The rise of the orchestra, opera and the commercial concert hall put a quiet instrument like the lute at a huge disadvantage it simply couldn't be heard in a big noisy room. Overwound strings, invented in the mid-seventeenth century, could be made to produce a very low pitched note with only a short string length, which meant that it was possible to go back to the older, more manageable size of instrument, while still having a large number of bass strings.īy the end of the seventeenth century though, the days of the lute were clearly numbered.

In France a smaller instrument of either eleven, twelve or thirteen pairs of strings tended to be favoured the first seven pairs could be stopped with the left hand, and the rest of the strings were played 'open' like harp strings. The biggest, the 'Roman' theorbo or chitarrone, was a loud bass instrument, used mainly for accompaniment, with a long second neck which made it up to six feet long. From all these experiments a variety of new instruments were evolved, designated today as 'Baroque' lutes. To cope with the extra strings a second, longer neck and pegbox might be added. A seventh pair of bass strings was added, then an eighth, then a ninth, eventually getting up to fourteen pairs the intention being partly to increase the range of the instrument, partly to be able to play in a low register when accompanying male singers. In a sense it is an instrument closer to nature than the modern guitar.Īt the end of the sixteenth century experiments and innovations began to be made.

While the essential design of the instrument (six pairs of strings tuned in fourths, with a third in the middle) is similar to that of the modern guitar, the sound is very different: low-tension gut-stringing and the peculiar resonance of its pear-shaped body give the sound of the lute a delicacy and richness which cannot be matched by its brash modern cousin. Above all, it was the lute's ravishing sound which made it so admired. It was seen as the heir of the ancient Roman cithara or lira, which gave it a further boost in an age obsessed with Classical literature. Light and portable, a harmonising instrument far cheaper and easier to maintain than keyboards, it was (and is) enormously versatile it was used to play dance music, popular tunes, arrangements of vocal music and song accompaniments, and soon generated a solo repertoire of its own, in the form of preludes, passemezzi (a sort of Renaissance twelve-bar blues) and the most refined and expressive fantasias. It is not hard to see the appeal of the instrument. With the addition of a sixth (bass) course, the development of a more elegant, elongated body shape, and the invention of a system of tablature for notating its music, the lute attained a new classical perfection, and the stage was set for a musical craze that was to last over 150 years. This meant that music properly composed in parts could now be played on the instrument. The lute really came into its own in the late fifteenth century when it was realised that it could be played with fingertips instead of a quill. Playing with a plectrum limits the kind of solo music that can be performed, and so the lute was often played in consort with other instruments, perhaps improvising over a drone or ground, playing dance tunes, or being used to accompany song. Throughout the Mediaeval period the lute, which then had only five 'courses' or pairs of strings, was played with a quill plectrum-again like the 'ud. It came to Europe in the Middle Ages, perhaps brought back from the Crusades, or via Moorish Spain, or Sicily, where the thirteenth century King Manfred von Hohenstaufen was a keen player.

'Al 'ud' means 'the wooden one', a name perhaps coined to distinguish the 'ud from instruments made from gourds or with parchment soundboards. The lute derives its name, as well as its distinctive shape, from the Arabic 'ud, an instrument which is vey much at the heart of Arabic musical life to this day.

The origins of the lute, however, lay outside Europe. The fame of the greatest players spread through all Europe, and the doors of royal courts and palaces were open to them (a number were consequently employed as spies) while instruments by the most famous makers could fetch astronomical sums. Shakespeare was only one of many writers of his day who attributed to the lute the power to transport the listener into a kind of ecstasy for throughout the Renaissance the lute's ravishing tone made it the most esteemed and admired of all musical instruments. 'Now divine aire, now is his soule ravisht, is it not strange that sheepes guts should hale soules out of mens bodies?' -William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing.

Instruments like a lute