The Diary of Samuel Pepys

Daily entries from the 17th century London diary

Theorbo

1893 text

The theorbo was a bass lute. Having gut strings it was played with the fingers. There is a humorous comparison of the long waists of ladies, which came into fashion about 1621, with the theorbo, by Bishop Corbet:

She was barr’d up in whale-bones, that did leese
None of the whale’s length, for they reached her knees;
Off with her head, and then she hath a middle
As her waste stands, just like the new found fiddle,
The favourite Theorbo, truth to tell ye,
Whose neck and throat are deeper than the belly.

Corbet, ‘Iter Boreale’.

7 Annotations

Roger Miller   Link to this

Some more information about the theorbo and a picture.

http://www.silvius.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/pmlute/...

Derek   Link to this

For more detailed information on the theorbo, see:

http://www.vanedwar.macunlimited.net/spencer/ht...

Sam Sampson   Link to this

David Van Edwards, UK Luthier
A Catalogue of Theorbos which he makes.
http://www.vanedwards.co.uk/three.htm
Part of his extensive Lute site.

David   Link to this

The up-to-date URL for the Robert Spencer article on theorbos etc is: http://www.vanedwards.co.uk/spencer/html/index....

Krzysztof   Link to this

I would recommend this version of Spencer

Sandra-Lynne Wadsworth   Link to this

Audio link to beautiful theorbo music played by Matthew Wadsworth

(14 Silver Strings - Music by Kapsberger and Piccinini)

http://www.matthewwadsworth.com/recordings.htm#...

Paul Chapin   Link to this

Last Friday night I had the rare opportunity to hear a theorbo in concert performance. It was one of four instruments accompanying the Santa Fe Desert Chorale in the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610. The theorbist was John Lenti, a student of Nigel North.

The instrument sounds much like a lute, but with a fuller sound and of course deeper bass notes, owing to its extra set of long bass strings. I was taken with its great length. It looked to be nearly six feet long. David Van Edwards' catalog, linked above, lists theorbos of up to 178 cm, or five feet ten inches. A photo of one beside a man (Nigel North) to give scale is at
http://www.nigelnorth.com/pictures/xl/trans2.jpg

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