Lutes Viols Temperaments

To tune a lute or viol really well one must see to the exact spacing of the frets tied round the neck of the instrument. In this authoritative work Mark Lindley surveys different approaches to the problem as described from the 1520s to the 1740s by a variety of writers. Attention is given to some distinguished composers (Miln Dowland Monteverdi Marais) and to some seminal figures in the early history of modern science (V. Galilei Mersenne Lord Brouncker) as well as to a number of encyclopaedic or didactic writers on music (Gerle Bermudo Ganassi Zarlino Praetorius). The book includes practical instructions conclusions about renaissance and baroque performing practices and a substantial appendix by Gerhard C. Shne on the historical use of proportions and geometric curves in lute design.