A lute ( / lj uː t / or / l uː t / ) is a string instrument that has a neck and a deep, round back that holds a hollow space. It usually has a sound hole or opening in the body. A lute can have frets (raised lines on the neck) or not have frets.

The word "lute" often refers to a type of instrument from the European lute family. These lutes were influenced by older lutes from Gandhara (now part of Pakistan), which later became the basis for the Islamic, Sino-Japanese, and European lute families. The term "lute" can also describe any string instrument with a neck where the strings run parallel to the sound table, as classified in the Hornbostel–Sachs system.

The strings of a lute are attached to pegs or posts at the end of the neck. These pegs have a turning mechanism that allows the player to adjust the string tension. Tightening the strings raises the pitch, while loosening them lowers the pitch. Each string is tuned to a specific note. One hand plucks the strings, while the other hand presses the strings on the neck’s fingerboard. By pressing the strings at different points, the player changes the length of the vibrating string, which creates higher or lower pitches.

The European lute and the modern Near-Eastern oud share a common ancestor but evolved separately over time. The lute was used in many types of music from the Medieval to the late Baroque periods and was the most important instrument for secular music during the Renaissance. In the Baroque era, the lute was one of the instruments used to play basso continuo parts. It also accompanied vocal music. A lute player may improvise a chordal accompaniment based on a figured bass part or play a written-out accompaniment. Both standard notation and tablature ("tab") are used for lute music.

The lute is a small instrument that produces a quiet sound. A person who plays the lute is called a lutenist, lutanist, or lutist. A person who makes lutes or similar string instruments is called a luthier.

Etymology

The words "lute" and "oud" may come from the Arabic term "al-ʿoud" (العود), which literally means "the wood." This term could refer to the wooden plectrum used to play the oud, the thin wooden strips that make up the back of the instrument, or the wooden soundboard that sets the oud apart from similar instruments with bodies made of skin.

Many theories explain the origin of the Arabic name "oud." Music scholar Eckhard Neubauer suggested that "oud" might come from the Persian word "rōd" or "rūd," which means "string." Another researcher, archaeomusicologist Richard J. Dumbrill, proposed that "rud" came from the Sanskrit word "rudrī" (रुद्री), meaning "string instrument," and later spread to Arabic and European languages through a Semitic language. Another theory, supported by scholars of Semitic languages, states that the Arabic "ʿoud" comes from the Syriac word "ʿoud-a," meaning "wooden stick" or "burning wood," which is related to the Biblical Hebrew word "ūḏ," referring to a stick used to stir logs in a fire. Henry George Farmer noted the similarity between "al-ʿūd" and "al-ʿawda," which means "the return" of bliss.

History and evolution of the lute

Curt Sachs described the lute in The History of Musical Instruments as "composed of a body, and of a neck which serves both as a handle and as a means of stretching the strings beyond the body." His definition focused on the body and neck, not how the strings were played. Because of this, the fiddle was considered a "bowed lute." Sachs also separated lutes into two types: long-necked and short-necked. The short-necked variety included many modern instruments, such as lutes, guitars, hurdy-gurdies, and the entire family of viols and violins.

Long lutes were older types of lutes. The "Arabic tanbūr" kept the appearance of ancient lutes from Babylonia and Egypt. Sachs grouped long lutes into two categories: "pierced lutes" and "long-necked lutes." A pierced lute had a neck made from a stick that went through the body, like the ancient Egyptian long-neck lutes and the modern African gunbrī.

The long lute had a neck attached to the body and included instruments like the sitar, tanbur, and tar. The dutār had two strings, the setār had three, the čārtār had four, the pančtār had five.

Sachs's book was published in 1941. At that time, the oldest lutes were thought to date to about 2000 BC. Later discoveries showed that lutes existed as early as around 3100 BC.

Musicologist Richard Dumbrill uses the word "lute" to describe ancient instruments that existed long before the term was used. In his book The Archaeomusicology of the Ancient Near East, Dumbrill documented evidence of lutes in Mesopotamia from before 3000 BC. He pointed to a cylinder seal, now in the British Museum, which shows a woman playing a stick "lute" around 3100 BC or earlier. Like Sachs, Dumbrill used length to classify lutes, dividing Mesopotamian lutes into long and short types. His book focused on long lutes from Mesopotamia and other ancient cultures, such as Indian, Greek, Egyptian, Iranian, Jewish/Israelite, Hittite, Roman, Bulgar, Turkic, Chinese, and Armenian/Cilician. He named the pandura and tanbur as examples of long lutes.

Short-necked lutes were developed further east in Bactria and Gandhara, becoming almond-shaped. Sachs noted that Gandharan lutes appeared in art with "Northwest Indian art" influenced by Greek styles. These lutes had a pear-shaped body, a short neck, a stringholder in front, pegs on the sides, and either four or five strings.

Bactria and Gandhara became part of the Sasanian Empire (224–651). A short almond-shaped lute from Bactria was called the barbat or barbud, which later became the oud or ud in the Islamic world. When the Moors conquered Andalusia in 711, they brought the oud to Spain, where lutes had already been known from the Roman pandura.

During the 8th and 9th centuries, many musicians from the Islamic world moved to Iberia. One was Abu l-Hasan 'Ali Ibn Nafi', who added a fifth string to his oud and helped establish a music school in Córdoba.

By the 11th century, Muslim Iberia became a center for instrument-making. These instruments spread to Provence, influencing French troubadours and eventually reaching the rest of Europe. While Europe developed the lute, the oud remained central to Arab and Ottoman music, changing over time.

The lute was introduced to Spain by the Moors and also reached Europe through Sicily, where it was brought by Byzantine or Muslim musicians. The lute appears in ceiling paintings in Palermo's Cappella Palatina, built by Norman King Roger II in 1140. His grandson, Frederick II, continued inviting Muslim musicians to his court. By the 14th century, lutes had spread throughout Italy and into German-speaking lands. By 1500, the Lech valley and Füssen had lute-making families, and the area became known for producing famous lutes in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Although the short lute entered Western Europe, it also spread to the East. As early as the 6th century, the Bulgars brought the komuz, a short-necked lute, to the Balkans.

Medieval lutes had four or five courses (groups of strings) and were played with a quill. There were many sizes, and by the Renaissance, seven sizes were recorded. The lute was mainly used to accompany songs in the Middle Ages, but few written pieces from before 1500 survive. Medieval and Renaissance accompaniments were likely improvised, which explains the lack of records.

In the late 15th century, lutenists began plucking the lute with their fingers instead of a quill. The number of courses increased to six and beyond. The lute became the leading solo instrument in the 16th century but still accompanied singers.

Around 1500, Iberian lutenists used the vihuela de mano, a viol-shaped instrument tuned like the lute. This instrument spread to parts of Italy under Spanish control, where it was called the viola da mano.

By the end of the Renaissance, the lute had ten courses. During the Baroque era, the number grew to 14 (and sometimes 19). These instruments had up to 35 strings and required structural changes. The archlute, theorbo, and torban had long extensions for bass strings, which were played open (without pressing them against the neck). "The lute is a very fragile instrument, so although many old lutes survive, few have their original soundboards and are playable."

Construction

Lutes are mostly made of wood. The soundboard is a thin, flat, teardrop-shaped piece of resonant wood, usually spruce. All lutes have a single (sometimes triple) decorated sound hole under the strings called the rose. The sound hole is not open but covered with a grille shaped like a vine or knot, carved directly from the soundboard wood.

The soundboard's shape is complex. It has a system of bars placed perpendicular to the strings at specific points along the soundboard's length. The ends of the bars are angled to meet the ribs on either side for strength. Robert Lundberg, in his book Historical Lute Construction, suggests ancient builders used whole-number ratios of the scale length and soundboard length to place the bars. He also notes that the inward curve of the soundboard, called the "belly scoop," was intentionally designed to give the lutenist's right hand more space between the strings and soundboard.

The soundboard's thickness usually ranges from 1.5 to 2 mm (0.06–0.08 in). Some luthiers adjust the soundboard's weight and bracing during construction to improve sound quality. The soundboard is rarely finished, but in some cases, a thin layer of shellac or glair is applied to keep it clean. The soundboard connects directly to the rib without a lining. A cap and counter cap are glued to the inside and outside of the bowl's bottom end to add strength and improve the glue surface.

After attaching the soundboard to the sides, a half-binding is added around the soundboard's edge. The half-binding is about half the thickness of the soundboard and made of a contrasting wood. The groove for the half-binding must be precise to maintain the instrument's structure.

The back or shell is made from thin strips of hardwood (such as maple, cherry, ebony, rosewood, gran, or other tonewoods) called ribs. These are glued together edge to edge to form the lute's rounded body. Braces inside the soundboard provide strength.

The neck is made of light wood with a veneer of hardwood (usually ebony) for durability on the fretboard. Unlike most modern stringed instruments, the lute's fretboard sits flush with the top. Before the Baroque era, lute pegboxes were angled back from the neck at nearly 90°, likely to help keep low-tension strings firmly against the nut. The nut is not glued but held in place by string pressure. Tuning pegs are simple hardwood pegs, slightly tapered, held in place by friction in holes drilled through the pegbox.

The wood used for pegs is important because it changes size with age and humidity. It must stay round to function properly, as there are no gears or mechanical aids for tuning. Pegs were often made from stable fruitwoods like European pearwood. Matheson, around 1720, wrote, "If a lute-player has lived eighty years, he has surely spent sixty years tuning."

The bridge, sometimes made of fruitwood, is attached to the soundboard between a fifth and a seventh of the soundboard's length. It has holes for strings to attach directly, instead of a separate saddle. The bridge tapers, with the narrow end holding the higher-pitched strings and the wider end holding the lower-pitched strings. Bridges are often painted black with carbon black in a binder, such as shellac, and may have carved decorations. Decorations on lute bridges are part of the bridge itself, unlike some Renaissance guitars.

Frets are loops of gut tied around the neck. They wear out over time and need to be replaced. Some lutes have extra wooden frets glued to the body to allow playing higher notes, though this practice is debated. Many luthiers prefer gut strings over nylon because they fit better around the sharp edge of the fingerboard.

Historically, lute strings were made of animal gut, often from sheep intestines, sometimes with metal. They are still made of gut or synthetic substitutes, with metal windings on lower strings. Modern manufacturers make both gut and nylon strings, which are both commonly used. Gut strings are more authentic for historical music but are less stable in pitch due to humidity changes. Nylon strings are more stable but sound different from older gut strings. These differences are less important when playing newer compositions.

Catlines, used as bass strings on historical lutes, are multiple gut strings wound together and soaked in metal solutions to increase their weight. They are thicker than modern nylon bass strings and produce a slightly different sound.

Lute strings are grouped into courses, each with two strings. The highest-pitched course usually has only one string, called the chanterelle. In later Baroque lutes, two upper courses are single strings. Courses are numbered starting from the highest pitch, so the chanterelle is the first course, the next pair is the second course, and so on. An 8-course Renaissance lute has 15 strings, and a 13-course Baroque lute has 24.

Courses are tuned in unison for high and mid-range pitches, but for lower pitches, one string is tuned an octave higher. This tuning pattern changed over time. The two strings of a course are usually played together as a single string, though some pieces require them to be played separately. The lute's design makes it very light for its size.

Lute in the modern world

The lute became popular again when people started showing more interest in historical music around 1900 and throughout the 20th century. This revival was further supported by the early music movement in the 20th century. Important people who helped bring the lute back into use include Julian Bream, Hans Neemann, Walter Gerwig, Suzanne Bloch, and Diana Poulton. Today, lute performances are common, and there are many professional lutenists, especially in Europe, where most jobs for lutenists are found. Composers are also creating new music for the lute.

In the early years of the early music movement, many lutes were made by luthiers who usually specialized in classical guitars. These lutes had heavy construction similar to classical guitars, with features like fan bracing, thick tops, fixed frets, and lined sides. These features were not used in historical lutes. As knowledge about lute making grew, makers began creating instruments based on older designs, which turned out to be lighter and more responsive.

Lutes made today are usually copies or very similar to historical lutes that are kept in museums or private collections. Many are custom-made, but more luthiers are now selling lutes for general use. There is a small but growing market for used lutes. Because the market is limited, lutes are generally more expensive than mass-produced modern instruments like guitars and violins. For example, factory-made guitars and violins can be bought for less than basic lutes, while high-quality guitars and violins often cost more than high-quality lutes.

Today, there are many different types of lutes. These include 5-course medieval lutes, Renaissance lutes with 6 to 10 courses in various pitches for solo and group performances, Baroque archlutes, 11-course lutes in d-minor tuning for 17th-century French, German, and Czech music, 13/14-course d-minor tuned German Baroque lutes for later Baroque and Classical music, theorbo lutes for bass parts in Baroque ensembles, and other types like gallichons, mandoras, bandoras, orpharions, and others.

In recent years, lute playing has improved greatly because of many skilled lutenists, such as Rolf Lislevand, Hopkinson Smith, Paul O'Dette, Christopher Wilke, Andreas Martin, Robert Barto, Eduardo Egüez, Edin Karamazov, Nigel North, Christopher Wilson, Luca Pianca, Yasunori Imamura, Anthony Bailes, Peter Croton, Xavier Diaz-Latorre, Evangelina Mascardi, and Jakob Lindberg. Singer-songwriter Sting has also played the lute and archlute, sometimes working with Edin Karamazov. In the 1970s, Jan Akkerman, a guitarist in the Dutch rock band Focus, released two albums of lute music. Lutenist and composer Jozef van Wissem created the soundtrack for the Jim Jarmusch film Only Lovers Left Alive.

Repertoire

Lutes were widely used in Europe by the 13th century, and records mention many early musicians and composers. However, the oldest lute music that still exists today comes from the late 15th century. Lute music became very popular during the 16th and 17th centuries, with many composers publishing their works. Scholars have found many manuscripts from this time, but much of the music is still missing. By the second half of the 17th century, lutes and similar instruments became less popular, and little lute music was written after 1750. Interest in lute music returned in the second half of the 20th century.

Making up music on the spot was an important part of lute performances, so much of the music was never written down. Around 1500, lute players began plucking the strings instead of using a plectrum. This change allowed for more complex music, which required the development of notation. Over the next 100 years, three types of tablature notation developed: Italian (used in Spain), German, and French. Only the French style lasted until the late 17th century. The earliest known tablatures were for a six-stringed lute, though earlier four- and five-stringed lutes existed. Tablature notation depends on the instrument it is written for. To read it, a musician must know the instrument’s tuning and number of strings.

Renaissance and Baroque lute music is similar to keyboard music from those times. Many lute pieces were based on vocal music or dances, some of which disappeared by the 17th century, like the piva and saltarello. The development of polyphony (music with multiple melodies) led to the creation of fantasias, which are complex and intricate. Improvisation was common in lute music, especially in early ricercares (which were not imitative) and preludes. By the 17th century, lute and keyboard music were closely connected, and by 1700, lutenists were writing dance suites similar to those of keyboard composers. The lute was also used in ensembles, especially in songs with voice and lute, which were popular in Italy and England.

The oldest surviving lute music is Italian, from a late 15th-century manuscript. In the early 16th century, Petrucci published lute music by Francesco Spinacino and Joan Ambrosio Dalza, along with the Capirola Lutebook, which marked the start of written lute music in Italy. Francesco Canova da Milano (1497–1543) was a famous lute composer known for his fantasias and ricercares, which used imitation and sequences to expand lute polyphony. In the early 17th century, Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger and Alessandro Piccinini changed how the lute was played, and Kapsberger may have influenced keyboard music by Girolamo Frescobaldi.

French lute music began with Pierre Attaingnant’s prints, which included preludes, dances, and intabulations. Albert de Rippe, an Italian composer who worked in France, created complex polyphonic fantasias. His pupil, Guillaume de Morlaye, published his work but did not continue the complex style. French lute music declined in the late 16th century, but changes to the instrument, like new tunings, led to the style brisé (broken, arpeggiated textures) in the Baroque period. This style influenced Johann Jakob Froberger. French Baroque composers included Ennemond Gaultier, Denis Gaultier, and François Dufaut. Robert de Visée (c. 1655–1732/3) created suites that fully used the lute’s capabilities.

German lute music began with Arnolt Schlick, who published a collection of lute and voice songs in 1513. Conrad Paumann is sometimes credited with creating German tablature, but no works by him survive. After Schlick, composers like Hans Judenkünig and the Neusidler family developed German lute music. By the late 16th century, German tablature and music were replaced by Italian and French styles. The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) stopped lute publications for 50 years. German lute music was revived later by Esaias Reusner, and a distinct German style emerged in the works of Silvius Leopold Weiss (1686–1750), whose music was transcribed for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach.

In England, lute music began around 1540, and John Dowland (1563–1626) was the most famous lutenist. His music influenced German keyboard composers long after his death. In Spain, composers wrote for the vihuela, creating polyphonic fantasias and differencias (variations). Luys Milan and Luys de Narváez were important in developing lute polyphony in Spain.

Bálint Bakfark, a Hungarian composer, created highly complex contrapuntal fantasias that were more difficult than those of his European peers.

Ottorino Respighi’s orchestral suites, Ancient Airs and Dances, are based on 16th- and 17th-century lute music transcribed by Oscar Chilesotti. These include eight pieces from a German manuscript now in a private library in northern Italy.

20th century revival and composers

In the 20th century, people began playing the lute again because of Arnold Dolmetsch (1858–1940). He studied old music and instruments, which helped start a movement to play music as it was originally written. This revival gave composers new chances to write music for the lute.

One of the first composers to do this was Johann Nepomuk David in Germany. In the USSR, Vladimir Vavilov helped bring the lute back to popularity. He also created many musical tricks. Sandor Kallos and Toyohiko Satoh used modern styles in their lute music. Elena Kats-Chernin, Jozef van Wissem, and Alexandre Danilevsky used simple and basic styles. Roman Turovsky-Savchuk, Paulo Galvão, and Robert MacKillop used styles based on historical music. Ronn McFarlane used a new type of music called New Age.

These musicians inspired others in many areas. For example, in 1980, Akira Ifukube, a composer known for writing music for Godzilla movies, created a piece called Fantasia for Baroque Lute. He used old musical notes called tablature instead of the modern system.

Tuning conventions

Lutes were made in many different sizes and had varying numbers of strings, called courses. There was no single standard for tuning them. However, during the Renaissance, the tenor lute with six courses was usually tuned in a way similar to a tenor viol. The intervals between the courses were mostly perfect fourths, except between the third and fourth courses, which had a major third. The tenor lute was often tuned "in G," meaning the highest course was tuned to G. This created the pattern (G'G) (Cc) (FF) (AA) (dd) (g) from the lowest to the highest course. Many Renaissance lute pieces can be played on a guitar by lowering the guitar’s third string by a half tone.

Lutes with more than six courses added extra courses on the low end. Because of the many strings, lutes had wide necks, and it was hard to stop strings beyond the sixth course. Additional courses were usually tuned to lower pitches useful for bass notes rather than continuing the pattern of fourths. These lower courses were often played without stopping. An 8-course tenor lute was tuned (D'D) (F'F) (G'G) (Cc) (FF) (AA) (dd) (g), and a 10-course lute was tuned (C'C) (D'D) (E♭'E♭) (F'F) (G'G) (Cc) (FF) (AA) (dd) (g).

These tuning patterns were not always followed strictly. Modern lutenists sometimes retuned one or more courses between pieces. Some manuscripts included instructions for players, such as "7 chœur en fa," meaning the seventh course was tuned to F in the standard C scale.

The early 17th century saw major changes in lute tuning, especially in France. French lutenists experimented with new tuning schemes to explore the instrument’s expressive potential. These tunings are now called transitional tunings or Accords nouveaux ("new tunings" in French). They mark the shift from Renaissance tunings to the later Baroque d-minor tuning.

French lutenists increased the number of major or minor thirds between open strings on the 10-course lute. This created a richer sound and more sympathetic vibrations. It led to new musical styles and techniques, such as the Style brisé ("broken style"). Manuscripts from the early 17th century show these tunings became popular across Europe.

Two common transitional tunings were "sharp" and "flat" tunings. On a 10-course lute, the sharp tuning reads: C, D, E, F, G, C, F, A, C, E. The flat tuning reads: C, Db, Eb, F, G, C, F, Ab, C, Eb.

By around 1670, the "Baroque" or "D minor" tuning became the standard in France and parts of Europe. In this tuning, the first six courses formed a d-minor triad, and additional courses were tuned in scale order below them. A 13-course lute, like the one used by composer Sylvius Leopold Weiss, was tuned (A″A') (B″B') (C'C) (D'D) (E'E) (F'F) (G'G) (A'A') (DD) (FF) (AA) (d) (f), with sharps or flats on the lower courses depending on the key of the piece.

Today, modern lutenists use various pitch standards, ranging from A = 392 to 470 Hz, depending on the instrument, repertoire, and other factors. During the lute’s historical popularity, no universal pitch standard existed. Pitch standards changed over time and varied by region.

Varieties

Some instruments in the lute family are:

• Banjo
• Kwitra
• Masenqo
• Ngoni
• Xalam
• Akonting

South American Lutes : /think