3. Historical Descriptions Regarding Right-hand Technique



3.1. Early Publications - "Thumb-in"

 

  One of the earliest explanations of technique for plucking the lute known today is the Capirola Lute Book (c. 1515.) “Most of the time there will be a succession of downward and upward strokes. Keep the thumb of the right hand under the second finger [in this case “second finger’ probably means “index’, counting the thumb as the first finger,] otherwise the two fingers, when plucking up and down will clash with each other.”20
Almost a hundred years later in England, Thomas Robinson explains the same technique as follows.


All the aforesaid had, both in memorie and practices (the houlding of your Lute, carrying of your hand, and sitting upright with your bodie, I mean) then (in the name of God) houlding the Lute (as is aforesaid) comelie with your thumb against your forefinger (as it were readie to stop, yet but onelie houlding your Lute then with the thumb of your right hand (houlding the rest of the fingers straight forth before your thumb) neither to neere the strings nor too farre off, begin to strike the first string downward with the thumb onelie, and also striking with your thumb behind your fingers lay: Base, Tenor, Contra-tenor, Great Meanes, Small means Treble. This done: then begin at the Trebles and so goe upward viz. backward, striking them string by string with your forefinger before your thumb, that is, houlding downe your thumb behind your fingers, and name them in order saying: Treble, Small Meanes, […] this doing so oft, downward and upward, nameing them, and also striking them with the thumb behind the fingers, that you have it most perfect and readie both in mind & fingers.21


Robinson continues to explain and gives exercise for this downward and upward movement and usage of fingers. This treatise by Robinson in the latest surviving example advocating only this technique. Adrian Le Roy also explains the technique of thumb plucking downward and other fingers upward. His instruction is probably the most detailed among description of this kind of plucking technique.

The thirtene Rule.

And to the ende thou shalte not bee abused by these termes, to strike dounewardes, to strike upwardes, or to gripe, you shall understande, to strike doune the strynges, is when the thombe plaieth alone, whiche striketh the stryng dounwarde, or lifte or strike upwardes, those be the fingers that striketh the strynges upwardes, when the letters be marked with poinctes or prickes to gripe, is when the thombe and the fingers plaie together, the whiche notwithstandyng, dooeth not leese their office to strike upwardes, or dounewardes, that is to saie, to strike dounewardes with the thombe, and upwardes with the fingers.22


       The explanations found in modern treatises regarding this technique, Thumb-in, is coherent and therefore understanding of this technique is the same everywhere today.


3.2. Going Out of Fashion


In his lecture, Eastwell introduces John Dowland’s “conversion to Thumb-out” by quoting from the Stobäus MS. Stobäus MS23 is of the most renowned treatises at present regarding the change in the fashion of plucking technique, written around 1619.24 This example of explanation shows that the notion of categorizing plucking techniques into two and of the change of their popularity did exist in this time.

1. On the Right Hand. The right hand is to be held close to the bridge, and the little finger firmly placed and held down. The thumb is to be stretched out strongly, so that it stands out almost as a limb [so that it stands out one knuckle] to the other fingers. The fingers are to be pulled cleanly inwards under the thumb, so that the sound resonates cleanly and strongly. The thumb is to be struck outwards, not inwards like the people in the past used to doand commonly the Dutch and old Germans. For it has been proved that it isfar better to strike the thumb outwards, it sounds purer, sharper, and brighter, the other sounds quite rotten and muffled. These famous lutenists used the thumb outside: In Germany: Gregorius Ruwet [=Huwet], Dowland the Englishman, who at first used his thumb the other way.25 In Italy: in Rome Laurencini, in Padua Hortensius. In France, Bocquet, Mercure the Pole, and many more. If you strike full chords, you use all four fingers [=three fingers + thumb]; for divisions, [play] sometimes with the thumb and index finger, sometimes with the index and middle finger, see below under Divisions.


It can be assumed from this text that the color of sound that was produced with this technique was very bright, and was favored by the people in the time. The author indicates this technique, where “the thumb is to be struck inwards”, is an old technique that was not popular at his time, except for Dutch and old German musicians. This fact can be observed also in one of the publications in Amsterdam by Nicholas Vallet (1583-1642).

Ende men moet vooral toesien dat men de strepen hier voren afgebeeld wel waarneme, want anders is het luijtslaenveel eer het gebayer der klocken gelijck. Men moet hem oock wachten van t'elckens den duijm te gebruijcken als men diminiueert, ende sonderlinge binnen shands gelijck veel onervarene noch huijden ten dage doen, 't welckeen oorsaeck is dat sij gansch geen gratie en hebben in 't spelen overmits sij gedwongen sijn geheel den arm, ende dickmaelsalle leden des lichaems te roeren al met eenderlij beweginge, sommige de tong uijt stekende ander makende een deelonaengename gebaerde 't welck een leelijcke ende belachelijke faut is want den duijm moet altijd opwaerts buijgen ende nietnederwaerts. Dit (seg ick) veroorsaeckt die beweginge van het gansche lichaem.26

And one should also refrain from using the thumb every time when one plays diminutions, and especially inside the hand like many inexperienced people these days, which has a cause in the fact that they don't have any grace in playing, therefore they are forced to move the whole arm and often all parts of the body, some sticking out the tongue, others make unpleasant movements which is an ugly and ridiculous mistake, because the thumb should always be bent upwards and not downwards. This, I say, causes that movement of the whole body. (Translation by Eva Euwe and Charlotte Munnik.)



From Vallet’s statement it can be assumed that, though he condemns it in this text, the technique with “the thumb always bent downwards” was indeed still used in the Netherlands in this time, as explained in the Stobäus MS. However, the last treatise that approves the usage of this “old technique” at all seems to be as early as 1610.

First, set your little finger on the belly of the Lute, not towards the rose, but a little lower, stretch out your Thombe with all the force you can, especially if thy Thombe be short, so that the other fingers may be carried in a manner of a fist, and let the Thombe be held higher then them, this in the beginning will be hard. Yet they which have a short Thombe may imitate those which strike the strings with the Thombe under the other fingers, which though it be nothing so elegant, yet to them it will be more easie.27


 This entire section of instruction for fingering in this book by Robert Dowland is attributed to “John Baptisto Besardo of Visonti,”28 and is a translation of Thesaurus Harmonicus by Jean-Baptiste Besard published in Cologne, 1603. Since Robert Dowland’s book is co-authored by his father, John Dowland, who made the switch of technique in the early 1590’s according to the Stobäus MS, it can be surmised that Thumb-in, the old technique, is advised to be limited for lute players with relatively short thumbs by three lutenists: Robert Dowland, John Dowland, and Besard. Considering only the explanations in the Stobäus MS and publications by Besard, the modern notion of categorizing plucking techniques into two ways may seem valid. On the other hand, with further observation of other treatises, this notion and the definition of Thumb-out become questionable.



3.3. More than "Thumb-out"


Eastwell advises in his lecture that the right-side fingertips should be used to pluck the strings. However, Marin Mersenne quotes a treatise by a lutenist by the name of Basset, and explains as follows.

Thirdly, the first finger which follows and which is called the Index ought to be far removed from the thumb, and the second and third, which are called Medius and Medicus ought to be quite close to the first and bend as close as possible to the little finger. In the fourth place, the little finger ought to be properly on the sounding board of the lute, close to the bridge and the treble string, since those who place it behind the said bridge contract a bad habit which changes later on into second nature (…) Now I have observed that one ought to show the upper part of the hand on the side of the little finger as well as on the side of the thumb, so that it is situated as we have just said, because the fingers ought all to be equally close to the strings. That is why I come to the use of the fingers, and first of all to that of the thumb, the joint of which close to its extreme it must not be flexed, because it is necessary that it be quite as extended as if it were without bending, since one could not easily play the tenth string at the same time one plays the fourth, because for the great distance which would exist from the thumb to the tenth, if one had it bent while touching the fourth string. The first finger next to the thumb and which ought nevertheless to be quite far when one uses it, ought to play the strings by the corner of the tip nearest to the thumb rather than the middle; this must be carefully observed so that its action may be free to pluck or strike again the strings. Now when one plays only a single string with the first finger, it must be released from below while holding the fingertip quite firm. But when three or four are played, as occurs often, the tip must be held more loosely so that the finger be able to run more easily over the strings to be released or beaten. As to the second and third fingers, they must also lift the strings from below; and when they are not used they must be supported loosely next to the little finger. The hand being held in this way, one must take care, while making the fingers operate, that the upper part of the hand is not thrown outwards, so that one can see that the hand is working only through the movement of the fingers.29


From this explanation by Basset, it can be deduced that different ways of playing existed concurrently with the plucking technique with a stretched out thumb - the way to pluck with the middle part of the index fingertip, and the way to pluck with the corner of the index fingertip close to the thumb. Basset advocates plucking with the fingertip that is close to the thumb so that the fingers can be free to pluck the strings again. He also stresses that it is important to have the back of the hand not tilted in either way, and he explains that this is in order to haveall fingers equally close to the strings, showing “the upper part of the hand on the side of the little finger as well as on the side of the thumb.” He repeats his point by writing “the upper part of the hand is not thrown outwards.” Thus, it can be reasoned that there were also differences of whether or not to have the back of the hand pivot or tilt downwards. As a matter of fact, the angle of the back of the hand is what influenced the point of contact on the fingertips with the strings. The more the back of the hand is pivoted downwards, or in Basset’s words, thrown outwards, the point of contact on the index fingertips pivots closer to the little-finger side; in other words, the right-side. Alessandro Piccinini had a similar suggestion:

To learn to hold the right hand well, make a fist and then open it a little until the fingers are touching the strings. The thumb should be stretched out and the little finger position on the belly, where it will stay. The thumb, which should not have a very long nail, moves in this way: When you play a string, move the thumb toward the belly so that is falls on the lower adjacent string and keep it there until it has to pluck again. […] The other three fingers, i.e., the index, middle, and ring, ought to have somewhat longer fingernails. The nails should just pass beyond the flesh and be oval-shaped: that is, longer in the middle than at the sides. When you play a chord or a single string, touch the string with the tip of the flesh and push it towards the belly, letting the nail glide over both strings. This makes a beautiful sound, because you play both stings of the pair. Always play two strings together with the thumb and middle finger, except when there is a dot under a chord in the upper strings, then use the index and middle fingers. […] To do groppi and tirate in the ordinary way, you must stretch out the thumb holding the index finger under it at the right angles (come una croce). The middle and ring fingers should be stretched out but not rigid. In order not to tire the arm, use little movement of the fingers that play the tirata.30


 Making a fist and opening the hand till they touch the strings – no tilting or pivoting of the hand involved – and plucking toward the belly with the tips of the fingers will result in the same position explained by Basset, with fingertips closer to the thumb touching the strings. Piccinini’s explained technique for playing runs (groppi and tirate) is exactly figueta, but the thumb remains outside of the hand, unlike Thumb-in. Later in the preface, Piccinini advises that the thumb should not jump to the bass courses during these runs, and explains other techniques for this purpose (id est slurs and another technique where only the index finger is used to pluck the strings). This discourages Serdoura’s position that figueta became obsolete at the end of the 16th century. The same argument can be made from the preface by Nicholas Vallet, which I mentioned earlier.
Rarely found in lute treatises is explanation for the usage of nails as specific as Piccinini’s. Nevertheless there are other sources that support this practice while not encouraging it, such as Thomas Mace31 and Mary Burwell Lute Tutor.32 This goes against the norm today, as most lute player play without nails. While Piccinini states that producing metallic sounds on the lute by plucking with the tip of the nails around the bridge is delightful, Mace’s reason for choosing to pluck without nails is the sweet sound that it produces. Whether this difference is due to their difference of taste, technique or the way their instrument is set up is a broader subject for another time. Another little known aspect of lute plucking explained in Burwell Lute Tutor is that bass courses strung in octaves are not necessarily always plucked together. "Sometimes we do strike only the great bass and sometimes only the octaves; for all basses are compounded of two strings, a great one and a little one. This is only done in a gallantry."33 These points illustrate how original practice and modern norms diverge, and how important it is to revisit diversity of historical technique, not just accuracy, in order to recreate it.

For example, Mary Burwell Lute Book34 and Ernst Gottlieb Baron35 both mention for the baroque lute that the right hand should be held as an arch with the thumb stretched from the hand. The meaning of this arch is ambiguous, but it can be observed from the portrait of Baron that the back of his hand is not tilted, and can be thus speculated that Baron’s way of playing is close to the way explained by Piccinini and Basset (see painting in chapter 5.2.). Nonetheless, there are differences between explanations by Piccinini, Basset and Baron as well. Baron instructs to place the little finger behind the bridge where the thinnest string is36, while Basset is against this as it can be seen in the quote above. Piccinini’s suggestion is to place it between the rose and the bridge, somewhat towards the bridge. Both Piccinini and Baron allow the position of the little finger to change – around the bridge to achieve silvery tone, and for sweet sound between the rose and the bridge.37  
To summarize, studying these primary sources reveals that while Thumb-in did indeed become unpopular at one point in the history of lute playing, it did not have a singular successor but several. Therefore, it can be argued that these two terms, Thumb-in and Thumb-out can be misleading, as they cannot be used equally in the same context. While Thumb-in refers to one particular technique that has been well researched and established today, Thumb-out is an umbrella term for a variety of approaches following it. This entire category of techniques that succeeded Thumb-in has great potential for further research and revelation.  

20Federico Marincola. 1998. “Vincenzo Capirola and his Lute Book – 1517.” The LuteBot Quarterly: the Free Electronic Lute Journal. Issue 1. (Winter): http://www.marincola.com/lutebot.html

21Thomas Robinson, The Schoole of Musicke (London: 1603), p. B ij.

22Adrian le Roy, A Brief and Plaine Instruction to Set All Musicke of Eight Divers Tunes in Tablature for the Lute (London: 1574), p. 65-66.

23Eastwell 2012, p. 17.

24Martin Shepherd, Dowland’s Lute (2008), accessed February 18th,2018. http://www.johndowland.co.uk/DowlandsLutes.html

25Eastwell 2012, p. 17. “This must refer to the time Dowland, spent at the court of the Landgrave of Hesse during his travels between 1594 and 1596.”

26Nicholas Vallet, preface to Secretum Musarum (Amsterdam: 1615).

27Dowland 1610, p. 9.

28Dowland 1610, p. 3.

29Marin Mersenne, Harmonie Universelle: Libre 1 de (Paris: [1636]1957).

30Stanley Buetens, “The Instructions of Alessandro Piccinini.”Journal of the Lute Society of America, Inc. 2 (1969): p. 6-17.

31Thomas Mace, Musicke’s Monuemnt (London: T. Ratcliffe & N. Thompson, 1676), p.79.

32Thurston Dart, “Miss Mary Burwell’s Instruction,”The Galpin Society Journal, Vol.11,(May 1958): p. 24. Also,Mary or Elizabeth Burwell. The Burwell Lute Tutor,c. 1660-1672.MS. Owned by Capt. Anthony Hamond, Ingham, Norwich, fols. 34 - 34v. Reprint: Boethius Press, 1974. 

33 Thurston Dart, 1958, p. 33.

34Thurston Dart, 1958, p. 23.

35 Ernst. G. Baron, Study of the Lute by Ernst Gottlieb Baron, trans. by Douglas Alton Smith (California: 1976,) 1727, p. 121-122. Also, Historisch […] Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten (Nürnberg: Johann Friederich Rüdger, 1727).

36 Baron, (trans. Smith,) 1727 (1976), p. 121.

37 Baron, (trans. Smith,) 1727 (1976), p. 122, and Buetens, 1969, p. 9 and p. 11.