bandora – Early Music Muse

How to play bandora music on the lute ~ or ~ The relationship between the tunings of the lute, bandora, orpharion and penorcon: some practical observations for lute players

Ian Pittaway bandora, Holborne Anthony, lute, orpharion, penorcon, Praetorius Michael 13th November 202413th November 2024 0 Comment

The wire-strung bandora, created by luthier John Rose in 1561 or 1562, has a small but beautiful solo repertoire, and was part of the bass section of the renaissance mixed consort. Bandora players in the early music revival are few, but its repertoire need not be passed over by lutenists: though the tuning of the bandora and lute are different, bandora pieces can be played on lute from bandora tablature without having to rearrange or rewrite the music. This article explains the relationship between the tuning of the lute, bandora, orpharion and penorcon, which allows the music of one to be played on the other.

We begin with a video of two pieces by Anthony Holborne (fl. 1584–1602), composed for and played on bandora, and the same pieces played on lute. We end with sources of late 16^th and early 17^th century bandora music for players of bandora or renaissance lute.

Wired for sound: the bandora and orpharion

Ian Pittaway bandora, Barley William, basso continuo, broken consort, cittern, consort, continuo, Cutting Francis, Dowland John, English consort, English theorbo, Ferrabosco Alfonso, Holborne Anthony, Johnson John, lute, Meuler Jobst, Meuler's wire, mixed consort, orpharion, Palmer Francis, penorcon, Playford John, poliphant, poliphon, poliphone, polyphant, Praetorius Michael, Robinson Thomas, Rose John, Talbot James, theorbo, Tieffenbrucker Wendelin, Tielke Joachim 14th November 201730th October 2024 2 Comments

In the early music revival, many renaissance and baroque instruments have received their due recognition: the lute in its various forms, the viol family, early violins, recorders, guitars and keyboards, for example. Less familiar and less played are two related instruments, the bandora and orpharion. Both were strung with wire and plucked, they shared the same scalloped shape and fanned frets, and both were particularly popular in England. The deep pitch of the larger bandora made it eminently suitable as the plucked bass of the mixed consort, while the orpharion shared the tuning and repertoire of the renaissance lute and was considered an interchangeable alternative.

This article gives a brief history of both instruments, with indications of their respective repertoires, the descriptive testimonies of contemporaneous writers, some lost related instruments, and videos of both the bandora and orpharion being played.