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

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.

Lute, bandora, orpharion and penorcon

If you are interested in this article, it is highly likely you are already familiar with the lute, orpharion, and bandora, less likely the penorcon. For those who have arrived here without that knowledge, there follows a thumbnail sketch of each instrument.

The western lute developed in the early 14^th century from the eastern oud, via (what is now) Spain. The round back is made from ribs of wood glued together, and the peg box is at an obtuse angle. Originally fretless, the lute was given tied gut frets from c. 1400. The strings of the lute were made of gut (processed sheep intestines), and it was played with a plectrum until the 1470s, when finger-tips began to be used, a new technique that took until the 1530s to become universal.

In the 15^th century, the lute gained more courses (a course is a string unit, being 1, 2, or 3 strings played as a single item, the double or triple course being tuned in unisons or an octave apart): from 4 courses to 5, to 6 and, in the 16^th century, 7, 8, and eventually 9 courses from 1600 and 10 from 1611.

The courses of the lute were originally tuned in fourths, the pitch dependent on the size of the instrument. If we assume a top course at g’, the tuning was therefore g’ d’ a e. Either at the same time as the lute gained a 5^th course in 1410–15, or sometime later, the 4^th and 5^th course were raised by a semitone, creating the ‘new’ interval of a third between the 3^rd and 4^th courses, giving the tuning for a renaissance lute: g’ d’ a f c. The addition of the 6^th course added G, 2 octaves below the top course. To the 6 melody courses of the lute, diapasons or bass courses were later added. The 7^th course was added at D, a 4^th below the 6^th, or at F, a 2^nd below the 6^th, depending on what an individual piece of music required. The 8 course lute included both courses, F and D, and the 9 course lute added C below. The 10 course added an E or E^b course, depending on the music, between the F and D.

For more detail on lute history, see The lute: a brief history from the 13^th to the 18^th century.

The bandora or pandora was an invention of John Rose in 1561 or 1562, at the time the most well-known luthier in England. It had paired courses of wire strings, iron for the higher pitches, brass for the lower; fixed frets of ebony and metal; an undulating scalloped body; and a decorative carving on the tip of the pegbox. The bandora originally had 6 courses, with the frets, bridge and nut parallel, as one would expect on a fretted instrument, and as we see below on the cover of the bandora section of William Barley’s A new Booke of Tabliture, 1596.

When the bandora had a 7^th course added in the 1590s, the design was changed to have the bridge and nut sloping in opposite directions, to shorten the string length of the treble strings and lengthen the bass strings, with fanned frets to maintain accurate intonation, as we see in the bandora video at the top of this article. The tuning of the 6 course bandora was a e c G D C, with the 7^th course adding a low GG.

The bandora appears to have been a solo instrument only in England, as it is only English repertoire that survives. As we see below, the bandora was part of the bass of the English mixed consort (violin or treble viol, flute or recorder, lute, cittern, bass viol, bandora), and was also used for continuo, the bass accompaniment in music played on assorted instruments, realised by players from written musical shorthand.

For more detail about the bandora, see Wired for sound: the bandora and orpharion.

The name orpharion is a combination of Orpheus, legendary Greek musician and poet, who could charm all living things and even stones with his music, and Arion, Greek poet, singer and dancer for Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility. The orpharion is the same shape and construction as the bandora, with wire strings, a sloping bridge and nut and fanned frets, but smaller and tuned as a lute with 6 to 9 courses. It was intended to play lute music – the orpharion had no distinct repertoire of its own – and was named as an alternative to the lute on the cover of some printed music books.

There is some contention over the first evidence for the orpharion. A surviving instrument, now kept in Helmingham Hall, Suffolk, has 5 wire courses, a straight bridge, nut and frets, and is called “Cymbalum Decachordon”. It was made by John Rose, dated 1580, 18 or 19 years after he created the bandora, made when the bandora was established and the orpharion was yet to be evidenced in writing: that was not to be until the introduction to English author Robert Greene’s Perimedes the Blacke-smith, 1588. So is the “Cymbalum Decachordon” a bandora, smaller than any other, with only 5 courses instead of 6 or 7? That seems implausible. Is it an early orpharion with only 5 courses instead of the 6 required for lute music at the time? That seems more likely, but odd. Or is it something else entirely, a prototype for a 5 course instrument that wasn’t pursued? The fact that it was made as a unique gift to Queen Elizabeth and we do not know how it was tuned only adds to the mystery.

For more detail about the orpharion, see Wired for sound: the bandora and orpharion.

The penorcon is mentioned only once in surviving accounts. German musicologist Michael Praetorius, in his Syntagma Musicum, De Organographia, 1620, and its supplement of illustrations, Theatrum Instrumentorum, wrote of the “Pandora or Bandur” or “Bandoer”, “devised in England”, and the “Orpheoreon”, a scaled-down bandora in shape but tuned like the lute “in chamber pitch”, i.e. with a top course of g’. He also considered the “Penorcon”, and since his description is brief and unique it is worth quoting in full.

“The Penorcon is an instrument of almost the same kind [as the bandora], only its body is a little broader than that of the bandur, and its fingerboard is quite broad, so that nine courses of strings can be strung over it. In length it is somewhat shorter than the bandur and longer than an orpheoreon.”

As we can see from Praetorius’ plate XVII on the right, the “Bandoer”, “Orpheoreon” and “Penorcon” look so alike that one could easily mistake one for the other, except by attention to size and proportion: the bandora comparatively the largest, the orpharion the smallest, and the penorcon an intermediate size.

Praetorius gives penorcon tuning as d’ a e c G D C AA GG. No music has survived specifically for the penorcon. This may be because the instrument didn’t become popular, which appears to be confirmed by its sole surviving mention by Michael Praetorius. The lack of penorcon music may also be explained by its close relationship to the bandora and orpharion. Just as any lute part may have been played by an orpharion, any bandora solo or consort part may have been played by a penorcon, as demonstrated below.

Lute, bandora, orpharion, penorcon: comparative tunings

There is a direct relationship between the tuning of the gut-strung lute and wire-strung instruments the bandora, the all-but-forgotten penorcon, and a variant orpharion tuning noted by Michael Praetorius in his Syntagma Musicum, De Organographia, 1620. The relationship between the tuning of these instruments enables bandora music to be played on the lute, orpharion and penorcon, and lute music to be played on the orpharion and penorcon.

Bandora tuning and lute tuning are directly related in a way that is not at first obvious. When playing solo from tablature, what matters is not the absolute pitch but the relative pitch relationship between courses. The pitch relationship between the open courses of a 6 course bandora is exactly that of the 2^nd to 7^th courses of a 7 course lute with the 7^th course a tone below the 6^th (e.g. at F for a lute in g’). The pitch relationship between the open courses of a 7 course bandora is exactly that of the 2^nd to 8^th courses of an 8 course lute if we drop the 8^th course a tone.

This is demonstrated below. The first line is 8 course lute tuning; the second line is 7 course bandora tuning; and the third line shows the 7 courses of the bandora transposed up a fourth and compared with courses 2 to 8 of an 8 course lute. Thus compared, we see that bandora and lute tunings have identical pitch relationships except the 8^th course of a lute in g’ needs to go down a tone to C to match the bandora. On a 9 or 10 course lute in nominal g’, the lowest course is already C, so bandora music can be played without retuning on a 9 or 10 course lute. The relationship is so close that it does not seem credible for it to be coincidental.

In Syntagma Musicum, Michael Praetorius gives two orpharion tunings. The first is 6 courses in g’ – g’ d’ a f c G – identical to lute tuning. The second is 8 courses in a’ – a’ e’ b g d  A G D, the fourth line in the chart above – which differs slightly from 8 course lute tuning, as on the orpharion the 8^th course is a tone lower than the lute. Praetorius’ variant orpharion tuning might be considered an error if it did not confirm the close relationship between the orpharion, bandora, lute and penorcon, shown above. Praetorius’ 8 course orpharion tuning can play bandora music on the 2^nd to 8^th courses straight from bandora tablature. This is exactly what I do on the 8 course lute in a’ in the video which begins this article: the 8^th course E is dropped to D to make it the same as Praetorius’ second orpharion tuning. On the orpharion in Praetorius’ second tuning one could also play 9 course lute music – diapasons G E D on an instrument pitched in a’ – and 10 course lute music – diapasons G F# E D – if it was practical to reach down and fret the orpharion’s low D course to play E and F#. This orpharion tuning would therefore be a neat compromise, enabling the musician to play the full range of available lute/orpharion and bandora music on a single instrument.

It is also striking that Praetorius’ penorcon tuning – d’ a e c G D C AA GG – gives it the same relative pitch relationship as a 9 course renaissance lute, making the penorcon a 9 course bass orpharion in d’ which could therefore play lute repertoire; and also play bandora repertoire using courses 2 to 7 and 9 as the bandora’s 7 courses. It must be significant that doing so means the penorcon plays bandora music at bandora pitch. The penorcon may therefore be thought of either as a 9 course bass orpharion or as a bandora with extra courses above the 1^st and between the 6^th and 7^th courses.

The practicality of playing bandora music on lute  

Practically, this relationship between the tuning of the lute, bandora, orpharion and penorcon means that the whole of the bandora repertoire is available to a lute player, as follows.

• When playing bandora music on lute, play as if each course is one down, i.e. treat the second course of the lute as the first course of the bandora, the third course of the lute as the second course of the bandora, and so on down the courses.

• On a 7 or 6 course lute, the bottom 1 or 2 bandora courses are missing, so these missing low notes may be played an octave up on the lute when practicable.

• On an 8 course lute, tune the bottom course down a tone, as in Praetorius’ second orpharion tuning. Bandora music can now be played unmodified on the lute using the method in the first bullet point.

• On a 9 course lute, play courses 2 to 7 and 9 as the 7 courses of the bandora.

• On a 10 course lute, play courses 2 to 7 and 10 as the 7 courses of the bandora.

Sources of solo bandora music

Anthony Holborne’s entire solo bandora music, 19 pieces, can be found in type-set tablature in the book, Anthony Holborne, Music for Lute and Bandora, available from The Lute Society. Go to this page and search for the title to buy the book.

There is bandora tablature in the manuscript Dd.2.11, written out by Mathew Holmes in 1588–95. Dd.2.11 has solo pieces and consort parts for bandora, 54 in all. Most of Holborne’s solo works for bandora are from this manuscript. Click here to buy this facsimile from The Lute Society. The pieces for bandora are marked in the contents. Alternatively, Sarge Gerbode has typeset the solo bandora pieces here – pick out the Dd.2.11 pieces from the list.

Another of Mathew Holmes’ manuscripts, Dd.9.33, c. 1600, includes 6 pieces for solo bandora. This facsimile is available online by clicking here. The bandora pieces are on folios 81v–82r (p.162–163 in the online facsimile). Alternatively, Sarge Gerbode’s transcriptions are here – pick out the Dd.9.33 pieces from the list.

The Marsh lute book (Marsh’s Library, Dublin, MS 102 23.2.13), c. 1580, has 10 pieces for solo bandora with 6 courses. The facsimile is out of print and is not available online, but Sarge Gerbode has typeset all its bandora pieces here – pick out the Marsh pieces from the list.

The Dallis lute book (Trinity College, Dublin, Ms. 410/1, previously D.3.30), 1583–90, has 8 pieces for 6 course bandora and is available online here, downloadable as a pdf here. The bandora music is at the end of the manuscript, on pages 223–227.

The lute manuscript, British Library Add 31392, c. 1595, has 5 pieces for bandora at the end, on folios 39v–43v. Sarge Gerbode has typeset all its bandora pieces here – pick out the Add 31392 pieces from the list.

William Barley’s print, A new Booke of Tabliture for the Bandora, 1596, has 11 pieces for bandora, being 7 solos and 4 accompaniments to a single melody line instrument such as a flute or recorder (songs without the words printed). A new Booke of Tabliture for the Bandora is available in facsimile here.

There are 4 pieces for solo bandora in the Browne (formerly Braye) bandora and lyra viol book (Royal Academy of Music, London, Manuscript 600), and many bandora parts for consort, dated 1598. I am not aware of any available facsimile or modern edition, but information about the manuscript can be read here.

The Königsberg lute manuscript (LT-Vs Ms.285-MF-LXXIX), 1605–25, has various bandora consort parts, and 9 bandora solos on folios 38v–41r. The details are here. A facsimile can be bought from OMI, New York, on this page.

 

This is an expanded portion of an article about the orpharion, bandora and penorcon, available at https://earlymusicmuse.com/bandora-orpharion/

 

© Ian Pittaway. Not to be reproduced in any form without permission. All rights reserved.