gittern – Early Music Muse

The medieval minstrels of Beverley Minster. Part 8/8: The strange and continuing history of the minstrels’ neglect.

Ian Pittaway Beverley Minster, citole, fiddle, gittern, iconography, medieval fiddle, minstrels 23rd August 202327th August 2023 0 Comment

This is the last of eight articles about the iconography of Beverley Minster in Yorkshire: 71 musical minstrels carved in stone and wood in the 14^th century; musical misericords of the 16^th century; and neo-Gothic musicians carved in the early 20^th century. Beverley Minster has more medieval musicians and more misericords than any other church in the world.

The first article gives a potted history of the building being established in the 8^th century, then expanded in the 13^th and 14^th century, then the medieval minstrels being smashed by Puritans in the 16^th-17^th century and restored in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. The second, third and fourth articles describe all the 14^th century carvings of musicians, and the fifth sought to answer the question: why are there so many more medieval minstrels in this church than anywhere else? The sixth article explains the meanings of the 14^th century allegorical carvings; and the seventh describes the musical misericords of 1520 and the neo-Gothic organ screen of 1878–80 and 1919. This final article seeks to answer one central question: why, in the modern age, has the Minster’s medieval iconography been so poorly served?

Through a review of literature about Beverley Minster from the late 19^th century to the present, we will see the repeated pattern of either ignoring the minstrels altogether or muddled misnaming of the medieval instruments. This has been widespread in academic journals, in specialist books, and in publications for the general reader. This is a situation which still persists today, perpetuated by literature published by Beverley Minster.

First we outline the Beverley Minster Project, which would have provided an accurate book about the minstrels with illustrative photographs, complete with music CD/downloads; a concert with all the instruments of the Minster being played by medieval music specialists; an audio-visual tour of the minstrels for visitors; education for guides; and a new website about the minstrels linked to the main Beverley Minster site. This proposal would have been fully-funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, at no cost to the Minster – indeed they would have generated money from it – and it would have promoted the Minster as an educational attraction for schools and individuals on the subject of historical music. The project was turned down without any engagement.

The medieval minstrels of Beverley Minster. Part 7/8: Tudor misericords and neo-Gothic musicians.

Ian Pittaway bagpipes, bestiaries, Beverley Minster, cobza, cornett, cornetto, fiddle, fools, gittern, harp, horn, hunting horn, iconography, koboz, kobza, lute, lyre, minstrels, misericords, morris dancing, organ, organistrum, pipe and tabor, portative organ, simfonie, simfony, sinfonie, symfony, symphonia, symphonie, tambourine, timbrel, zink 15th August 202315th August 2023 0 Comment

This is the seventh in a series of eight articles about the musical carvings in Beverley Minster, a church in the East Riding of Yorkshire. There are 71 14^th century carvings of musicians, more than in any other medieval site, as well as more Tudor misericords than in any other church, some of them musical, and a neo-Gothic organ screen with medieval instruments.

Having given the story of the Minster’s foundation, flourishing, iconoclasm and repair in the first article; examined the medieval minstrels of the arcades in the second article; of the walls in the third; and of the tombs, altar screen, chapel and south transept in the fourth; the fifth article asks why there is such an abundance of medieval minstrelsy in the Minster, finding the answer in the “Order of the Ancient Company or Fraternity of Minstralls”, which had its headquarters in Beverley. The sixth article completes the description of 14^th century iconography with the allegorical carvings.

This seventh article moves from the medieval period to the renaissance and describes musical aspects of the 16^th century misericords – animal and human musicians, fools and morris dancers, playing bagpipes, harp, fiddle, hunting horns, and pipe and tabor – and the neo-Gothic imitations of medieval instruments on the 19^th–20^th century organ screen, with lyre, timbrel, harps, portative organs, simfony, cornetts, gittern or koboz, and lute.

The final article puzzles over the paucity of publications about the magnificent medieval minstrels, and the Minster’s declared lack of interest in accurate information about their uniquely important iconography.

The medieval minstrels of Beverley Minster. Part 3/8: The minstrels of the west, north and south walls.

Ian Pittaway bagpipes, Beverley Minster, citole, cornet, cornett, cornetto, cup cymbals, cymbals, drum, fiddle, fiddle tunings, gittern, harp, horn, hunting horn, hurdy gurdy, iconography, Jerome of Moravia, medieval fiddle, medieval fiddle tunings, medieval harp, minstrels, olifant, oliphant, olyphant, organ, organetto, organino, organistrum, pipe and tabor, portative organ, psaltery, serpent, simfonie, simfony, sinfonie, symfony, symphonia, symphonie, tambourine, timbrel, trumpet, vielle, zink 19th July 202313th September 2023 0 Comment

There are 71 images of 14^th century musicians in stone and wood in Beverley Minster, a church in the East Riding of Yorkshire, more than in any other medieval site. This is the third in a series of eight articles about the Minster’s medieval minstrels, surveying the musical life of 14^th century England. This article explores the carved musicians of the west, north and south walls, who are depicted playing medieval fiddles (vielles or viellas), gitterns, timbrel (tambourine), bagpipes, portative organs, citoles, harps, pipes and tabors, horns, cymbals, simfony, psaltery, nakers, and trumpets. Each instrument is described, with a photograph and a link to a video of the instrument being played.

In this article, the carvings on the walls teach us about: the meaning of minstrel; fashions of the 14^th century; a medieval menagerie of captive animals from overseas; a transition in the form of the portative organ; the fog of confusion in differentiating between the citole and gittern, only recently lifted; evidence of medieval fiddle tunings; and the difficult art of restoration and repair in both medieval art and medieval music.

This is followed in the fourth article with photographs and commentary on the minstrels in the tombs, altar screen, Saint Katherine’s chapel and south transept; and in the fifth article by a gathering of evidence to answer the question: why are there so many medieval minstrels in the Minster? The sixth article describes the 14^th century allegorical carvings of real and mythical beasts; and the seventh article explores musical aspects of the 16^th century misericords and 19^th–20^th century neo-Gothic organ screen. The final article puzzles over the paucity of print publications about the magnificent medieval minstrels, and Beverley Minster’s declared lack of interest in accurate information about their uniquely important iconography.

The medieval minstrels of Beverley Minster. Part 2/8: The minstrels of the arcades, triforium and capital.

Ian Pittaway bagpipes, Beverley Minster, bombard, citole, drum, fiddle, fiddle tunings, gittern, harp, lute, medieval fiddle, medieval fiddle tunings, medieval harp, nakers, organ, organistrum, pipe and tabor, portative organ, psaltery, shawm, simfonie, simfony, sinfonie, symfony, symphonia, symphonie, tambourine, timbrel, vielle 12th July 202328th July 2023 2 Comments

This is the second in a series of eight articles about the 14^th century carvings of medieval minstrels in Beverley Minster, a church in the East Riding of Yorkshire. There are 71 images of musicians in stone and wood, more than in any other medieval site. This article explores the carved musicians of the arcades, triforium and a capital, depicted playing harps, fiddles, bagpipes, timbrels, shawms, gittern, citole, portative organ, psaltery, pipe and tabor, nakers, and a drum. Each instrument is described, accompanied by a photograph of the Minster minstrel carving, with a link to a video of the instrument being played. This article thereby acts as a survey of the musical life of 14^th century England.

This is followed in the third and fourth articles with photographs and commentary on the minstrels in the rest of the church, and in the fifth article by a gathering of evidence to answer the fundamental question: why are there so many medieval minstrels in the Minster? The sixth article describes the 14^th century allegorical carvings; and the seventh article focuses on musical aspects of the 16^th century misericords and 19^th–20^th century neo-Gothic organ screen. The final article puzzles over the paucity of print publications about the magnificent medieval minstrels, and the Minster’s lack of interest in accurate information about their uniquely important iconography.

The Elbląg ‘gittern’: a case of mistaken identity. Part 2/2: Identifying the koboz.

Ian Pittaway Berkeley manuscript, cobza, Elbląg 'gittern', Elbląg coboz, Elbląg koboz, Elbląg kobza, gittern, iconography, koboz 31st May 202331st May 2023 0 Comment

In the first article, I explained why the koboz (kobza, cobza) found in 1986 in a latrine in Elbląg, Poland (above left), dated to 1350–1450, cannot be a gittern, though it is always identified as such in modern literature.

In this second article we discover the difficulties of nomenclature in early eastern, medieval, and renaissance literature, with several quite different instruments named koboz or its variants; and that the same situation persists today. How then to establish the lineage and history of the Elbląg instrument from historical sources? First we define the characteristics of the Elbląg koboz and, having established the parameters of an instrument of the same type, we see such kobzas in iconography from the 14^th to the 17^th century in Turkey, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic), Hungary, France, Italy and Flanders, with possible further sightings in France, Romania, Catalonia, and England.

I conclude that, this being the case, a new instrument can be added to the lexicon of medieval and renaissance instruments: the koboz, of which the Elbląg find of 1350-1450 is a surviving historical example.

We begin with a video of the popular 16^th and 17^th century tune, Sellenger’s Round, played on a copy of the Polish Elbląg koboz.

The Elbląg ‘gittern’: a case of mistaken identity. Part 1/2: Why the koboz was misidentified.

Ian Pittaway Agricola Martin, Baker Paul, Bakfark Valentin, cobza, Elbląg 'gittern', Elbląg coboz, Elbląg koboz, Elbląg kobza, fiddle, gittern, koboz, kobza, lute, Płock fiddle 24th May 20237th June 2023 4 Comments

In 1986, an instrument identified as a gittern was found in a latrine in Elbląg, Poland, dated to 1350–1450. Having commissioned luthier Paul Baker to create a replica, the instrument that emerged was a puzzle, taking Paul and I on a journey of discovery to reveal the true identity of the recovered instrument.

This is the story of the musician who commissioned a gittern and received a koboz (kobza, cobza, plural kobzok). To understand the true identity of the instrument, this article explores the Elbląg excavation; structural reasons the instrument cannot be a gittern; and a potted history of Elbląg and Poland, placing the instrument in its historical context, revealing why the scholarship so far has misidentified the instrument.

This is followed in part 2 by an exploration of the difficulties of language in medieval accounts, where the same word is used for a variety of instruments. The characteristics of the particular type of koboz found in Elbląg are established, and examples of its appearance given in eastern and western European literature and iconography, previously unrecognised, hidden in plain sight. Finally, the importance of the Elbląg find is evaluated.

We begin with a video of 15^th century Polish music, Angelus ad virginem missus, played on a copy of the surviving Elbląg koboz.

Medieval plectrums: the written, iconographical and material evidence. Part 2/2: Medieval and early renaissance plectrum technique.

Ian Pittaway Cantigas de Santa María, cetra, cithara, citole, Francesco da Milano, gittern, historically informed performance, iconography, kithara, lute, lute manuscripts and books, Milano Francesco da, plectra, plectrum, plectrums, polyphony, psaltery 25th January 202323rd August 2023 4 Comments

Part 1 brought together the written, iconographical and material evidence for the characteristics of plectrums used to play the gittern, lute, psaltery, citole and cetra, made from quills, gut strings, metal, bone, and ivory.

In part 2 we examine the practical evidence for medieval plectrum technique. Iconography is presented to demonstrate medieval ways of holding a plectrum; suggestions are made for easy accompaniment of monophonic melodies; the myth that plectrum instruments could not play polyphony is disproven; and evidence is presented for an intermediate stage in the 15^th century between playing with a plectrum and playing with fingertips, using both simultaneously. Finally, we answer the question: were plectrums always used to play medieval plucked chordophones?

This article includes 6 videos to illustrate medieval and early renaissance plectrum technique, beginning with citole and gittern playing an untitled polyphonic instrumental – probably a ductia – from British Library Harley 978, folio 8v-9r, c. 1261–65.

Medieval plectrums: the written, iconographical and material evidence. Part 1/2: Medieval plectrum materials and manufacture.

Ian Pittaway cetra, cithara, citole, estampie, gittern, historically informed performance, kithara, lute, lyre, plectra, plectrum, psaltery 18th January 202323rd August 2023 3 Comments

Studies of medieval musical instruments draw upon written testimony, iconography (manuscript art, painting, drawing, sculpture and stained glass windows) and surviving instruments to describe their characteristics and the way they developed over time. In my search for evidence about medieval plectrums, I was surprised to find not one dedicated paper, book chapter or webpage. This article is an attempt to bring the written, iconographical and material evidence together and present some new research, focussing on the characteristics of plectrums used to play the gittern, lute, psaltery, citole and cetra, made from quills, gut strings, metal, bone, and ivory. We begin with an illustrative video of La Uitime estampie Real (The Eighth Royal estampie), c. 1300, played on citole and gittern with plectrums of antler, horn and gut string.

In the second article, we survey the evidence for plectrum playing technique, with practical applications for modern players of medieval music; and evaluate whether all medieval plucked instruments were played with plectrums.

Polyphonic treasure in Lambeth Palace: three unique pieces from MS 457, c. 1200

Ian Pittaway Astripotens famulos (Kind ruler of the stars), citole, gittern, gymel, historically informed performance, Lambeth Palace Library MS 457, Mater dei (Mother of God), medieval notation, Miro genere (By a wondrous birth), Notre Dame school, polyphony, rhythmic modes 23rd November 202225th January 2023 5 Comments

Lambeth Palace Library, the national library and archive of the Church of England, has a collection of medieval and renaissance manuscripts which includes MS 457, a compilation of religious matters and, on one folio, four pieces of music from c. 1200, all unique to this source. Three are complete, and two have not been previously performed or recorded to my knowledge.

This article presents a video performance of the three complete and beautiful polyphonic pieces:

Miro genere (By a wondrous birth)
Astripotens famulos (Kind ruler of the stars)
Mater dei (Mother of God)

In the video, each piece is sung in two or three voices as in the manuscript, then played polyphonically on citole or gittern. The article then explains the principles of interpreting the medieval notation.

The citole: from confusion to clarity. Part 1/2: What is a citole?

Ian Pittaway Cantigas de Santa María, cetra, cetula, cithara, citole, cittern, fiddle, gittern, guitar, iconography, kithara, medieval fiddle, Tinctoris Johannes, vielle 2nd November 202223rd August 2023 6 Comments

The citole, a plucked fingerboard instrument of the 13^th and 14^th centuries, is today the most misunderstood of all medieval instruments. It is regularly wrongly identified as a plucked fiddle or a guitar, often confused with the cetra, and mistaken assumptions are made about its string material and its distinctive wedge neck with a thumb-hole.

Using the surviving British Museum citole, medieval iconography and medieval testimony, these two articles set out the evidence, drawing on the ground-breaking research of Lawrence Wright, Crawford Young and Alice Margerum, with some additional observations.

This first article describes the citole’s physical form, string material and tuning. The second article describes the playing style and repertoire of the instrument.

We begin this article with video of a copy of the British Museum citole playing music from c. 1300: La seconde Estampie Royal – The second Royal Estampie. Read more

La prime Estampie Royal: completing the fragment of a medieval melody

Ian Pittaway Ars musicae, carolling, carols, Chansonnier du Roi, church modes, dance, estampida, estampie, gittern, Grocheio, historically informed performance, istampitta, istanpitta, Jean de Grouchy, Jerome of Moravia, Johannes de Grocheio, Manuscrit du Roi, mediaeval, medieval, medieval dance, medieval modes, medieval scales, modes, prime Estampie Royal, rhythmic modes, stampita, stantipes, Summa musice, Tractatus de Musica 9th February 20221st March 2023 3 Comments

The estampie was an internationally popular musical form of the late middle ages. Eight beautiful French estampies from circa 1300 are written in the Manuscrit du Roi, seven of which are complete. The first estampie is a fragment, due to the top half of the page being torn to remove illuminated letters, seen on the right.

After examining what we know about the estampie and the particular characteristics of French estampies, this article searches for historical principles upon which the fragment of La prime Estampie Royal can be made whole again.

The article begins with a video performance of the finished piece played on gittern, then explains the process of historically-informed construction, and ends with the completed music in modern notation.

“the verray develes officeres”: minstrels and the medieval church

Ian Pittaway Ars musicae, bagpipes, Berkeley manuscript, Beverley Minster, bombard, Bosch Hieronymous, Bosch Jheronimus, bray harp, Canterbury Tales, carols, Chaucer Geoffrey, cithara, citole, cymbala, ductia, dulcimer, estampie, fiddle, Garden of Earthly Delights (Bosch painting), gittern, hammer dulcimer, harp, Jean de Grouchy, Jerome of Moravia, Johannes de Grocheio, jongleurs, lute, minstrels, monochord, nota, Notre Dame school, Order of the Ancient Company or Fraternity of Minstralls in Beverley, organ, organistrum, organum, pipe and tabor, portative organ, psaltery, rebab, recorder, rubeba, Saint Mary’s Church Beverley, shawm, simfonie, simfony, sinfonie, stantipes, Summa musice, symfony, symphonia, symphonie, Tractatus de Musica, vielle, violin 16th June 202123rd August 2023 8 Comments

In the middle ages, minstrels were regularly accused by church commentators of vanity, idleness, inflaming carnal desire, lechery, and leading others into vice. In the 12^th century, Bishop of Chartres John of Salisbury expressed the view that all minstrels should be exterminated. Because of this reputation, the church wanted to ensure that its most sacred music was different in kind to minstrel music, and restated several times that only the voice and organ were allowed in the liturgy, not instruments of minstrelsy. Still some writers complained bitterly of secular styles of music corrupting singers’ voices in sacred chant.

How can we account for the contradiction between clergy’s invectives against minstrels and the innumerable quantity of medieval and renaissance paintings in which gitterns, shawms, harps, fiddles, lutes – the instruments of minstrels – are shown in worship of the Virgin Mary and in praise of the infant Jesus? How can we reconcile the critiques of clerics against minstrels with their regular appearance in religious manuscripts, their likenesses carved in churches, and their employment by the church? This article seeks answers through the evidence of medieval Christian moralists; church councils; music treatises; religious paintings; records of church ceremonies; and the relationship of the church with organised minstrelsy.

Images from *The Luttrell Psalter*, 1325-1340 (BL Add MS 42130).
**Top row, left to right:** church singers (f. 171v); bishop (f. 31r); pilgrim (f. 32r); nun (f. 51v).
**This row, left to right**, players of: harp (f. 174v); pipe and tabor (f. 164v);
organistrum, also called the symphony (f. 176r); portative organ (f. 176r).

The guitar: a brief history from the renaissance to the modern day

Ian Pittaway baroque, baroque guitar, citole, cittern, early instruments, early music, folk music, gittern, guitar, kithara, Latin guitar, Moorish guitar, renaissance, renaissance guitar 4th September 202023rd July 2023 2 Comments

The origins of the guitar are much-discussed and much-disputed, and some pretty wild and unsubstantiated claims are made for its heritage, based on vaguely guitary-looking instruments in medieval and even pre-medieval iconography, about which we often know little or nothing beyond an indistinguishable drawing, painting or carving; or based on instruments which have guitary-sounding names. This article is an attempt to slice through the fog with a brief history of the instrument, charting its development from the renaissance, through the baroque period to the modern day, based only on what can be claimed with evidence. The article is illustrated with pictures, videos and sound recordings, beginning with a short video of guitar history.

This is an expanded version of an article originally published in 2015, with a new video.

Performing medieval music. Part 1/3: Instrumentation

Ian Pittaway Beverley Minster, Cantigas de Santa María, carols, citole, fiddle, gittern, harp, historically informed performance, mediaeval, medieval, medieval fiddle, medieval harp, monophony, recorder, rota, tabulae, vielle 1st August 201823rd August 2023 17 Comments

The most fundamental question of all in playing early music today is: how can the music be played to reflect historical practice? This is the first of three articles looking at historically-informed ways of performing medieval music, aiming to be a practical guide, with plenty of musical examples and illustrations, and a bibliography for those who wish to delve further.

This first article discusses the use of instruments and instrument combinations in medieval music. The illustrations in two manuscripts are used as typical representative examples: the 13^th century Iberian Cantigas de Santa Maria and the 14^th century English Queen Mary Psalter. The second article gives practical methods for making arrangements of medieval monophonic music according to historical principles, with an example to illustrate each method; and the third article discusses questions of style, including the performance of the non-mensural (non-rhythmic) music of the troubadours, ornamentation, and the medieval voice. Read more

The beautiful Boissart mandore, part 3 of 3: Creating a new mandore inspired by the ‘Boissart’ design

Ian Pittaway Baker Paul, baroque, Boissart, Boissart mandore, early instruments, early music, gittern, lute, lutherie, luthier, mandore, renaissance, V&A, Victoria & Albert Museum 23rd September 201511th July 2023 13 Comments

It is difficult to describe the joy of a private viewing of the beautiful and tiny mandore in the Victoria & Albert Museum. The instrument, repaired in 1640 by the mysterious Monsieur Boissart and probably dated to c. 1570, is exquisite. You can view photographs and read my observations about it in the second of these three articles. The first article traces the history and pre-history of the mandore, with its origins in the lute and gittern familes. This, the third and final article, is a record of the design and making of a new mandore based on, but not a replica of, the V&A’s instrument. The affable and ever-accommodating maker was Paul Baker; the delighted and very lucky player is Ian Pittaway, the author of this piece. This was to be a new journey for us both: me never having played a mandore, Paul never having made one. The article includes a video of the completed mandore playing 3 pieces from the John Skene mandore book of 1625-1635, accompanied by photographs of its construction.

The gittern: a short history

Ian Pittaway Berkeley manuscript, Chaucer Geoffrey, citole, cobza, early music, Elbląg 'gittern', Elbląg coboz, Elbląg koboz, Elbląg kobza, gittern, koboz, kobza, Tinctoris Johannes 14th July 201527th August 2023 21 Comments

The gittern was one of the most important plucked fingerboard instruments of the late medieval period. Loved by all levels of society, it was played by royal appointment, in religious service, in taverns, for singing, for dancing, and in duets with the lute. Yet we know of no specific pieces played on this instrument. What we do have are many representations of it being played in a wide variety of contexts and one surviving instrument of the 15^th century, and from this we can reconstruct something of the history and repertoire of this widely-loved instrument. This article begins with a video of a troubadour melody played on gittern.

The lute: a brief history from the 13th to the 18th century

Ian Pittaway archlute, bray harp, bray lute, Cantigas de Santa María, chitarrone, Dowland John, Francesco da Milano, gittern, lute, lute manuscripts and books, Milano Francesco da, oud, Piccinini Alessandro, theorbo, Tinctoris Johannes 13th July 201529th August 2023 0 Comment

The lute’s musical versatility, giving one musician the ability to play several polyphonic parts over a wide and increasing pitch range, made it once the most popular instrument in Europe, the ‘prince’ of all instruments. From the Arabian oud to the medieval, renaissance and baroque lutes, this article briefly charts the development of this versatile, beautiful and enduring instrument, featuring 8 videos illustrating the changes and developments of the lute and its music.

Medieval music: a quick guide to the middle ages

Ian Pittaway Astripotens famulos (Kind ruler of the stars), Cantigas de Santa María, citole, early music, estampie, gittern, Lambeth Palace Library MS 457, Mater dei (Mother of God), mediaeval, medieval, Mirie it is while sumer ilast, Miro genere (By a wondrous birth), polyphony, Sumer is icumen in 9th July 201523rd September 2023 2 Comments

The middle ages covers a period of a thousand years – and yet much of its music-making is a mystery to us. We’re not completely in the dark, though, so the aim of this article is to give a broad beginner’s guide to the principles of secular medieval music. When were the middle ages? How do we know what the music sounded like? What were the earliest surviving songs? What was its dance music like? Why does medieval music sound so different to today’s? How did medieval musicians harmonise?

This article features 4 illustrative videos of medieval music and several links to further articles (click on blue text).

The beautiful Boissart mandore, part 2 of 3: Observations on the Boissart mandore

Ian Pittaway baroque, Boissart mandore, early instruments, early music, gittern, lute, mandore, renaissance, V&A, Victoria & Albert Museum 24th June 201525th July 2022

The history of a stunning 17^th(?) century instrument, observations on its lutherie, and questions over its dating.

In part 1 we looked at the pre-history of the renaissance mandore, tracing its family history in the mediaeval oud, lute and gittern. Now we examine one exquisite instrument, the Boissart mandore in the V&A, decoding its remarkable carvings and reconstructing its biography from the visible evidence of the changes it has been through. As far as I know, this is the first critical examination of the life of the Boissart mandore.

00_MandoreBoissart1640_Sideview02 — All photographs by Ian Pittaway, included courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
As with all pictures, click for higher resolution view.

The beautiful Boissart mandore, part 1 of 3: The pre-history of the mandore

Ian Pittaway Agricola Martin, baroque, Berkeley manuscript, Boissart mandore, early instruments, early music, gittern, lute, mandore, mediaeval, medieval, oud, renaissance, V&A, Victoria & Albert Museum, Virdung Sebastian 14th May 201522nd February 2023

The history of a stunning 17^th(?) century instrument, observations on its lutherie, and questions over its dating.

The Boissart mandore, dated by the V&A to 1640. (As with all pictures, click for higher resolution view.) — The Boissart mandore, dated by the V&A to 1640. Photograph by Ian Pittaway, included courtesy
of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. (As with all pictures, click for a larger view.)

In the family of renaissance plucked instruments, the mandore is the result of a union between two mediaeval string families: the oud and the lute on one side, and the gittern on the other. The resulting offspring is a small instrument with a musically significant (but alas now largely unplayed) surviving repertoire. Some actual instruments survive, and there is no doubt that the most exquisite of these is the beautiful Boissart mandore in the Victoria and Albert Museum. This article and two to follow will: (1) trace the pre-history of the mandore; (2) examine the V&A’s beautiful Boissart mandore and attempt to reconstruct its personal history for, as far as I know, the first time; (3) describe the making of a new mandore based on the Boissart model.