Lautenwerk or lute-harpsichord(Max Doronin design) Life recording in some church or other... 2x8`, two last octaves doubled with 4`, moving box guide to imitate upper and lower manual effect operated by knee lever, FF-f3 transposable to A-440, pizzicato stop, 1,5 meters long, 30 kg. This instrument was partly designed and based on description from Musica Mechanica Organoedi 1726 by Jacob Adlung and partly on my understanding of construction and design of baroque lute. The instrument is strung with Nylgut strings(modern version of gut string with very similar sound characteristics to gut). The stringing pattern very much resembles baroque lute stringing with the unison tuned pairs in treble and soprano and octave tuned basses. The “principal” register is always “on” and the second register(with octaves in the bass) can be turned on or off. The most unique feature is that the plucking points or the position of the boxguide can be changed by the means of knee lever mechanism giving the same change of the sound volume and color as upper and lower manual on double-manual harpsichord. The box-guide position can be changed while playing which gives to the instrument crescendo-diminuendo effect. In order to imitate the finger tip touch of a lute player the instrument was quilled with leather. The instrument is also equipped with a pizzicato or buff stop. All above mentioned effects give the instrument the expression and colour range which suitable not only for baroque music but also for music of Mozart and Haydn. The instrument you see above is made in mahogany and walnut combination. The shape is typical German with it´s characteristic S-shaped bent-side and Haas style double platform table stand. The instrument has very thin walls (4 to 6 mm) and build on the bottom like Italian harpsichords with the top edge reinforced with veneers and moldings. The Lautenwerk is 1, 5 m long and with lid weights around 30 kg!
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 13:28:34 +0000