French Lutenists
and
French Lute Music in Sweden
By
Kenneth Sparr ©
Stockholm, Sweden 1998
Uppdated 2012-02-16
This article was first published in Le luth et sa musique II, Paris 1984,
pp. 59-67 and presented as a paper at the conference at Tours, Centre d'Etudes
Supèrieures de la Renaissance, 15-18 September 1980. A Swedish version of the
article was published as Franska
lutenister och fransk lutmusik i Sverige SGLS 13/1980 No. 2 pp. 17-29. This English version has been updated
with new findings.
16th
Century
The first reliable proof of the presence
of the lute in Sweden is the mentioning of a Conrado luternista in 1439-1440. Conrado was probably of German
origin and foreigners were to dominate the history of the lute in Sweden. In the
16th century and during the reigns of Gustavus Vasa and particularly those of
his son, Eric XIV and John III, a court life of continental pattern developed.
This also meant that musicians in greater number, and among them lutenists,
were employed at the royal court. The first lutenists are mentioned in the
account books of the court for 1532 were Germans. Most of the lutenists in
royal service during the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century were in
fact of German origin.(1)
The contacts between Sweden and France
during the 16th century were not very frequent, but Eric XIV (1533-1577) ought
to have been well acquainted with French culture: one of his teachers was
Dionysius Beurreus, a French Calvinist, and in his service was the French
nobleman Charles de Mornay. Furthermore, Danzai, the envoy of the French king,
reported that Eric spoke French very well and that he was an able musician. We
have some indications of Eric's interest in the lute. In 1552 he ordered two
lutes and the following year he had four lute-books bound "for the needs
of His Lordship". In 1561 he ordered not less than seven new lutes and
from an inventory of his library, dated 1568, we learn that he then owned
"two lute-books bound in yellow and gilded”.(2) This background has its interest in connection with
an important lute tablature manuscript (Uppsala university library, Vok. mus.
hs. 87, Codex carminum Gallicorum.
The dating and provenance is uncertain, but it has been suggested that it could
belong to the period 1542-1572 and that it, in spite of the Italian tablature
system used, could be of French origin. It consist mainly of intabulated French
secular songs and Italian madrigals. Dance movements are lacking and the instrumental
pieces are very few: some ricercare
by Francesco da Milano and Giaches organista together with a fantasia by Albert de Rippe. In the manuscript are also two pieces in French
tablature, probably added later on. Although we have no positive evidence it
has been suggested that the manuscript was used at the court of Eric (then a
duke) at Kalmar around 1558-1560. Eric had in fact several musicians employed
in his service during this period, but none of them is specified as lutenist of
French origin. A closer study of the sources may however throw further light on
this issue.(3)
A
temporary guest at the Swedish court was the French lutenist Johan Cortimis denaz[?]ina, who in 1556
received a noteworthy high sum of 20 dollar for his travel costs to France. He
is also mentioned in another document from the same year as "Joannes
Cortini".(3a) Eric XIV was followed
on the throne by his brother John III. In the service of the latter a lutenist
was employed 1571-1573 whose name could indicate a French origin. He is called
either Renatus de Plessis,
"Renatus Duplissis" or "Renatus luthinista".(4) It has been assumed that he could have been an
emigrated French Protestant, but taking into consideration the catholic
inclinations of John III at this time, this assumption seems too speculative.(5) In one of the music manuscripts at the Uppsala
University library, Vok. mus. hs. 76b, the signature of the French lutenist,
guitarist and publisher Guillaume Morlaye
is found. This was discovered in 1985 by Jean-Michel Vaccaro and as I earlier
had shown there is a link between this manuscript and three other manuscripts
in the same library: Instr. mus. hs. 412, Vok. mus. hs. 76c and Vok. mus. hs.
87 with the presence of the same handwriting in all four manuscripts. It even
seems highly probable that all these manuscripts were in fact written by
Morlaye himself and the manuscript Vok. mus. hs. 87 may have belonged to him.
Nothing is however known about the provenance of these manuscripts and how and
when they came to Sweden. One cannot rule out the possibility that Guillaume
Morlaye, who in 1552 and 1553 published two books of psalmes et cantiques en vulgaire françoys and in 1554 a Premier livre de psalmes mis en musique par
Maister Pierre Certon... reduictz en la Tablature de Leut..., due to
religious persecutions fled to Sweden after 1577. This remains to be confirmed
or ruled out by further studies of Swedish and French sources.(6)
17th
Century
In the first three decades of the 17th
century the German lutenists dominated completely at the court, which of course
does not exclude French lute music from being performed. Some hints of a possible
repertoire can be found in a lute manuscript (Skokloster Castle Library, PB
fil. 172, Per Brahe's lutbok),
compiled by the nobleman Per Brahe the younger in 1620 during his stay in
Giessen, Germany.(7) This manuscript, however, as well as another lute
manuscript in the same library (Carl Gustaf Wrangel's bibliotek 2245) dated
1622, is clearly the work of amateurs. They contain courantes, ballets and
voltes, some specifically called French and there are concordances with music
in the printed books of Fuhrmann, Vallet and Robert Ballard. The music of
Vallet is also represented in a manuscript (Stockholm, Musikmuseet, 63/64/7:2),
where one can find, among estate inventories and promissory notes, three
preludes, one pavan and one passomezzo from Vallet's first book.(8)
A fantasia by "Maistre
Lespine", printed in Vallet's second book, appears in another version in a
manuscript (Norrköping City Library, Finspong 1122 fol.), which entirely
consists of music by Charles de Lespine. The writer of the manuscript has used
a pre-printed tablaturebook (that is with only staffs and no music) from the
printer Pierre Ballard and on the page with the printer's label the content of
the book is described as Balets, Alemandes
et Sarabandes par L'Espine. To these can be added courantes, gavottes and
the fantasia called La rauissante...
No clear evidence exists but it is possible that Lespine visited Sweden c.
1620.(9) In this context it is interesting to note that there
are several pages with lute music by Lespine in a diary of a dancing-master
(Royal Library, Stockholm, S253). Some dates are given: "1617, a
Brucelle", 1619 and 1620. The identity of the dancing-master is not known,
but the text is written in French. In the tablature-part of the diary you can
find preludes, courantes, ballets and voltes, all in viel ton and for a
10-course lute.(10) The Lespine-book in Norrköping was probably brought
to Sweden c. 1640. It seems likely that it came from France in this period.
Some of the pieces in this manuscript appear in another one (Norrköping City
Library, Finspong 9096:11) and here the owner of the manuscript, Louis de Geer
has written his name and the date 26 January 1640. Louis de Geer (1622-1695) a
Swedish nobleman, seems to have stayed in Paris during the period 1639-1640. It
is quite possible that he during this stay had lessons from a lute-teacher.
Could this teacher have been Jean Aymé,
joueur de luth?(11) A "Mr Ayme" is noted in another manuscript
(Norrköping City Library, Finspong 9074) containing, among other things, two
allemandes for the lute, of which at least one can be attributed to René
Mesangeau. As well as another manuscript (Norrköping City Library, Finspong
9096:1) de Geer also brought a copy of Tablature de luth des differents
autheurs of 1638 from Paris to Sweden.
Another traveller to Sweden and with a
French origin was Charles Ogier. He had a subordinate position at the French
embassy to Sweden which took plave in 1634 to 1635. Interestingly enough the
first part of his memories from this embassy was published by his brother
François in 1656 in Latin and under the title Caroli Ogerii Ephemerides sive
inter Danicum, Svecicum, Polonicum... Ogier's manuscript is now in the British
Library. Anyway, among the participants of this embassy was a person named Varenne which is of interest in this
connection. Varenne obviously was a skilled skilled singer and performer on the
lute and in Ogier's account he is mentioned in a few places. Ogier does not
mention which function Varenne had in the embassy, but he is primarily
connected with musical activities. On 4 April 1635 Ogier writes: ...while
Varenne, who is a distinguished musician , played, we sang and danced... Some
time later on 10 April 1635 the embassy visited Jacob Pontusson De La Gardie at
his manor Jacobsdal. On this occassion "Varenne entertained them with
playing on the lute and singing to the lute". Varenne sang at a gathering
on 4 May 1635 at the castle of Drottnmingholm. The lute is also noted in other
circumstances. On 26 February 1635 Ogier met the daughter of a vicar "who
could both play the lute and speak Latin". (11b)
Whether or not the large collection of
French airs de cour, which is kept in the Royal Library, Stockholm, was used
for actual performance in Sweden is difficult to tell. A suitable audience
would of course have been the royal family with its suite. There are eleven of
the books printed by Ballard, starting with Airs
de differents autheurs... Huictiesme livre of 1618 and ending with Anthoine
Boësset's Airs de cour... Seiziesme livre
of 1643. They are all bound together in one volume.(12)
During the 17th century a number of
lutenists and singers were employed at the court. We know the names of at least
19 lutenists of which six were French, As I have stated earlier the Germans
dominated and the presence of the French lutenists was rather restricted in
time: from 1644 to 1653. This coincided with the employment of other French
musicians and reflects a change in musical taste.(13) The first French
lutenist to be employed was Bechon,
who stayed at the Swedish court from 1 January 1644 to 31 December 1647. Unlike
many of the other lutenists he was a member of the Hofkapelle and his rather low rate of wages in 1644-1645 indicates
that he then chiefly worked as an ensemble-musician. In the years
1646-1647 his wages raised considerably and in rank he was just below the
leader of the Hofkapelle.
Unfortunately the Swedish sources do not throw further light on the identity of
Bechon.
Alexandre
François Voullon, singer and
theorboe-player, came to Sweden in December 1646 together with a group of
French viol-players, which count Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie had recruited in
France. In a letter dated 25 November 1648, Voullon paid reverence to de la
Gardie and included a Sarabande nouvelle.
Laquelle a este tres bien recue de sa maiesté, Voullon participated as a
singer in the musical performances during the coronation of queen Christina in
1650 and his stay at the Swedish court lasted until 30 June 1653. Later on he
was employed by Christoffer, landgrave of Hesse, as he told de la Gardie in
another letter c. 1665. In this letter Voullon also mentions that he had sung
and played thorough-bass on the theorboe for the resident de Crousse in
Hamburg. Roughly ten years later, in September 1675, he returned to Sweden to
participate in the festive entertainments in connection with the coronation of
Charles XI. During this stay he probably also performed for the queen dowager
and for which he received 20 rixdollar.
The next French lutenist to be employed
was Béthune and he must have been
very qualified as he was the highest paid musician of any category at the court
during the period 1620-1720. On 26 June 1649 he received a royal letter of
appointment and he remained in Swedish service until September 1651.
Unfortunately his Christian name is not given anywhere, but some notes in
Swedish sources can perhaps throw further light on this issue. In a court
ballet, which was performed in November 1649 "the son of a French
lutenist, named Betun" played the part of Cupido.(14) Béthune seems to have brought his family with him to
Sweden as several members of it participated in the entertainments at the
coronation of queen Christina. Béthune himself, his brother and his son are
listed among the lutenists who played on this occasion. Even a
"Mademoiselle Bethune" is mentioned in this connection.
"Hercules Bethun" and the "two Bethun" appear in another
court ballet, performed in January 1651. Hercules probably acted the part of a
dryad, which could suggest that he was a rather young person and the "two
Bethun" acted the parts of two of the Muses.(15) Even though it is difficult to prove I am inclined to
believe that Hercules was the son of Béthune, who in turn could be Michel de
Béthune. The brother then could be Josias Béthune.(16) Besides it is noted in the account books of Danish Hofkapelle that "the Frenchman
Béthune" in the year 1702 received 50 rixdollar for giving the king
lessons on the angélique.(17) This Béthune can hardly have been Michel or Josias.
Who was then "Béthune le cadet"? Lionel de la Laurencie suggests that
he could be identical with Michel de Béthune, but this is questionable in the
light of these facts.(18)
The identity of another French lutenist
at the Swedish court is even more obscure. His name was Picquet and he is first mentioned in the list of musicians
participating at the coronation of queen Christina on 26 October 1650. Picquet
was well paid and he later appears in the account books from 1 January 1651 to
31 December 1652. As can be seen there were a number of lutenists engaged at
the court in the middle of the 17th century and there could have been need for
a person to take care of the instruments. In fact, there even was a lutemaker
employed between 1651 and 1653. His name was Noël Alliamez and he seems to have worked in Paris too. His
daughter Anna Maria was baptised on 9 May 1652 in the German church in
Stockholm.
With the exception of the tablatures from
Norrköping there is only one more musical document from this period of intense
activity, but its provenance and dating are very uncertain. This document is a
lute tablature manuscript (Stockholm, Stiftelsen Musikkulturens Främjande, no
shelve number) containing music by Ennemond and Denis Gaultier. The most
interesting pieces in the manuscript are the contreparties to Courante Le
Canon, to Tombeau de L'Enclos and to an unidentified Sarabande. These
contreparties seem to be unique. Even if this manuscript is hardly
representative of the lute music repertoire in Sweden at this time we have
other evidence of the strong French influence on keyboard and lute music in
this country. If we look at the ten most copied pieces in Swedish tablatures
for keyboard and plucked instruments from the period 1650-1720 we find that
French compositions dominate almost completely. The most popular pieces seem to
have been Courante La Belle Homicide
by Denis Gaultier followed among others by Courante
Dubut and Courante L'Immortelle
by Ennemond Gaultier. It is to be noted that the tablatures are of Swedish
provenance and therefore ought to reflect musical preferences during this
period.(19)
Many Swedish noblemen accompanied with
their tutors made peregrinations in Europe during the 17th century and a stay
in Paris was mandatory. An example of this is the Swedish king Charles X
Gustavus’ illegitimate son Gustaf Carlson who together with his tutor Erik
Lindschöld (1634-1690) (who later as secretary of state to Charles XI was to
become an important person both politically and culturally in Sweden) travelled
around Europe in the 1660s and 1670s. In the educational scheme for Gustaf
Carlson when visiting Strasbourg in October 1660 there was one hour of lute
playing each day (in which by the way the tutor also took part!). “The
lutenist” arrives at 10 o’clock and give them alternately exercises” which
Lindschöld stated in a letter from Strasbourg in 1660. In the beginning of
December 1666 they arrive in Paris and soon start their lute playing activities
again, probably with a Parisian lute teacher. (19b)
Another visitor to Paris was the young
count Claes Johansson Ekeblad (1669-1737) who in his diary for May 1687 noted:
Begynte iagh speela på Luta hoos gallot
gaf een Louis d'or om månan för tre gånger om wickan [I started to play the
lute with Gallot and I paid one louisdor each month for three lessons a week]
Two years later, in 1689, Ekeblad also
studied the lute with Jacques Gallot and the same year he attended Gallot's
private concert with "een admirable stor och skiön musique [an admirable,
great and lovely music]". Ekeblad also had flute lesson from one of the
members of the Hotteterre family for which he paid one Dukat a month (noted 14
May 1687). (19c)
The music of Charles Mouton appears to have been known in Sweden in the 1670s
judging from a list of music books, which was compiled in 1779. The passage
that concerns Mouton is worth quoting in full:
1679. Pièces
pour le Clavecin, signées des Note de Tablature, avec l'Avertissement de
Mouton, servant à l'intelligence des Pièces contenues dans son livre imprimé.
Mscr
i Notboksformat.
Not. Detta är en widlöftig skrifwen Claver Not-Bok, som tillhört
Fru Märta Ribbing, hwilken på främsta sidan tecknat sitt namn och årtalet 1679,
säjande tillika sig hafwa ärft denna Not-Bok efter sin Sal. Herr Fader. [Note. This is a comprehensive manuscript
book of keyboard music which belonged to Mrs. Märta Ribbing, who wrote her name
and the year 1679 on the front page, also saying that she had inherited this
music book from her late old father.](20)
The keyboard manuscript mentioned does
not seem to have been preserved. However, if this notice is correct some
conclusions may be drawn. Firstly that one of Mouton's lute books, maybe the
first one, was printed before 1679 and secondly that there has existed keyboard
versions of his music. One copy of Mouton's second book was bought in Paris by
Johan Arndt Bellman (1664-1709), during a time member of the Hofkapelle as alto singer, Bellman has
written the date 27 February 1699 and it could be the date of purchase. Whether
or not he bought the book directly from Mouton is of course impossible to tell.
If he did so a minor correction in the preface could have some significance:
"Je fais grauer vn second [crossed over and replaced with a
"3"), qui sera dans peu de temps au jour". This could indicate
that the third book was not published, if ever, before 1699.(21)
We have more details about other Swedish
visitors to Charles Mouton. The young nobleman Hans von Fersen (1683-1736),
during his peregrination together with his preceptor Carl Gustav Heraeus, met
the lutenist in 1699-1700. Hans von Fersen and Carl Gustav Heraeus arrived
in Paris with their servant Peter de la Rose on 14 November 1698. They lodged
at l'Hotel du Man, rue des Grands Augustins, in the St- Germain-de-Près-area, a
central point in Paris. Very soon they got a singing teacher for Hans von
Fersen, a "M. Preston" and also "M. Le Seure" as his
teacher on the angelique. Hans von Fersen soon wanted to change to the baroque
lute and he evidently had fell seriously in love with the lute although his father
did not really approve. Heraeus also points out to Hans von Fersen that the
baroque lute is a very difficult and a "slow" instrument to
master. von Fersen was however eager to learn and Heraeus in May 1699
contacted Charles Mouton to ask for lessons for Hans von Fersen. Mouton
then lived at Rue Saint-André-des-Arts, quite nearby Heraeus' and von Fersen's
lodgings. For a start Heraeus hires a lute from Mouton at two livres per month. On 30 May 1699 Heraeus
buys "Moutons Musicbuch" at 1 livre. von Fersen's interest in and
progress with the lute seems to have been growing fast and it did not take long
before they bought a lute from Mouton at the price of 56 livres. We have an exact date for this purchase, 13 October 1699,
and this was the highest single expense during the whole peregrination. Hans
von Fersen also had lute lessons with Mouton for a monthly fee of 14 livres and these lessons probably went
on for many months. Mouton evidently was a good teacher and von Fersen an
ambitious pupil. Perhaps it was Mouton who arranged (and under his supervision)
that Hans von Fersen could perform on the lute for the Polish envoy general
Jordan and his daughters in April 1700. The last information about the contacts
between Mouton, von Fersen and Heraeus dates from March 1700, when Heraeus buys
a copy of "Mr. Moutons Notenbuch" at the rather high price of 6 livres. Whether this was Mouton's second
lutebook we may only guess. Later in 1700 Hans von Fersen was called back to
Sweden as a voluntary in the Swedish army in Poland. (21b)
A French
Seventeenth Century Lute in Sweden
There also other traces of French
influence in Sweden during the seventeenth century. An interesting example is a
preserved French lute which may have been used and played upon in Sweden in the
later part of the seventeenth century. The scarcity of preserved French lutes
from this period is remarkable and the possibility of another preserved French
lute by an identifiable lute maker from the golden age is certainly of utmost
interest. It is indeed very surprising that there may be another French lute
from the seventeenth century that has been generally unnoticed, even though
most of the relevant information has been available at the Stockholm Music
Museum since about1900 and the rather detailed description in the museum’s
first catalogue (printed 1902). The description in the catalogue is as follows:
(36).
Lute, marked: ‘Du… à Paris 1672’, (brand marked at the bottom) and on a piece
of paper inside: Repareradt af Johan Jerner, Stockholm 1792. The repair seems
to have consisted of the addition of a new neck of the same theorbo-type as the
Swedish lute to the decidedly French body. Gift from the music trader Bengt
Dahlgren Ltd.
The low inventory number and the
inclusion of it in the first catalogue suggest that this lute was among the
first instruments to form the collection of the Stockholm Music Museum, which
was started in 1899. The first cataloguer did not observe that the information
at the end-clasp could be read as ‘Dubu…a Paris 1672’ (at even closer
inspection ‘Dubuc’ or ‘Dubut’). Unfortunately, damage makes the name difficult
to read. The cataloguer further did not record another handwritten repair label
beside the one by Jerner. This repair label is partly concealed by the Jerner
repair label and by paper reinforcement between two ribs of the back. This
makes the label difficult to read and interpret, but the text seems to be the
following: ‘Renov: Holmiæ / 1738 et 55’. Above this text is possibly the repairer’s
name - a fragment can be seen. The last letter of the surname may be ‘g’, ‘j’
or ‘y’. The identity of the repairer is yet to be determined. Another repair
was done in 1755 and the final repair and conversion was made by Jerner in
1792. This lute (or at least parts of it) may originally have been made by the
French lute maker Nicolas Dubuc
(?Dubut, ?du But) in Paris. He was born 1637/38, died after 1692 and of him it
is noted:
…
en 1671, Nicolas [?Dubuc, ?Dubut] âgé de 33 ans, est ’Maître faiseur d’instruments’,
lorsqu’il épouse à St-Germain-l’Auxerrois, Barbe Caillot. Sans doute a-t-il
déjà une situation sociale en vue, car il a pour témoin son ami Philippe
Lallemant, peintre à l’Académie royale. En 1691 et 1692, il est encore cite
comme facteur’ ou ‘maître pour les instruments à vent.
The name suggests a possible family
relation with the famous lutenist or lutenists with the surname ‘Dubut’, of
which Pierre Dubut (père) is the most famous. ‘Dubut fils’ or ‘Dubut et ses
deux fils’ are also mentioned in connection with pieces of lute music, but the
relationships and identities of these are still obscure. Due to the common lack
of Christian names and the variations in spellings of the surname (Dubu, Dubut,
Dubuc) it is difficult to be certain about the identity of Nicolas Dubuc
(?Dubut); and the mention of him as a wind instrument maker in 1691 and 1692
may seem problematic. It is hardly likely that an instrument maker is active
both in making wind and stringed/plucked instruments as the workshops must be
equipped quite differently from one another. The simple explanation can be that
there are two different instrument makers with very similar names. As mentioned
above, seventeenth-century French lutes are now extremely rare and if this lute
is by Nicolas Dubu[?c] (?Dubut) it is the only surviving instrument by this
maker and from a period when French lute music reached its peak with Denis
Gaultier’s printed lute books. Normally a maker’s name is found on the inside
of the back as a label or as brand mark on the soundboard; in this case we
cannot be certain that the maker’s name, place and date were actually put there
by the maker himself. The original label may have disappeared when the lute was
restored and changed, and the restorer may have transferred the maker’s name to
the end-clasp.
In my opinion the only original part of
the M36 Dubu[?c] lute is the back. This applies to many other old lutes; it
also seems to be the case with the Des Moulins lute in Paris. Several details
show, however, that the back comes from a very old lute and that it originally
may have been built as an eleven-course baroque lute of the type used by French
lutenists in the latter part of the seventeenth century. The back is made of an
unidentified hardwood, with an irregular and knotty structure; it consists of
nine ribs without spacers. The inside linings of the back are probably from the
repair or conversion in the eighteenth century. The back has a very classical
form used by early Italy-based lute makers such as Laux Maler and Hans Frei.
Interestingly the width and length of the body are close to those of the other
French seventeenth century lute with nine ribs made by Jean Des Moulins, dated
1644 and now in the Musée de la musique in Paris, inventory number E.979.2.69.
The outline of the body of the M36 lute is however more slender than the Des
Moulins lute. The body width of the M36 is 311 mm, the body length is 536 mm
and the body depth is 160 mm. Very similar body outlines and measures can be
found in near-contemporary lutes by Joachim Tielke, dated 1676, 1680 and 1696.
The end-clasp is simple and very neat, though it has perhaps been somewhat
trimmed when fitting a new soundboard. The strap button on the end-clasp lies
too near the soundboard which suggests a later and simple misplacement of the
button. The changes to this lute are immediately apparent: the strange bridge
placement, the rose and the theorbo arrangement typical of Swedish lutes in the
1790s and quite in accordance with the conversion made by Jerner, the lack of
points at the joint of the fingerboard to the soundboard, the rather narrow
neck. The soundboard shows no traces at all of an earlier bridge placement and
the wood quality of the spruce is rather modest (similar to other Swedish
lutes). The half-binding (purfling) around parts of the soundboard is rather
thick and looks very unconvincing. It has unfortunately not been possible to do
a closer study of soundboard barring, but it seems highly unlikely that the
original barring was transferred to the new soundboard. The soundboard has one
transverse bar under the centre of the rose, one transverse bar between the
rose and the neck placed 200 mm above the front of the bridge, one transverse
bar between the rose and the bridge placed 50 mm above the bridge and finally
two transverse bars between the front of the bridge and the end-clasp placed at
35 mm and 110 mm below the front of the bridge. This gives a total of five
bars, whereas the standard Swedish lute only had four. The additional bar
between bridge and end-clasp was probably added due to the long distance
between the bridge and the end-clasp. The neck and fingerboard of the lute
originally had a width of 99 mm where the fingerboard meets the soundboard,
which is quite in accordance with other eleven-thirteen course lutes. The joint
between body and neck shows obvious signs of conversion, patched with wood from
the fitment of a new neck. As the strap button on the back lies very close to
the neck joint we cannot rule out the possibility of loss of material of the
original neck block and the body. The strap button is most likely a later
addition. (21c)
18th
Century
As I have pointed out earlier the French
influence on lute music in Sweden is obvious even in the beginning of the 18th
century. An important and extensive manuscript (Kalmar County Museum, KLM
21.072) seems to be little known. It contains over 200 pieces, where quite a
few are by French composers as Dufaut, Mouton, Mercure, Gallot and Gaultier.
Some of these pieces seem to be unique. The prefatory instruction is copied
from Le Sage de Richée's Cabinet der
Lauten... of 1695. The owner of the manuscript, Otto Fredrik Stålhammar,
has written his name and the year 1715, probably the date of the acquisition,
on the inside of the front cover. The main part of the manuscript therefore
ought to have been compiled between 1695 and 1715. It has been suggested that
the manuscript originally came from Austria and composers from this region are
also well represented: Losy von Losinthal, Hinterleitner and Weichenberger.
Jacques Bittner's Pieces de Lut has
been copied almost completely.(22) Another manuscript (Kalmar County Museum, KLM
21.068), which partly consists of intabulated pieces for a bowed instrument,
also has belonged to Stålhammar. The lute tablature part covers 24 pages and
there are pieces by Campra, Gallot, Ennemond and Denis Gaultier, Mouton,
Mercure and Jean Baptiste Lully, This manuscript was compiled after 1697. We
have short notice that in 1716 “fik Monsieur Aremius för 5 monader har lert
Sophia Luisa [Wachtmeister] spella på luttan 40 dsmt” [Monsieur Aremius
received 40 silver solar for having learnt Sophia Luisa Wachtmeister during
five months to play the lute]. (22b)
The
last lute tablatures of Swedish provenance where French music is represented
are two manuscripts in Lund Universtiy Library (Wenster G 34 and G 37). Both
manuscripts have in some instances the same content. G 37 is dated 30 November
1712 and contains also a short lute instruction in Swedish. In the manuscript
one can find music by Ennemond and Denis Gaultier, Mouton, Pinel, Campra and
Dubut. G 34 contains "the pieces of Israel Pourell, lutenist in
Stockholm", whose father was of French origin.(23)
Notes
1. Norlind, T. & Trobäck, E., Kungliga hovkapellets historia. Stockholm
1926.
2. Hambraeus, B., Codex
carminum Gallicorum, une étude sur le volume Musique vocale du manuscrit 87...(Uppsala,
1961). Andersson, I., Erik XIV
(3d Edition, Stockholm 1948) pp. 23 and 165. Handlingar rörande Sveriges historia, Ser. 1, Konung Gustaf I:s
registratur. 23 (Stockholm, 1905) p. 423. Odén, B., Kronohandel och finanspolitik 1560-1595 (Lund, 1966) p. 101
3. Hambraeus, op. cit. I also have had a cursory look at the account books
from this period in Riksarkivet.
3a. Hedell, K. Musiklivet vid de svenska hoven med fokus på
Erik XIV:s hov (1560-68) p. 308 (Uppsala, 2001)
4. Cotte, R. Compositeurs
français émigrés en Suède, p. 6 (Paris, 1962).
5. Morlaye, Guillaume. Oeuvres
pour le luth II. Manuscrits d'Uppsala, p. XXVIIff. (Paris, 1989).
6. Riksarkivet, Räntekammaren.
1572
7. Ruden, J.O., Per Brahes lutbok in Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning 1977, p. 47ff.
8. Lindgren, A. Dans och lutspel i fordna dagar, in Svensk Musiktidning, 24/1890 p. 147ff.
9. Lachèvre, F., Un
joueur de luth et compositeur des courts princières, Charles de Lespine,
Parisien... (Paris, 1935). See also
my article about Charles de Lespine in Die
Laute Nr. III, 1999, pp. 42-63. This article is also available on the
Internet as Charles de Lespine Lutenist and Composer.
10. Brinson, P., Background
to European Ballet... Leiden, 1966. p. 117f.
11. Lesure, F., Recherches sur les luthistes parisiens à
l'époque de Louis XIII, in Le luth et sa
musique 2e éd. (Paris, 1976), p. 223. Brossard, Y. de, Musiciens de Paris 1535-1792... (Paris, 1965), p.14.
11b. I'm grateful to Erik Kjellberg who made me aware of
Charles Ogier's notes concerning Varenne. Ogier, C. Från
Sveriges storhetstid. Franske legationssekreteraren Charles Ogiers dagbok under
ambassaden i Sverige 1634-1635. (Stockholm
1978).
12. The collections represented are RISM 16189, B3291,
16229, 16236, B3292. Estienne Moulinié, Airs avec la tablature , 1624 and by
the same Airs de Cour... Second livre 1625, RISM
B3293, 162811, B3295. François Richard, Airs de cour... 1637, Anthoine Boësset,
Airs de cour... Seiziesme livre, 1643. Royal Library Mus. not. vis.
13. Unless otherwise specified the following biographic
information on the French lutenists has been taken from Kjellberg, E., Kungliga musiker i Sverige under
stormaktstiden... (Uppsala, 1979).
14. Ekeblad, J., Johan Ekeblads
bref utgifna av Nils Sjöberg. 1. Från Kristinas och Cromwells hof.
(Stockholm, 1911) p. 73.
15. Grönstedt, J., Svenska
hoffester I. ... (Stockholm, 1911) pp. 157 and 159.
16. Brossard, Y, op. cit., pp. 31 and 34.
17. Thrane, C., Fra
Hofviolonernes Tid. Skildringer af det Kongelige Kapels Historie 1648-1848. (Kopenhagen, 1908) p. 408.
18. Laurencie, L. de, Quelques luthistes français du XVIIe
siècle, in Revue de Musicologie 8/1923
pp. 145ff.
19. Rudén, J.O, Stormaktstidens 10 i topp, in Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning 58/1976 pp. 25-52.
19b. Ingers, E. Erik
Lindschöld – biografisk studie. Lund 1908, pp. 44-45 and 64. Also
cited by Hammarlund, A. Monsieur Mouton, lutan och civilisationsprocessen, Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning
88/2005.
19c. Kjellberg, E. Frankreich in Schweden. Ein Beitrag zur
Geschichte der musikalischen Migration im 17. Jahrhundert in Europa in Scandinavia. Kulturelle und
soziale Dialoge in der frühen Neuzeit. Studia septemtrionalia. Band 2. Frankfurt am
Main 1994 p.182. Also cited by Hammarlund, A. Monsieur Mouton, lutan och
civilisationsprocessen, Svensk tidskrift
för musikforskning 88/2005.
20. Ekholm, E. Samling til
et Svenskt musikaliskt Bibliothek... År
1779. A copy is in the Music Library of Sweden, Stockholm
21. Mouton, C., Pièces de luth sur différents modes. Premier
et deuxième livres. (Paris, 1698). In
the facsimile reprint, Génève, 1978, the correction made in the Bellman copy is
not mentioned in F. Lesure's introduction, nor is it reproduced.
21b. Hammarlund, A. Monsieur Mouton, lutan och
civilisationsprocessen, Svensk tidskrift
för musikforskning 88/2005, pp. 27-44. Hammarlund, A. Ett äventyr i staten. Carl Gustav Heraeus 1671-1725 Från Stockholm till
kejsarhovet i Wien. Stockholm 2003 pp. 101, 106-107
21c. Sparr, K., Remarks on an Unnoticed Seventeenth-Century French
Lute in Sweden, the Swedish Lute (Svenskluta or Swedish Theorbo) and
Conversions of Swedish Lutes, in the Galpin
Society Journal LXII April 2009, pp. 209-234
22. Sparr, K., Musik för luta i Kalmar. Tabulaturhandskriften KLM
21.072 i länsmuseet, in Kalmar län
1977, pp. 50-73.
22b.
Flöög, S. Sophia Lovisa von Ascheberg – Herre i sitt hus. Grevagården stenhuset i staden.
Blekingeboken 83/2005, p. 71.
23. Sparr, K., Israel Pourell - lutenist och
musikant i stormaktstidens Stockholm, in Gitarr
och Luta 25/1992 No. 2 pp. 49-57. Also on Internet as Israel Pourel - lutenist och musikant i
stormaktstidens Stockholm.
See
also Israel Pourel - Lutenist and Musician in 17th-Century Stockholm. Luths et luthistes en Occident - actes du colloque 13-15
mai 1998.
Paris 1999, pp. 217-233.
©
Kenneth Sparr