Article Database

Last updated Thursday, January 10, 2008.

This page is meant to be a comprehensive list of articles about the history of wire string instruments, especially the cittern. Articles were taken from listings in the "Cittern" article in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, John Ward's fabulous introduction to the cittern: Sprightly and Cheerful Music, and my own research. Additionally, a great deal of material has been submitted by both Christopher Burgon and Peter Forrester. Christopher submitted to me a list of articles he had compiled for an upcoming (soon to be published) bibliography on fretted instruments, while Peter is single-handedly responsible for compiling the list of FoMRHI articles for cittern, bandora, orpharion — and even mean-tone temperament and wire(!), as well as submitting some corrections and additions to this list. My greatest and humblest thanks go to both of them for their extensive, thoughtful, and very generous contributions.

Rather than sorting the articles alphabetically by author or alphabetically by title, I have decided it would be of more value to sort them chronologically with the oldest articles first. As new articles are written, it will be possible to see additions simply by scrolling to the end of the list.

As always, if you know of a resource or article that I have not listed here, or if you have a correction, please contact me.

Abbreviations:

  • Harwood, Ian & Tyler, James. "Cittern." New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments.

  • Tyler, James. "Cithrinchen." New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments.

  • Harwood, Ian. "Bandora." New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments.

  • Harwood, Ian. "Orpharion." New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments.

  • Tyler, James. "Ceterone." New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments.

  • Hawkins, Sir John. "Cittern." A general history of the science and practice of music. London (1875).

  • Pulver, Jeffrey. "The barber's cittern." Monthly Musical Record 46 (1916).

  • Voigt, Alban. "Die Cithern (Citole, Cittern, Cithren, Cythren, Citharn, Cither, Cistre, etc.)" Deutsche Instrumentenbau Zeitung 37 (1936).

  • Gombosi, Otto. "Ad vocem cithara, citharista." Acta Musicoligica 9 (1937).

  • Bullock-Davies, Constance. "Menestrellorum Multitudo, minstrels at a royal feast." Cardiff (1938).

  • Dart, Thurston. "The Cittern and its English Music." GSJ 1 (1948), pp.46-63.

  • Baines, Anthony. "Fifteenth-Century Instruments in Tinctoris', De inventione et usu musicae," GSJ 3 (1950), pp.19-26.

  • Byler, Arthur W. "The music for cittern and gittern in the Mulliner Book." JAMS 5 (1952).

  • Fortune, Nigel. "An Italian arch-cittern." GSJ 5 (1952).

  • Reinhard, Kurt. "Cister." MGG 2 (1952).

  • Stevens, D. The Mulliner Book: a Commentary. (London, 1952)

  • Dart, Thurston. "Notes and Queries: English Cittern Music." GSJ 6 (1953), p.112.

  • Devoto, Daniel. "Metamorphoses d'une cithare." RM 41 (1958).

  • Winternitz, Emanuel. "The survival of the kithara and the evolution of the cittern." In: Hinrichsen, Music Libraries and Instruments (1961), pp. 209-214. [A paper read at the IAML/Galpin Society Joint Congress, Cambridge, 1959.]

  • Gill, Donald. "The Orpharion and the Bandora." GSJ (1960).

  • Gill, Donald. "An Orpharion by John Rose." LSJ (1960).

  • Lesure, F., ed. Recueils imprimés, XVIe-XVIIe siècles, RISM, B/I/1 (1960)

  • Gill, Donald. "James Talbot's Manuscript (Christ Church Library Music Ms. 1187): V. Plucked Strings - The Wire-strung Fretted Instruments and the Guitar." GSJ 15 (1962), pp.60-69.

  • Charnassé, Hélène. "Sur la transcription des recueils de cistre édité par Adrien le Roy et Robert Ballard (1564-1565)." RM 49 (1963), pp. 184-202.

  • Guichard, Leon. "Le cistre de Rousseau." RM 50 (1964).

  • Rastall, Richard. "The minstrels of the English royal households." Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle 4 (1964).

  • Waldbauer, Ivan. "The Cittern in the Sixteenth Century and its Music in France and the Low Countries." Dissertation. (Harvard U. 1964).

  • Schweizer, Gottfried. "Frankfurter Renaissance der Cister." Das Musikinstrument 16 (1967).

  • Winternitz, Emanuel. Musical Instruments and their Symbolism in Western Art. (New York, 1967, 2/1979).

  • Jeffery, Brian. "Anthony Holborne." MD 22 (1968), pp.129-205.

  • Testi, F. La musica italiana nel Medioevo e nel Rinascimento. (Milan, 1969).

  • Boetticher, Wolfgang. "On Vulgar Music and Poetry Found in Unexplored Minor Sources of Eighteenth-Century Lute Tablatures." Studies in Eighteenth-Century Music: a Tribute to Karl Geiringer, ed. H.C.R. Landon and R.E. Chapman (New York and London, 1970), pp.76-85.

  • Danner, Peter. "Dd.4.23 or English Cittern Music Revisited." JLSA 3 (1970), pp.1-12.

  • Godwin, Joscelyn. "Instruments in Robert Fludd's Utriusque Cosmi ... Historia." GSJ 26 (1973), pp.2-14.

  • Godwin, Joscelyn. "Fludd on the Lute and Pandora." LSJ (1973).

  • Hadaway, Robert. "The Cittern." EM 1 (1973), pp.77-81.

  • Kanazawa, Masakata, ed. The Complete Works of Anthony Holborne, 2. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA (1973).

  • Weigand, George. "The Cittern Repetoire." EM 1 (1973), pp.81-83.

  • Geiser, Brigitte. "Cister und Cistermacher in der Schweiz." Festschrift Ernst Emsheimer. Studia Instrumentorum Musicae Popularis 3 (1974).

  • Tyler, James. "A Checklist for the Cittern." EM 2 (1974), pp.25-29.

  • Dobson, Charles; Segerman, Ephraim; and Tyler, James. "The Tunings of the Four-course French Cittern and of the Four-course Guitar in the Sixteenth Century." LSJ 16 (1974), pp.17-23.

  • Abbot, Djilda and Segerman, Ephraim. "Strings in the 16th and 17th Centuries." GSJ 27 (1974), pp.49-73. [NB: errata corrected in GSJ 28, (1975).]

  • Abbot, Djilda and Segerman, Ephraim. "The Cittern in England Before 1700." LSJ 17 (1975), pp.24-48.

  • Hadaway, Robert. "An Instrument-Maker's Report on the Repair and Restoration of an Orpharion." GSJ 28 (1975), pp.37-42.

  • Collins, David. "A 16th C. Manuscript in Wood (Eglantine Table)." EM (July 1976).

  • Munrow, David. Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (1976).

  • Gill, Donald. "Wire-strung Plucked Instruments Contemporary with the Lute." Lute Society Booklet No.3 (1977).

  • Wright, Lawrence. "The medieval gittern and citole, a case of mistaken identity." GSJ 30 (1977), pp. 8-42.

  • Boetticher, Wolfgang, ed. Handschriftlich überlieferte Lauten- und Guitarrentabulaturen des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts, RISM, B/VII (1978).

  • Harwood, Ian. "Thomas Robinson's 'Generall Rules,'" LSJ (1978), pp.18-22.

  • Pringle, John. "John Rose." EM (Oct. 1978).

  • Sandman, Susan. "Thomas Robinson's Interpretive Left-hand Fingerings for the Lute and Cittern." JLSA 11 (1978), pp.26-35.

  • Stauder, Wilhelm. "Zur Entwicklung der Cister." In: Renaissance-Studien: Helmuth Osthoff zum 80. Geburtstag. Tutzing, Schneider (1979), pp.233-55.

  • Ward, John. "Sprightly and Cheerful Musick: notes on the cittern, gittern and guitar in 16th- and 17th-century England." LSJ 21 (1979-81).

  • Fabris, Dinko. "Composizioni per 'cetra' in uno sconosciuto manoscritto per liuto del primo seicento." RIM 14 (1981), pp. 185-206.

  • Grijp, Louis Peter. "Fret Patterns of the Cittern." GSJ 34 (1981), pp.62-97. Also [in French] in Musique Ancienne 21 (1986), pp. 40-69.

  • Harwood, Ian. "A Case of Double Standards?" EM (Oct. 1981).
    Also EM "Observations." Donald Gill (April 1982), Herbert Myers (Oct. 1982), Ian Harwood (Jan. 1983).

  • Dombois, Eugen. "Lute Temperament in Hans Gerle." LSJ (1982), and associated articles in JLSA.

  • Fabris, Dinko. "Prime aggiunte Italiane al volume RISM B/VII: intavolature mss per liuto e chitarra," FAM, 29 (1982), pp.103-21.

  • Forrester, Peter. "Citterns and Their Fingerboards." LSJ 23 (1983), pp.15-20.
    [Some conclusions since modified. -P.F.]

  • Lindley, Mark. Lutes, Viols and Temperaments. Cambridge University Press (1984). ISBN 0 521 288835.
    [Important data and discussion. Conclusions negated by extant wire string instruments. -P.F.]

  • Coates, Kevin. Geometry, Proportion and the Art of Lutherie. Oxford University Press (1985).
    [Information regarding the numerical ratios used when planning instruments. Two citterns examined: The Paris "Strad" and an early bell cittern by Tielke.]

  • Ree Bernard, N. van. "Citara." Het Duintje (1985).

  • Coggin, Philip. "This easy and agreable instrument (guittar)." EM (May 1987).

  • Forrester, Peter. "A Scottish Consort." LSJ (1987).

  • Charnassé, Hélène. "La reception de la musique 'savante' dans le monde des amateurs: les recueils de cistre au XVIe siècle," IMSCR XIV, Bologna (1987), pp.59-67.

  • Michel, Andreas. Cither, Cithrinchen, Zister. German Democratic Republic (1989).

  • Michel, Andreas. Studien zur Geschichte der Zister in Deutschland. Diss., PhD. Musikwissenschaftliche Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR (1989).

  • Michel, Andreas. "Zistern in Sachsen und ihre Gebrauch im bergmannischen Musizieren." Glueck Auf 38/39 (1989), pp. 17-22, 55, 56.

  • Fabris, Dinko. "Il primo libro di Tabolatura di Citthara di Paolo Virchi (1574)," Liuteria e musica strumentale a Brescia tra Cinque e Seicento. Salò (1990), ii, pp.65-89.

  • Ravasio, Ugo. "Il fenomino cetera in area bresciana," Liuteria e musica strumentale a Brescia tra Cinque e Seicento. Salò (1990), i, pp.123-56.
    See also: "Il fenomino cetera in ambito bresciano," at http://www.liuteriascarampella.it/cetere.htm [link broken as of 8/2006]

  • Siemens Hernandez, Lothar. "Fuentes bibliograficas para el estudio de la citara y su repertorio en Espana (siglos XVIII-XIX)." Miscelanea en honor al Prof. Dr. Jose Lopez-Calo, S.J., en su 65 cumpleanos. Santiago de Compostela, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (1990).

  • Forrester, Peter. "Italian Citterns in the Museum of the Paris Conservatoire." LSJ 31 (1991).

  • Coelho, Victor. "Musical Myth and Galilean Science in Giovanni Serodine's Allegoria della Scienza." In: Music and Science in the Age of Galileo. Kluwer Academic Publishers (1992), pp. 91-114.

  • Rey, Juan & Navarro, Antonio. "Los instrumentos de pua en Espańa." Madrid (1993). ISBN 84-206-8564-X.

  • Gill, Donald. "The Seventeenth Century Gittern and the Englisch Zitterlein." LSJ 35 (1995), pp. 76-86.

  • Michel, Andreas. "Die Theorbenzistern von Ernst Andreas Kram." In: Der 'Schöne' Klang : Studien zum Historischen Musikinstrumentenbau in Deutschland und Japan unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des alten Nürnberg. Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum (1996), pp. 83-98.

  • Shepherd, Martin. "The Well Tempered Lute." Lute News 41 (March 1997).

  • Spiessens, Godelieve. "De Antwerpse citerbouwer Hans cisterbouwer Hans Meulevoets (ca. 1541-1612)." Musica Antiqua; Actuele Informatie over Oude Muziek 15/2 (May, 1998). pp. 52-54.

  • Michel, Andreas. "Zistern." (Leipzig Museum Catalogue) (1999). ISBN 3-929330-86-5

  • Segerman, Ephraim. "A Short History of the Cittern." GSJ 52 (1999), pp.77-107.

  • Forrester, Peter. "A Short History of the Cittern, Correspondence." GSJ (2000).

  • Goodwin, Chris, with notes by Peter Forrester. "...and what makes a good cittern?" Lute News: The Lute Society Magazine 57 (April 2001), pp.14-15.

  • Harwood, Ian. "Six Several Instruments." Lute News 62 (June 2002).

  • Martin, Darryl. "The Palmer Orpharion: A Reevaluation," (2003) at http://www.darryl-martin.co.uk/palmer.htm.

  • Batov, Alexander. "Roses in late 16th – early 17th century vihuelas: some thoughts and ideas." (2004) at http://www.vihuelademano.com/rosesinvihuelas.htm. (Article makes repeated reference and comparison to cittern rosettes.)

  • Michaelsteiner Konferenzberichte 66: Gittare und Zister — Bauweise, Spieltechnik und Geschichte bis 1800. (2005). ISBN 3-89512-125-8. (Available directly from Kloster Michaelstein, http://www.kloster-michaelstein.de.)
    Includes the following papers/talks presented at the conference:

    • Rault, Christian. "The emergence of new approaches to plucked instruments, thirteenth to fifteenth centuries."

    • Forrester, Peter. "Wood, Wire and Geometry." (An abridged version of the paper appears as "Wood and Wire" in Lute News; see below.)

    • Dugot, Joël and Florence Gétreau. "Citterns in French Public Collections. Instruments and musical iconography." (Also available on-line from the Institut de recherche sur le patrimoine musical en France as a text-only [no images] version. Note: Some of the tabular data is incorrectly formatted in the on-line version.)

    • Núñez, Sebastián and Verónica Estevez. "Description of the remains of two Dutch citterns."

    • Grijp, Louis Peter. "The cittern of Sweelinck and Vermeer. Contextual information for the excavated Zuyderzee citterns."

    • Michel, Andreas. "Quellen zur Geschichte der Zister in Sachsen vom 16. bis 19. Jahrhundert." (A slightly expanded version of the inventory only [lacking the prefatory material found in the article] can be found on-line at http://www.studia-instrumentorum.de/MUSEUM/zist_sachsen_quellen.htm.)

    • MacKillop, Rob. "The Guitar, Cittern and Guittar in Scotland — an historical introduction up to 1800." (An alternate and greatly abridged version of this article was originally published on Rob's web site and is available here as "Plucked, fretted instruments in Medieval and Renaissance Scotland.")

    • Gándara, Xosé Cristano. "Portuguese Plucked Instruments in the Eighteenth Century."

    • Rossi, G. Doc. "Citterns and Guitars in Colonial America." (An earlier [and abridged?] version of this article is available on-line at http://www.cetrapublishing.com/artists/rossi/colonial_paper.pdf.)

    • Hill, Frank. "Zwei frühe Tabulaturedrucke von 1570 für Gitarre und Zister mit Anweisungen zu Spiel, Besaitung und Stimmung aus dem Druckhaus Phalése/Bellére."

    • Eisenhardt, Lex. "Nouve suonate de Chitarriglia Spagnuola, battute e piccicato."

    • Rebours, Gérard. "The baroque guitar in France, and its two main figures: Robert de Visée and François Campion."

    • Milbradt, Steffen. "Ein Guadagnini zugeschriebenes Instrument und seine Rekonstruktion. Neue Erkenntnisse zum Gitarrenbau in der 2. Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts."

    • Ferreiro, Ángela and Iago Reigosa. "The Spanish guitar ca. 1800: a new music for a new instrument."

    • Timofeyev, Oleg. "The Russian Seven-String Guitar ca. 1800: Organology and Search for Origins."

    • Voigt, Wolfgang and Christoph Reuter. "Vergleichende Untersuchungen der Klangerzeugung und Klangfarbe historischer Gittaren und Zister."

    • Ziegenhals, Gunter. "Zur Dämpfung bei Zupfinstrumenten."

  • Harwood, Ian. "Wire Strings at Helmingham Hall." Lute Society Booklet (2005). ISBN 0 905655 47 8.

  • Forrester, Peter. Wood and Wire — A Lecture by Peter Forrester. Published in Lute News: The Lute Society Magazine, 2005.
    Includes supplemental handouts:
  • Darryl Martin, "The Early Wire-Strung Guitar." Galpin Society Journal, LIX (May 2006), pp. 123-137.

FoMRHI Quarterly articles by subject:

Cittern:

  • 88 Reasoned approach to mean-tone fretting; Abbott and Segerman.
  • 89 Tuning and fretting patterns; Segerman.
  • 97 Cetra et cetera.; Allworth.
  • 124 Canpi cittern; Segerman.
  • 125 Cetra fret blocks; Segerman.
  • 152 National Museum, Dublin, with notes on an English guitar 1764 by Gibson; Doyle.
  • 466 Cittern fingerboards and stringing; Forrester.
  • 740 Citterns ...; Forrester.
  • 742 Response to 740; Segerman.
  • 757 Reply to 742; Forrester.
  • 774 Tabley ms; Segerman.
  • 797 Gittern and bell-gittern; Gill.
  • 798 Was the English guitar a guitar or a cittern? Walsh.
  • 823 The English guitar etcetera; Gill.
  • 858 Cittern in Italy; Forrester.
  • 931 Morley Consort and the English cittern; Forrester.
  • 1034 The stringing of English and German guitars; Segerman.
  • 1422 The instruments of the consort; Segerman. 1445 The cittern in consort; Forrester. ~;,
  • 1468 Reply to 1445; Segerman.
  • (Bulletin Supplement October. 1996) ;Segerman.
  • 1481 Reply to 1468; Forrester.
  • 1482 Reply to 1445 and 1468; Gill.
  • 1496 Segerman, Godwin, Fludd and the English cittern; Forrester.
  • 1497 Reply to 1481; Segerman.
  • 1498 Response to 1482; Segerman.
  • 1514 Citt/gitt; Montagu.
  • 1516 Response to 1498; Gill.
  • 1529 Short history of names of gittern and cittern; Segerman.
  • 1530 Citt/gitt again; Montagu.
  • 1531 More on the English guitar and speculations on its origin; Segerman.
  • 1543 Origins of the 'guitarra portuguesa'; Segerman.
  • 1576 Violins, citterns and viols in the Edinburgh 'A.S.' manuscript; Segerman.
  • 1593 Praetorius' plucked instruments and their strings; Segerman.
  • 1621 Curving a fingerboard to improve the action; Segerman.

Bandora:

  • 16 Palmer orpharion; Segerman and Abbott.
  • (274) Mandora and Calachon; Gill.
  • (295) Further to -; Gill.

Orpharion:

  • 16 Palmer orpharion; Segerman and Abbott.
  • 407 Orpharion news; Segerman.

Mean-tone:

  • 88,89 above.
  • 459 Note on mean-tone temperament; Segerman.
  • 465 Mean-tone; Karp.

Wire:

  • 164 Twisted metal and Mersenne; Segerman and Abbott.
  • 183 Mersenne etc; Karp.
  • 199 do.; Segerman.
  • 439 Heinrich Schütz's Strings; Karp
  • 440 Ferrous wire circa 1600; Segerman.
  • 452 Harpsichord string; Gug.
  • 548 Steel music wire; Karp.
  • 576 Non-ferrous harpsichord wire; Way.
  • 626 Uniformity in old wire; Way.
  • 713 Mandolin wire, etc; Segerman.
  • 766 Zangelmass; Gug.
  • 790 Zangelmass; Shann.
  • 821 Phosphorous iron music wire; Shann.
  • 836,837 Wire making; Gug.
  • 853 Strong iron wire; Wraight.
  • 866 Jobst Meuler or the secret of a Nuremburg wire drawer; Gug.
  • 901 Tests on Pleyel's music wire, Paris 1811; Gug.
  • 917 The Birmingham wire gauge; Gug.
  • 932 Wire-micrometers and diameter values 1780-1850; Gug.
  • 1164 The 'Zangelmass' of the wire drawer, a documentary confirmation; Gug.

All site contents, unless otherwise stated, are copyright © Andrew M. Hartig, 1999-2008. All rights reserved.