes, the better I'm pleased, even if it does
limit my opportunity for a summer holiday.
Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario (75 University Avenue West,
Waterloo, Ont. N2L 3C5, Canada) has a Baroque _ Classical Music Workshop
11-22 July,covering voice, violin, celoo, flute, oboe, fortepiano and
 bull. 51, p. 7

dance. Costs are a bit complicated as they depend on whether you're Cana-
dian or not, and whether you ewant accomodation or not, so if you're inter-
ested ask them.
The Corsi di Musica Antica a Magnano (Via Roma 48, 1-13050 Magnano, Italy)
are 13-21 August and are taught by Bernard Brauchli (clavichord a harpsi-
chord), Esteban Elizondo (organ), and Georges Kiss (harpsichord). One
course costs 125,000 Lire, two cost 175,000; whether a third is free or
impossible is not stated! Camping or accomodation is available.
OTHER COURSES: Our next Bate Collection Weekend is on Tunings and
Temperaments, May 28/29, with Lewis Jones and his archicembalo (played by
Patrick Newsom) and Peter Bavington. It will consist of demonstration and
coaching in Renaissance, Baroque and Classical temperaments. There will be
at least two other instrumnents to maul about (a Denzil Wraight single-
manual Italian and a copy of a Couchet muselaar which we had made for this
purpose), as well as a 12-channel monochord (a Jaap Kunst dodecachord)
which is useful for experimenting with. The antique keyboards can be set
to a variety of temperaments, but they can't be changed to and fro too
much. Cost is £20 (£15 for students); I have said £15 for either day as
usual, but I'd discourage that if possible; more than most this will be
something that should go right through.
Alec Loretto will be with us again in November (12/13) for another Recorder
Weekend for Makers and Players (with Alan Davis), with emphasis on windways
and tuning.
I'm also holding a weekend (November 19/20) for Lewis Jones on Passagi etc
but I've heard nothing definite yet. If you're interested make a pencil
note of it in your diary.
Peter Holman was also talking about having a FoMRHI day conference here on
later strings than the one we had with Chris Page and Mary Remnant, but
I' ve heard nothing more from him either.
We haven't any further Weekends fixed yet. Any requests?
I've got the list of Huismuziek courses, If you fancy a day or a weekend
in Holland working on pretty well any aspect of any instrument, playing or
making, write to them (in our main List under Bouwerskontakt) for a copy of
the list. They're just as friendly and informal an organisation as we are,
but they provide a vast amount more for their members.
EXHIBITIONS: I've had an interesting note from Ardal Powell:
I've just received the Festival of Flanders blurb for this year, and
it has reminded me of somthing that came up at the exhibtion in 1987,
and which perhaps deserves a word in the Q.

Among the exhihito rs in Bruges last summer there was a distinct

feeling tha t not enough people were passing through the hall to
justify sue h a l o ng show. Thing s picked up as more and more people
got knocked out o f the competi tion (83% of our business came from
competitors) , and at the weekend, but the first three days were very
slow indeed for mo st exhibitors, and the general feeling was that it
would decre ase the costs and incre ase the traffic flow to shorten the
exhibition by thos e three days in future years. There may be
arguments a gainst this, but I did n't hear any expressed at the time,
On the con trary, almost everyon e signed a letter to the director
asking him t o consid er the change.
bull. 51, p. 8

Personally I don't mind having the few extra days to hang out with
other makers and players, go to good concerts and get reaccustomed to
Belgian beer, though I think this could be accomplished just as well
without having to sit around in an empty hall for most of the day.
So I'd just like to suggest that those people who d_o want a change
write to Mr. Dewitte round about now so that he can consider their
views in good time for 1990. The address is: C. Mansionstraat 30, B-
8000 Brugge.

The Guild of American Luthiers have asked me to say that their next conven-
tion/exhibition will be June 16-19 at the Shrine to Music Museum, Universi-
ty of South Dakota, Vermillion. Non-members are welcome; if you're inter-
ested to attend, either to hear the lectures etc or to exhibit, write to
the Guild at 8222 South Park, Tacoma, WA 98408, USA. The Shrine is build-
ing up as a superb museum and well worth the visit.
FESTIVALS: As well as the Corsi above, there is a Festival at Magnano,
with five candlelight concerts on August 13, 19, 27, September 3, 10. More
information from the address above.
It's probably too late to tell you about the Festival of Medieval Music in
Skara in Sweden as it's May 11-15, but there is also a Renaissance Music
Week at Ekenas Castle (25-31 July) and a Swedish Baroque Festival in Malmo
(12-19 August, 1989), all organised by the same people. As this is the
second festival in Skara, there may well be more and it sounds a pretty
interesting affair, with instrument-making workshops as well as concerts
and so on. If you'd like to be on their mailing list, write to Mr. Mans
Tengner, Svenska Rikskonserter, Box 1225, S-111 82 Stockholm, Sweden.
MUSEUM NEWS: Al Rice has sent me a list of the Fiske Museum' s accessions
for 1986 and 1987, which you'11 find here as a Comm.
The Bate Collection has just published a complete Check List of the Collec-
tion (£2, including surface postage). The entries are single line for each
instrument, but it does cover everything we had at the beginning of March
so that it's reasonably up-to-date. All that we've acquired since are one
of the earliest clarinets in this country (2-key by I.B.Willems, but clear-
ly an earlier genberation of Willems than that cited in Langwill), dating
from 1720-40, an anonymous classical viola in original state, 2 plastic
Kelischek crumhorns, and by next week or so an Ellis Harmonical on perma-
nent loan from the Clarendon Laboratory.
CODA: That's it for now, but I'll hold this open till tomorrow while I do
the Members List Supplement. I've done it, and nothing more has arrived.
Let's hope that the rest of us do renew between now and July; otherwise
we're gong to have a somewhat smaller FoMRHI, and therefore a smaller Q -
fewer people to write (very little has come in this quarter, and I've not
had time to do a New Grove DOMI review) and fewer people to pay the costs.
Anyway, thanks to all of you who have renewed by now. I'll see seme of you
next week in Berlin at the CIMCIM meeting, and I hope to set some more of
you at our Summer Schools and in the Bate.
DEADLINE FOR NEXT Q: 1st July, please.
Jeremy Montagu
Hon Sec. FOMRHI
B U L L E T I N STJ_=>_=»LE_ylElStT E Segerman

Late Q Again there is need for an apology for the lateness of sending out the l a s t Q.
My editing and the p r i n t i n g were in good time and the computer produced the labels w i t h
no problems. What needed doing was duplicating the renewal reminder notices, p u t t i n g
the labels on the appropriate envelopes (5 types), s t u f f i n g them (with receipts when
necessary) and mailing them. What happened was an almighty administrative disaster
w i t h much confusion and agro. I t s t a r t e d w i t h Djilda assigning jobs to various people.
She is very enthusiastic about the teacher-training course she i s now taking and i s
rapidly shedding her responsibilities towards NRI (dropping out of the partnership) and
other music-related a c t i v i t i e s , including getting FoMRHI out. I t ended up w i t h me
taking over, correcting mistakes that had already been made, and doing the vast majority
or work myself, including switching labels from reminders to Q's f o r l a t e renewals as
the l i s t s came in from Jeremy. This has been a very unusually busy time for me, and I
was not able to devote concentrated time to the job.

Again, I can confidently promise that t h i s problem won't be repeated in the f u t u r e . In

fact, I f i n d i t hard to imagine another problem that can delay f u t u r e Q's. But i f the
members f e e l otherwise, I w i l l acceed to someone else taking over without p r o t e s t .

Comment on the prices for museum drawings raised in the B u l l e t i n above (p 5)5 This is a
general human problem. A l l of us are generous under some circumstances and stingy in
others. We usually excuse our stinginess by claiming that we can not afford to be
generous. Nevertheless, we are most proud of ourselves when we are generous. When
we are being generous, we hope that the people benefiting from i t w i l l respond by also
being generous. When they are not, they are exploiting us. Being exploited hurts our
pride and makes us wish that we had been as stingy as the response was. We are a l l
aware that habitual exploiters j u s t i f y i t by saying t h a t people who allow themselves to
be exploited deserve i t because they are f o o l s . No-one likes to be considered a f o o l .

In many circumstances where we are dealing w i t h individuals, we can choose between

generosity and stinginess according to our assessment of the expected nature of the
response. But under circumstances where we are generous as an open policy we do not
have t h i s choice. Expecting uniform generous response is unrealistic since there are
always some people who w i l l s t i n g i l y exploit us. I f our dedication t o principle and the
gratitude of the non-exploiting recipients of our generosity are not strong enough to
o f f s e t the hurt of pride at being exploited by some, we stop our generous policy. This i s
a great p i t y . The least we can do about this is to t r y hard to overcome our i n h i b i t i o n s
about showing gratitude when we have enjoyed the benefits of a generous policy.

Strong Early Iron Wire Remy Gug's Comm in this Q i s a very welcome contribution t o our
knowledge about the history of the special ferrous wire that Jobst Meuler made. I do
not share Gug's pessimism about Meuler's 'secret'. Of course we shall never know what
Meuler's methods were in d e t a i l , but his product was most l i k e l y not very d i f f e r e n t from
other iron wire of the period. Of particular significance here i s that an iron of the same
general composition as the antique wire prepared by R M Fischer f o r Martha Goodway
had a tensile strength of over 1600 MPa, as she reported in her a r t i c l e in the 22 May
1987 issue of "Science". This was done w i t h no optimization of the drawing procedures,
and yet i t i s 36% stronger than measurements of the strongest genuine antique w i r e .

Let us compare t h i s w i t h what we expect the tensile strength of Meuler's wire t o be.
According t o Comm 440, the working s t r i n g velocity on Praetorius's orpharion, an
instrument that presumably used Meuler's wire, was 445 m/sec. I f we add 6% for the
semitone difference between, working.-.and breaking condition (as stated in 1768 by
Adlung) and use the 7.7 Mg/m" (=gm/cm"') f i g u r e f o r the density of drawn iron wire given
by Goodway, t h i s leads to a tensile strength of 1713 MPa. I t i s quite conceivable t h a t
the e x t r a 7% of tensile strength required can be achieved by an optimization of
procedures. What is more i n t e r e s t i n g is to discover the reason f o r the over 36%
10

difference in t e n s i l e s t r e n g t h between Fischer's reproduction antique wire and the

genuine s t u f f . Therein may be the essence of Meuler's secret.

On Accreditation Conservation involves preserving an a r t i f a c t f o r f u t u r e study and

appreciation. I f the a r t i f a c t i s broken the c r i t e r i o n f o r f u t u r e study can be in conflict
w i t h t h a t f o r appreciation since i t i s o f t e n more valuable f o r study in i t s broken s t a t e
but i t i s appreciated more i f i t i s r e p a i r e d . P r i v a t e collectors and museums are much
more i n t e r e s t e d in the appreciation factor than research, so they usually opt f o r repair
i f they can a f f o r d i t . Some who understand the needs of research j u s t i f y the repair
option by claiming t h a t the b i t s and pieces get l o s t or damaged i f not put together. This
displays at least l a x i t y since good conservation practice should involve good storage
systems and s t r i c t supervison during examination. The above i l l u s t r a t e s how the
judgement of many of our most respected conservators cart be seriously questioned.
There would be no question of t h e i r being accredited. They are o f t e n highly trained and
s k i l l e d in the branch of repairing t h a t i s called ' r e s t o r a t i o n ' and we can't really expect
them t o exercise objective judgement when the choice i s between whether or not they
w i l l exercise t h e i r special s k i l l s t o do what they believe they were hired f o r .

Besides questions of judgement, accreditation in our f i e l d needs t o include considerable

knowledge about the h i s t o r y of the types of instruments involved (and how they were
subsequently altered), construction practices, the technology of the materials involved
(including how they change w i t h time and how they i n t e r a c t w i t h t h e i r playing and
storage environments) as w e l l as methods and s k i l l s of repair. A l l t h i s knowledge and
s k i l l rarely resides i n one person. Accreditation should be only in those aspects of t h i s
f i e l d t h a t the person i s r e a l l y expert i n . Perhaps just a Register t h a t i s quite specific
about areas of expertise and experience i s called f o r , w i t h accreditation being too
d i f f i c u l t t o contemplate.
 II

NEW ACQUISITIONS TO THE KENNETH G. FISKE MUSEUM OF MUSICAL

INSTRUMENTS OF THE CLAREMONT COLLEGES FOR 1986 AND 1987

Pincullo, an end-blown flute of Bolivian origin. Gift of

Albert R. Rice. 1986.1
Violin possibly of Mittenwald origin, late 19th century.
Gift of Juanita Jones. 1986.2
Viola by James Ferdinand LeCyr, Los Angeles, 1947. Copy of
an instrument by Gaspara da Salo. Gift of Paul
Gregory. 1986.3
Violin by Breton, Paris, 19th century. Gift of Paul
Gregory. 1986.4
"Bengal" Flute by P. Das, Calcutta, India, 1986. Gift of
Vijoy Kishore. 1986.5
Musical Box of American origin, 20th century. Gift of Jost
Amrein. 1986.6
Hammered Dulcimer (called "Piano Harp") table model by James
A. Mackenzie, Minneapolis, Minnesota, c. 1878. Gift of
Donald Ambroson. 1986.7

Clarinet in B-flat (Simple System) by H. Farny & Cie, Paris,

c. 1900. Gift of Emily Roeder. 1987.1
Clarinet in A (Boehm System) by H. Farny & Cie, Paris, c.
1900. Gift of Emily Roeder. 1987.2
Cornet probably by Hall & Quinby, Boston, c. 1870. Marked:
"2 Ms. Inf. 1861". 1987.3
Serpent Forveille with three keys probably by Forveille,
Paris, c. 1830. 1987.4
Bass Ophicleide with nine keys by P.L. Gautrot, Paris, c.
1855. 1987.5
Soprano Trombone with three rotary valves by A. Lapini,
Florence, 20th century. 1987.6
Trombone in the shape of an "L" with three perinet valves by
H. van Engelen, Lierre, Belgium, 20th century. 1987.7
Trombone with three Vienna valves operated by three pistons
by F. van Cauwelaert, Brussels, 19th century. 1987.8
French Horn with three Vienna valves of Austrian origin, c.
1895. 1987.9
Euphonium with four rotary valves of Austrian origin, c.
1870-1900. This instrument is made in the same shape
as the "Wagner" tuba. 1987.10
Cornet in B-flat by Issac Fiske, Worcester, Massachusetts,
c. 1870 with a tuning slide, 2 mouthpiece shanks,
mouthpiece crook, and mouthpiece in the original case.
Gift of Scott Brebner. 1987.11
Cornet in B-flat by C.G. Conn, Elkhart, Indian and
Worcester, Massachusetts, c. 1898. Gift of Scott
Brebner. 1987.12
Cornet in B-flat by C.G. Conn, Elkhart, c. 1914. Gift of
Scott Brebner. 1987.13
Cornet in B-flat engraved "Boston Musical Co" probably of
European origin, early 20th century. Gift of Scott
Brebner. 1987.14
12

Cornet in B-flat by H.N. White, Cleveland, c 1950. Gift of

Scott Brebner. 1987.15
Cornet by Boosey & Hawkes, London, c. 1945. Gift of Scott
Brebner. 1987.16
Trumpet by Conn Ltd., Elkhart, c. 1948. Gift of Scott
Brebner. 1987.17
Cornet by Art Musical instrument Inc., Elkhart, 2 0th
century. Gift of Scott Brebner. 1987 18
Cornet by F.E. Olds and Son, Los Angeles, c. 1940 Gift of
Scott Brebner. 1987.19
Cornet by F.E. Olds and Son, Fullerton, California, 1955
Gift of Scott Brebner. 1987.20
Cornet by Continentaal [Conn], c. 1940, Gift of Scott
Brebner. 1987.21
Cornet by F. Holton, Chicago, c. 1910 Gift of Scott
Brebner. 1987.22
Cornet by Getzen, Elkhorn, Wisconsin, 20th century. Gift of
Scott Brebner. 1987.23
Cornet by J.W. York, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 20th century.
Gift of Scott Brebner. 1987.24
Cornet probably of English origin, 2 0th century, Gift of
Scott Brebner. 1987.25
Cornet of French origin, 2 0th century. Gift of Scott
Brebner. 1987.26
Violin by Andrea Guarneri, Cremona, 1672 The scroll is not
original but made by a contemporary Italian maker.
Certificates by Erich Lachmann and Fassauer Ferron.
Anonymous Gift. 1987.27
Violin of Italian origin, c. 1900. Anonymous Gift. 1987.28
Viola by Carl Anton Roesch, Leipzig, 1810. Anonymous Gift.
1987.29
Viola by Hellmuth Ellersieck, Laguna Beach, California,
1956 Anonymous Gift. 1987.30
Violin of German origin, 20th century. Anonymous Gift,
1987, 31
Violin bow by Francois Voirin, Paris, c. 187 0. Anonymous
Gift. 1987.32
Violin bow by H. Hansen, Chicago, Illinois, 20th century.
Anonymous Gift. 1987. 33
Bugle of U.S. origin, c. 1915
19 in wooden Anonymous
Gift. Anonymous Gift. 1987.34
Metal Clarinet in B-flat by H. Bettoney, Boston, 1928 Gift
of Jack Fulton. 1987.35
Trumpet in B-flat with a small bore by The Vega Co., Boston,
c. 1915. Gift of Alexander Billincoff. 1987.36
Sguare Piano by John Sellers, Philadelphia ?, c. 1780. C-
f••'. Gift of Dorothy Elizabeth Whiffen (ne Chapin),
1987. 1876.37
Rebec of Italian origin, 18th century. A copy of a 16th
century instrument. Loaned by James Tyler. 1987.38
Mandolino of the Presbler School, c. 1785. Loaned by James
Tyler. 1987.39
Metal Clarinet by Cavalier, Elkhart, c. 1930. Gift of Music
Department, Pomona College, 1987. 1987.40
 13

Metal Clarinet by Soliste, U.S.A., c. 1930. Gift of Music

Department, Pomona College, 1987. 1987.41
Clarinet in B-flat (Simple System) by G. Renne, Paris, c.
1930. Gift of Billie Pate in memory of her mother,
Elaine Swanson Pate. 1987.42
Bass Viola da Gamba by Karl Roy, Mittenwald, 1967. Gift of
Elmer Tolsted. 1987.43
Suspended Bell of Chinese origin, 20th century. Gift of
John R. Keith. 1987.44
Zhongu (Erhu) a two-stringed fiddle of Chinese origin, 20th
century. Gift of John R. Keith. 1987.45
Sheng a mouth organ of Chinese origin, 20th century. Gift
of John R. Keith. 1987.46
Suona an oboe of Chinese origin, 2 0th century. Gift of John
R. Keith. 1987.47
Di a transverse flute of Chinese origin, 20th century. Gift
of John R. Keith. 1987.48
Square Piano by Chickering & Sons, Boston, c. 1862-63. AAA-
aM^. Gift of Frances Walker. 1987.49
Trumpet by F. E. Olds, Los Angeles, 1953-54. This
instrument was made for the well known recording
artist, Mannie Klein. Gift of Mannie Klein. 1987.50
Portable Reed Organ of Chinese origin, c. 1900. C-c' 1 '.
Loaned by Mr. and Mrs. Roy Mathison. 1987.51
Mandolin by The Gibson Guitar-Mandolin Co., Kalamazoo,
Michigan, c. 1920. Gift of Frances Irber. 1987.52

Instruments on loan from Dr. Jack R. Coleman, Los Angeles,

California;

Triple Flageolet by W. Bainbridge, London, c. 1825-30.

Flute in C by Proser, London, c. 1777-95. 1 key.
Glass Flute in C by C. Laurent, Lyons, 1814. 5 keys.
Walking-Stick Clarinet byt L. Rousseau, le jeune, Paris, c.
184 0. 5 wooden keys.
English Horn by J. B. Tabard, Lyons, 1820-48. 7 keys,
angular form.
Clarinet in C by Naust, Paris, c. 1780. 5 keys.
Clarinet in C by Astor, London, c. 1785. 5 keys.
Oboe by J. C. Selboe, Copenhagen, c. 1850. 14 keys.
Oboe by G. A. Lenhold, Leipzig, 4th quarter of the 18th
century. 2 keys.
English Horn by A. Grenser, Dresden, c. 1770. 2 keys,
sickle-shaped form, brown leather covering octongonal
body.
Natural Trumpet by J. Schmidt, Nuremberg, 1685.
Keyed Bugle in E-flat by Gravews & Co. , Winchester, New
Hampshire, 1839-50. 10 keys.
Valve Bugle by E. G. Wright & Co., Boston, c. 1865.
Cornet by C. A. Mueller, Mainz, c. 1840.
Valve Trumpet by L. David, Paris, c. 1840.
"Disc valve" Cornet by J. A. Koehler, London, c. 1870.
Keyed Trumpet by A. Appurati, Modena, c. 1850. 5 keys.
Slide Trumpet of English origin, c. 1830. The bell is
engraved "J. Distin."
Soprano Over-the-Shoulder Saxhorn by I. Fiske, Worcester,
Massachusetts, c. 1870.
14

FoMRHI Comm 860 Ephraim Segerman

New Grove D o M i : ES No 95 H and I e n t r i e s

Handbassel by Anon

The entry claims t h a t i t was "probably the ' V i o l a da Spallo'." This i s very unlikely.
Leopold Mozart (Versuch, 1756) wrote "Some call [ t h e F a g o t t - G e i g e ] the Handbassel,
which i s , however, somewhat larger than the F a g o t t - G e i g e . I t i s customary, as I have
already mentioned, t o play bass on the l a t t e r , but only in company w i t h v i o l i n s ,
transverse f l u t e s and other high-pitched p a r t s , as otherwise the bass would encroach on
the upper parts ..." Previously, he mentioned t h a t the F a g o t t - G e i g e " d i f f e r s s l i g h t l y in
size and s t r i n g i n g from the V i o l a " . Thus apparently i n x Mozart's experience, the
Handbassel was a somewhat larger version of the F a g o t t - G e i g e , which was an alto
instrument used as an octave-up bass f o r t r e b l e i n s t r u m e n t s . On the other hand, the
V i o l a da Spallo was a t r u e bass instrument small enough t o be held diagonally against
the chest by a s t r a p , w i t h the tailpiece end help up against the r i g h t shoulder and the
neck going down on the l e f t , while the bowing was upwards across the other diagonal*

The cause f o r confusion i s t h a t Majer (Museum Musicum, 1732) mentioned t h a t the

F a g o t t - G e i g e was tuned an octave lower than the v i o l a , thus being a t r u e bass
i n s t r u m e n t . This inconsistency i s confusing t o us. There i s no evidence in the writings
of Majer and Mozart t h a t either had any doubts o f confusion. I t i s an atrocious error of
scholarship t o project our confusion onto the early authors. We must accept that the
instrument called Fagott-Geige had d i f f e r e n t s t r i n g i n g s (and tunings) in d i f f e r e n t
circumstances (with much more constant musical function and technique). The
Handbassel i s an instrument which enters discussion only in the context of Leopold
Mozart, so only his version of the Fagott-Geige i s r e l e v a n t ,

Hardanqer Fiddle by A.ion

I missed ' h e i n t e r e s t i n g point t h a t the t h i r d s t r i n g i s t r a d i t i o n a l l y open-wound, a

practice abandoned l a t e in the 18th century by mainstream European instruments.

Harmonica by I Beynon and G Romani

The use of t h i s instrument in the American blues t r a d i t i o n i s mentioned, but the special
techniques, such as hand control of t i m b r e , are not.

Harmonics by Anon

Amongst stringed i n s t r u m e n t s , harmonics are discussed on the v i o l i n f a m i l y , Trumpet

Marine and the harp. I t i s a p i t y t h a t the classical guitar is not included.

Harp by A G r i f f i t h s , J Rimmer, S C de Vale

4, Europe I t i s a p i t y t h a t so often scholars refuse t o re-examine t h e i r concepts when

contradicting evidence appears, and they just ignore t h a t evidence. In 1961 Steger
presented unambiguous evidence from c 1100 for association of the name ' r o t t a ' with a
t r i a n g u l a r psaltery played in harp p o s i t i o n . There i s no excuse f o r not being aware of
t h i s since i t is cited in both of S Marcuse's books (the ' D i c t i o n a r y ' and 'Survey'). So
what the authors of t h i s entry consider in depictions as harps w i t h " v e s t i g i a l
resonators" or " f o r e p i l l a r s either imperfectly delineated or absent" could well have not
been harps at a l l .

"David is often tuning his harp, preparing f o r the performance to come" is somewhat
naive. I f performance was the objective, tuning while playing i s more l i k e l y . But the
objective could be to demonstrate the realization of music theory in tuning practice, thus
showing David as a musician of the highest class.

"While most medieval and Renaissance harps were probably gut strung, it is likely that
some were metal-strung, Irish harps ... had brass strings ..." is worded in such a way to
justify modern use of metal strings on medieval non-Irish harps, for which there is no
evidence.

The Nuremberg harp mentioned and illustrated has recently been subjected to physical
dating methods of i t s wood, and i t s 16th century origin may be in doubt.

There is much earlier evidence for harps with double ranks of strings than given. For
example there is the 1390 illustration reproduced as plate 6 in Mary Remnant's 1978
book.

The 'Gross Doppel-Harff-Harpa Doppia' of Praetorius was a direct descendant of the

rote (or rotta). The statement "Praetorius's illustration shows not the instrument
referred to in the text but a mechanically unlikely hybrid', evidently the illustator had
never seen an 'Harpa Doppia' of any description" is wrong in every way.

Iconography of Music by H M Brown

It would have been useful to have mentioned the occasional medieval practice (confusing
to us) of depicting each part in i t s most characteristic view rather than showing the
whole instrument in one consistent view.

It is stated that "both the instruments and the playing technique are distorted" in the
famous Grunewald Isenheim Altar painting. They are certainly untypical but are quite
possible. If the instruments were inventions of the painter, he must have understood
musical instruments reasonably well. We can't be sure whether this is the case or
whether invention was by an instrument-maker, and if these instruments really existed,
whether they were made specially for a particular dramatic occasion and then discarded,
or whether they were taken seriously as musical instruments at some location for a
period of time.

Figure two shows a psaltery and this is one of those rare valuable medieval
illustrations that also provides the name for the instrument. But the author gives
'harp' as an alternative name for the instrument. This is wrong and i l l u s t r a t e s the main
problem in medieval iconography - the name to associate with the instrument depicted.
The entry is written as if this is obvious, and it certainly is not in a good many cases.

Improvisation I Western Art Music by I Horsley (1), M Collins (2)

1. Up to 1600 "... the only book in this period giving examples of ensemble
improvisation (for violone and harpsichord, Diago Oritz's Trattado ..." does not, but
Maffei (1562) does for a polyphonic piece of four p a r t s , It is shameful that the
'ornamentation' section does not mention gracing, Gracing was distinguished from
division by Agncola (1529)f Ganassi (1535), Ortiz (1553), Bermudo (15.5), Sancta Maria
(1565), Zacconi (1592) and Diruta (1593), and probably other sources, and at least one
grace was described in at least ten 16th century sources.

Heterophomc improvisation is only mentioned as the opposite to the contrapuntal

improvisation on instruments in the 16th century being discussed. This can be excused
because hard evidence for heterophony in this period is hard to come by. Nevertheless
it is a likely practice, especially when improvisation occurred in vocal compositions with
more than one voice to a part.

2. The Baroque Period In this section, heterophony on the word 'Notte' in Monteverdi's
Tl Combattimento ...' is mentioned but not identified as such.
16

When discussing the development of the baroque, i t i s claimed t h a t "the smoothly

f l o w i n g notes of 16th century passaggi were a l t e r n a t i v e l y dotted t o form trochaic or
iambic f i g u r e s .,.". But doing such d o t t i n g s i s just what Sancta M a r i a wrote was current
fashion in the 1550s f o r elegant p l a y i n g . And the dots under a l t e r n a t i n g l e t t e r s in
d i v i s i o n s t h a t appear in a large number of 16th century t a b l a t u r e s surely denote
differences of s t r e s s or time as w e l l as a guide t o f i n g e r i n g . The "smoothly flowing
notes of 16th century passaggi" i s a modern, not o r i g i n a l practice.

When discussing England in the 17th century, i t i s s t a t e d t h a t " V a r i a t i o n was a process

i n h e r i t e d from the v i r g i n a l i s t s . " I t i s a p i t y t h a t some musicologists tend to be so
keyboard-centred in t h e i r outlook. Doesn't the l u t e have an equal claim?
 17
FoMRHI Comm 861 John Downing

COMMENTS ON COMM. 731

In Comm. 731, R_my Gug discusses the selection of wood for sound-
-boards, as dictated by Swiss and Bavarian tradition, according to the
direction of the fibres in the tree - only left handed twist (following
the sun) being suitable.
reference to
I have come across anotherj^twist in wood fibres-relating to selection
of timber for building^in "Der Blockbau" by Hermann Phelps, a beautiful and
meticulous study of European log structures (available in English translation
from Lee Valley Tools Ltd, Ottawa).

In his book, Mr Phelps states that there are two kinds of spiral
twist, only one being acceptable for building purposes. According to
Bavarian tradition, if the twist runs counter to the sun (right hand twist),
then the wood retains its shape after felling and seasoning. If it runs with
the sun (left hand twist), however, the bundlesof fibres attempt to twist
back during seasoning - a process that may go 6n for years and is so power -
-ful as to force walls out of plumb or to force roof framing apart.
To test for twist prior to felling, the right hand is placed on the
trunk of the tree. If the twist runs in the direction of the little finger
it is said to be right hand and the wood is usable. If it runs towards the
thumb, however, then it is left hand and unusable.
A further reference to twist is made concerning the manufacture of
roof shingles (plates of wood split radially from the log - as for sound-
-boards). Here it is stated that timber with straight or some right hand
twist should be used.

If the tradition is correctly reported in each case, then the

direction of fibre twist acceptable for instrument soundboards is the
opposite to that acceptable for log structures. Presumably soundboards
split from logs with left hand twist will untwist during seasoning becoming
flat and free from internal stress - a condition necessary for superior
performance of the finished soundboard? If this is the case, then degree
of twist would be an important factor in timber selection as, from my
observations^this ranges from very slight to extreme (i.e. a rope like
twist). Obviously the latter would be useless for soundboards
18

FoMRHI Comm 862 E Segerman

Following i s a paper t h a t I wrote a few months ago a s a development of my Comm 753. I

offered i t to Early Music which turned it down, suggesting that I could submit a paper
which is an expansion of the Tempo part with more evidence. I don't know whether there
is more evidence. I presented three times the amount of evidence known before. Sachs
published the P r a e t o r i u s evidence decades ago and no-one took it seriously. I've added
the evidence of Mace and t h e f a s t e s t speed of playing according to Mersenne and Quantz
coupled to semiquaver s t a t i s t i c s in Fitzwilliam and Dowland's Varietie, There is no
evidence for f a s t e r speeds other than that modern players like to play the music that
way.

Of particular i n t e r e s t to instrument makers i s the sections on the viol and voice. These
suggest t h a t during the Renaissance and continuing into the French baroque, when the
declamatory style of singing and playing instruments was paramount, the transient noise
at the beginning of an instrumental note (which corresponds with the first consonant of
each syllable) was prominent. Our customers want to suppress that transient, following
the modern cantabile style (which derives from the Italian baroque messa di voce), so we
make instruments on which it is easily suppressed. When some players take this
research seriously, we may have to modify our instrument designs for them.

On English and French Performance Style in the Late Renaissance and Baroque

Through most of the history of Western music, contemporary music has been mixed with
music of earlier times in programmes of performance, but not until the 20th century has
there been any serious attempt to play the music in a style other than contemporary.
The modern attempt to play music in "original" style is led by musicians rather than
historians, so we would expect a e s t h e t i c considerations to compete successfully with
historical ones, leading to a mixture of original and modern style components. Following
are some aspects of style for which it appears that the early-music movement is
following modern practices which differ markedly from that indicated by the surviving
evidence on early practices.

Note Shaping on the Viol

As pointed out by Hsu (1978), Mersenne (1636.) wrote that the viols "have a percussive
and resonant sound like the spinet". Over a century later, Le Blanc (1740) wrote that
viol "bow s t r o k e s are simple, with the bow striking the viol string as the jacks pluck the
harpsichord s t r i n g s , and not complex like those of the I t a l i a n s , where the [violin! bow,
by the use of smooth and well-connected up- and down-bows whose changes are
imperceptible, produce endless chains of notes ...". This implies that the basic viol bow
stroke remained unchanged in the French baroque. It was called "coup de poignet" or
"blow of the wrist". By late in the 17th century, Loulie1 described this stroke, and by
then, increased finger pressure on the hair helped the flick of the wrist in getting the
starting "pluck". In Mersenne's time the leading viol players renowned throughout
Europe were English. The only example of viol music Mersenne gave was English
(1636.). Mersenne (1636-,) described differences in tuning pitch and the number of
sharps and flats marked in the music between English and French viol players, but not
differences in sounding the instrument, so it is most likely that when he wrote that
viols played percussively, he was referring to English as well as French viol playing.

Le Blanc also wrote "Using a smartly-drawn and plain bow stroke which resembles so
much the plucking of the lute and guitar, the kind of sound that le Pere Marais had in
mind for his pieces, he varied it into six different kinds of bow s t r o k e s " . Those six
were not specified, but (following Hsu), we can organize our guesses according to the
statement by Loulie* that "a bow stroke - especially a long one - may be considered to be
 19

composed of three p a r t s ! the beginning, the middle, and the end. This i s not to say that
all bow strokes have all three p a r t s . For one knows that there are some that have only
the beginning." Strokes with only a beginning would have the middle and end either
eliminated by damping (as in staccoto playing) or unrelated to the bow because it was
lifted after the "pluck". Another Marais bow stroke would be the "soutenu" in which
according to Loulie* "one sustains the amount of sound that is at the beginning
throughout the middle and the end." Another could be bowing very near the bridge, which
could be the meaning of Louli^'s undescribed stroke he called "sec", which means "dry".
The "enfl_", which Marais notated with a "e" above the note or soon after it, seems to
have been one of the six variants of the coup de poignet. So while Loulie* wrote that it
had no "pluck" at the beginning ("one must not scratch the string but must begin by
making as l i t t l e sound as possible and increase the sound while pushing or pulling the
bow"), one could expect that the enfle* of Marais would have had a weak "pluck" at the
beginning. It is doubtful whether, as some modern scholars have assumed, the enfle* was
identical with the Italian "messa di voce" (which is a symmetric swelling of a note) since
Loulie* mentioned no descrescendo for the end of the note. It is important to note that
all of these stroke variants were used for variety while the usual stroke was the coup
de poignet.

Hsu writes that the French-baroque percussive basic bow stroke differed from the violin
bow stroke (for which there is evidence with respect to the Italian style), the 16th
century style described by Ganassi (who didn't mention how notes were s t a r t e d , but with
instrument designs and strings used then, it is much harder to suppress the scratchy
transient sound at the beginning of each bow stroke), and the "more lyrical way of
playing English viol consort music" (evidence for which doesn't exist). He was
speculating without ground here. The evidence we have points to the same basic bow
stroke for English viols. That stroke, in imitation of the plucked instruments, would
s t a r t with an impulse "pluck" followed by a slow descrescendo.

The Voice and the Viol

Mersenne (1636.) wrote that the viol "imitates the voice in all i t s modulations." This
most probably includes the note shaping. In vocal technique we would then expect that
the sound would normally be strongest on the first consonant with a fall-off of
intensity as the syllable progressed. This is probably why the syllable "ut" was
dropped from fasola singing in England, probably from before the middle of the 16th
century (see "Fasola" in the New Grove), as it was the syllable that did not s t a r t with a
consonant. Voices and viols were quite interchangeable in England around 1600.
Untexted part music was often apparently deliberately ambiguous as to whether it was
performed on viols, sung fasola with voices, or mixed. About half of the published books
of the English madrigalist school indicate on the t i t l e page that they are apt for voices
and viols. So the s t y l i s t i c equivalence between the sound of the viol and voice is
well-supported in England as well as France.

Declamatory Style of Phrasing

Ouantz (1752.), when comparing French with Italian style, wrote that "The French manner
of singing [ h a s ] ... a spoken rather than a singing quality. They require facility of the
tongue, for pronouncing the words, more than dexterity of the throat". Many
Renaissance and baroque writers compared the performing of music to the oratory of
public speakers. They sometimes suggested writing the words of pieces of vocal origin
into the music of instrumental versions. This is so that the instrumentalist can phrase
the notes the way that he would verbally declaim the words within the given rhythm.
This would involve no spaces between syllables of a word, a small space between words,
a bigger space between verbal phrases and a bigger space yet between sentences. When
these spaces were not written into the music, the musician would find ways of putting
them in. Thi_ approach is in contrast with the modern style of performance which is
much more consistent in the level of detachment with which the notes of a piece are
treated,
ao
Melisma is common in music, but not in declamation. Decoration can be considered as a
musical alternative or complement to loudness in expressing emphasis. Non-decorative
melisma can be considered a s equivalent to an aside in drama, with the action suspended
while an idea is expressed.

The s t r o n g e s t shaping in declamation would seem to be of the verbal phrase, the basic
unit for expressing i d e a s . The musical equivalent to the verbal phrase was called the
"point" in 17th century England} the modern name for it is the "motive".

In all music, the shapes of units of all time spans from the individual note to a whole
programme of music are important. Yet most attention is given to a particular size of
unit which one shapes most carefully. In the modern cantabile style of music
performance that is the "musical phrase", which c o r r e s p o n d s ^ a line of text or what can
be performed in one breath. This concept of phrasing is quite recent since Engel (1866)
wrote "A phrase extends over about two b a r s , and usually contains two or more motives,
but sometimes only one". Only one motive usually corresponds with the verbal phrase,
so t h i s 19th century view is intermediate between the modern and Renaissance and
French baroque view of phrasing.

Modern performances of early music usually omit the graces that were not notated but
which t r e a t i s e s of the time indicated were added to all music, at l e a s t of certain types.
Much of t h i s reluctance r e s u l t s from the additional attention given to a note that is
graced, which violates the smooth rise or fall of cantabile phrasing. With the more rapid
rise and fall of proper declamatory phrasing, the graces integrate with the music
naturally.

Tempo
Mersenne (1636-.) reported that 16 notes per second was the f a s t e s t speed that
divisions or graces could be played by "those who are esteemed to have a very fast and
light hand, when they use all the speed possible for them." Quantz (1752.) reported that
10.7 notes per second was the f a s t e s t speed that articulated notes ("with double
tonguing or bowing") could be expected to be played by competent musicians. These two
figures are quite consistent since we would expect a musician renowned for speed to
play f a s t e r than a typical competent musician. Also it is likely that playing that
requires co-ordination between very different s e t s of muscles cannot be played as fast
as playing that doesn't require this co-ordination. So we would expect that playing of
keyboards and sequences of unarticulated notes OP striged and wind instruments could
go faster than the voice and sequences of articulated notes on stringed and wind
instruments. So if a piece of music is for voice or it is played not on a keyboard
instrument, and it contains articulated demisemiquavers, one would expect Quantz's
figure to apply and the tempo would be no faster than minim = 40 MM, while the f a s t e s t
possible playing of demisemiquavers by a speed specialist would go at minim = 60 MM,
using Mersenne's figure. The f a s t e s t demisemiquavers for keyboards and unarticulated
notes on other instruments played by competent musicians not renowned for speed would
be somewhere inbetween, say, at minim = 50 MM.

Morley (1597) indicated that the sequence of increasing tempo amongst English popular
dances was pavin, almaine, galliard and coranto, The number of each of these dances
with notated demisemiquavers in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book is 35, 8, 4, 0,
respectively. So we can expect that the demisemiquavers were about as fast as a
competent harpsichordist could play them in the galliard. If dance tempi were constant
this implies that the galliard tempo was minim = 50 MM. The number of each of these
dances with notated demisemiquavers in Dowland's Varietie of Lute Lessons (1610) is 5,
3, 0, 0, respectively (ignoring one galliard and one coranto with demisemiquavers in the
final cadential division which must have been slower). So we can expect that
demisemiquavers were as fast as a lute player could pluck in the almaine, which would
then have a tempo of minim = 40 MM, If the pavin had the expected sesquialtera
relationship w i t h the g a l l i a r d , i t s tempo would be minim = 33 MM.

That the above calculations are not grossly in error i s indicated by tempo specifications
given by Praetorius (1619) and Mace (1676). Praetorius specified "a good moderate
speed" which calculates to minim = 42.5 MM. The music involved very rarely has note
values f a s t e r than quavers. Mace specified a good tempo for practicing by swinging a
pendulum from the ceiling to near the f l o o r , and t h i s calculates to minim = 30 MM i f the
height of the room is 4 meters, up to minim = 36 MM i f the height i s 2.5 meters. The
f a s t e s t note values are semiquavers but they are not common. The above indicates t h a t
the f a s t e s t note values are a poor indication of intended tempo, and that generally,
playing f a s t was not as universally cultivated in the 17th century as i t i s amongst most
players today.

The main point to be made here is t h a t these tempi for the repertoires mentioned above
are much slower than i t is normal t o play (or dance) them today. We cannot play them at
these slow tempi and s t i l l be "musical" as we understand the term. I f we included more
gracing i t would be easier. Robinson (1603) observed that "the longer the time i s of a
single stroke [(a plucked note on the l u t e ) ] , that the more neede i t hath of a relishe, ...
but in a quicke time a l i t t l e touche or jerke [(probably an appoggiatura or mordent)] w i l l
serve." A proper declamatory s t y l e of phrasing would also help. We must also accept
the p o s s i b i l i t y that our current concepts of what i s a "musical" tempo do not include the
actual speed that the music was usually played at h i s t o r i c a l l y ,

Conclusion
In a study of the geographical d i s t r i b u t i o n of various singing s t y l e s in f o l k music, Alan
Lomax (1959) observed that while repertoire and instruments passed readily from
culture to neighbouring culture, performing s t y l e within each culture has been much more
constant. This conservatism in s t y l e i s as true today when musicians t r y to play early
repertoire as i t was with the musicians for whom that repertoire was w r i t t e n . In t h i s
paper I have pointed to and t r i e d to characterise an apparently consistent declamatory
s t y l e of note production and phrasing in the late Renaissance and baroque periods (that
changed to a more modern cantabile s t y l e in I t a l y during the 17th century). I have also
presented evidence that 17th century tempi were often much slower than we expect, but
consistent w i t h that declamatory s t y l e of performance.

In their work, modern early-music performers as well as musicologists rely heavily on

mental images of how the music sounded l i k e and was performed. These images have
been b u i l t up from h i s t o r i c a l information plus a large component of guesswork (with an
understandable bias towards the musically s a t i s f y i n g ) . Modern t r a d i t i o n s of these
images have developed and are now almost universally accepted. When people are
convinced either that they "know" or that no-one w i l l ever "know", they have l i t t l e
i n t e r e s t in exploring information that might challenge that "knowledge". To take any
a l t e r n a t i v e seriously, they then require a much higher level of proof than is normally
required in scholarship, which is an objective evaluation of p r o b a b i l i t i e s in i n t e r p r e t i n g
the surviving h i s t o r i c a l i n f o r m a t i o n . This paper does not present such undeniable proof,
but i t does offer an exploration and challenge for the true music h i s t o r i a n .
22

REFERENCES

Engel, C. (1866): Introduction to the Study of National Music I I I , 82. Cited in O.E.D,
Hsu, J , (1978): The Use of the Bow in French Solo Viol Playing of the 17th and 18th
Centuries, Early Music 6/4, 526.
Le Blanc, H. (1740): Defense de la Basse de Viole Contre les Enterprises du Violon et
les Pretentions du Violoncel.
Lomax, A. (1959)'. Folk Song Style, The American Anthropologist, 61/6, 927-54.
Loulie*, E. (2nd half 17th c,)J Methode pour Apprendre a Jouer la Viole, (Bibl. Nat. Paris,
MS fonds fr. n.a. 6355, fol. 210-222).
Mace, T. (1676): Musick's Monument, 80.
Mersenne, M, (1636^: Harmonie Universelle H I , Third Book, Prop.I.
Mersenne, M. (1636.): ibid Fourth Book, Prop.VII (see G.S.J.XVII (1964), 17).
Mersenne, M. (1636-.): ibid Fourth book, Prop.VII.
Mersenne, M, (1636.): ibid Fourth Book, Prop.V.
Mersenne, M. (1636..): ibid Third Book, Prop.XIV.
Morley, T. (1597)5 A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musick, last few pages.
Praetorius, M, (1619): Syntagma Musicum I I I , 8 7 - 8 .
Quantz, J . J , (1752 U On Playing the Flute, Chapter XVIII, Paragraph 66.
Quantz, J . J . (1752.): ibid Chapter XVII, Paragraphs 51 and 55.
Robinson, T. (1603): The Schoole of Musick, fol. C(r).

.i_
 23

F^hftHl Con*. 863

THE CONSERVATION UNIT

7 St James's Square, London SW1Y 4JU
Telephone 01-839 9340

Dear Jeremy

It was kind of you to send me a copy of your item in the last FoMRHI
Quarterly containing your account of the Symposium on Accreditation which
The Conservation Unit held in November. Would you allow me to respond to a
few points which you raised in that account in order to allay any fears and
remove doubts that your readers may have?

Firstly, a clear distinction needs to be made between The Conservation

Unit's Register and any Accreditation scheme which may or may not come into
being. The Register of Conservators in Private Practice is, as you say,
meant to be a bigger, better and more authoritative version of the Crafts
Council register of some years ago and will be actively promoted by The
Unit. People will get onto it by completing a detailed application form
and satisfying certain criteria about the quality and professionalism of
their work, including questions on record keeping, security and insurance.
They will also be asked to submit details of five projects or objects
worked on, with the names of clients to whom we can refer. Beyond this,
however, there will be no assessment of quality of work, and we shall not
be recxrnnerxiing anybody.

Enquirers - we already receive many, and will soon be advertising the

service widely - will be sent a list of five or six names of relevant local
conservators, together with a limited amount of information about them
(none of it confidential). They will also be sent advice on how to choose
a conservator. On the basis of these it is then up to the potential client
to make a selection. For the time being we do not propose to publish the
Register.

Any of your readers who would like to be on this register is welcome to

write to us and we will send them an application form as soon as the system
begins operating.

Accreditation is, as you have made clear, a difficult and contentious

issue. Our aim in calling people together was to encourage all the
relevant organisations to exchange information and views. No more. We
felt it important, for instance, that UKIC's proposals - which are quite
likely to be put into action before long - should be made known to all
interested parties, including FoMRHI. We were certainly not trying to
wield a stick or make any threats.

If UKIC accreditation comes about, there is no reason why it should not

embrace musical instrument conservators or restorers; indeed that category
is listed among UKIC's specialities. Your point that this speciality would
need to be further subdivided is very important and I suggest that it be
made direct to UKIC. It would of course still be open to FoMRHI to run its
own scheme if it so wished.

lories Commission
2+
As I see it there are unlikely to be sanctions against musical instrument
conservators just because there is no separate accreditation system for
them. In so far as there might be sanctions - and we are still speculating
about a future at least several years away - it would be against
conservators for whom there is an accreditation scheme but who have failed
to meets its criteria, for instance by being inadequately trained. If no
such scheme develops for musical instrument conservators, they would have
no cause for alarm. If such a scheme did develop, it could only be of
benefit to the profession.

Could I stress that as far as this Unit is concerned there is no intention

to impose draconian measures, no sense in which anything will be imposed
from above. Recent moves towards accreditation came from conservators
themselves, long before The Unit came into being. It is up to the
conservators to decide how they wish to proceed. The Unit's Register will
certainly mention whether a conservator is accredited by any organisation,
but this will be one among many factors. We hope that the Register will be
of benefit to conservators, by making their services better known and
better understood; to individuals and organisations wishing to know how to
locate a good conservator; and, not least, to the objects themselves, by
helping to ensure that they receive attention from the most appropriate
specialists.

You now have our record of the Symposium and we should be glad to send
copies of it to any of your readers if they would care to write to us. We
should also be happy to tell them more about the work of The Conservation
Unit and to answer any queries they may have about our Register.

sincerely

DR DAVID LEIGH
Head of The Conservation Unit

Jeremy Montagu Esq 31 March 1988

FoMRHI Quarterly
Faculty of Music
St Aldgate's
OXFORD
0X1 1DB
 2-

FoMRHI G^M 86+ MICHAEL RANSLEY

Further to comment 849

I was interested to read comment 849 about conservation

and accreditation.
Is being a fellow of FoMRHI some sort of accreditation?
What is a fellow anyway? (Does being a fellow have anything
to do with the song, " for he's a jolly good fellow?")
In the specific area of early woodwind instruments there
are few opportunities for people wishing to train or do
apprenticeships either as conservators or makers in Britain.

This is because there are very few full-time makers who are
in a position to be able to afford to offer apprenticeships,
as in fact most makers have difficulty providing a living
even for themselves. This situation is only likely to
change if makers in this country can become more business-
like, profitable and professional.
At the moment many makers rely heavily on part-time jobs,
pensions, inherited wealth or subsidies to support themselves

The London College of Furniture does offer about six places

each year for early woodwind students, although these are
rarely all taken. The course consists of two, two year
courses. B TEC diploma and B TEC higher diploma in musical
instrument technology. The training given on these courses
is not comprehensive enough for a person to become an
accredited maker or conservator but it is a beginning.

During the four years that I was there as a student I was

helped enourmously, but I also had severe critisisms of the
inadaquacies of much of the course. (Incidentally when I
asked if we could have a lecture on the ethics of
conservation my request was regarded as subversive.)
However the woodwind course does look set to improve in the
near future and I would reccomend anyone wishing to become
a maker or conservator to seriously consider joining the
course. The telephone number for application forms is
01- 247 1953.
26

FoMRHI Comm. 865 Brian Ackerman

COMMENTS ON WOODWIND RESTORATION

Having just joined FoMRHI, I have been reading Charlie Wells' article on
the restoration of a Miller clarinet (Comm. 803). I would like to make a
few important comments which relate to that article and the Miller
clarinet, but particularly to restoration in general. I hope that Charlie
will not take offence to this, as it is in no way a criticism of his
article, more an extension of it.

New wooden tenons. Full size new boxwood tenons are extremely dangerous,
particularly on the top tenon. If the clarinet is played, sooner or later
the new wood will expand and cause the original joint to split. This mav
well be what happened to the Miller clarinet on the top joint. Charlie
mentions that the replacement wooden sleeve may have altered the outside
dimensions, and also that this joint was split (was it split at this end?).

The problem is that boxwood is notorious for moving. New boxwood moves even
more, especially a new tenon at the top end where the moisture enters the
end grain very easily. The original wood on the outside of the top joint
does not expand at the same rate when played, as it does not have the
influence of moisture. As the new inside piece expands when being played,
the outside remains the same, and therefore splits under the pressure. New
tenons are often put in as shown in diagram 1, and this makes the outside
original wood extremely weak.

A further point is how well does the replacement tenon seal. If there is
any gap in the bore (where the new wood meets the old wood), then moisture
will penetrate due to capillary action. This moisture cannot be removed by
wiping out the instrument, as it is hidden. Furthermore, it has again gone
into end grain wood and will soak in readily, again causing certain bore
shrinkage and possible cracking.

A badly sealed joint can be caused in 2 ways. Firstly it could have been
inserted badly in the first place, either not being a good fit or
insuficient glue used to seal the join. Secondly, an unsealed joint can
develop due to wood movements (again at different rates). I have seen many
replacement tenons which are so loose that you can actually move them.

The answer.The answer is to replace the tenon in ebonite (vulcanised

rubber). This may not seem in keeping with restoring an early clarinet, but
it is by far the safest option when the instrument is going to be played.
Ebonite is not affected by moisture and will therefore not expand when
being played. Also it is fairly flexible and will allow the outside wood to
shrink without it cracking.

When being glued in, plenty of glue should be used - especially on the end.
When it is inserted, you should see the glue ooze into the bore and this
should be left to set before removing it. This will ensure a good seal.

A new tenon should be made with a shoulder if possible (see digram 2). This
ensures that the original wood is thicker and therefore stronger. If
boxwood is going to be used then this method must be used.

There are many times when a complete new tenon is not necessary and in
these cases partial replacement is much more desirable. This may mean
lining the bore or sleeving the old tenon or a sleeve with an extension
 27

(see diagram 3). I stress that only an experienced restorer can decide
which is best in the situation. These alternatives can be in boxwood as
they are not so drastic. Of course, in the case of the Miller clarinet, the
top tenon had already been replaced and these alternatives were not
aval 1 able.

Counterborinq with an endmi 11. In my opinion this is a dangerous tool to

use for 2 reasons. Firstly it means removing a lot of material in one go.
The joint must be held tightly and a lot of tension is caused. Secondly it
tends to splinter the end-grain of the wood. Any tool worked directly on
the end-grain will tend to splinter the inside edge and cause burring over
of this edge.

It is much better to use a boring tool (see diagram 4). This has the
advantage that small cuts can be taken and this reduces the pressure on the
wood. Also the first cut can be taken from the inside edge in the direction
shown. This does not cause any splintering and gives a crisp edge to this
all important part.

Filling cracks. In my opinion epoxy resin is not the best glue for filling
cracks. It reacts with the resins and oils in the wood, eventually becoming
soft and rising above the surface. The makers of "Araldite" deny that this
can happen and that I must be mixing it incorrectly1 Well I have been
mixing it incorrectly every time for 15 years! I am sure some members must
have noticed this happening if they have cracks that have been filled with
epoxy.
I believe cyanoacrylate glue is a better alternative. It does not move and
is extremely strong. Also, being very runny, it runs into cracks
(especially thin cracks) very thoroughly. If a crack is wide, it can be
filled with this glue and stained boxwood dust pushed into it. The glue
soaks into the dust and forms a oood filler of the correct colour.

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28

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 29

FoMRHI Comm. 8 6 6 R^my QUG

Jobst M E U L E R

or

the Secret of a Nuremberg Wire Drawer.

In the F o M R H I - Q n° 30 (January 1983, p.12-13) Cary Karp

published an English version of a l e t t e r of H e i n r i c h Schutz dated 1621
mentioning the name of Jobst Meuler, w i r e drawer in Nuremberg (1).
Richard Shann (2) and M a r t h a Goodway (3) r e f e r r e d recently t o this a r t i c l e .
It seems f r o m Schiitz's l e t t e r t h a t Jobst Meuler was the only w i r e - d r a w e r
to make steel strings of a quality not available elsewhere at that t i m e .
The techniques supposed to have been used by the Nuremberg
craftsman are debated by the t w o previous authors together w i t h Ephraim
Segerman ( F o M R H I - Q n° 30, p.15). D i f f e r e n t possibilities are evoked.
Nevertheless, in the oresent state of research, we can only conjecture
about the process and the exact production in question and must be very
careful not to transfer into Meuler's workshop the technical processes we
would l i k e to see h i m using. He could only use the means of his own t i m e ,
enriched by his genius. Therefore c a u t i o n , great caution must replace in our
researches the impatience of taking pride in discovering the solution. Too
many pieces of the puzzle are missing f o r the moment and the f u l l
historical image of what has " r e a l l y " been cannot yet be reached.

Taken out of the h i s t o r i c a l c o n t e x t , the w r i t i n g of H e i n r i c h

Schutz can be i n t e r p r e t e d in d i f f e r e n t ways. The documents I publish in
this c o m m u n i c a t i o n w i l l put the l e t t e r in question into a new light since
they provide us w i t h some keys t o a b e t t e r understanding of the reason
which brought Schutz to w r i t e to the Town Council of Nuremberg in 1621.
They w i l l f u r t h e r show that a secret was damned at that t i m e t o r e m a i n a
secret, not only for the f u t u r e but also f o r contemporaries, especially in
Nuremberg during the f i r s t decades of the 17th c e n t u r y . This " s y s t e m " of
c r a f t p r o t e c t i o n centered on the " s e c r e t " which was respected - f i r s t of all
by the members of the Town Council and also by the members of the
c r a f t ' s p o l i c y - and i t worked very w e l l ! We shall probably never know
- f r o m a w r i t t e n source at least - what really was Meuler's method in this
case.

Wire drawing in Nuremberg 16th-17th centuries:

The " h u m a n " side :

As I have o f t e n insisted about never t r y i n g to answer questions

specific to early techniques w i t h o u t documents, I hope that the f o l l o w i n g
excerpts f r o m the "Rathsbucher" |_the Nuremberg Council minutes r e f e r r e d
to by C. K a r p ] w i l l help, f i r s t to c l a r i f y to some extent the Meuler case
and secondly, to replace Schutz's l e t t e r in the light of the events which
occured in Nuremberg w i r e drawing history during the f i r s t quarter of the
17th c e n t u r y .
30

The c o m m e r c i a l history of N u r e m b e r g w i r e drawing during the

whole 17th c e n t u r y is a c o l l e c t i o n of crises due to the a m b i t i o n of some
members of an old Nuremberg f a m i l y who made i t their sole a i m to lay
hands on the e n t i r e Nuremberg w i r e p r o d u c t i o n : the Hagelsheimer-Held
f a m i l y . [I r e f e r r e d to t h a t f a m i l y in my work on the Nuremberg gauge
systems (4)1 During the long story of this a m b i t i o n which began w i t h
F r i e d r i c h Held in the last decades of the 16th c e n t u r y , the name Meuler
appears many times in the Council minutes.

To understand what happened during the quarter of a century

w h i c h interests us here, some general points must be made.

Concerning w i r e drawing in Nuremberg before Held was in the

f o r e g r o u n d , we must know that the w i r e drawers called "Scheibenzieher"
were those who made together the gold, silver, i r o n , brass and copper w i r e .
This image was disturbed by the a r r i v a l in the w e l l - k n o w n Franconian
t o w n in the year 1569 of French men who began to draw a special kind of
w i r e for which they had bought 300 Zentner of " K u p f e r z a i n e " [copper bars]
t h e r e . This case troubled the Scheibenzieher who w e n t , as usual to the
Council asking it to c l a r i f y the s i t u a t i o n . An investigation was made at the
Frauentor, the place before the t o w n where these French men were
working under the d i r e c t i o n of "Anthoni Fournier" and w i t h o u t any
a u t h o r i z a t i o n . The Scheibenzieher were then surprised to discover a process
unknown to t h e m : the drawing of gold- and s i l v e r - p l a t e d copper w i r e , made
in such a p e r f e c t manner t h a t no d i f f e r e n c e w i t h their usual solid gold or
silver w i r e could be seen. The second surprise was to see how thin the
w i r e these French c r a f t s m e n made was, although these l a t t e r used the
same tools as they themselves had f o r a long t i m e .

A new i m p o r t e d technique.

P o l i t i c a l l y a s t u t e , the C o u n c i l , always looking for new products,

decided to i n v i t e these 8 to 9 French persons to come and stay in the
t o w n . A f t e r having explained t h a t they ran away f r o m Lyon and Paris for
religious reasons, these l a t t e r became citizens of Nuremberg and had then
to f o l l o w the rules of their t o w n of adoption. Thus the Scheibenzieher were
i n f o r m e d t h a t they had to continue to work as before and t h a t the French
men would on t h e i r side make what was subsequently called the "Lionische
D r a h t " . This denomination was due to the f a c t that the French town Lyon
was, together w i t h Venice and Florence, the place in Europe where this
g o l d - and s i l v e r - p l a t e d w i r e was f i r s t made.
The new production grew every year and the "Lionische Gold-
und Silber D r a h t " was sold in the great German trade towns ( F r a n k f u r t and
L e i p z i g ) . But i t seems that Anthoni Fournier was not the best of
businessmen: d i f f e r e n t huge debts forced him to flee f r o m Nuremberg and
the production of plated w i r e stopped u n t i l F r i e d r i c h Held began to
re-organize t h a t a c t i v i t y in the last decade of the 16th c e n t u r y .

F r i e d r i c h Held's Nuremberg p r i v i l e g e .

This F r i e d r i c h Held was a member of the above-mentioned old

Nuremberg f a m i l y and an assiduous tradesman, f i r s t trading in fish then, as
we shall see, w i t h gold, gilded, silver and silver plated w i r e . The 5th of
August 1592 he obtained a privilege of the Town Council for a period of
 31

15 years s t a t i n g t h a t he was allowed to set up and to c o n t r o l the

production of the thinnest (solid) gold and silver w i r e , and in a second (only
verbal) privilege he was also allowed to c o n t r o l the production of the newly
discovered "Lionischen D r a h t " . (Since the departure of Fournier, d i f f e r e n t
w i r e drawer specialized in making "Lionischer D r a h t " had meanwhile come
f r o m Italy to Nuremberg).
This privilege is the origin of endless quarrels with the
Scheibenzieher who were also drawing solid gold and silver w i r e , though in
larger sizes, w i t h i n l i v i n g m e m o r y . But Held's a i m was t h a t of a zealous
tradesman l i v i n g in the traditions of the great m e r c a n t i l i s m of the late
Renaissance, i.e. to get r i c h and powerful very quickly - he succeeded
in building opulent looking houses in Nuremberg - and t r i e d , using
sometimes dubious methods, to have the absolute monopoly on the whole
gold and silver (solid and p l a t e d , thick and thin) w i r e t r a d e .

Held's f i r s t i m p e r i a l privilege (Vienna).

The Nuremberg privilege was over and we see Held, the 19th of
March 1608, going to the other a u t h o r i t y who was always interested in
pulling the strings in the " f r e e i m p e r i a l t o w n of N u r e m b e r g " : the "Kaiser"
in Vienna. An i m p e r i a l privilege was enacted now which gave Held an
i m p o r t a n t position. P r o t e c t e d by the a u t h o r i t y of Vienna, who stated in
w r i t i n g t h a t he could also c o n t r o l the "Lionische D r a h t z i e h e r " , he was now
sure to reach his goal. But the Nuremberg Council was not impressed by
these t r i c k y methods. The disputes began and they are registered in the
minutes of the Town C o u n c i l . [For all these previous data see (5)].

,S Jobst Meuler.

S We meet Jobst Meuler f o r the

f i r s t t i m e on the 3rd July 1609. Jobst
Meuler complained to the Council about
the privilege given to Held since this
latter had forbidden h i m and others
X. "•_ . _ O —' _ A _, _ _ _
Scheibenzieher to make gold and silver
w i r e : « i m e und anderen die Silberne und
vergulte Tradarbeit abgeschafft worden
(...) dieweil er und seine V o r e l t e r n uber
^^r^itL*> ^5--v^k ^s^/i^St* 120 Jahr dise arbeit getriben (...)>
Figure 1. We see t h a t Meuler, who
could f i n a l l y continue his job, belonged
to an old w i r e drawer f a m i l y . Figure 2
shows the epitaph of (probably) the
r • _> _» '* - 'U parents of our Jobst (7) [ f i r s t published
/•/**_»• , - w t » _ - J f V - / fo~~-W. r~-~w, f*+t- . in my previously mentioned work (4,
p.72)]. We shall see later that he had a
z^_u-» -**,Jei~-, *•--**• Xt'S^*
son, M i c h e l , who probably also had
descendants, since the description of the
Nuremberg "St. John" cemetery
published in 1682 by Christoph F r i e d r i c h
Gugel (6) mentions a Hanns Georg
Meuler, Scheibenzieher. This latter
together w i t h his w i f e bought a tomb
there in the year 1671. It is clear t h a t
32

the Meuler w i r e drawer dynasty stretches over t w o centuries. Jobst

Meuler himself died in the year 1632 ( 1 , p.266).
The master m e t w i t h a number of d i f f i c l u t i e s . We hear t h a t
during the year 1610 the problem w i t h the greedy Held was s t i l l not
solved. The "Ratsbeschluss" [ C o u n c i l minutes] of the 9 t h of May 1610 is
the most i n t e r e s t i n g for us (Figure 3). The Town Council had daily to
s e t t l e the d i f f e r e n c e s occuring between the citizens of whom the
m a j o r i t y were c r a f s t m e n . When the questions debated became to be of
too commercial or too technical a n a t u r e , then the Nuremberg
magistrates usually sent the case to the Rugamt, the crafts
d e p a r t e m e n t . U n f o r t u n a t e l y f o r us, these (historical) human d i f f i c u l t i e s
only very rarely give rise to precise data of great interest f o r the
history of technology: the " p a t e n t system" did not yet exist and the
"secret s y s t e m " r e f e r r e d to above, although having the best e f f e c t in
the society of t h a t t i m e , keeps valuable knowledge f r o m us. So we must
put f o r w a r d the i n f o r m a t i o n taken f r o m the minutes in question w i t h
great c a u t i o n . Since an a d m i n i s t r a t i v e document is not at all the most
suitable source for technical knowledge, we shall not be too hasty in
our conclusions.

The 9 t h of May 1610.

This paper describes the s i t u a t i o n at t h a t date between Meuler

and H e l d , represented in this case by the b r o t h e r - i n - l a w of the l a t t e r ,
Decker: (We underline)
 33

«Hansen decker Supplication, h~ \*> 3

**
Jobst Meuler e t t l i c h e r Injurien halb
z u s t r a f f e n , und weil er F r i e d r i c h
Helden In sein P r i v i l e r g i e r t e A r b e i t
eingreiffe, solches bey Ime +*. f!s±S+jf /-£«>»», " ^ / X - i /fc-*'_
abzuschaffen c Sollen die "i>, - —-*-»' « _^ ' i
Rugsherren zu sich nemen, und
was der arbeit halben Ihnen
anzuzeigen bedencken, ob auch &*+ o**»*'^-I-V-M.''j~~y*f **^*-*A>
dise Arbeit so der Meuler erfunden
die auch ein grosse nachfrage h a t t
.... kbnne abgewiln werden, dieweil
des Helden P r i v i l e g i u m . . . . sich auff !*•«$ v w ^ OW c~u-&-Jt- -fi>-££r^ ?f~*^>
dise a r b e i t , die weder Er noch der
decker machen k a n , und doch eine
Scheibenzieher arbeit ist, sich n i t t
erstreckt und man den
Scheibenziehern nitt verwehren >U, ^ ' « ^ '&$**>'* **V*' ~ v \
konnen von allerley M e t a l l Trod zu
Ziehen und Ihre arbeit zu zieren
und zuzurichten so gut sie . \ y "*• ^-_V_ jfr^^C-f^i — <- ^^^i-fa '
kdnnen>
Wv~ik> _V« (K^> rhfiAr •*«•_*,_
In the f i r s t p a r t of this
excerpt, we see Hans Decker < * • * , A V V»*-V- {£r ***r/ " A K " "Vr-ftv
t r y i n g to obtain f r o m the Rugamt ___*-f,_», - * - * - / "V**--- vVj^ (U-f4> iV^W,
a ban on w i r e drawing for Jobst
Meuler. The reason given is t h a t
Meuler's work runs counter to the y v ^ / U_i, , j^W~*~ -
Held's p r i v i l e g e , at least so Held / . > / » - , ~-W vWv-_>^ > ~ - W ^ f v ^
says via Decker. What is true
here7
A clarification can be
found in the part we underlined.
Here we learn t h a t Jobst Meuler
had invented a special kind of ^3__^«_,,^^> y_*_f _ V _ ^ - W ) *-4-f.l^ ,
w i r e "which can be made neither
by Held nor by Decker". This -u-__v j ^ * - ^ ^ -+**t~y '^^o "*-*'*
product is not included in the
specifications of the privilege,
since "it is a typical ._-*_—K«-r ~*,«^> » v_-»_^' ,_, -%• ) ^ « A V * > - -
"Scheibenzieher" w o r k " - "Lionische
Drahtzieher" did not work with
iron or steel.

What is more, the Council renewed w i t h a c e r t a i n pleasure to

counter the i m p e r i a l privilege and to show who was the master of the
t o w n , the permission f o r the Scheibenzieher to draw wire f r o m a l l kinds
of m e t a l ["allerley M e t a l l Trot zu ziehen"] whatever Held might t h i n k .
Meuler was free to do his job again, namely to use
i r o n / s t e e l / c o p p e r / b r a s s / g o l d and silver...
34

What is sure f o r us now is:

-that Meuler invented a "personal"

process to make a special kind of w i r e .
- t h a t the demand of this special Meuler
w i r e was great in 1610 ["auch eine grosse nachfrage h a t t " ] .
- t h a t seen f r o m a t e c h n i c a l point of
view, Meuler's process did not f a l l into the specifications of the
"Lionische D r a h t z i e h e r " technique as defined in Held's p r i v i l e g e .
-and t h a t Jobst Meuler was alone in
mastering the p r o d u c t i o n , having kept his secret very w e l l , " n e i t h e r Held
nor Decker were able to do so".

Other quarrels.

The disputes w i t h Held were not finished and in January 1613

we again hear f r o m Meuler. On the p r e t e x t t h a t Meuler owed money,
Held played a trick on h i m : all the tools belonging to our
Scheibenzieher are confiscated. Here the Town Council reacted
vigorously and F r i e d r i c h Held the Younger was put under arrest. N o t f o r
a long t i m e however, since he had the i m p e r i a l p r o t e c t i o n . . . !

The second i m p e r i a l p r i v i l e g e : Vienna 1621.

The Held f a m i l y used the coming years to work out a b e t t e r

privilege from Vienna. B a r t h e l m e , F r i e d r i c h , Paulus and Heinrich
Hagelsheimer-Held reached t h e i r long desired a i m in 1621. This i m p e r i a l
privilege I r e f e r r e d to in (4, p.39) could be a piece of our puzzle
which was w r i t t e n during the same year as the l e t t e r of H e i n r i c h
Schutz, which i n d i r e c t l y gives us a proof t h a t Meuler s t i l l encountered
d i f f i c u l t i e s . With whom? Was Held again the origin? Maybe, as we could
conclude in the l i g h t of what happened during the previous 20 years. Or
did Meuler also have d i f f i c u l t i e s w i t h some other people? This is
not impossible, as we can read in the l e t t e r the C o u r t Secretary w r o t e
seven days a f t e r t h a t of Schutz and also published by R. Gbhler ( 1 ,
p.265) [Cary Karp did not translate this e x c e r p t ] . «darneben aber
verhuten, das bei seinen M i t m e i s t e r n oder andern Leuten er [ J . M e u l e r ]
dep?wegen n i c h t in Straf oder andere Ungelegenheiten gebracht w i r d > .
What kind of problems did have Meuler w i t h his " f e l l o w masters or
other people"? Held was no f e l l o w master. Does the expression "other
people" mean the Held f a m i l y ?

What to do w i t h these t w o documents (1610-1621)?

The t e x t dated f r o m 1610 must be studied w i t h c a r e , since

it is t e m p t i n g to parallel it w i t h what we learn f r o m the l e t t e r of
H e i n r i c h Schutz w r i t t e n in 1621. We could e f f e c t i v e l y have here, i t
seems to me, t w o pieces of a same puzzle together w i t h a plausible
t h i r d piece: the second imperial privilege for Held also dated 1621.
F r o m the point of view of the methodology to be used in
research into the history of science and technology, is it permissable
to c o m p l e t e the f i r s t document w i t h the data of the t w o other ones ?
 35

Was the invention of Jobst Meuler r e f e r r e d t o by the C o u n c i l

minutes in 1610, precisely that method of drawing steel music wire "the
like of w h i c h cannot be obtained anywhere else", as Schutz w r o t e in
1621?

C a u t i o n , i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of what happened 360 years ago...

The aim of this c o m m u n i c a t i o n has been to replace the

document of Schutz in the Nuremberg c o n t e x t . Schiitz's paper can be
seen d i f f e r e n t l y now.

It is clear in some comments published more or less r e c e n t l y

on this question that the specific situation concerning the " c r a f t s
organisation" of Nuremberg had not been taken into account (2)<3c(8).
Guilds did not exist in Nuremberg (they had been forbidden a f t e r 1349,
the year of the great r e v o l t of the c r a f t s m e n ) . A l l questions and
quarrels went through the two a u t h o r i t i e s known to us: the Council
(legislator) and the Rugamt (control of more technical nature).
The h i s t o r i c a l documents published above and these latest
f a c t s allow us to say t h a t no conclusion on a purely technical l e v e l can
be drawn f r o m this data: the Meuler " s e c r e t " remains i n t a c t .
F u r t h e r m o r e , no c o m m e r c i a l conclusions can be drawn f r o m
the step of H e i n r i c h Schutz, as Cary Karp concludes: "Since Meuler
could not f i l l even a royal order f o r this m a t e r i a l w i t h o u t legal
i n t e r v e n t i o n , however, it seems highly unlikely t h a t his product was in
widespread use, nor was any equivalent available." Meuler did not need
the a u t h o r i z a t i o n of the legislator to make his strings - a kind o f
technical permission which would t e s t i f y f o r the great r a r i t y of this
product only available on special request. In f a c t , he needed this
a u t h o r i t y to be p r o t e c t e d in his daily work and business against the
greedy Held and/or "other people".
If we consider t h a t the invention mentioned in the Council
minutes of May 1610 concerns production of special music w i r e , i.e. i f
we accept the connection between the t w o documents, we must then
conclude, quoting the terms of the minutes ("gross nachfrag h a t t " ) t h a t
the demand was g r e a t , thus "in widespread use". The f a c t t h a t a legal
a u t h o r i t y had to intervene here does not originate in the product i t s e l f
but in the special s i t u a t i o n created f i r s t l y by the Held f a m i l y , secondly
by the problems Meuler seems to have had w i t h his fellow masters and
some "other people" and f i n a l l y in the specific f o r m of a d m i n i s t r a t i o n of
N u r e m b e r g . Human, not technical f a c t o r s were a c t i n g in t h a t case and
w i t h o u t these quarrels we would never have heard of Jobst Meuler and
of his " i n v e n t i o n " . Schutz would never have had to w r i t e t o Nuremberg
and thus, w i t h o u t his l e t t e r , we would never have been i n f o r m e d of the
special steel music w i r e made by Meuler.

In the light of what we have learnt f r o m the d i f f e r e n t

documents, we can guess t h a t Schutz was not a rare customer of
Meuler, (how many l e t t e r s did Meuler recieve?) but, r a t h e r , only one of
those whose l e t t e r had reached us. The f a c t t h a t Schiitz's l e t t e r dates
f r o m the same year as the Held second and strongest i m p e r i a l p r i v i l e g e
is probably not a m a t t e r of chance.

F i n a l l y , we are s t i l l missing a reliable document w h i c h would

allow us to complete the puzzle and assert w i t h c e r t a i n t y t h a t w h a t
36

Jobst Meuler did invent in the f i r s t decade of the 17th c e n t u r y were

undoubtedly his w e l l known steel strings.
The t w o documents (Meuler 1610-Schiitz 1621) do agree on the
point that no "equivalent (of such special strings?) were available"
elsewhere at t h a t t i m e . Is this f a c t weighty enough to make us f i n a l l y
admit that they speak of the same h i s t o r i c a l r e a l i t y , namely Meuler's
a r t of making highly prized steel music w i r e ? If we accept this, then
the l e t t e r of the Kappelmeister does not "suggest the date at which
such w i r e f i r s t became a v a i l a b l e " , nor "the date at which its use
t e r m i n a t e d " . This l e t t e r is then simply a step in the apparently a g i t a t e d
l i f e of Meuler, " i n v e n t o r " and drawer of a rare and famous w i r e .
It would be of f u r t h e r interest f o r us to hear one day about
the destiny of Meuler's a r t : did he t r a n s m i t the " s e c r e t " to his son?
What happened to the manufacture and trade of these "staline
I n s t r u m e n t s a i t e n " a f t e r the death of master Jobst Meuler, during one of
the darkest periods of h i s t o r y , the 30 Years War?

I.This l e t t e r was f i r s t l y published in its original German version by

Reinhard Gb'hler, i n : Neues A r c h i v fur Sachsische Geschichte, v o l . 5 1 , I I ,
(1930).

2 . F o M R H I - Q , 48, July 1987, p.33.

3.Goodway, M a r t h a , "Phosphorus in Antique Iron Music Wire", in:

Science, 236, May 1987, p.931.

4."En r e m o n t a n t la f i l i e r e de Thoiry a N u r e m b e r g " , Musique Ancienne,

18, Septembre 1984, p.39.

5.Beckh, Max, Die Nurnberger echte und leonische G o l d - und

Silberdrahtindustrie, D i s s e r t a t i o n , Munchen, 1917, p.19-50.

6.Gugel, Christoph, Friedrich, Norischer Christen Freydhbfe

Gedachtnis..., Nurnberg, 1682, p.132: «Der Ersam Hanns Georg
MEULER / Scheibenzieher und Verleger / und Barbara seine
E h e w i i r t h i n / und der beyden Leibs Erben Begrabnis - A n . 1671> This
member of the Meuler f a m i l y was not only a c r a f t s m a n but also
a tradesman who sold wire produced by other Scheibenzieher
("Verleger").

7.Gerlach, M a r t i n , Die Bronzeepitaphien der Friedhofe zur Nurnberg,

Nurnberg, 1896. In this same work we see under i t e m 75/2 the epithaph
of our F r i e d r i c h Held who died in 1616.

8 . K a r p , Cary, "The pitches of the 18th Century Strung Instruments...",

Technical Report n° 1 , SMS-Musikmuseet, Stockholm, 1984, p.83.

Acknowledgements:
I express my thanks to the Service of the Staatsarchiv Nurnberg f o r
providing me w i t h the d i f f e r e n t documents. Figure 1: Ratsverlasse Nr.
1831, f o l . 4 5 r & 4 5 v . - Figure 3: Ratsverlasse Nr. 1842, f o l . 75 r & 75 V .
 37

FoMRHI Comm 8 6 7 Ephraim Segerman

Qn English l u t e sizes and tunings c 1600

and a solution to the English t r e b l e - l u t e paradox

There are multiple references in l a t e 16th and early 17th century English sources t o
treble, mean and bass l u t e s and one reference t o a Great Bass l u t e . We presume t h a t
the most popular was the mean l u t e , and i f no size specification was g i v e n , the mean l u t e
was usually expected. In support of t h i s presumption we have Besardus's statement
published in t r a n s l a t i o n by John Dowland " F i r s t and foremost chuse a Lute neither great
nor s m a l l , but a midling one ..." From the lute song repertoire i t i s clear t h a t the
nominal pitch of the f i r s t course was usually considered t o be g ' .

There are some songs which are accompanied by two l u t e s a f o u r t h apart and there are
numerous duets f o r such pairs of l u t e s . Lute size names were not given in these
repertoires, so there is no direct evidence indicating which pair of sizes was involved*

There i s no English evidence to resolve t h i s question, but we have evidence on the

nominal pitches associated w i t h l u t e - s i z e names in t h a t period from I t a l y and Germany.
Import documents imply t h a t a large fraction of the l u t e s played in England came from
these countries. There was also a large i n t e r n a t i o n a l t r a f f i c of l u t e players. Thus
similaries between practices in d i f f e r e n t countries i s more expected than differences.

Picdnini (1623) mentioned three sizes of l u t e s ! the ' p i c d o l o ' (small) w i t h f i r s t course
nominal pitch at a', the 'mezano' (meane) at g' and the 'grande' (large) at d ' . Praetorius
was t r y i n g to be comprehensive and covered rarely found sizes as w e l l as common ones.
He l i s t e d seven sizes! 1. Kleinen Octavlaut at c" or d " , 2. Klein Discant laut at b', 3.
Discant Laut at a', 4 , Rechte C h o r i s t - oder A l t Laute at g ' , 5. Tenor Laut at e', 6.
Der Bass genant at d ' , and 7. Die Gross Octav Bass Laut at g. The German l i n g u i s t i c
equivalents to the English t r e b l e and bass are sizes 3. and 6. respectively, and we
expect these to have been more common than lute sizes w i t h names w i t h qualifyers added
to these names (2. and 7.) or names involving 'octav' ( 1 . and 7.). What remains i s
deciding whether 4, or 5. i s equivalent t o the English mean l u t e . I t i s clear t h a t the
most usual-size was 4. since that was the only one he i l l u s t r a t e d , and i t s tuning w i t h
f i r s t course at g ' is the only one given in his general tuning t a b l e s .

I t is then apparent t h a t the I t a l i a n and German equivalents of the English t r e b l e mean

and bass lutes had identical nominal tunings at a', g ' and d ' . This obviously was the
order of increasing size, and i f a l l sizes conformed to the o f t - q u o t e d i n s t r u c t i o n to tune
the highest s t r i n g as high as i t can go without breaking, then the laws of physics say
that the t r e b l e would be two f r e t s shorter than the mean lute and the bass f i v e f r e t s
longer. Then i f P r a e t o r i u s ' s depicted mean lute w i t h a s t r i n g stop of 62 cm was t y p i c a l ,
string stops f o r the t r e b l e and bass l u t e s would be 55 cm and 83 cm respectively. But i f
one expected the tone quality on the lowest s t r i n g of the bass lute t o be no b e t t e r than
that on the mean l u t e , the s t r i n g stop can be one f r e t shorter (see Comm 632, Q 40, p 51)
or 78 cm.

We would expect the English l u t e sizes to be the same, and so the r e p e r t o i r e involving
two lutes a f o u r t h apart were played on mean and bass l u t e s . But there are t w o
anomalies involving the t r e b l e l u t e . One is that the only music that unambiguously calls
for i t , the Consort Lesson publications of Morley and Rosseter, expects i t to be tuned
with the f i r s t course nominally at g ' , the same as the mean l u t e . The second i s t h a t
while duets of two lutes tuned a tone apart e x i s t on the continent, there are none of
these in the extensive English lute duet r e p e r t o i r e . I t seems t h a t when playing w i t h
other lutes or other s o f t instruments such as v i o l s and f l u t e , the English t r e b l e l u t e
was tuned identically w i t h the mean l u t e .

This makes sense if we look at the music the lute plays in the consort lessons and in the
t r e b l e p a r t s of the extensive treble-and-ground r e p e r t o i r e f o r two equally-tuned l u t e s .
This music s t a y s consistently high in the range of the instrument, very rarely asking for
the acoustic balance between high and low notes t h a t the instrument i s designed f o r
(when tuned at i t s highest safe pitch). The t r e b l e l u t e i s more responsive at high
frequencies than the mean l u t e , so i t gives a f u l l e r sound in t h i s music even when tuned
t o the same s t r i n g pitches at approximately the same s t r i n g tensions. A t t h i s pitch
l e v e l , the lowest s t r i n g s would be at a response disadvantage, so only six courses are
generally called f o r in t h i s music.

Pitch standards have not yet been mentioned. This i s because there were no
differences. Our sizes were derived from Praetorius's i l l u s t r a t i o n of what he called
Chorist L a u t e . According t o his own c r i t e r i a on highest safe pitch derived in Comm 632
(Q 40) and discussed in Appendix 3 of Comm 712 (Q 43), about a tone below modern would
be usual, but a tone higher i s possible w i t h special care and much shorter t o p - s t r i n g
l i f e . The ' C h o r i s t ' probably referred t o Praetorius's preferred Chorthon, which was a
standard about a tone below modern. This i s essentially the same pitch standard t h a t
was called ' c o r i s t a ' and used throughout I t a l y , and English 'Consort p i t c h ' used by meane
lutes and ensembles of v i o l s when tuned as high as they could safely go.

There was another pitch standard a tone higher (close to modern) current in England
then. Praetorius mentioned that English wind instruments, especially cornetts and
shawms, conformed t o i t . I t i s l i k e l y t h a t other instruments involved in playing T i g h t '
music, such as f i d d l e s , used i t (evidence on t h i s only e x i s t s from l a t e r when Playford
stated t h a t the v i o l i n f i r s t s t r i n g was tuned as high as i t could safely go). Ensembles
of d i f f e r e n t sizes of these instruments often played w i t h a number of lutes providing
continuo accompaniment. There is evidence from Tobias Hume suggesting that at least
some English lute players were skilled at providing continuo from a bass line to v i o l
ensembles using a nominal g' f i r s t - s t r i n g tuning. Such players could provide continuo
for ' l i g h t ' music ensembles by using t r e b l e l u t e s . I f the t r e b l e lutes used kept the same
s t r i n g s used to balance w i t h Consort-pitch instruments and just tuned them up a tone,
the r e s u l t i n g high tension would allow the players to play them hard and make a l o t of
noise. This is just what i s needed when playing continuo for an ensemble of loud
instruments.

In summary, i t is here suggested t h a t of English l u t e s , only the mean size normally

tuned i t s highest s t r i n g as high as w i l l safely go. I t was the usual l u t e size used, i t s
s t r i n g stop was something l i k e 62 cm, and the highest s t r i n g was tuned to g' at a pitch
standard approximately a tone lower than modern. The typical bass l u t e was tuned to d '
at the same pitch standard and i t s s t r i n g stop was something l i k e four f r e t s longer or 78
cm. The t y p i c a l treble l u t e was normally tuned t o the same s t r i n g pitches as the mean
lute w i t h s t r i n g tensions appropriate f o r balancing w i t h other l u t e s . I t s s t r i n g stop
was typically something l i k e two f r e t s shorter or 55 cm, and i t could tune the same
s t r i n g s up a tone to balance w i t h and conform to the pitch standard of light-music
instruments.
 39
Memb. Suppl. 4, p. 1

1987 FoMRHI List of Members - 4th Supplement as at 6th April 1988

* in left-hand margin = change of address or other change

t Marcello Armand-Pilon, Via Angrogna 12, 1-10066 Torre Pellice (Torino),

Italy,
t TJeerd Bosklopper, code: NL-9472PM.
* George Bowden, Calle Jesus 8-5-13Q, 07003 Palma de Mallorca, Baleares,
Spain.
Ralph Bryant, Haus RUtli, Haldelistr. 3, CH-8712 Stafa, Switzerland (tpt,
crnett; P).
* Music Library Serials, 1102 Schoenberg Hall, University of California,
Los Angeles, CA 90024-1490, USA.
A. A. Chalkley, 2 Worms Heath Cottages, Limpsfield Rd, Warlingham, Surrey
CR3 9QL, UK; 088385-3056 (ww, str. instrs; R).
* Carlo Chiesa, Viale Certosa 45, 1-20149 Milano, Italy.
* Albert Delva, (0)50 382829.
» Clive Dunkley, 44 Springfield Road, Guildford, Surrey GUI 4DP, UK;
0483-37685.
Martin Eastwell, Briar House, 2 Blackwell, Darlington, Co. Durham DL3 8QY,
UK; 0325-462173 (lutes, early gtar; P).
Paul Elst, Jozef Embrechtsstraat 26, B-2360 Oud-Turnhout, Belgium;
014/415802 (hpschd, M; harmonium, coll).
* Michel Gohier, 46 JM Dansro, Blainville, Quebec, Canada J7C 9Z7; (514) 430-
2887.
* Tim Hobrough, delete Widsith Ltd; add 0463-782512.
* Ruth Kelly, 8/47 Milson Road, Cremorne Point, NSW 2090, Australia.
* Peter B. Koval (now using Peter instead of Boris).
* Christian Kubli, Brunnacher Str.4, CH-8174 Stadel ZH, Switzerland.
Brian James Lottis, Hammerstr. 36, CH-4058 Basle, Switzerland; (061) 337661
(trav, recrdr, shawm).
* Eric Moulder, Tanner Place, 1-4 Pope St, London SE1 3LE, UK.
Peter S. O" Donnell, 15 Bon Aire, Iowa City, IA 52240-0906, USA; 319) 351-
9133 (hpschd; M).
Anna Radice, Via Marchionni 25, 1-20161 Milano, Italy; 02/645 1089 (lute,
early gtar; M, R).
George T. Riordan, School of Music, Florida State University, Tallahassee,
FL 32306-2098, USA; (904) 644-2508 & 385-6592 (bar.ob).
* Ekkehard Schulze-Kurz (adding -Kurz).
* Kari Tomter, Smastugevagen 23, S-416 76 GSteborg, Sweden; 88-01-11.
* Hirotaka Watanabe, 03-760-3171.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0RGAN0L0GICAL INDEX
String I n s t r s : A.A.Chalkley
Harpsichord e t c : Paul E l s t P e t e r 0'Donnell
Lute: Anna Radice
Guitar: Martin Eastwell Anna Radice
Woodwind: A.A.Chalkley
Traverso: Brian L o t t i s Recorder: Brian L o t t i s
Harmonium: Paul E l s t
Oboe: George Riordan Shawm: Brian L o t t i s
Trumpet: Ralph Bryant Cornet t: Ralph Bryant
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
40

Memb. S u p p l . 4, p. 2

GEOGRAPHICAL INDEX
Australia: Ruth Kelly, NSW
Belgium: Paul Elst
Italy: Anna Radice
Switzerland: Ralph Bryant C h r i s t i a n Kubli Brian L o t t i s
UK: M a r t i n E a s t w e l l , Drham
London: E r i c Moulder, SE1
A.A.Chalkley, S u r r e y
USA: George Riordan, FL P e t e r O'Donnell, IA
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

_ -'