lute
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What is a lute?
A lute is any plucked or bowed chordophone with strings parallel to its belly and running along a distinct neck. The European lute, prominent in Renaissance and Baroque music, originated from the Arab \u02bf\u016bd, entering Europe in the 13th century. It features a deep, pear-shaped body, a bent-back pegbox, and strings attached to a guitar-type bridge.
By the 16th century, the classic lute had six courses of strings tuned to G\u2013c\u2013f\u2013a\u2013d\u2032\u2013g\u2032. Lute makers like Laux Maler and John Dowland contributed to its popularity and extensive solo music literature. Modified versions after 1600, such as the archlute, chitarrone, and theorbo, added bass strings, enlarging the instrument's neck. Though keyboard instruments eclipsed the lute in the 18th century, 20th-century artists revived it, and it remains in use today.
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What are the main parts of a lute?
The lute is a stringed instrument with a pear-shaped body that was popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its strings run parallel to the belly (or soundboard) along a distinct neck. The soundboard is a thin plate of wood that vibrates in response to the vibrations of the strings, amplifying the sound. The lute has a vaulted back and a fretted fingerboard. The head of the lute, which holds the tuning pegs, is often angled backward from the neck. A tension bridge is glued to the instrument’s belly, and strings are attached to it. The European lute features a large, circular sound hole cut into the belly, which is often ornamented with a perforated rose carved from the belly’s wood.
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How is sound produced on a lute?
A lute is a stringed instrument with a soundboard and a neck, where the strings run parallel to the belly. Sound is produced on a lute by plucking the strings, which causes them to vibrate. The body of the lute must be strong enough to withstand the string tension, but also resonate to amplify the sound. The shape and material of the lute's resonator affect the overtones, creating the instrument's timbre, or tone color. The strings may be plucked with the fingers.
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Where and when was the lute most popular?
The lute, a plucked stringed instrument tracing back to the Arab \u02bf\u016bd, gained popularity in Europe between the 16th and 17th centuries. It was introduced to Europe in the 13th century via Spain and through returning crusaders. By 1600, notable lute-making schools emerged in Bologna and Venice. The fine craftsmanship and tonal quality of instruments produced by makers such as Laux and Sigismond Maler and Hans Frei contributed to the lute's widespread use and paved the way for its extensive solo, song, and consort repertoire.
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How does a lute differ from a guitar?
Both the lute and the guitar are plucked stringed instruments, but they have distinct characteristics. The lute, prominent in the 16th and 17th centuries, originated from the Arab ʿūd and has a deep, pear-shaped body. It features a neck with a bent-back pegbox and strings attached to a guitar-type bridge.
The guitar likely originated in Spain in the 16th century from the guitarra latina and is related to the vihuela. Early guitars had a narrower and deeper body than modern guitars. Over time, the guitar evolved to include more strings, with the modern version typically having six single strings.
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What role did the lute play in historical music and culture?
The lute, originating from the Arab \u02bf\u016bd, gained popularity in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. It became a prominent instrument in Renaissance and Baroque music, used for solo performances, song accompaniments, and ensemble pieces.
By the 18th century, the lute's popularity declined as keyboard instruments rose to prominence. However, it experienced a revival in the 20th century, with musicians like Julian Bream and Walter Gerwig. The lute has a pear-shaped body, a neck with a bent-back pegbox, and strings that attach to a bridge on the belly.
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lute, in music, any plucked or bowed chordophone whose strings are parallel to its belly, or soundboard, and run along a distinct neck or pole. In this sense, instruments such as the Indian sitar are classified as lutes. The violin and the Indonesian rebab are bowed lutes, and the Japanese samisen and the Western guitar are plucked lutes.
In Europe, lute refers to a plucked stringed musical instrument popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. The lute that was prominent in European popular art and music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods originated as the Arab ʿūd. This instrument was taken to Europe in the 13th century by way of Spain and by returning crusaders and is still played in Arab countries. Like the ʿūd, the European lute has a deep, pear-shaped body, a neck with a bent-back pegbox, and strings hitched to a tension, or guitar-type, bridge glued to the instrument’s belly. European lutes have a large, circular sound hole cut into the belly and ornamented with a perforated rose carved from the belly’s wood.
The earliest European lutes followed the Arab instruments in having four strings plucked with a quill plectrum. By the mid-14th century the strings had become pairs, or courses. During the 15th century the plectrum was abandoned in favour of playing with the fingers, movable gut frets were added to the fingerboard, and the instrument acquired a fifth course. By the 16th century the classic form of the lute was established, with its six courses of strings (the top course a single string) tuned to G–c–f–a–d′–g′, beginning with the second G below middle C. Playing technique was systematized, and the music was written in tablature (a system of notation in which a staff of horizontal lines represented the courses of the lute), and letters or figures placed on the lines denoted the fret to be stopped and the strings to be plucked by the right hand.
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By 1600 the great Bolognese and Venetian schools of lute makers had arisen, including Laux and Sigismond Maler, Hans Frei, Nikolaus Schonfeld, and the Tieffenbruckers. By the fine workmanship and tonal proportions of their instruments, they contributed much to the popularity of the lute and paved the way for its extensive and noble literature of solo music (fantasias, dance movements, chanson arrangements), song accompaniments, and consort music by such composers as Luis Milán and John Dowland.
After about 1600, modified tunings were introduced by French lutenists. At the same time, the lute itself was altered by the addition of bass strings, or diapasons, which required the enlargement of the neck and head of the instrument. Such modified instruments were called archlutes and included the chitarrone and the theorbo.
A smaller archlute, known as the theorbo-lute (so called because it resembled the theorbo), or French lute, was used by the 17th-century French school of lutenists, including Jacques and Denis Gaultier. This instrument’s repertory required a highly mannered and ornamented style of performance and a new technique of broken chords and slurred notes that exerted a marked influence on 17th-century harpsichord composers.
By the 18th century, keyboard instruments eclipsed the lute in popularity. Twentieth-century lutenists such as Julian Bream and Walter Gerwig (died 1966) successfully revived the lute and its repertory. In the early 21st century, the lute could readily be heard in performances and recordings by artists such as Jakob Lindberg, Nigel North, Paul O’Dette, and Hopkinson Smith, all of whom also taught in universities or conservatories. The lute became a “crossover” instrument when the rock musician Sting released recordings of Dowland’s music in 2006 and 2007.
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