Theorbo

A theorbo is a type of long-necked lute developed during the late 16th Century for use in the Florentine Camerata in such works as Giulio_Caccini's Le_Nuove_Musiche

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It developed by adapting large bass lutes (c.90 cm string length) to a tenor lute (c.55 cm string length) tuning. This required tuning the top two courses (sets of strings) down an octave to prevent them from breaking (re-entrant tuning) and then extending the neck to allow eight 1.6m long bass strings (diapasons) which were played open rather than on frets (like the top six courses).

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The theorbo was used often along with a small pipe_organ to play basso_continuo and remained in use (in Italy) until the mid 18th century.

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Lute: The lute is a plucked string instrument with a fretted neck and a deep round back. It evolved from an instrument originally developed in the Middle East, which was also the ancestor of the superficially similar oud. The words 'lute' and 'oud' are both derived from Arabic al‘ud, "the wood". The...

Florentine Camerata: The Florentine Camerata was a group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence that gathered under the patronage of Count Giovanni de' Bardi to discuss and guide trends in the arts, especially music and drama. They met mainly from about 1573 until the late 1580s, ...

Giulio_Caccini: Giulio Caccini (c.1545 – December 10, 1618) was an Italian composer, teacher, singer, instrumentalist and writer of the very late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was one of the founders of the genre of opera, and one of the single most influential creators of the new Baroque style. He...

Theorbo related Images and Photos (experimental)

Theorbo 1637

The Concert: Singer and Theorbo Player

Young Woman Playing the Theorbo to Two Men