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Lute, §5: Technique
5. Tunings.
The earliest tuning instructions for the Western lute date from the late 15th century and are mostly
for five-course lute. The best known is that of Johannes Tinctoris, whose De inventione et usu
musicae (c1481–3) gives a tuning of 4ths around a central 3rd. However, as both five- and sixcourse
lutes are mentioned, the position of the ‘central 3rd’ is unfortunately ambiguous. Both the
Königstein Liederbuch (c1470–73) and an English manuscript dating from between 1493 and
1509 (GB-Ctc 0.2.13) give intervals of 4–3–4–4 from bass to treble. Ramis de Pareia (Musica
practica, Bologna, 1482) stated that the most common tuning was G–c–e–a–d′, but mentioned
another drone tuning with the lowest three strings tuned to A–d–a; the trebles were set in various
(unspecified) ways. Antonio de Nebrija (Vocabulario Español-Latino, Salamanca, c1495)
apparently gave an unlikely diminished 5th between the two lowest courses, then 3–4–5, but the
correct translation of his description is disputed. The late 15th-century Pesaro manuscript (I-PESo
1144) includes tablature for a seven-course lute with the tuning 4–4–4–3–4–4, as does a
manuscript now in Bologna (I-Bu 596.HH.24, which probably dates from the same period. The
latter gives the tuning E–A–d–g–b–e′–a′.
By around 1500 six courses had become standard; the earliest printed sources, including
Spinacino (1507), Dalza (1508) and Bossinensis (1509 and 1511) require a six-course lute,
usually tuned 4–4–3–4–4. Virdung (Musica getuscht; Basle, 1511) mentioned lutes of five, six and
seven courses, the six-course lute being the most common, and gave a tuning 4–4–3–4–4, with
the sixth course tuned to a nominal A. The fourth, fifth and sixth courses were tuned in octaves,
the second and third courses in unisons, with a single first course. Agricola advocated this
pattern in the first edition of his Musica instrumentalis deudsch (Wittenberg, 1529) but gave a
tuning a tone lower, in nominal G. Occasionally the sixth course was tuned down a tone, a
variation called ‘Abzug’ by Virdung and ‘bordon descordato’ by Spinacino. In the 1545 edition of
Musica instrumentalis deudsch Agricola stated that a seven-course instrument, with the seventh
course tuned a tone below the sixth course, was preferable to this scordatura, which was difficult
to manage.
This basic six-course tuning, with octaved lower courses, and an interval of two octaves between
the outer courses, remained the norm for most of the 16th century. Tablature sources with parallel
staff notation (from both the 16th and early 17th centuries) show that the most common nominal
tunings were either in A (A–d–g–b–e′–a′) or G (G–c–f–a–d′–g′), though lutes in other nominal
pitches are encountered. There is a considerable body of literature discussing whether or not
these variable pitches were intended to be interpreted literally. Practical considerations of
instrument availability, together with notational considerations such as the avoidance of leger
lines in the staff notated part, suggest that these apparent lute pitches were only nominal. Cue
notes are often provided in the tablature, to clarify the relationship of lute pitch to staff notation. The
absolute pitch of the lute was variable; contemporary tutors typically instruct the player to tune the
top course as high as possible, and set the other strings to that.
Surviving 16th-century tablatures for multiple lutes call for a total ‘consort’ of nominal d″, a′, g′, e′
and d′, to accommodate all of the variations encountered in the duet and trio repertories, though
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Praetorius (Syntagma musicum, ii, 1618, 2/1619/R) mentioned other sizes too. The intervals
between courses remained the same, irrespective of the size of the lute. A few lutenists explored
other tunings, albeit briefly; these included Hans Neusidler (1544) whose infamous Judentanz
requires a drone tuning; Barberiis (1549) printed pieces using the tunings 4–5–3–4–4, 5–4–2–4–
4, and 4–4–3–5–4; Wolff Heckel (1562) also used a drone tuning for a Judentanz and other
pieces.
By the 1580s a seventh course, tuned either a tone or a 4th below the sixth course, was in regular
use, and eight-course lutes incorporating both of these options became common in the 1590s.
By the early 1600s ten-course lutes were in use, with diatonically tuned basses descending
stepwise from the sixth course. Around the same period the octave tuning of at least the fourth
and fifth courses was dropped in favour of unisons, though the octaves were certainly retained on
the lowest courses and perhaps on the sixth course too. Otherwise the tuning of the six upper
courses remained essentially unchanged, and became known as vieil ton. There was a brief
vogue for cordes avallées tunings in France, used by Francisque (1600) and Besard (C1603),
which involved lowering the fourth, fifth and sixth courses to give drone-like 4ths and 5ths. These
tunings were used almost exclusively for rustic dance pieces.
In the early years of the 17th century two distinct traditions began to emerge. The Italians mostly
retained the old tuning, adding extra bass courses (see ARCHLUTE) though P.P. Melli and
Bernardo Gianoncelli experimented with variant tunings of the upper courses. Around 1620
French composers began to experiment with several accords nouveaux, first on ten-course lutes,
and later on 11- and 12-course instruments. (With these new tunings, the interval between the
first and sixth courses was always narrower than the two octaves of vieil ton; they should not be
confused with the cordes avallées tunings, where this interval was always wider than two
octaves.) This experimentation continued until at least the 1670s, and music for over 20 different
tunings survives, many of which were given different names by different scribes or composers
(see Schulze-Kurz, E1990). However, only a handful were common and these included what is
today considered to be the normal ‘Baroque’ D minor tuning. This did not become standard until
the second half of the 17th century; the tuning commonly known as ‘Flat French’ was equally
popular until about the 1660s. The advantages of the new tunings were increased resonance and
ease of left-hand fingering, though only within a very limited range of keys. The derivation of these
tunings from vieil ton, and the subsequent emergence of the D minor tuning, has been somewhat
obfuscated by recent editorial methods which transcribe these tunings on the basis of an
instrument whose sixth course is tuned to G. The transition is much clearer (and transcriptions
emerge in less obscure keys) if the sixth course in vieil ton is considered to be A. Some of the
more common tunings are shown in Table 1. In all of the above tunings (including vieil ton on
lutes with more than eight courses) the basses were tuned diatonically downwards from the sixth
course. The lute had become essentially diatonic in its bass register, and the tuning of the lowest
courses would be adjusted for the key of the piece. (This was a major factor in the grouping of
pieces by key, which led to the baroque suite.)
The first print to use the new tunings was Pierre Ballard’s Tablature de luth de différents autheurs
sur l’accord ordinaire et extraordinaire (Paris, 1623; now lost). Slightly later collections survive,
containing fine music by Mesangeau, Chancy, Belleville, Robert Ballard (ii), Pierre Gautier (i) and
others, in various accords nouveaux. The tunings were widely used in England after the 1630s;
publications by Richard Mathew (1652) and Thomas Mace (C1676) use ‘Flat French’ tuning; Mace
provided a translation chart to convert tablatures between ‘Flat French’ and ‘D minor’ tunings. By
the 1670s the 11-course single-pegbox lute in D minor tuning had emerged as the preferred
norm throughout much of Europe, and remained so until the early years of the 18th century, when
two further courses were added, extending the lute’s range down to A′. The last printed sources to
make significant use of variant tunings are Esaias Reusner (ii) (1676) and Jakob Kremberg
(1689).
Lynda Sayce
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