gittern – Page 2 – Early Music Muse

Medieval music: a quick guide to the middle ages

Ian Pittaway Astripotens famulos (Kind ruler of the stars), Cantigas de Santa María, citole, ductia, 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, Sexte estampie Real, Sumer is icumen in 9th July 201513th April 2024 4 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.