Originally, the lute as we know it in Europe, is said to derive from the Middle East, where the Arabs probably adapted the lute from the Persian barbat to create their own version, called “Oud” (“al úd” means “wood”). Two possible routes come to mind on how the lute could have arrived in Europe: Via the Northern-African Saracens, who might have introduced the lute to Southern Spain when they conquered “Al-Andalús” (7th to 9th century), or during the crusades (1096-1271), where Europeans might have first encountered the original Oriental lute (which was the four-course Oud) when travelling through Western Asia to get to Jerusalem.
The most likely first-contact of Europeans with the Oud is estimated to have taken place during the 9th century, through the visit of Ziryab from Baghdad, a courtly Arabian musician who worked in the service of the Caliph of Cordoba in Spain. Both, early iconographic sources, as well as reconstructions of the early medieval lutes show four-course fretless instruments and definately look Oriental or Oud-like in their decorations. Also, early lute versions are often depicted with more than two soundholes, which is also typical for the Oud. The tuning of the Oud back then was strictly applied in Fourths, which we also see in the Oud. Litte surprising that we see the same tuning-pattern in the medieval lute as well.
From the 9th to the early 13th century, the Oud developed further in to a European lute, basically by adding tied frets. From the early 13th century onwards, we basically now know of two different lute-types in the Middle Ages: An earlier four-course lute that existed from the early 13th century and a five-course lute that is shown from the 1420s onwards in European iconographic sources. There is no evidence that the lute was being played very much in Europe before the 13th century.
“Book of chess dice and tables”, Alfonso X `El Sabio’ (Spain, anno 1283)
“The Coronation of the Virgin”, Paolo and Giovanni Veneziano (Italy, anno 1358).
“The Coronation of the Virgin with Six Angels”, Agnolo Gaddi (Italy, anno 1370)
Source: Jo Dusepo*
https://www.dusepo.co.uk/Instruments/Show/Medieval%20Lute
“Madonna and Child with Angels”, Pietro di Domenico da Montepulciano (Italy, anno 1420)
Around the 1340s, the original Oud-form had finally done its transition into a European, fretted form. The earliest iconograpic sources show European medieval lutes around 1280-1300, primarily in Spain. Before a European form showed up, it is estimated that people played the Oud very much in its Oriental form, but that it initially did not play a big role in the musical culture of the time. Presumably, the medieval lute did not show up in Northern Europe before 1300, or so. The size of the medieval lute was probably not standardized throughout the entire development. Although a G-tuning seems the most likely, other pitches might have been used, depending on the exact time and region.
Medieval lutes were mostly played with a quill, (as the Oud is still today), which is why we assume that music on the medieval lute was probably played in a relatively simple manner, such as an accompanying instrument, following the main lines of the song-melody. The lutenist could only play one course or two adjacent courses at the same time. Chords, on the other hand, can be played much more easy in absence of a quill, using only the fingertips, but that, of course, does not mean that medieval lutenists never played chords in music groups). During the late medieval phase, a combined technique in which the lutenist used a quill and this thumb, was established that was especially developed for the upcoming five-course lute. Iconographic sources indicate that the five-course lute was popular by the 1470s, but the introduction of the fith course might have been taken place earlier. As a consequence, both, the medieval lute as well as the medieval gittern now had five courses, while the citole widely came out of use. By the late 15th century, a first crossover-lute predecessing the Renaissance lute, that had six courses showed up and it definately was played using chords as well.
So, by the end of the 15th century, towards the beginning of the Renaissance, lutenists played more and more complex, including chords, until they did so almost exclusively in the the middle of the 16th century. Thus, to me it seems rather unlikely that medieval lutenists never played basic major and minor chords before – at the very least in the late medieval decades.
Throughout the 15th and 16th century, we still find iconographic sources that indicate that people using five-and even 4-course lutes, although they must have been completely outdated at this point in time. The tuning though, began to shift from a strict Fourth-tuning in to a Fourth-Third-tuning combination with the upcoming of the 5-course lute.
However, the trouble is: Almost no documents survived about the medieval lute, except some iconographic sources and a description of late-medieval German lute tablature. But how it was constructed and played exactly, what techniques where used to play it, and what titles lutenist prefered in their various countries during each century got almost lost entirely. What is known is that some music did survive up until today – which is mostly a vast collection of mostly sacral music: The best-known worlwide today are the Cantigas de Santa Maria. This collection of sacral Christian songs contains more than 400 pieces! Another famous Spanish source is the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat. And, there are other sources in the German-speaking world, like e.g. the Carmina Burana and the Lochamer Liederbuch. If you check e.g. YouTube for medieval songs, you can find several well-made reconstructions!
And, what also survived, of course, is in what notation systems music was written in each medieval period and various lyrics in different languages; in medieval Latin, Spanish, French, English and German, etc.
Therefore I just want to emphasize and remind you again (espcecially if you are new to the field) that there really is no such thing as “I play medieval lute in an authentic way”(!) Todays version of the medieval lute playing is really mostly about efforts of reconstruction, logic, a little bit of music theory, but also due to our phantasy and – here and there – a good portion of guessing!
Conclusion: So, the truth here is that you will find only a few “authentic” pieces on this blog! Why is that? Well, mostly because we do have a lot of lyrics as historical sources, but what is somewhat rare are original musical notes from the Middle Ages! Therefore, a lot of the material given here is due to modern interpretation of modern musicians, bands, ensembles, ect. But, one the other hand, I think some of these modern interpretations can be really close to the historic reality! I chose the versions I present on this blog kind of intuitively and, of course, depending on my own ability to hear them out and/or reproduce them. Also, the Middle Ages are gone and only by creating modern forms of these songs, from which we know only the lyrics, can we ensure that medieval music and medieval instruments will truely live on, I think. Anyway, you will surely find enough material to get the breath of an idea of how the medieval lute could have been played and what it might have sounded like. At the beginning of the 21st century, the medieval lute gained more and more popularity and, of course, this made the writing of The Medieval Lute Blog possible at all. Whether it is historically accurate enough or not, is no longer my main focus, but to offer a ressource for free as I view it as a fantastic instrument and also as a world heritage!
Hence, my hope is that I was able to bring a little bit of fun and joy to my readers through this blog and give something back to the internet community as a whole.
The Medieval Lute Blog 