'Tremolo' Fantasia - attr. John Dowland

[@tolstoipie]

Simply lovely. Thank you for sharing this with us.

[@C6H12B26]

Superb ! Congratulations ! Well, discovered this wonderful piece so many years ago (around 1978) in a wonderful LP by the so great Julian Bream " Dowland pièces pour le luth " in the french publication. All the best " Faits, licites actions .... Félicitations ! "

[@klippdachs]

Beautiful music! Thanks a lot for sharing.

[@teomartinez7570]

Wow!!!! wonderful sound, instrument, and playing!!!!

[@bernardgibs]

Well done, Martin, and wonderful sound.

[@bearshield7138]

so wonderful

[@moelarrycurly708]

Well done !

[@TheAlfonsovaldes]

Hello Martin, I know this is some years old, but I just came across it. Beautifully played. What is the scale length and tuning of the lute?

[@luteshop]

String length 67.3cm, tuned in E (though this size can be tuned in F as well).

[@antonio97514]

Bravissimo!!!!

[@kevinprice7362]

Hello I have just started watching your videos . Kevin

[@beepeesix]

Very interesting! In the guitar arrangements, first 4notes of bar 16 are always 16ths. Lute players play them slower at 8th. Ive read that this piece may or may not written by Dowland thus the 7&3 numbering scheme from Poulton..

[@luteshop]

You can see the full editorial process on my blog at luteshop.co.uk/dowlands-tremolo-fantasia-whats-wrong-with-it/ The piece only occurs in Dd.9.33, where it is unattributed.

[@bodhiciva]

Such a wonderful piece and so beautifully played. I can't help but wonder if the "tremolo" was/is a common part of lute technique. Are there any other lute pieces which use this too?

[@luteshop]

Glad you liked it. As discussed in the article above, there are some tremolo exercises in the Margaret Board Lute Book, but I don't know of any other pieces which use this technique - so I would say it's a rarity.

[@Monrealese]

There is a little prelude/exercise by Diego Ortiz where he implements this tremolo. Can't seem to find the source (I only have a copy of it in French lute tablature) and I also don't know if it is transcribed from guitar tablature. Works amazingly well on lute nonetheless.

[@bodhiciva]

I just read your response. I would really appreciate it if you could tell me the name the peice.

[@Monrealese]

bodhiciva If you have an email address for me, I could send you a copy. It doesn't have a title, only the name of the composer.

maravilloso ☺

[@sebastianvega5952]

Exquisito!!!

[@pip5528]

Very nice! What is your preference for string materials?

[@luteshop]

Gut. But KF basses are very useful, and on this lute I actually have mostly Nylgut strings with very old wound basses on the 6th and 7th.

[@pip5528]

Nylgut is interesting. It's basically nylon, but it manages to have the same acoustic properties as gut.

[@luteshop]

I use Nylgut, but I don't like it. The surface is very rough compared to a well-polished gut string (so makes a high-pitched squeak when you pluck it), and it stretches forever. Gut stabilises very quickly and is not as problematic to tune as people tend to think. It also sounds better than Nylgut, especially on the top string.

[@pip5528]

Martin Shepherd Good to know. You like gut, you don't like nylgut. What do you think of nylon?

[@luteshop]

I don't like nylon either, but for the first one or two courses it can be useful. Plain nylon can only be used for the first three courses, after that you need wound strings (which were not used historically). When "carbon" (PVDF) strings first appeared it was a great relief to be able to use a 4th course which was not wound - the sound was horrible and the very thin windings kept breaking. That's when I started using gut (c.1980) because I had a piece of fret gut which was the right size for a 4th course, so I tried it and it worked!

[@clayerickson567]

Nice