Aesthetics
Opus 52 - Renaissance Lute

 
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The Lute

  • Opus 52
  • Opus 53
  • Opus 54
  • Opus 55
  • Opus 56
  • Opus 57
  •   The Trio Sonata
     
     
      The Publication
      The Author
     
      Preface
      Introduction
      Making Musical Instruments
      History
      Aesthetics
      Symbolism
      Conclusion
      Bibliography
     
      Index
      Instrument Makers
      Instruments
      Video Excerpts
      Audio Excerpts
     
      Other Web Sites
      Credits
     
     
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    This instrument features metal frets instead of  the traditional knotted-gut frets of the Renaissance era. When luthiers began to make lutes in the twentieth century, they used metal frets like those on the modern guitar. Moreover, lutenists during the revival of early music were often guitarists, whose playing technique was not geared to the lute.

      Renaissance Lute - CMC 74-692.1-2/S74-2317/CD94-161 Renaissance Lute
    By Colin Everett
    Ottawa, Ontario
    1974
    New Brunswick maple, ebony, British Columbia red cedar, mahogany, metal, nylon
    Overall length: 70.6 cm;
    body: 47.5 x 32.8 cm;
    depth 16.5 cm;
    peg box: 25.5 cm


    Luth de la Renaissance - CMC 91-118/S93-2659/CD95-730

    This lute is typical of instruments built in the early 1970s, when there was a burgeoning interest in early music and instrument making in Canada. Some twenty years later, the same luthier built the instrument labelled Opus 53.

    Opus 53 - Renaissance Lute

    Based on an instrument by Giovanni Hieber, a German luthier who settled in Venice in the second half of the sixteenth century, this lute has seven courses, or pairs of strings. The body is made of strips of maple, and the soundboard of spruce, embellished by an Arab-style rose carved in the wood.

      Luth de la Renaissance - CMC 92-2.1-2/S92-2471/CD95-642
    Renaissance Lute
    In the manner of Giovanni Hieber
    By Colin Everett
    Manotick, Ontario
    1992
    European spruce, New Brunswick maple, African padouk, rosewood, gut,
    parchment, nylon, plastic
    Overall length: 68 cm;
    body: 44 x 31 cm;
    depth: 15 cm;
    peg box: 20.5 cm
    Brand: "CJE 1992"


    Renaissance Lute - CMC 91-453/S92-2106/CD95-639
    Variations on this Islamic-
    inspired rose appear on many
    Renaissance lutes.

    The instrument is sparingly ornamented as the luthier preferred a simple style, more in keeping with the instrument commonly used during the Renaissance. Highly decorated lutes, and those made with rare materials such as ivory, were reserved for the nobility and upper middle classes.

         

    Colin Everett

    A native of England, Colin Everett settled in Ottawa when he immigrated to Canada in 1966. He studied guitar at that time, but gradually became interested in the lute. As lutes were difficult to obtain back then, he decided to build one. While Everett now specializes in lute making, his fascination with Renaissance music has also led him to make other instruments of that period, such as the viola da gamba, harpsichord, crumhorn and rackett. He has belonged to several early-music ensembles and performed at numerous concerts and festivals. His instruments, which include over seventy lutes to date, are played in Canada, especially in Quebec. In addition to pursuing his musical activities, Colin Everett currently teaches chemistry at Algonquin College.

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