The theorbo is a large lute, developed in Italy in the 1590s to meet the demands for a stronger bass register to accompany singers and instrumentalists. It became a common site in orchestral pits for composers such as Monteverdi, Cavalli and others. The instrument became popular in other countries, with some change in size and pitch, as different fashions dictated. In France, two theorbos were developed: a large one (but smaller than the giant Roman/Venetian theorbo) for orchestral continuo playing (Lully, Rameau, etc) and a small one for solos (Robert de Visée, especially) tuned a fourth higher. This page is dedicated to the German style of continuo theorbo, developed by Silvius Leopold Weiss, but not to be confused with the 13c baroque theorboed lute.
Here are some illustrations from the very informative website of English luthier, David Van Edwards, which should help to give an idea of the differences of size and shape of the various instruments mentioned above:
1. Large Italian Theorbo - 93cm & 170cm, 14 courses (6 x 2 + 8 x 1) after Magno Dieffopruchar 1608. Pictured next to a normal G lute, for size comparison.
2. Large French Theorbo - 85cm & 157cm, 14 courses, single strung throughout. Note the pierced fretwork design in the lower pegbox - thought to be a common feature of French theorbos.
3. Small French Theorbo - for solo pieces. No image of David's website, but it would be the same as for the large French theorbo, but with a playing string length of 76cms, tuned to D (i.e. a fourth higher than the large theorbos).
4. German theorboed lute - 69cm & 96cm, 13 courses; after Martin Hoffmann, for playing the solo repertoire of Weiss and others:
5. German Continuo Theorbo - various models, sizes and shapes - the crucial difference is in the tuning: the same as the 13c baroque lute, but with the first string taken off, all the strings moved along, with an extra bass at the bottom end. So, from the first course downwards:
Any Italian or French theorbo could be adapted for use as a German Continuo Theorbo, but David Van Edwards suggests the following models of large 13c German lutes, might also have been used as continuo theorbos:
1. 77.5cm & 82cm, 13 courses; after Thomas Edlinger c.1715 - clearly 'lute-like' but with a very long string length, possibly too long for the virtuoso solo repertoire. This would make a useful continuo theorbo for accompanying the solo voice.
2. 76cm & 105cm, 13 courses; after J.H. Goldt 1734 - again, a long string length for the solo repertoire. Possibly a continuo theorbo.
The Evidence
The following notes are from the PhD thesis, Lute and Theorbo in Vocal Music in 18th-Century Dresden: A Performance Practice Study, Timothy A. Burris, Duke University, 1997 - available from Dissertation Express
1. A letter from Weiss to Mattheson, 21st March, 1723:
Sonsten habe nun, im Orchestre und Kirche zu accompaniren, ein eigenes Instrument accommodirt. Es hat doe Grösse, Länge, Stärcke und resonance von der veritablen Tiorba; thut eben den effect; ausser dass die Stimmung differiret.
I have adapted one of my instruments for accompanying in the orchestra and in church; it has the size, length, power and resonance of the 'true' theorbo, and has the same effect, just that the tuning is different.
2. Ernst Gottlieb Baron, Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten (Nürnberg: Johann Friederich Rüdiger, 1727, 131)
Heute zu Tage aber haben sie [i.e. theorbos] gemeiniglich die neue Lauten-Stimmung, die unsre jetzige Laute noch hat, weilen es einem Lautenisten zu sauer werden wolte, wenn er auf die alte Theorbe [i.e. in the old tuning] käme, alles auf einmahl gantz anders sich einzubilden.
These days, however, [theorbos] generally are in the d-minor tuning, which the present-day lute still has, since it would make things too inconvenient if a lutenist had to mentally switch to the old theorbo tuning whenever he played on that instrument.
3. [The most important evidence] Ernst Gottlieb Baron, in Herr Barons Abhandlung von dem Notensystem der Laute und der Theorbe, published in F.W. Marpurg's Historisch-kritische Beyträge zur Aufnahme der Musik 2 (1756, 119-23):
So ist zu merken, dass sie [Laute und Theorbe] sehr von einander unterschieden sind. Denn auf der Laute ist ein Gesangsaite nöthig; auf der Theorbe aber, die eine Terzie tiefer, von der ersten Saite angerechnet, anfängt, und wo der Bass eine oder auch zwey Saiten mehr hat, fällt die Gesangsaite gänzlich weg: weil sie wegen der Länge nicht halten will.
So one can see that the lute and theorbo differ considerably from one another. For the lute requires a chanterelle; but on the theorbo, which begins a third lower (calculated from the first string) and has one or even two more bass strings, the chanterelle is omitted because it would break due to the long mensure.
Timothy Burris's dissertation mentioned above is well worth hunting down. He has identified a number of theorbo arias, with obbligato parts, discusses Weiss's own pencil markings to continuo parts, and provides a CD recording (which I have not yet heard) to accompany the text.
Obviously a theorbo tuned largely to an open chord of d minor would sound quite different to a re-entrant Italian tuning. And it should be noted that Weiss spent quite a few years in Italy. The question is whether he developed his German Continuo Theorbo at such an early part of his career, or whether the memory of his Italian colleagues and their strange instruments influenced his later continuo playing.
Unfortunately there is no solo repertoire for the German Continuo Theorbo - Weiss, himself, declared it unfit for Galant music - but one could arrange Bach's cello suites and suchlike, if one were desperate to play solos. Nor is it possible to change the tuning of the Italian theorbo without taking off and replacing all the strings (or at least moving some of them to different positions) - in effect making it impossible to easily shift between tunings. So one would have to either have two theorbos (an expense many of us cannot justify) or choose to concentrate on one style to the exclusion of the other. Burris is keen to point out that the German Continuo Theorbo only pertains to Dresden - there is no mention of it elsewhere (which, of course, does not mean it wasn't used outside the Dresden court) in Germany, and certainly no mention of it outside of Germany. So, in many respects it is an instrument very much of a period and a place, for specialists in a 30-year period at one German court. But it must have had a wonderfully rich sound, and might well be worth employing in other repertoires, times and places. Baron, for one, implies (2nd 'evidence', above) that the tuning was the common tuning of the theorbo in Germany...
As for performing continuo in Dm tuning - for lute or theorbo - there is a very good overview by Benjamin Narvey: LSA Quarterly Volume XXXXI, no. 2 May, 2006 'Galant' Continuo: Towards an Informed Approach to Accompaniment in the Accord Nouveau. I am thankful to Benjamin for allowing me to reproduce this fine article here.
Volume 35 of the Journal of the Lute Soc of America has “The Conservation, Restoration and Reconstruction of S. L. Weiss's (?) Theorbo” by Wolfgang Wenke.
Andreas Schlegel in Switzerland also has a great interest in the 'Deutsche Theorbo' as he calls it. There is some relevant information in his excellent book on the lute: Die Laute in Europa - or - The Lute In Europe
Rob MacKillop
