Historian Jules Michelet in the XIX century was the first to use the concept of "Renaissance". The musicians and composers that will be discussed in the article belonged to the period that began in the 14th century, when the medieval dominance of the church was replaced by secular culture with its interest in the human person.
Renaissance music
European countries in different time entered a new era. A little earlier, they arose in Italy, but the Dutch school dominated the musical culture, where for the first time special metrises (shelters) were created at the cathedrals to train future composers. The main genres of that time are presented in the table:
Most of the Renaissance in the Netherlands - this is Guillaume Dufay, Jacob Obrecht, Josquin Despres.
Great Dutch
Johannes Okeghem He was educated at the Notre Dame Metrisa (Antwerp), and in the 40s of the 15th century he became a chorister at the court of Duke Charles I (France). Subsequently, he headed the chapel of the royal court. Having lived to a ripe old age, he left a great legacy in all genres, having established himself as an outstanding polyphonist. Manuscripts of his 13 masses called Chigi codex have come down to us, one of which is painted for 8 voices. He used not only other people's, but also his own melodies.
Orlando Lasso was born on the territory of modern Belgium (Mons) in 1532. His musical ability appeared in early childhood. The boy was kidnapped from home three times to make him a great musician. He spent his entire adult life in Bavaria, where he performed as a tenor at the court of Duke Albrecht V, and then led the chapel. His highly professional team contributed to the transformation of Munich into the musical center of Europe, where many famous composers of the Renaissance visited.
Such talents as Johann Eckard, Leonard Lechner, Italian D. Gabrieli came to study to him . He found his last resting place in 1594 on the territory of the Munich church, leaving a grandiose legacy: more than 750 motets, 60 masses and hundreds of songs, among which the most popular was Susanne un jour. His motets ("Prophecies of the Sibyls") were innovative, but he is also known for his secular music, in which there was a lot of humor (vilanella O bella fusa).
Italian school
Prominent Renaissance composers from Italy besides traditional directions actively developed instrumental music (organ, bowed string instruments, clavier). The lute became the most common instrument, and at the end of the 15th century, the harpsichord, the forerunner of the piano, appeared. Based on the elements of folk music, two most influential composer schools developed: the Roman (Giovanni Palestrina) and the Venetian (Andrea Gabrieli).
Giovanni Pierluigi took the name Palestrina by the name of the town near Rome, in which he was born and served in main church choirmaster and organist. The date of his birth is very approximate, but he died in 1594. During his long life he wrote about 100 masses and 200 motets. His "Mass of Pope Marcellus" was admired by Pope Pius IV and became a model of Catholic sacred music. Giovanni is the brightest representative vocal singing without musical accompaniment.
Andrea Gabrieli together with his student and nephew, Giovanni worked in the chapel of St. Mark (XVI century), "coloring" the singing of the choir with the sound of the organ and other instruments. The Venetian school gravitated more toward secular music, and during the production of Sophocles' Oedipus on the stage of Andrea Gabrieli, choir music was written, an example of choral polyphony and a harbinger of the future of operatic art.
Features of the German school
German land put forward Ludwig Senfl, the best polyphonist of the 16th century, who, however, did not reach the level of the Dutch masters. Songs of poets-singers from among artisans (meistersingers) are also special music of the Renaissance. German composers represented singing corporations: tinsmiths, shoemakers, weavers. They united across the territory. An outstanding representative of the Nuremberg school of singing was Hans Sachs(years of life: 1494-1576).
Born in the family of a tailor, he worked all his life as a shoemaker, striking with his erudition and musical and literary interests. He read the Bible in the interpretation of the great reformer Luther, knew ancient poets and appreciated Boccaccio. Being a folk musician, Sachs did not master the forms of polyphony, but created melodies of a song warehouse. They were close to the dance, easy to remember and had a certain rhythm. The most famous work was "Silver Chant".
Renaissance: musicians and composers of France
The musical culture of France truly experienced a renaissance only in the 16th century, when the social ground was prepared in the country.
One of the best representatives is Clement Janequin. It is known that he was born in Chatellerault (end of the 15th century) and went from a singing boy to the personal composer of the king. From it creative heritage only secular songs published by Attenyan have survived. There are 260 of them, but those that have stood the test of time have gained real fame: “Birdsong”, “Hunting”, “Lark”, “War”, “Screams of Paris”. They were constantly reprinted and used by other authors for revision.
His songs were polyphonic and resembled choral scenes, where, in addition to onomatopoeia and cantilena voicing, there were exclamations responsible for the dynamics of the work. It was a bold attempt to find new methods of imagery.
Among the famous French composers are Guillaume Cotelet, Jacques Maudui, Jean Baif, Claudin Lejeune, Claude Goudimel , gave the music a harmonious warehouse, which contributed to the assimilation of music by the general public.
Renaissance Composers: England
The 15th century in England was influenced by the works of John Dubsteil, and XVI - William Byrd. Both masters gravitated toward sacred music. Bird began as an organist at Lincoln Cathedral and ended his career at the Royal Chapel in London. For the first time, he managed to connect music and entrepreneurship. In 1575, in collaboration with Tallis, the composer became a monopolist in the publication of musical works, which did not bring him any profit. But it took a lot of time to defend their right to property in the courts. After his death (1623) in the official documents of the chapel, he was called "the founder of music."
What did the Renaissance leave behind? Bird, in addition to published collections (Cantiones Sacrae, Gradualia), kept many manuscripts, considering them suitable only for home worship. Later published madrigals (Musica Transalpina) showed the great influence of Italian authors, but several masses and motets were included in the golden fund of sacred music.
Spain: Cristobal de Morales
The best representatives of the Spanish school of music traveled through the Vatican, performing in the papal chapel. They felt the influence of Dutch and Italian authors, so only a few managed to become famous outside their country. Renaissance composers from Spain were polyphonists creating choral works. The brightest representative Cristobal de Morales(XVI century), who headed the metriz in Toledo and trained more than one student. A follower of Josquin Despres, Cristobal brought a special technique to a number of compositions called homophonic.
The author's two requiems (the last for five voices), as well as the Mass "Armed Man" gained the greatest fame. He also wrote secular works (a cantata in honor of the conclusion of a peace treaty in 1538), but this refers to his earlier works. Heading at the end of his life a chapel in Malaga, he remained the author of sacred music.
Instead of a conclusion
Renaissance composers and their works prepared the flourishing of instrumental music of the 17th century and the emergence of a new genre - opera, where the intricacies of many voices are replaced by the primacy of one leading the main melody. They made a real breakthrough in the development of musical culture and laid the foundation for modern art.
BONONCHINI - family of italian musicians:
Giovanni Maria (1642 - 1648) - composer, violinist, theorist. Op. 9 collections of sonatas, dance pieces. He owns a treatise on counterpoint. In recent years he has written a chamber opera, a number of madrigals, and solo cantatas.
Giovanni Batista (1670 - 1747) - his son, composer and cellist. His legacy includes 40 operas, over 250 solo cantatas, about 90 symphonies, concertos, trio sonatas. The success of some of his operas in London surpassed that of his main rival, Handel.
Antonio Maria (1677 - 1726) - composer and cellist. Author of works for musical theater and church. In terms of texture and harmony, his music was more refined than that of his older brother, but it never enjoyed the same success.
Giovanni Maria Jr. (1678 - 1753) - half-brother, cellist, then violinist in Rome, author of vocal works.
VIVALDI ANTONIO (1678 - 1741)
The highest achievements belong to the genre instrumental concert. Vocal music occupies a significant place in the heritage. Striving for success in op. genre and traveled extensively directing his productions. Worked in op. theaters of Vicenza, Venice, Mantua, Rome, Prague, Vienna, Ferrara, Amsterdam. Op. OK. 50 operas(survived 20), incl. Titus Manlius, Justin, Furious Roland, Faithful Nymph, Griselda, Bayazet. OK. 40 solo cantatas, oratorio Triumphant Judith).
Giuseppe Giordani (c.1753 - 1798)
DUNY EGIDIO (1708 - 1775)
Studied in Naples with Durante. Author of 10 opera series on texts Metastasio, about 20 Op. in the genre of French comic opera. He introduced into it ariettas and recitatives in the Italian style. This genre is called comedy with ariettas.Operas:"Nero", "Demofont", "Artist in love with his model" (comic op.).
DURANTE FRANCESCO (1684 - 1755)
Italian composer. He studied in Naples, then became the first bandmaster of several Neapolitan conservatories. He was considered the best teacher of composition in Naples. Among his students are Duny, Pergolesi, Picchini, Paisiello. Unlike other it. composers did not write operas. The most valuable part of his legacy is sacred music. Instrumental works are also interesting - 12 sonatas for harpsichord, 8 concertos for quartet, pieces of the pedagogical repertoire.
FRANCESCO CAVALLI (1602 - 1676)
He was nicknamed Bruni. He was a chorister and organist at St. Mark in Venice. He began to write operas that went to opera houses Italy. After Paris, where his opera "Hercules the Lover" was staged with singing and dancing written for this performance by the young Lully, all Cavalli's further activities were connected with the Cathedral of St. Brand. He is the author of about 30 operas. Thanks to him, Venice of the 17th century. became the center of opera art. Like late op. Monteverdi, op. Cavalli are rich in contrasts and psychological nuances; pathetic, even tragic climaxes in them are often replaced by episodes of a comic and everyday plan.
operas: "The Love of Apollo and Daphne", "Dido", "Ormindo", "Jason", "Calisto", "Xerxes", "Hercules the Lover"
Spiritual music: Mass, 3 Vespers, 2 Magnificates, Requiem
Secular music: cantata arias.
CALDAR ANTONIO (1670 - 1736)
He played the viol, cello, clavier. He composed almost exclusively vocal music - oratorios, cantatas, opera seria. He served as a church and theater conductor. Later he composed a number of works for the Vienna carnival and court festivities, as well as for Salzburg. In total, he wrote 3,000 vocal compositions. Metastasio was the first to set many librettos to music.
CARISSIMI GIACOMO (1605 - 1674)
He was a chorister, organist, bandmaster of the Jesuit Colleggio Germanico, and took holy orders. The most significant part of the legacy is oratorios, sustained in a narrative-recitative style. Separate fragments by the nature of the letters approach the arias. An important role is given to choral scenes. Among his students are A. Chesty, A. Scarlatti, M.-A. Charpentier.
Op.: 4 Masses, about 100 motets, 14 oratorios Belshazzar, Ievfai, Jonah, about 100 secular cantatas.
GIULIO CACCCINI (1545 - 1618)
He had a provision - a Roman. Composer, singer, lutenist. He was patronized by Duke Cosimo I de Medici, who took him to Florence, where he attended Camerata meetings and developed a new style of singing - stile recitativo. He published the collection "New Music", where he most fully reflected the innovative aspirations. The collection includes madrigals and strophic arias for voice and basso continuo. The most popular song collection - Amarilli. In 1614, the composer's second collection, New Musics and a New Way of Writing Them, was published. The name of Caccini, an outstanding composer and innovative singer, was not forgotten during the entire 17th century. Many composers created collections of vocal pieces based on his model. Caccini's two daughters, Francesca and Settimia, became famous as singers and composed music.
MARTINI (1741 - 1816)
Nickname Il Tedesco ("Italian German", real name Schwarzendorf Johann Paul Egidius). German composer. Before moving to Paris (1764) he was in the service of the Duke of Lorraine. He taught at the Paris Conservatory, led the court orchestra. Author of 13 operas, vocal miniatures (including the popular song "Plaisir d'amour".
MARCHELLO ALESSANDRO (1669 - 1747)
Brother B.Marcello. An amateur musician, he gave concerts in his Venetian house. He composed solo cantatas, arias, canzonetas, violin sonatas and concertos. Concertos for oboe and strings (6 in total) belong to the latest examples of the Venetian baroque variety of the genre. Concerto for oboe and strings in d-moll (c. 1717) is known in the arrangement of J.S. Bach for clavier.
MARCHELLO BENEDETTO (1686 - 1739)
Composer, music writer, lawyer, brother of A. Marcello. He held high government positions in Venice. The collection of psalms for 1 - 4 voices with digital bass (50 in total) brought wide popularity. He also owns other compositions for the church, oratorio, opera, over 400 solo cantatas, duets, as well as sonatas and concertos, marked by the influence of Vivaldi. In his music, polyphonic mastery is combined with susceptibility to new gallant style. An interesting treatise by Marcello is a satire on the opera seria.
PAISIELLO GIOVANNI (1740 - 1816)
Studied in Naples with Durante. Gained a reputation as one of the leading masters of the buffa opera genre. He served as bandmaster at the court of Catherine II in St. Petersburg. Among this period, op. " barber of seville". On his return to Naples he began to write opera-semi-series(semi-serious) - "Nina, or Crazy with Love." He briefly served in Paris as Napoleon I's personal bandmaster. The quality of Paisiello's operas influenced Mozart - the art of the Muses. delineations of character, mastery of orchestral writing, melodic ingenuity. Operas: Don Quixote, The Servant-Mistress, King Theodore in Venice, The Miller's Woman, Proserpina, The Pythagoreans and at least 75 other operas.
PERGOLESI GIOVANNI BATISTA (1710 - 1736)
He studied in Naples, at the same time worked as a violinist in an orchestra. Wrote stage works in the genre sacred drama. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 26. Went down in history as the founder of the genre opera buffa. The masterpiece of this genre was op. "Maid Lady". He wrote works for the church: "Stabat mater" for soprano, contralto and orchestra, 2 Masses, Vespers, 2 "Salve Regina", 2 motets.
PERI JACOPO (1561 - 1633)
Composer and singer, priest. Served as a composer and chorister at court Medici. He was also known as a performer on chitarrone -(stringed plucked instrument, a kind of bass lute, up to 2 m long, used mainly to accompany solo singing). Attended meetings Camerata. He composed in a new recitative style, imitating the ancient practice of solo singing with accompaniment. Wrote operas Daphne, Eurydice. He also composed a collection of vocal pieces containing several examples of recitative style.
PICCINI NICCOLO (1728 - 1800)
Studied in Naples with Durante. He not only composed operas, but also taught singing, was a bandmaster and organist. Settling in Paris, he wrote a number of serious and comic French. opera. Serious competition from Gluck did not prevent the success of his lyrical tragedies"Roland", "Iphigenia in Tauris", "Dido". International fame was brought to him by the opera "Chekkina, or the Good Daughter" (1760)
SARRI DOMENICO (1679 - 1744)
He studied in Naples, where he served as court bandmaster. Early operas, oratorios, serenades are sustained in the same baroque manner as the vocal music of A. Scarlatti. At the same time, his work contributed to the formation of a simpler and more melodic Neapolitan style.
SCARLATTI ALESSANDRO (1660 - 1725)
Bandmaster of theaters, the Royal Chapel and the Conservatory of Naples, where he taught. Among the students are D. Scarlatti, F. Durante, I. A. Hasse. One of the founders and the largest representative Neapolitan opera school. Under him, such forms as the aria da capo, the Italian overture, and the recitative with instrumental accompaniment arose. Op. over 125 opera series , incl. “Whims of Love or Rosaura”, “The Corinthian Shepherd”, “The Great Tamerlane”, “Mithridates Evpator”, “Telemak”, etc. Over 700 cantatas, 33 serenatas, 8 madrigals.
SCARLATTI DOMENICO (1685 - 1757)
Son of A. Scarlatti. He wrote operas, sacred and secular music, but gained fame as a virtuoso harpsichordist. The main place in his work was occupied by one-movement clavier compositions, which he called "exercises". An innovator in the field of clavier technique. Op. over 550 clavier sonatas, 12 operas, 70 cantatas, 3 Masses, Stabat Mater, Te Deum
STRADELLA ALESSANDRO (1644 - 1682)
Italian composer, composed music commissioned by Queen Christina. Among his works of the Roman period, prologues and intermezzos predominate, incl. to the operas Cavalli and Honor. His life was full of scandals and high-profile love stories. In 1677 he fled to Genoa. Among the several operas staged in Genoa, the comic Guardian of Trespolo stands out. Stradella was killed out of revenge by the mercenaries of the Lomellini family.
One of the most talented and versatile composers of his time. In total, he composed about 30 stage works, about 200 cantatas. 27 instrumental compositions have survived.
HONOR ANTONIO (1623 - 1669)
The real name of this Franciscan monk is Pietro. In his adolescence he served as a church chorister in Arezzo, then became a novice at the Florentine monastery of Santa Croce. Cathedral organist, then bandmaster at Voltaire, where he was patronized by his family Medici. Honor's career as an opera composer began in 1649, when his opera Orontea was successfully presented in Venice. In 1652 he became the court musician of Archduke Ferdinand Karl in Innsbruck and was deprived of his clergy. From 1665 he served at the Vienna imperial court. In a short time spent in Vienna, he created many operas, incl. grandiose " Golden Apple» , which was staged to coincide with the wedding of Leopold I. Shortly before his death, he was appointed conductor at the Tuscan court in Florence.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven- The greatest composer of the early 19th century. Requiem and Moonlight Sonata are immediately recognizable by any person. The immortal works of the composer have always been and will be popular because of the unique style of Beethoven.
- German composer of the 18th century. Without a doubt, the founder of modern music. His works were based on the versatility of harmonies of various instruments. He created the rhythm of music, so his works are easily amenable to modern instrumental processing.
- The most popular and understandable Austrian composer of the late 18th century. All his works are simple and ingenious. They are very melodic and pleasant. A little serenade, a thunderstorm and many other compositions in rock arrangement will have a special place in your collection.
- Austrian composer of the late 18th, early 19th century. Truly classical composer. The violin for Haydn was in a special place. In almost all the works of the composer, she is the soloist. Very beautiful and captivating music.
- Italian composer of the first half of the 18th century No. 1. National temperament and a new approach to arrangement literally blew up Europe in the middle of the 18th century. The symphonies "The Seasons" are calling card composer.
- Polish composer of the 19th century. According to some information, the founder of the combined genre of concert and folk music. His polonaises and mazurkas blend seamlessly with orchestral music. The only drawback in the composer's work was considered too soft style (lack of strong and incendiary motives).
- German composer of the late 19th century. He was spoken of as the great romantic of his time, and his "German Requiem" eclipsed other works of his contemporaries with its popularity. The style in Brahms' music is qualitatively different from the styles of other classics.
- Austrian composer of the early 19th century. One of the greatest composers unrecognized during his lifetime. A very early death at 31 prevented the full development of Schubert's potential. The songs he wrote were the main source of income when greatest symphonies dusted on the shelves. Only after the death of the composer, the works were highly appreciated by critics.
- Austrian composer of the late 19th century. Ancestor of waltzes and marches. We say Strauss - we mean waltz, we say waltz - we mean Strauss. Johann Jr. grew up in the family of his father, a composer. Strauss senior treated the works of his son with disdain. He believed that his son was engaged in nonsense and therefore humiliated him in every way in the world. But Johann Jr. stubbornly continued to do what he loved, and the revolution and the march written by Strauss in her honor proved the genius of his son in the eyes of European high society.
- One of the greatest composers of the 19th century. Master of Opera Art. "Aida" and "Otello" by Verdi are extremely popular today thanks to the true talent of the Italian composer. The tragic loss of his family at the age of 27 crippled the composer, but he did not give up and delved into creativity, writing several operas at once. short term. high society highly appreciated the talent of Verdi and his operas were staged in the most prestigious theaters in Europe.
- Even at the age of 18, this talented italian composer wrote several operas that became very popular. The crown of his creation was the revised play "The Barber of Seville". After its presentation to the public, Gioachino was literally carried in his arms. The success was intoxicating. After that, Rossini became a welcome guest in high society and gained a solid reputation.
- German composer of the early 18th century. One of the founders of opera art and instrumental music. In addition to writing operas, Handel also wrote music for the "people", which was very popular in those days. Hundreds of songs and dance melodies of the composer thundered in the streets and squares in those distant times.
- Polish prince and composer - self-taught. Having no musical education, he became a famous composer. His famous polonaise is known all over the world. At the time of the composer, a revolution was taking place in Poland, and the marches written by him became the hymns of the rebels.
- Jewish composer, born in Germany. His wedding march and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" have been popular for hundreds of years. The symphonies and compositions written by him are successfully perceived all over the world.
- German composer of the 19th century. His mystically - anti-Semitic idea of the superiority of the Aryan race over other races was adopted by the Nazis. Wagner's music is very different from the music of his predecessors. It is aimed primarily at connecting man and nature with an admixture of mysticism. His famous operas "Rings of the Nibelungs" and "Tristan and Isolde" confirm the revolutionary spirit of the composer.
- French composer of the mid-19th century. Creator of Carmen. From birth he was a brilliant child and at the age of 10 he already entered the conservatory. During his short life (he died before the age of 37) he wrote dozens of operas and operettas, various orchestral works and ode symphonies.
- Norwegian composer - lyricist. His works are simply saturated with melody. During his life he wrote a large number of songs, romances, suites and etudes. His composition "The Cave of the Mountain King" is very often used in cinema and modern stage.
- An American composer of the early 20th century - the author of "Rhapsody in Blues", which is especially popular to this day. At 26, he was already Broadway's first composer. Gershwin's popularity quickly spread throughout America, thanks to numerous songs and popular shows.
- Russian composer. His opera "Boris Godunov" is the hallmark of many theaters in the world. The composer in his works relied on folklore considering folk music as the music of the soul. "Night on Bald Mountain" by Modest Petrovich is one of the ten most popular symphonic sketches in the world.
most popular and greatest composer Of course, Russia is. "Swan Lake" and "Sleeping Beauty", "Slavic March" and "The Nutcracker", "Eugene Onegin" and " Queen of Spades". These and many more masterpieces of musical art were created by our Russian composer. Tchaikovsky is the pride of Russia. All over the world they know "Balalaika", "Matryoshka", "Tchaikovsky" ...
- Soviet composer. Stalin's favorite. The opera "The Tale of a Real Man" was strongly recommended to listen to Mikhail Zadornov. But mostly Sergey Sergeyevich has serious and profound works. "War and Peace", "Cinderella", "Romeo and Juliet", a lot of brilliant symphonies and works for orchestra.
- Russian composer who created his own inimitable style in music. He was a deeply religious person and a special place in his work was given to writing religious music. Rachmaninov also wrote a lot of concert music and several symphonies. His last work "Symphonic Dances" is recognized as the greatest work of the composer.
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V. KONNOV. Dutch composers of the XV-XVI centuries. Selected chapters from the book.
INTRODUCTION
NETHERLANDS POLYPHONISTS: WHO ARE THEY?
This question arises before many listeners attending early music concerts. The work of Josquin Despres, Orlando Lasso, as well as other representatives of this composer school, remote from us in the depths of centuries, today has ceased to be the property of armchair historians, it attracts the attention of not only professional musicians, but also music lovers. There is a completely justified interest in the creators of this high art, and in the musical poetics and style of their works. This interest is all the more natural because the popularity and accessibility of Dutch music even now still does not reach the level of the world-famous school of painting of the so-called "Old Netherlanders". Every educated person knows at least the names of Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Luke of Leiden, Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Brueghel the Elder; their creations retain the power of artistic impact until today. The names and musical heritage their contemporary composers continue to be known to relatively few.
It is useful to recall that the work of the Dutch polyphonists is only now beginning to revive to a new active life after more than two centuries of lasting oblivion. The old Netherlanders shared this fate with Monteverdi, Schutz; enough with them long time- for about a century - Bach's work remained in oblivion. And now, when the music of the Dutch polyphonists began to return to the listeners, the question arises: has it lost its artistic value?
And are the discoveries of music comparable to the achievements of painting, sculpture and literature of that period? On these issues, the specialized literature, which exists both in Russian and in foreign languages, sometimes offers the most contradictory judgments. And the point is not only that the music of that era did not reach us completely, that few facts from the life of its creators have been preserved. Starting from ancient times and up to our own time, the activities of the Dutch polyphonists caused a variety of assessments. Art world the founder of the Dutch school, J. Okegem, today is often assessed as a manifestation of the late Gothic, as a mystical and enthusiastic refraction of a religious mood. Contemporaries compared him with Donatello, one of the most consistent fighters for the secular humanism of the Renaissance, one of the predecessors of Michelangelo. Mutually exclusive assessments evoked creativity central figure Dutch composer school of Josquin Despres. The leading theorist and ideologist of the Dutch polyphonic school, Glarean, considered Josquin's work to be the highest, classic expression of ars perfecta - "perfect art", which finds its expression in the polyphonic mass and motet - genres that summarized the entire history of the development of European cult polyphony. According to Glarean, nothing can be changed in this art without it falling into degradation. From this point of view, in the future, supporters of the ars perfecta condemned the creators of the opera, including the great Monteverdi.
However, Josquin's contemporaries already saw in his work completely different aesthetic qualities: he was recognized as the creator of a new art, which was based not on the Gothic dissolution of the individual in the universe, God, but on the Renaissance expression inner world man (none other than Glarean himself reproached Josquin for disrespectful attitude to medieval modes - fundamental basis musical language of "perfect art"). In the 16th century, Josquin was equally valued by figures of such irreconcilably hostile ideologies as the papacy and the Lutheran Reformation.
The opinions of modern scientists are also very contradictory. Describing the Dutch polyphonic school, V. D. Konen writes: “It was an era when in all areas mental activity secular thought flourished powerfully, and the highest manifestations in music turned out to be deeply subordinated to the religious system of feelings. On the contrary, the author of the famous history textbook foreign music K. K. Rosenshield notes in the Dutch music of that time “a special solemnity of a secular, worldly plan”; he also points out that turn of XIX and XX centuries, the great Russian composer S. I. Taneyev rightly emphasized deeply folk origins works of Dutch composers.
This inconsistency of judgments can be explained by two reasons. First of all, the complex, contradictory nature of the musical creativity of that era. This feature of the creativity of the composers of the Dutch polyphonic school will be revealed in a further presentation. However, there are also specific linguistic difficulties for the modern mass listener. In the visual arts from the Renaissance until the beginning of the 20th century, there were no such major stylistic changes that would lead to such a significant “intonational barrier” as the one that arose between the music of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the 17th century, on the one hand, and the music of the 19th century. and the 20th century on the other.
Beginning in the second half of the 18th century European music major-minor is approved - a sound system that, up to the present day, serves as the basis of European musical consciousness (the formation of other sound systems in the professional composer's work The 20th century, however, could not finally shake the dominant position of the major-minor in the public musical consciousness). The formation of major-minor modes opened the way for the colossal progress of musical culture associated with the birth of opera, symphony, classical
sonata, chamber, instrumental and vocal music (piano miniature, romance). However, in history it often happens that significant gains in the scientific and cultural life of society entail certain losses. They were especially noticeable in music at the turn of the middle of the 18th century. The final approval of the major-minor led to a long oblivion of the entire previous layer of musical culture: the works of Bach and Schutz, Monteverdi and Purcell, not to mention the Dutch, Italian and French masters of the XV-XVI centuries, on long years, decades and even centuries disappeared from the concert repertoire.
Until the beginning of the 17th century, European professional music was dominated almost exclusively by the melodic modes of the seven-step diatonic (the so-called medieval modes), which were the basis of the folk song tradition of the most ancient layer that arose approximately in the 14th-15th centuries. The “intonation dictionary” of the era, which did not know the modern major and minor with their inherent harmonic functionality, was as significantly different from the modern one, as the literary turns of the ancient Homeric epic differ from the style of Shakespearean dramas, as the naively-angular (at first glance) painting of ancient medieval icons - from realistic painting Rembrandt. The awakening to a new life of this huge and, moreover, heterogeneous stylistic layer of early music began in the 19th century from its, so to speak, “periphery” - from the heritage of the 18th century. It was easier to enter into the auditory consciousness of contemporaries, because it was a combination of stylistic features of the ancient pre-classical era, generalized by the great Bach, and the new, “classicist”, foreseen in some features by Bach, but for the first time raised to an unattainable artistic height by the masters of the Vienna classical school - Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. And it is no coincidence that it was the revival of Bach by the romantic composers of the 19th century that marked the beginning of a long process of rehabilitation of the artistic values of the pre-classical era, a process that today has come to a kind of revival of the musical itself.
Renaissance. Moreover, individual performing groups successfully begin to propagate the values of the musical culture of the Middle Ages, moving even further into the depths of centuries.
The epoch of the 15th-16th centuries did not know secular public forms of concert life. It was characterized by three types of forms of music-making, characteristic of the entire culture of the Middle Ages and corresponding to the social demands of the three strata of feudal society: secular feudal lords, the clergy and the third estate (it included both peasants and artisans and wealthy burghers of medieval cities). We are talking about secular professional music, cult music and folk art. Folk art (folklore, i.e. songs and dances of the oral tradition) in that era was the main democratic form of secular music making. It is very important that the Netherlands was famous for its rich folk song culture. The people of the Netherlands were very musical. There is evidence from the Italian Guicciardini, who wrote about the Netherlands in 1556, that "the people, not having learned to sing together, sing in the highest degree beautifully and harmoniously correctly." There is also evidence that in the 15th-16th centuries music was more loved in the Netherlands than painting and sculpture.
It was in song folklore that bright, realistic-secular imagery arose first of all, the main carrier of which was juicy melody; the Dutch composers relied on it in the future.
Many of these songs sounded in the polyphonic masses of the Dutch composers: not only unchanged, as quotations, but also as the fundamental principle of an individual melodic language.
The flowering of folklore is extremely important for understanding the processes of renewal that took place in the music of the Netherlands. The existence of folklore was associated not only with the music-making of the peasantry, but also with the new burgher culture of the Dutch cities. This is evidenced by the presence of associations of folk musicians - minstrels, as well as the so-called "rhetorical chambers" - a kind of literary
craft workshops, in which music-making was subjected to the strictest and most sophisticated formal regulation. The codes of rules for such associations can be imagined from the famous "Beckmesserism" ridiculed by Wagner in the opera The Nuremberg Meistersingers. Nevertheless, the folk art of the Netherlands was literally in full swing. It was the fertile soil on which the most valuable samples of professional music-making flourished.
Turning to professional genres, we note that the complexity of the perception of Dutch polyphony for modern listeners is that it embodies new system feelings in today outdated forms of music making. Music life The Netherlands of the period under review contained significant remnants of the Middle Ages, which almost completely disappeared from the historical scene in the middle of the 18th century.
This was especially true of secular professional music, which was mainly used in the chapels of influential secular feudal lords, and above all the Burgundian dukes.
The secular aristocracy, represented by the Burgundian dukes and their court, did not care about the revival of ancient learning and sophistication of morals, as was the case in Italy, but about the return of the prestige of the former knightly prowess. The main task of their chapels is to decorate the solemn rituals of princely courts.<…>The role [of music] was limited mainly to entertainment functions. This led to lightness, superficiality, a decrease in ethical and aesthetic level. <…>That is why, in the historical conditions of the period under review, secular professional genres in the work of Dutch composers did not reach the heights accessible to cult music.
It is clear that under these conditions, the largest composer forces rushed to the church.<…>Cult genres had two huge advantages. The first is the possibility of a significant deepening of the ideological and ethical content. It should not be forgotten that in the Middle Ages cathedrals and monasteries were major centers education. The monasteries had large libraries, which also kept manuscripts of musical works. The higher ranks of the clergy, one way or another, had to deal with the development of problems of theology, which at that time was inextricably linked with philosophy. Outside the development of theological problems, it was unthinkable to build either a new humanistic philosophy or a new scientific picture peace.<…>Secondly, it was for musicians that work commissioned by the church was at that time exceptionally fruitful, because in the historical conditions of the Middle Ages, only the church made it possible for a wide public performance of professional music.<…>
Such a heterogeneous musical life put forward genres that, on the whole, are far from modern musical culture, but truly reflect the “diversity” of culture of the 15th–16th centuries. By the end of the first quarter of the 15th century, three main genres became characteristic - “large”, “small” and “intermediate” (they were identified by the influential music theorist I. Tinktoris in 1475): mass, song(chanson) and motet.
A specific feature of the music of that time was the purely vocal nature of these genres. This, of course, does not mean that there were no musical instruments and instrumental music making. However, instrumental music, both in terms of thematics, and in terms of the principles of thinking, and in forms, and in imagery, was entirely dependent on vocal music. The most common was ensemble instrumental music-making: it was based on choral works. Another way of penetration of instrumentation into the vocal-choral culture was the possibility of filling in the missing voice with an instrument, or, apparently, the widely practiced duplication of vocal voices with instruments, mainly wind instruments. Such was the case in the genres of professional music. In the music of the oral tradition, the rudiments of specifically instrumental music in the form of everyday dances, improvisations on the favorite everyday stringed instrument - the lute, as well as on the organ or other keyboard instruments, also spread. However, only to early XVII centuries, these sprouts of instrumental music began to be equalized in rights with vocal music. The period of musical culture of the Netherlands that interests us is indicative precisely of the dominance of vocal genres.
Secular vocal polyphony was represented by polyphonic chanson (song). This name summarizes a number of particular varieties of secular vocal lyrics, which were based mainly on love stories. The ancient polyphonic chanson in the works of the Dutch composers has undergone significant changes, which will be discussed later; now it is necessary to point to the origins of this genre - polyphonic rondels, le, virele, ballads. These genres with complex and varied systems of text rhyming and repetitions (“refrains”) of musical material were born in the musical and poetic work of French troubadours and trouvères in the 13th century. However, the time of the birth of the polyphonic song is the 14th century. In the work of the famous French poet and composer G. de Machaux (1300–1377), “verbal” lyrics are already embodied in many voices: to the singing
one, two or three voices performed by instruments are added to the upper voice. However, one cannot speak here of a solo song with accompaniment: all voices of such polyphony, regardless of whether they are sung or performed on instruments, have the same - vocal - nature; we can only talk about a more individualized character of the melodic pattern of the upper (singing) voice. Of course, one cannot talk about the more or less independent role of "instrumental accompaniment": before the birth of modern chamber vocal lyrics, there are still almost two centuries. However, even within the limits of these modest possibilities, Machaut, and behind him the representatives of the early culture of polyphonic song, Dufay and Benchois, were able to achieve subtle expressive effects, overcoming the mannerisms, pretentiousness of aristocratic art, relying on democratic songwriting.
Mass and motet belong to another group of genres characteristic of the works of Dutch composers. Mass is a genre of cult music-making (performed during the church service), motets were written on both secular and spiritual subjects. Nevertheless, there are many similarities between these genres. In the course of the historical development of the Dutch school, secular motets were supplanted by polyphonic polyphonic songs; on the other hand, starting with Machaux, the multipart polyphonic mass began to be interpreted as a kind of cycle of motets on a liturgical text. Unlike the chanson, in which, as a rule, the same melody is repeated with different stanzas of the text (as in a modern strophic or couplet song), the motet as a whole is a free, unregulated composition, consisting of a number of sections contrasting in material. The alternation, the sequence of these sections, their expressiveness are determined by the meaning of the text underlying the motet.
The internal structure of each of the parts of the motet at the early and late stages of the development of the Dutch polyphonic school was different, but there was an essential common feature that distinguished the motet from the song at that time: the song was based on the original thematic
skom material, motet - on borrowed. Such borrowed material is called canthus firmus. Contrasting upper voices were "layered" ("built up") on the cantus firmus. In the Middle Ages (XIII-XIV centuries), this contrast was aggravated by the fact that different texts were sung simultaneously in different voices. It came to curious cases when the voice that sang the cantus firmus was based on a religious chant, while in another voice the text was a love effusion, and in the third a satire on drunken monks! All this sounded simultaneously due to the similar rhythm of the texts.
In the subsequent history of the motet, composers sought more organic poetic and musical connections for the voices of the polyphonic motet. Among the Dutch, the motet becomes one of the most conceptually developed genres. Its existence in the era of interest to us will be traced on the examples of the work of the most prominent representatives of the Dutch school. Here, it is only necessary to first say about the origins of the thematic material of the motet - the canthus of the firmus. In this capacity, according to the tradition consecrated by centuries, the Gregorian chant was established - monophonic choral chants to the liturgical text, systematized, according to legend, by Pope Gregory the Great (d. 604).
The Gregorian chant was essentially a fairly diverse set of chants for the choir (hence the name of the chant): Two types stand out among them. Psalmody is a measured recitation, such intonation of the text of the Holy Scripture, mainly at one sound height, in which
for one syllable of the text there is one note of the melody; hymns-anniversaries - free chants of the syllables of the word "Hallelujah", embodied the delight of believers. In terms of its function in the musical culture of the Middle Ages, the Gregorian chant was the complete opposite of the folk song. If a folk song reflected real, living human feelings, a direct sense of reality, then the Gregorian chant was intended to displace earthly thoughts from a person’s consciousness, to direct his thoughts and feelings towards divine ideas.
Gregorian chant had a strong and peculiar effect on the parishioners. His own history was a consistent compromise, as a result of which, instead of a "confrontation" with the folk song, the Gregorian chant itself (primarily "Hallelujah" and other hymns) was saturated with folk song turns. Church authorities were forced to allow hymns based on the melody of folk song origin, the so-called sequences, to be performed in worship. A number of such sequences - including the "Dies irae", which became famous in the subsequent history of musical culture - are high, enduring examples of art that have fully preserved their artistic impact to our time.
Initially, motets were written mainly in Gregorian canthus firmus. However, continuing the tendency to overcome the abstractness, the mystical detachment of liturgical music-making, which had emerged in the Middle Ages, the composers of the Dutch polyphonic school gradually began to saturate the melodic voices of the motet with secular folk song material, using it either as a cantus firmus, or as the basis for the “free” voices of the composition.
A few words must first be said about the Mass. In order to understand the role of this genre in Dutch musical culture, one must take into account its previous history. Initially (until the 14th century), the mass was generally monophonic; the chants that embodied its text fit into the legalized framework of Gregorian chants. However, already the Gregorian chants that sounded in the Mass were quite diverse. First, they were subdivided according to the structure into psalmodic and hymnical. Secondly, there were two types of musical “cycles” of the Gregorian Mass: the “special mass” (Missa proprium), the composition of which changed depending on the holiday on the occasion of which the service was held, and the “ordinary mass” (Missa ordinarium), composed of which included five permanent parts: 1) Kyrie eleison - "Lord, have mercy", 2) Gloria in excelsis Deo - "Glory to God in the highest", 3) Credo - "I believe", 4) Sanctus et Benedictus - "Holy" and " Blessed”, and, finally, 5) Agnus Dei - “Lamb of God”.
In the era of the early Middle Ages (until the 9th century), the “ordinary Mass” was distinguished from the “special” not only by the composition of the parts, but also by the participation of the entire community of believers in its performance. The parishioners (in the overwhelming majority - representatives of the democratic strata of the population) brought the life-giving warmth of folk song intonations to the strict, ascetic style of Gregorian monophony, and these folklore influences were carefully etched out by the church to the extent possible. However, in the later history of the mass, only the five parts of the "ordinary mass" listed above, which were first performed by all parishioners, turned out to be viable.<…>
AT THE ORIGINS OF MODERN MUSICAL THINKING
The greatest achievement of the Dutch composer school, which provided it with an honorable place in the history of world musical culture, was the formation of the principles of modern musical thinking. Their formation opened up huge prospects for the growth of the content of music, provided musical art the ability to respond with his own means to the most complex philosophical and social problems. What exactly are the features of modern musical thinking prepared by representatives of the Dutch composer school? And what, in fact, is this "musical thinking", the reader will ask us?
Reflecting on highly developed classical musical genres associated with the artistic embodiment of significant and meaningful concepts, even a person inexperienced in musical theory can say that the main musical thoughts and their development in such widely known works as the sonatas and symphonies of Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich are associated with musical themes, with their unique expressiveness, and dramaturgy, concept, general idea are made up of the whole sum of changes, transformations and collisions of different themes of the work.
However, if we get acquainted with the works of Dutch composers, expecting to hear in them similar themes and the same plan of thematic development as in Beethoven's works, we will be disappointed. With rare exceptions, we will not find there broad, clearly defined
catchy melodies. Often all the thematicism is reduced to small scale motifs or to short declamatory turns, born from the expressive pronunciation of the text. Especially archaic sounds a kind of thematism specific to that time - cantus firmus, despite the fact that since the time of Dufay it has absorbed the material of existing folk songs. The cantus firmus, as a rule, was placed in one of the "middle" tessitura voices of the choral complex and was not included in the active zone of auditory perception formed by the "extreme" voices - treble and bass. It is possible that the desire of composers to “hide from prying eyes” the secular musical material, which did not correspond to the theme of liturgical genres. But the material of the firmus cantus itself was expounded in extremely extended, longer rhythmic durations in comparison with other voices, which prevented its perception as a holistic formation.
And yet the Dutch made a decisive step forward in the formation of thematism and thematic development. Recall that in Gregorian chant - the official form of cult music of that time - everything was aimed at the expressive and clear pronunciation of the text of sacred scripture. Gregorian chant was a perfect and therefore closed artistic system. Therefore, in their innovative stylistic searches, composers could rely only on folk songs.
There are several layers in the folk song. The oldest are songs associated with pagan ideas, they are characterized by the remnants of a magical function. Their musical language consists of the repetition of a three-six-sound chant, the so-called formula. Another important layer is associated with the formation of lyrical imagery. The ways of development of various national folk-song cultures in this regard converged. A general idea of the structural features of a lyrical folk song can also be obtained on the basis of existing Russian material. The essence of the achievements of the lyric song is as follows:
her music is no longer limited to repetition - "whirling" of the original melody (formula). On the contrary, the motive that opens the song acts as a kind of “thematic grain”, from which, growing in the variant flowering of melodic shoots, an integral musical organism arises.
These "micro-themes" - motif formulas and their variant development - "germination" Dutch composers borrowed from the richest folk-song culture of the Netherlands as the basis of melodic thinking, significantly enriching them in their work. However, their main achievement was the development on this basis of professional polyphony.
Polyphony arose spontaneously in folk-song music-making, most often as a result of the simultaneous performance of different versions of the same tune. In the work of Dutch composers, one of the main types of polyphony, polyphony, has received a comprehensive development.
In any polyphony, at any given moment, auditory perception distinguishes main voice, the carrier of the material that is the most prominent in terms of meaning - thematic, the rest of the voices one way or another play the role of a background to the thematic relief. If the bearer of the theme is the only upper voice, and the remaining voices are leveled in their expressive meaning, uniting into chord complexes, then this type of polyphony is called homophony. If any of the voices of polyphony at any moment can seize the thematic initiative, if, further, the voices accompanying this theme do not lose their individuality, then we are dealing with polyphony. Comprehensive development of the principles of polyphonic development is the basis of the innovation of the Dutch composers.
The conquest of the techniques of polyphonic thinking was an event of exceptional importance, it is quite comparable with the transition from a flat image in painting to a multifaceted one. Polyphony is one of the most characteristic conquests of the era, the philosophical and aesthetic motto of which was the search for unity in the diversity of ever new scientific
And artistic events open to the minds of Europeans. True, music did not yet have the opportunity to characterize the variability of the fluid flow of reality by its own means - this came to musical art much later, in the era of classicism. The Renaissance developed other means of expression, allowing to reflect in music the complexity, heterogeneity, internal inconsistency of nature (macrocosm) and the human soul (microcosm). The "simultaneous contrast" of parallel developing independent melodic lines (the term belongs to the Soviet musicologist T. N. Livanova) was one of the fundamental achievements of the Dutch polyphonists. From now on, music, continuing to remain in alliance with the word, already had its own independent laws of development, it broke free from subordination.
The independence of musical thinking was reflected in the development of a new system of notation - mensural. Until the XIII-XIV centuries. there was a so-called choral notation, which made it possible to fix only the height of individual sounds of a melody. There were no methods for designating the duration of musical sounds: there was no need for them, since the rhythm of the chants of Gregorian chants completely depended on poetic sizes text.
The emancipation of the elements of free melodic development, as well as the need for precise coordination of the simultaneous sounding of melodic lines in polyphonic polyphony, required accurate fixation of the duration of musical sounds, regardless of the metric structure of the verbal text. The situation was complicated by the fact that the composers of that time, being at the same time the leaders of the performance, did not write scores and immediately recorded their creations in the form of choral monophonic parts.
How different they are from modern musical notation! Their deciphering is subject to a number of now forgotten rules, and above all, knowledge of the ratio of notes adjacent in a number of durations; these ratios were of four kinds, and they were called "scales". Hence the name of the new notation is mensural (as opposed to choral).
Mensural notation formed the basis of modern musical notation. Its improvement was based on the introduction of shorter durations (in particular, notes under the "ribs" and with "flags"), which made it possible to make the rhythmic pattern of the melody more visual.
Modern editions of the choral scores of the classics of Renaissance polyphony, as a rule, proportionally reduce all durations by several times, as a result of which we have an easily visible sound picture.
Before proceeding to further characterization representatives of the Dutch polyphonic school, it is necessary to say a few words about their immediate predecessor, the English composer John Dunstable (1370 or 1380–1453), who worked for a long time on the continent and visited the musical centers of the Netherlands.
In the musical culture of northern Europe, Dunstable was, as it were, the first sign of the “Renaissance spring”. In his work, one can catch the first glimpses of the Renaissance "cheerful free-thinking" - evidence of this is his many-voiced adaptation of the Italian song "O beautiful rose" ("O rosa bella") with its gentle, bizarre harmonies, imbued with "northern melancholy". Of course, these glimpses will very soon be drowned in the rays of the rising luminaries of the Dutch composer school... But in one area of Dunstable's work - the formation of a developed choral polyphony - his innovation turned out to be decisive.
Dunstable's work was such an important link between "musical Gothic" and Renaissance polyphony that since the 16th century the legend of him as the "inventor" of polyphony has been entrenched. In fact polyphonic principle thinking with its origins is rooted in folk music-making, and its transfer to the field of professional music began in the Middle Ages and took several centuries. Back in the XIV century in Florence, in the homeland of ars nova - the Italian “pre-
Published: Konov V. Netherlandish composers of the XV-XVI centuries. L .: Music, 1984.
Harpsichord Suite No.5 in D minor
Basic information
Musician performing musical works both on the harpsichord and on its varieties is called harpsichordist.
Origin
The earliest mention of a harpsichord-type instrument appears in a 1397 source from Padua (Italy), the earliest known image is on an altar in Minden (1425). As a solo instrument, the harpsichord remained in use until late XVIII century. A little longer it was used to perform digital bass, to accompany recitatives in operas. Around 1810, it practically fell into disuse. The revival of the culture of playing the harpsichord began on turn of XIX-XX centuries.
Harpsichords of the 15th century have not survived. Judging by the pictures, they were short tools with heavy body. Most of the surviving 16th-century harpsichords were made in Italy, where Venice was the main center of their production.
They had an 8` register (less often two registers 8` and 4`), they were distinguished by their elegance. Their body was most often made of cypress. The attack on these harpsichords was more distinct, and the sound more abrupt than that of later Flemish instruments.
Antwerp was the most important production center for harpsichords in northern Europe, where representatives of the Ruckers family worked since 1579. Their harpsichords have longer strings and heavier bodies than Italian instruments. Since the 1590s, harpsichords with two manuals have been produced in Antwerp. French, English, German harpsichords of the 17th century combine the features of Flemish and Dutch models.
Some French two-manual harpsichords with a walnut body have survived. Since the 1690s, harpsichords of the same type as Rookers' instruments have been produced in France. Among the French harpsichord masters, the Blanchet dynasty stood out. In 1766, Taskin inherited Blanche's workshop.
The most significant English harpsichord makers in the 18th century were Schudy and the Kirkman family. Their instruments had a plywood-lined oak body and were distinguished by a strong sound of rich timbre. In 18th-century Germany, the main center for harpsichord production was Hamburg; among the instruments made in this city with 2` and 16` registers, as well as with 3 manuals. The unusually long model of the harpsichord was designed by J. D. Dülcken, a leading 18th-century Netherlandish craftsman.
In the second half of the 18th century, the harpsichord began to be supplanted by the pianoforte. Around 1809, the Kirkman firm produced their last harpsichord. The initiator of the revival of the instrument was A. Dolmech. He built his first harpsichord in 1896 in London and soon opened workshops in Boston, Paris, Heislemere.
The release of harpsichords was also established by the Parisian firms Pleyel and Erard. Pleyel began producing a model harpsichord with a metal frame carrying thick, tight stretched strings; Wanda Landowska trained a whole generation of harpsichordists on this type of instrument. Boston craftsmen Frank Hubbard and William Dyde were the first to copy antique harpsichords.
Device
It has the shape of an oblong triangle. Its strings are arranged horizontally, parallel to the keys.
At the end of each key is a pusher (or jumper). At the upper end of the pusher is a langetta in which a plectrum (tongue) of a pen is fixed (on many modern instruments- made of plastic), just above the plectrum - a damper made of felt or soft skin. When the key is pressed, the pusher rises, the plectrum plucks the string. If the key is released, the release mechanism will allow the plectrum to return to its place under the string without having to pluck the string again. The vibration of the string is dampened by a damper.
For registration, i.e. changes in the strength and timbre of the sound, hand and foot switches are used. It is not possible to smoothly increase and decrease the volume on the harpsichord. In the 15th century, the range of the harpsichord was 3 octaves (some chromatic notes were missing in the lower octave); in the 16th century it expanded to 4 octaves (C - c"`), in the 18th century to 5 octaves (F` - f"`).
A typical 18th century German or Netherlandish harpsichord has 2 manuals (keyboards), 2 sets of 8` strings and one set of 4` strings (sounding an octave higher), which can be used individually or together, as well as a manual copulation mechanism. Foot and knee shifters appeared in the late 1750s. Most instruments have a so-called. the lute register of a characteristic nasal timbre (to obtain it, the strings are slightly muffled by bumps of leather or felt using a special mechanism).
