A Short History of The Cittern

A Short History of the Cittern
Author(s): Ephraim Segerman

Source: The Galpin Society Journal , Apr., 1999, Vol. 52 (Apr., 1999), pp. 77-107
Published by: Galpin Society
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EPHRAIM SEGERMAN
A Short History of the C

THIS is called 'a history' because it is possible that somewhat different
histories can be written with different speculative linking assump-
tions where clear evidence is lacking. It is called 'short' because it is
much shorter than the book that this subject deserves. What is missing is
information about composers, players, their music and special tunings,
makers and variations in instrument design (including extended-range
instruments), instruction manuals and the many appropriate illustrations
of instruments and of repertoire.
The very first Galpin Society Journal about half a century ago
included the article 'The Cittern and its English Music' by Thurston
Dart.1 Its impact was enormous, inspiring many, including myself, to
explore playing the cittern as best we could. At the time, it was not very
difficult to find 'citterns' to play on since, as Dart wrote: 'specimens [are]
often seen in antique shops at the present day'. It was known that these
surviving instruments were called 'English guitars' in the late 18th and
early 19th centuries when they were made, but they were also called
'citterns' as a generic name.
The English guitar seemed to be a reasonable instrument with which
to try out the c.1600 English repertoire that Dart so attractively
described, since it was about the same size as (though somewhat wider
and deeper and a bit shorter than) the most common 16th- and 17th-
century surviving citterns in museums and those that appear in the
paintings. Experiments in stringing established that this repertoire
sounded well when the highest course was tuned to e'. Dart assumed that
this was the historically correct size and pitch for playing that music, as
everyone else did.
Since then, a controversy has arisen about whether that surviving great
flowering of English solo and Consort repertoire from 1580 to 1620 for
an Italian-tuning 4-course cittern was written for the size and pitch level
of the cittern-tuned English guitar, or whether it was written for the size
and pitch level of the smaller English cittern depicted and discussed by
Praetorius.
Cittern history has been dogged by controversies. Another one has

been about whether the cittern's medieval ancestor, the citole, derived
from the early medieval plucked fiddle or from near-eastern instruments
with small bodies and long necks that had little non-functional wings
1 T. Dart, 'The Cittern and its English Music', GSJ I (1947), pp.46-63.
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(reminiscent of lyres) sprouting from the place where the neck met the
body. A third controversy, was concerned with which medieval
instrument shapes were associated with the names 'gittern' and 'citole'.
This one is discussed below under the title 'Mistaken identity', while the
other two are discussed in the Appendix.
Before each controversy, everyone accepted the same theory. It was the
first explanation of the evidence that made sense, it was supported by
good evidence, and there appeared to be no viable alternatives at the
time. Then a researcher proposed a new and different theory and
introduced evidence that had previously not been considered. The new
theory claimed to explain all the available evidence much more
comprehensively than the old theory, and thus advanced the study of the
instrument. Controversy then ensued between the few who could
confirm this by being able to compare objectively the fidelity of both
theories with the evidence, and the many who did not find the new
evidence and new theory convincing enough to dislodge the long-
standing belief in the original theory.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF INSTRUMENTS WITH

FINGERBOARDS, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE CITOLE
The earliest fingerboard instrument we know of was what we call

'long lute' (it was called various names, including 'pandoura', at differ
times and places). It usually had a body made of a natural object such
gourd or turtle shell. The soundboard was often of skin, and the n
was a piece of wood plugged into two holes in the body, or just one h
with the end held between cross-bars and the skin. Neck length past
body was much greater than the body length. It commonly had tw
strings, though occasionally later instruments had more. The earlie
evidence of it is from before the second millennium BC in Syria. Su
instruments were common in ancient Egyptian culture but rar
ancient Greek and Roman culture. In Europe, the long lute nev
became more than a folk instrument in peripheral countries. Europe
descendants include the Greek bouzouki and the Turkish saz, as well
the Renaissance south-Italian colascione.
The next fingerboard instrument to appear was what we call the 'short
lute'. It was apparently also invented in Asia. There are several isolated
sightings of it in the iconography covering a long period in times BC (see
The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, ed. S. Sadie (London, 1984)
'Lute' entry, Fig. 4(c)), but it starts to appear with some frequency after
the beginning of the new millennium. By then, it was tuned by tuning
pegs, an invention not many centuries old. The rounded body, neck and
pegblock (into which the pegs were inserted from the front) were carved
out of one block of wood. A smooth tapering curve blended the shape of
the body into the shorter neck. At any point along the body and neck,
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the depth was not very different from the width. The body length was
much greater than the width. It had 3 to 5 strings plucked with a large
plectrum.
During the first half of the first millennium AD, two expansions in the
structure of the short lute created new classes of instruments with lower
frequencies of resonance. One just widened the body leaving the back
nearly flat, mainly lowering the resonance pitches of the soundboard.
The other both widened and deepened the body, lowering the resonance
pitches of both the soundboard and the enclosed air. Since the neck did
not expand as well, the differentiation between the neck and body
became much clearer with these modifications. The neck length
remained shorter than the body length.
The short lute that was both widened and deepened was the
aristocratic Persian 'barbat', which had four single or double courses of
silk strings tuned in fourths. The Arabs soon adopted it as their 'ud'. If it
were carved out of wood, its body size would have made it heavy, so at
least in its Arabic form, the body was lighter by being made of thin bent
staves, like a boat (with carvel construction), glued together. Late in the
first millennium, the Arabs replaced the pegblock with a pegbox and
lateral (inserted sideways) pegs. They did the same to the original-design
short lute, which was called 'qitara' in North Africa west of Egypt. By
then, they had replaced large plectra for plucking by quills. In the second
half of the 13th century, the qitara, as the 'quitarre' (or guitar), and the
'ud', as the 'lute', were adopted in Christian Europe.
The short lute that was only widened first appeared in central Asia.2
The construction remained the same as the original short lute, but a
wider plank was needed to carve it from. Both the original and the
widened short lute seem to have come to Europe together. There were
no indigenous fingerboard instruments before they came. Evidence of
their use in Europe dates from about the 8th century.3 These instruments
(still plucked with a large plectrum) were called 'cithara' in some sources,
and the various names associated with 'fiddle' (like 'giga' and 'viola') in
others. Occasionally an early list of instrument names includes two of
these (like vielle and giga),4 so it is possible that the names distinguished
(probably in that order) between the widened and unwidened short lute,
at least at some times and places.
'Cithara' was the Latin name for the Greek 'kithara', a lyre-like
instrument. It was often used as a generic term for 'plucked stringed
instrument' by writers discussing a variety of instruments in medieval and
Renaissance times, but when a player used this name for his instrument,
it is unlikely that he was being that objective. He was probably making a
2 W Bachmann, The Origins of Bowing (1969), Plate 14.

3C. Page, FoMRHI Seminar (late 1970's).
4 e.g. C. Page, Voices & Instruments of the Middle Ages (1987), p.187.
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claim that his instrument was the one that had the magic to readily
manipulate the listener's emotional states, as the original kithara (with a
similar large plectrum) had the reputation of doing to the ancient Greeks.
A form of lyre was in use in Europe since Roman times, and it went
by the name 'cithara' as well as variants of 'harp' and 'rote'. There thus
seems to have been rival claims to the name 'cithara' after the short
lutes (fiddles) arrived. Some fingerboard cithara (fiddles) at that tim
added non-functional lyre-like visual elements to their design t
strengthen their claims to the name. The playing of lyres declined rapidl
after fiddles (still plucked) appeared in Europe. The fiddle was apparent
more musically effective in spite of its visual disadvantage in emulatin
the ancient ideal. This could well be an early example of the claim
'since authentic is beautiful, if it is more beautiful, it must be more
authentic'. Such claims are historically outrageous but are emotionall
very powerful.
When the bow was introduced to Spain in the 10th century, and the
rest of Europe in the 11th century, it was used on the fiddles as well as th
remaining lyres. The players kept using the same names, including th
disputed 'cithara', but soon after bowing became established, it became
much less fashionable to claim that one's instrument was a cithara (the
knew the ancient Greek instrument was not bowed). The only
adaptation of fiddle design to accommodate bowing was the bourdon
string (that did not run over the fingerboard). When an instrument di
not have a bourdon, it is likely that whether it was bowed or plucked
any particular time was a matter of player's choice. The depictions sho
them bowed much more often than plucked, but this could just be a
matter of fashion showing the more dramatic vocal-like aspects
performances.
By 1200, the name 'citole' appeared. The name meant 'cithara' in ol
French. The name was claimed again, and there were no more serious
rivals. It was a specialist instrument for plucking, had the widened short-
lute design and had 4 courses of gut strings. It often enhanced its nam
claim by having design features that were reminiscent of the kithara. Th
most popular one for a time was a second neck behind the one with th
fingerboard, extending from the body heel to the bent-back pegbox. T
finger this instrument, the hand had to go through a hole between th
two necks.
Later in the 13th century, a group of Arab instruments was adopted
in Christian Europe via Spain. As mentioned above, these included the
lute and the guitar (and it also included a bowed version of the guitar
called 'rebec'). The only visual difference between the original-design
unwidened short lute that had been in Europe for half a millennium
(sometimes called 'gige') and the guitar was that the former had a
pegblock with pegs inserted frontally, while the latter had a pegbox with
lateral pegs. But the former was plucked with a large plectrum and the
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latter by a thin quill, and the former was probably tuned mostly in fifths
and octaves while the latter was tuned in fourths. The latter (guitar)
replaced the former (giga) rather quickly during the time that the citole
was in its prime, and so we can conclude that the original-design
unwidened short lute was not a major claimant to the citole name, as the
widened version was.
MISTAKEN IDENTITY
At the time of the first Galpin SocietyJournal, no evidence

that linked depictions of the medieval plucked fingerboard
with names mentioned in the literature. Links were extrap
time from the Renaissance, when there is evidence associat
name. So the many instrument depictions that looked mo
(because bodies were of the widened short-lute type a
straight or incurved) were identified with the name 'gitte
often appeared in medieval literary sources. A similar ins
looked like a Renaissance cittern (a widened short lute w
soundboard) was called by the often-appearing medieval
Depictions of that shape were much rarer than the freque
the name was mentioned would imply. A very common
instrument that looked much like the Renaissance ma
widened short lute) was called 'mandora'. Though the nam
does appear in medieval literature, it is extremely rare.
The mismatches between the number of depictions and t
times a name was mentioned were sometimes worried abou
ignored. An argument can be made that the names we spec
obsolete instruments are for our communication, and ag
unique name for each is all that matters. But the history of
very important aspect of instrument history, and we can
confuse the study of this history by categorisations
convenient. Also, we have no right to confuse those that are
literature in which original instrument names are mentioned
In the 1977 Journal, Lawrence Wright very comprehensi
with clear documentary evidence and tight argument, that
associations of the shapes with the names were differen
which had been assumed previously in modern times. The
considered guitar-like were originally called 'citoles',
shaped instruments were originally called 'gitterns', a
mismatches disappeared. This finding was immediately app
few researchers in the field who could be objective a
disbelieved by the eminent leaders in the field. More recen
5 L. Wright, 'The Medieval Gittern and Citole, a case of mist

GSJXXX (1977), pp.8-42.
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by some of them6 show that they have finally (but with very considerable
reluctance) accepted Wright's conclusion.
THE CITOLE
Since it is likely that fiddles were both bowed and plucked

are today), it is sometimes no more than guesswork when
plucked fiddle in an illustration as a citole. A gesture towar
in the design is considered a good identifying feature for
apparent citoles were fretted and others not, suggesting va
playing technique. When frets appear in the illustrations, t
widely, implying diatonic fretting. In the illustrations the
appear as double lines, and they continue onto the fingerbo
over the soundboard. This could imply that they were m
strips, probably of wood, stuck onto or set into the fingerbo
The citole fell into disuse in the late 13th century in It
second half of the 14th century in France, and the early 15
Spain, but it was still referred to with great respect by poets
afterwards.7
The Berkeley MS8 (before 1361) gave a tuning and draw
instrument called 'cithara'. Tuned from the lowest pitch upw
tone, fourth and fourth.9 It had the proportions of a citole or
its appearance was typical of neither. It had two pairs of C
was common on fiddles because it allowed changes in p
moving the bridge up or down along the centre line of th
Such a transposition mechanism would be appropriate for
singers, which seems to have been more usual on the fidd
citole. The strings do not continue past the bridge, w
enough to have been glued in position, a design feature ver
on instruments other than lutes.
I would like to suggest that the drawing was inten
composite, representing the fundamental instrument fro
other stringed instruments developed. The citole had won t
the cithara name (the players of other instruments hardly
name any more), and it was appropriate for music theorist
6 M. Remnant, English Bowed Instruments from Anglo-Saxon to

(1986) p. xx (Note to the Reader), and A. Baines, The Oxford C
Musical Instruments. (1992) p.62.
7 L. Wright. op. cit.
8 C. Page, GSJXXXIII (1980), pp.17-35.
9 It is possible that there is some relationship between this t
hexachord, with the notes on the second course being in the nat
the third course the hard hexachord and the first and fourth ones the soft
hexachord. Then the mi-fa semitone occurs on the same fingering positions for
each course, thus facilitating the use of diatonic fretting.
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instrument history to show the authenticity it claimed. The fiddle was
much more popular than the citole but not as respected. It could not be
ignored in an instrument history, so including a fiddle characteristic
allowed it to be included as a kind of citole. Lutes were not common but
highly respected, so including a lute characteristic would allow it to be
represented as well.
The Berkeley MS presented the development of stringed instruments
in terms of increasing numbers of strings. The basic stringed instrument
was the citole (cithara), with 4-strings tuned upwards by a tone, a fourth
and a fourth. From this the 4-course gittern was developed by lowering
the fourth course so that the intervals were all fourths. Then came a
4-string harp called 'lyra', inspired by the ringing sound of the quashed
[sic, Page's translation] corpse of a dead animal dried in the sun. Further
developments involved another harp and a couple of psalteries, in order
of increasing numbers of strings.
Page suggested that the cithara's tuning was that of a fiddle. One reason
why I believe that it is more likely to be that of a citole is that an interval
of a second between adjacent strings occurs in the cetra and cittern
descendants of the citole and not in any early European bowed-
instrument tuning.10 Another is that known fiddle tunings were based on
unisons, fifths and octaves, with the possibility of an arbitrary interval
between these as drones and a fingered melody course (as in Jerome of
Moravia's third tuning). The tuning here, involving two consecutive
fourths, cannot fit such a pattern.
If we ever hope to imagine how an instrument with no surviving
written repertoire was played, we need to speculate on the possible uses
of its particular tuning. What advantages could be offered by
neighbouring courses a tone apart? One possibility is to play easily a
melody in parallel thirds. This would probably not have been useful
except in England before the 15th century. Another is that melodies in
some modes can usefully be supported by a drone that moves up and
down a tone, and one can switch between playing a melody on one
string while droning on the other, and then reverse. The Berkeley MS
indicated that the cithara originally played in the lydian mode, and with
the advent of the gittern, this was expanded to include the mixolydian
and hypolydian in the playing. This alternating drone would happen
when lydian and mixolydian modes are mixed. Other possibilities
include the citole style of playing involving the melody notes often
hovering around the drone note, and heterophony (where the melody
and a decorated version of it are played simultaneously).
10 According to al-Farabi, the 10th-century Arab scholar, the two strings or

pairs of strings of the 'rabab' (rebec ancestor) were tuned an augmented second
(minor third) apart when playing with the Khurasan 'tunbur' (probably a long
lute), which had similar augmented tuning (see W. Bachmann, The Origins of
Bowing (1969), O.U.P p.27).
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CETRA
According to the evidence we have, all of the instruments discu

were strung in gut. Late in the 14th century the craft of w
started to use water power to draw iron wire. Previously, th
available was too difficult to draw, and so was wrought (ham
shape). This made it too uneven in thickness to be usable fo
purposes. Drawn iron wire is stronger than brass, silver or
stringing combinations of these metals, with iron used in t
range, offered a wider range of pitches for the string length
convenient. Iron strings also lasted much longer, and if a player
iron, there would be no need for drawing one's own strings
probably was commercially available in a variety of diameters.
available wire was one of the factors that contributed to the d
of the harpsichord and clavichord.11
The cetra was one such invention. Evidence of it is confined to 15th-
century Italy. It was assumed to have ancient Graeco-Roman con-
nections, but was mainly an adaptation of the obsolete citole which was
supposed to have the appropriate pedegree. According to Tinctoris (c.
1490),12 it was played with a quill, had four courses and was tuned: tone,
tone, fourth and back a tone. That tuning implies five courses, and most
writers have assumed that an extra tone was given at the beginning as a
mistake. That is possibly the cause for the discrepancy, but another
possibility is that he was giving the tuning of the less common 5-course
instrument, with one of the courses (probably the first one mentioned)
omitted on the 4-course instrument.
Having intervals involved of only a tone and a fourth between
neighbouring courses relates this tuning to that of the citole. The overall
open-string tuning range of a fifth or sixth is possible with iron stringing
alone, and this option is a possible reason for the restricted range, though
Tinctoris mentioned an option of stringing in brass as well.
Tinctoris was ambiguous about whether the stated intervals started
upwards or downwards. This ambiguity could have been inadvertent (he
knew what he meant) or perhaps deliberate, where both interpretations
were valid. Making the usual medieval assumption that the lowest note
was G (Gam ut), and assuming Tinctoris's first 'tone' was superfluous, the
tunings (starting from the first course) were cdAG if it was upwards, or
dcGA if it was downwards. It can be described as two pairs of tone-apart
courses, separated by a fourth in the centre, and in the first of these
tunings the highest of each pair is inside, adjacent to the fourth interval,
and in the second tuning, the highest of each pair is on the outside,
11 Before then only Irish harpers and psaltery players used metal strings; these
were made of brass, silver or gold, which they probably drew to different
diameters themselves.
12 A. Baines, GSJ III (1950), p.23.
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remote from the fourth. Another way of viewing this tuning is that there
is an inside pair and an outside pair of courses. The courses within each
pair are a fourth apart. In the first tuning, the outside pair is a tone lower
than the inside pair, and in the second tuning, the outside pair is a tone
higher than the inside pair.
The first of these tunings is the earlier citole tuning with the first
course dropped a fifth. The second of these relates to later 16th-century
cittern tunings, since the tone between the first and second courses is the
same way around. It is the tuning of the iron and copper pairs of strings
in the French cittern tuning if we reverse treble to bass direction, i.e. one
raises dcGA an octave and a fifth to a'g'd'e' and reverses to e'd'g'a'; the
remaining two strings were a twisted g to go with the g' pair and a
twisted a to go with the a' pair.
The body depth of the cetra usually tapered, so it was noticeably
deeper at the neck end than at the tail end. This feature was not
uncommon amongst citoles (the sole surviving citole, from Warwick
Castle and now in the British Museum, has this feature). The cetra had
distinctive wooden blocks as frets (like the Chinese pipa) that extended
well beyond the neck on the 'bass' side, probably fitting into slots in the
neck. There were small spaces between the fret blocks. When the wood
was worn from pressing the metal strings on it, it is possible that a bit was
cut off the end and it was pushed that much further into the slot,
providing unworn surfaces to press the strings against (there has been no
other explanation offered for the arbitrarily uneven lengths of these
blocks on the 'bass' side, as seen in the illustrations).
With about seven blocks per octave, the stopping positions appear to
be diatonic. It is likely that the positioning of the tones and semitones for
each course was created by the way the tops of the blocks were shaped
(the staircase arrangement reported by some modern writers13 is an
optical illusion that is easily disproved by laying a straight-edge along the
treble edge of the fingerboard).14 The surface acting as a fret would have
been gently curved to spread the wearing forces as widely as possible, and
the highest part of the curve was the effective fret position. It is possible
that the sequence of blocks was changed when playing in different modes.
If the effective fret position was on a gentle curve, the vibrating string
would most probably slap against the part of the curve past the effective
position towards the bridge, causing a buzz. A buzzing sound was in
fashion then since harps at that time all had brays. It was still fashionable
for lutes early in the 16th century since the Capirola lute book15 said that
13 e.g. Wright, 'Citole' entry, The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments
(1984), p.379, and the drawing on p.40 of A. J. Baines European and American
Musical Instruments (1966).
14 E. Segerman, 'Cetra fret blocks,' FoMRHI Q 11 (Apr. 1978), Comm. 125,
pp.55-6.
15 Capirola Lute Book (c.1517), ed., O. Gombosi (1955).
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one sets the action of the strings over the frets low enough to make the
lute sound like a harp.
By the end of the 15th century the cetra had ceased to be fashionable
and was, according to Tinctoris, mainly 'played by rustics to accompany
light songs and to lead dance music.' A few decades earlier, it had the
highest of reputations.
THE CITTERN OUTSIDE OF ITALY

IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 16TH CENTURY
The cittern was developed as a revival (or several revivals) of

the first half of the 16th century. Evidence of it then is
Germany there is a reference to a book of cittern tablature
berger,16 now lost, that dates from 1525 or 1532. The instru
mentioned in Virdung's 151117 book or the one in 1528 by
but it is referred to obliquely in Agricola's 1545 revision by th
'cithara media' on the bass side next to the third fret of a f
diagram for a 4-string Tenor and Alt viol.19 The comment c
refer to the D# on the C 4th string, but it is more likely to re
on the E 3rd string.
No evidence of cittern activity in France in the first half of
has come to my attention, but it must have been there for th
have been imported from there to England and become popu
young London gentlemen by 1548.20 Also, the close relations
the cetra tuning and French cittern tuning mentioned abov
relationship independent of the 16th-century Italian hexacho
ITALIAN CITTERNS
Italian evidence is a painting 'Madonna' by Gerolamo dai

1526,21 a surviving instrument dated 153622 and the tuning gi
by Lanfranco.23 The early 16th-century Italians increased th
courses to 6, adding the remaining notes of a hexachord to t
cetra, giving the tuning e'd'g b c'a.24 To get to this tuning fro
16 cited in New Grove (1984) 'Cittern' entry.

17 S.Virdung, Musica Getutscht (1511), facs. edition ed. L. Schrade.
18 M. Agricola, Musica instrumentalis deudsch (1528), Wittemberg.
19 M. Agricola, Musica instrumentalis deudsch (1545), Wittemberg, p
20 T. Wythorne, autobiography, ed., J. M. Osborn (1961).
21 Cited in L. P. Grijp, 'Fret patterns of the Cittern', GSJ XX
p.66.
22 EF A. Plebanus, Paris, Conserv., E.1131, C. 1054.
23 G. M. Lanfranco da Terenzo, Scintille di Musica (1533), pp.139-40.
24 Variants were an octave pair on the 3rd course (Lanfranco - see above fni) or
on the 5th course (Praetorius stated that this was optional).
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tuning e 'd 'a b, one can add a c' fifth course and move the a from the third
to the sixth course, replacing it with a g course.
The hexachord tuning given by Lanfranco was the basic Italian cittern
tuning. When Virchi invented a new tuning, he explained how it related
to the basic tuning. It was also mentioned by Cerone, Praetorius and
Mersenne. With the predominance of Italian examples amongst the
surviving instruments and in the iconography, we would expect that
there was more cittern playing in Italy than elsewhere, and that the
preponderance of that playing would have been in this tuning.
Unfortunately, except for insignificant scraps, none of this repertoire has
survived, so how this tuning was used musically is not known.
Musical advantages of this tuning are not easy to imagine. Non-
musical advantages are much easier. One is that essential to music theory
was the hexachord, and apparent knowledge of theory distinguished
between high and low class (educated and uneducated) musicians. When
in fashion, the cittern was an elitist instrument. Another is that everyone
at the time with any musical interest played the lute, and if a lute-player
picked up a cittern and tried to play it, he or she would be completely
mystified. Thus the cittern was in a class of its own, not to be compared
to the lute.
The strongest reason, though, is that the Italians involved then were
in an early music movement (ancient Greek music, that is), and
believed that this tuning's resonance with theory (believed to be
ancient) must make it historically correct, and the instrument, derived
from the cetra, supposedly the direct descendent of the kithara, was
historically appropriate. They were doing their best to be both
practical and authentic. The early Italian cittern design is what almost
always appears in paintings with ancient associations, even when it was
quite out of fashion amongst musicians.25 Almost every cetra and
cittern before the middle of the 17th century (non-Italian as well) had
non-functional protuberances on both sides of where the body and
neck joined, and a reasonable case has been made that these were
considered to be vestigial wings symbolically referring to those
characteristic parts of the kithara.26
A guess as to how the way the hexachord tuning was used musically is
that one plucked the three highest courses for melodies and chords,
adding the fourth when it fitted in, and using the fifth and sixth courses
for notes that were inconvenient to play otherwise.
The 5th and 6th courses were the most expendable, and a degenerate
4-course version of the Italian cittern could have left them out. I know of
25 P. S. Forrester, 'The cittern in Italy', FoMRHI Q 50 (Jan. 1988), Comm.

858, pp.59-62.
26 E. Winternitz, 'The Survival of the Kithara and the Evolution of the
Cittern', Music Libraries and Instruments (1961), Hinrichsen, pp.209-14.
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no evidence of the Italian 4-course cittern ever existing in Italy. Praetorius
discussed 4-course citterns as common instruments which had the vilest of
associations, fit only for cobblers and tailors. They were distinguished by
having either French or Italian tunings. It is most likely that he was
referring to instruments currently being played in Germany, and whether
there were Italian ones in Italy was not mentioned or implied.
SIZES
The vast majority of surviving citterns are Italian, and Peter For
found27 that their sizes fall into four size groups, with string
about 45 cm [11], 49 cm [3], 54 cm [3] and 61 cm [5] (the num
instruments in each group are shown in square brackets.) Cit
different sizes at different pitches very rarely ever played togeth
very often the case with other Renaissance instrument types.
were not called by voice or size names28 until the middle of
century.29 Thus the appearance of different sizes probabl
represents the individual preferences of players in their com
between rounder tone with larger instruments making simple
more satisfying, and the versatility of smaller instruments m
expression of varying musical ideas and virtuosity much easier.
comfortable vocal pitches with easy chords must also hav
consideration.
It is likely that there was a fifth size, smaller than the others, that was
popular in Italy around 1570. The evidence is that 'slight' citterns as well
as normal ones were imported into England in 1568,30 and that a book of
music published by Virchi in 157431 has stretches for chords indicated in
the tablature that are seen elsewhere only in the music for the small
English cittern (with a string stop of 35 cm). Praetorius did not mention
27 P S. Forrester, 'The cittern in Italy', FoMRHII Q 50 (Jan. 1988), Comm.

858, pp.59-62.
28 Praetorius labelled his illustration of a clearly Italian 6-course cittern (carved
shape, pegblock, and cut-away neck) as ChorZitter, where the 'chor' referred to
his preferred Chorthon pitch standard, which was the same as the usual Italian
choir-and-instrument standard called corista. It fell into the 49cm. Italian size
category, while the other medium-sized cittern he drew, a clearly constructed
6-course instrument without such a qualifying label, had a 47cm string stop.
29 The mid-17th-century south German manuscript Instrumentalischer
Bettlermantl in Edinburgh gave tunings a fourth apart for three different cittern
sizes called Discant, Alt and Tenor. A Bass was mentioned without tuning
information (it probably was tuned a tone lower than the Tenor). Their main
functions seem to have been as members of the continuo band. See FoMRHI Q
91 (April 1988), Comm. 1576, pp.38-44.
30 London Port Book entry, JLSA X (1977), p.116.
31 P. Virchi, II primo libro di tabulatura di cittara (1574).
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such an Italian cittern, so it must have gone out of fashion before he
could have become aware of it.
FRETTING
Another innovation of the Italian cittern was to move the slots in the
neck (for the cetra's large wooden fret-blocks) to a continuous finger-
board, where they became much smaller. Into each slot was slipped a fret
of folded-over hammered sheet metal (generally brass) backed by a
wooden strip. The fingerboard was only supported by a thin but
relatively deep neck underneath the first two or three courses, making
the fingerboard imitate the cetra where the wooden fret blocks stuck out
on the 'bass' side well past the neck. So on the cetra and the Italian
cittern, the player's thumb provided the counter-force to the pressure of
stopping the strings on the fingerboard. This was different from other
plucked fingerboard instruments (such as the lute) at the time, where the
counter-force was provided by the palm of the hand in the 15th and early
16th centuries.
The cetra had wooden block frets only for notes in a diatonic scale.
The early citterns had a semi-diatonic fretting system, i.e. a compromise
between the cetra's fully diatonic system and the fully chromatic system
found on lutes, guitars, viols, etc. In this fretting system some frets
extended across the full width of the fingerboard, some lay under some
courses and not others, and others were missing completely. An
advantage of this fretting is that one can often reduce hand stretches in
chords by pressing some strings against the fingerboard a considerable
distance behind the active fret, such as where the next lowest-sounding
fret would have been if it were there. Another is that it reduces the risk of
fingering the wrong fret inadvertently.
There was one basic type of semi-diatonic fretting pattern, but with
many variations in which courses each partial fret went under.32 The
usual pattern of semitone fret positions that had full-length frets was: 0, 1,
2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17 and 19. If we omit the first fret, this is a
repeating sequence of a tone, semitone, and two tones. It does not repeat
at the octave. It is unlikely that this diatonic pattern is identical to that of
the fretting of the cetra since some cetra illustrations show a pattern that
appears to start with a semitone. Semi-diatonic fretting on some citterns
survived until the 17th century in Italy and France and well into the 18th
century in the Netherlands, Spain and Germany.
Semi-diatonic fret positions conformed mainly to meantone inton-
ation. The sound of metal strings include more higher harmonics than
gut strings, so common intervals are more noticeable when out of tune
because of mismatch between audible harmonics which should be in
32 L. P Grijp, 'Fret patterns of the cittern', GSJ] XXXIV (1981), pp.62-97.
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unison. So, while equal-temperament fretting was acceptable on gut-
strung instruments, closer to pure intervals, as provided by meantone
temperament, were preferred on citterns. The fretting patterns of
surviving citterns approximate the 'fifth comma' variety of meantone,
where the deviations from pure thirds and fifths are equal. With
chromatic fretting and the wider range of chords this implies, the
compromises between different course requirements for each fret
position could have led to some fret positions becoming closer to equal-
temperament.33
'CARVED' CONSTRUCTION
The cetra, all early Italian citterns, many later Italian ones
Italian ones were tuned by pegs inserted from the front
head block that did not come out on the other side. All citte
the tapering body depth of the cetra. The peg block, ne
sides of these early Italian citterns were carved out of one
This is called the 'carved' type of instrument making, and
on non-Italian citterns. The sides sloped (like a frying pan
was smaller than the belly. The upper part of the body sh
rather straight sides, leaving the neck at a clear angle, loo
like two sides of an equilateral triangle. The sound hole wa
as half way down the soundboard. The crossbars under th
usually rested in slots cut out of the sides; the slots for
usually went all the way through the sides, so that the en
from the outside.
The carved type of instrument-making technology su
medieval times when it was standard for fingerboard inst
than lutes. It was well known for folk instruments in the
and so was not respectable in affluent musical circles th
probably why Italian citterns were rarely brought hom
visitors who went to Italy for musical guidance and inspirat
'CONSTRUCTED' CITTERNS
The innovations that the French apparently made befor

the construction technology to what was currently fa
(but not always) with pegboxes and symmetric necks like
changed to a viol-type pegbox on the 4-course guitar s
adopted it from Spain). The sides were perpendicular t
were made of separate wood, glued to the back, the ne
block. We call citterns made this way 'constructed'
surviving constructed citterns till well into the 17th ce
33 For further information on this see FoMRHI Comms. 88 and 124.
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was the starting body mould, and the sides are wrapped around it when
glued. It is likely that this feature was there from the earliest constructed
citterns.
This type of cittern had a more rounded upper body shape with
neck edge flowing smoothly into an outward-curving arc which b
into the inward curve of the rest of the shape. It also had a high
placement on the soundboard. There were two bars on the back,
usually directly under the rose centre and the other at or near the
maximum. This back barring was used on such citterns of all coun
with any fretting pattern. (Occasionally one finds a constructed
made to look just like a carved one.)
Cittern soundboards were slightly arched. Roses were usually
with hardwood on top of vellum. All citterns had a deep soundboa
situated near the maximum width. If the distance between the rose and
this bar was large, a shorter bar was inserted between them just below the
rose. Larger citterns had another bar higher on the soundboard, usually
above the rose but occasionally through its middle.34 On a large cittern,
one occasionally finds a bar extending from under the treble foot of the
bridge, angled away from the centre line to the lower edge of the
soundboard, as on a lute and on the Palmer orpharion.
A common method of mounting unison string pairs on citterns in the
16th century was to start twisting a string onto one tuning peg, take it
down past the bridge, go around the pin (usual in constructed citterns) or
the rod nestled in a comb (usual in carved citterns) at the tail fixing, go
back past over the bridge, and then onto the other tuning peg.35 This was
very convenient, but if a string broke, both strings of the pair were out of
action and one usually had to stop playing, which can be quite
inconvenient. This was not such a great problem with an iron course
because iron strings very rarely break. Brass strings break much more
often, and being able to continue playing in spite of a brass-string
breakage is likely to be the reason for triple unison courses on citterns.
One of the three would be attached to the end fixing by itself. Thus the
appearance of a triple course on a late 16th- (or early 17th-) century
cittern suggests the likelihood that it was strung with brass.
FRENCH CITTERNS AND OTHERS
The early French cittern, though constructed, had the same kin
fret structure and fretting patterns of semi-diatonic and mean-
as the carved Italian cittern, so one must suspect that one cop
the other. It used a 4-course tuning with 10 strings, wh
34 This is an attempt to describe the barring patterns observed an

Peter Forrester.
35 . Forrester, 'Some notes on cittern fingerboards and stringing', FoMRHI,

Q 32 (1983), Comm. 466, pp.19-22.
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expressed by the pitches e'e', d'd', g'g'g and a 'a 'a, but probably sounding
a fourth or fifth lower. The high-octave 3rd and 4th courses were made
of iron, as was the 1st. The 2nd course strings were copper. The low-
octave strings on the 3rd and 4th courses were twisted, probably of brass,
a newly invented type of string which extended range downwards. The
tablatures indicate that the 4th semitone fret was missing, and the earliest
book printed for the cittern had the first fret missing as well.
Much of the early French repertoire was transcriptions of polyphonic
music that were originally vocal, but usually were presented as dances.
Comparison with the vocal originals shows that parts were generally
given to the 3rd and 4th courses when the original pitch was both at the
high and the low octave. Whether the original pitch was high or low was
lost in the cittern tablature transcription, and there was no attempt to
indicate that one could pluck a course at different angles to favour one
octave or the other. Octave ambiguity for these courses was expected.
One source said that theoreticians could find the sound objectionable
(second inversion chords were not avoided), but most found it
acceptable.
French citterns kept changing during the rest of the second half of the
16th century. Notes previously unfretable were wanted so missing frets
appeared and partial frets grew in length. The fretting gradually became
more chromatic. Transcriptions of vocal polyphony lost favour, and then
apparently so did octave ambiguity (Praetorius mentioned no octave
stringing when he mentioned French tuning, and Mersenne wrote that
unison brass triplets were usual, with one octave string in a course an
alternative). Unison courses would have led to stringing at a higher pitch
for the first course, with twisted strings in the bass not being necessary
any more.
The cittern and gittern (Renaissance guitar) were new arrivals in
England in 1548, played by young London gentlemen.36 At least when it
was established, the cittern had four unison courses, fully chromatic
fretting, the fourth course tuned a tone higher than the third,37 40-45 cm
string stop, and two strings per course except for three on the third.38
The tuning was French without the octave ambiguity of the third and
fourth courses. The fully chromatic fretting and unison stringing were
new, but the repertoire and teachers apparently came from France. A
translation of a French instruction book39 appeared in 1568.
When the cittern came to England, though the English looked to
France for repertoire and good teachers, semi-diatonic fretting and
36 Thomas Wythorne autobiography

37 Mulliner Book (c.1545-85) and Lord Middleton Lute book (c. 1574).
38 Eglantine Table at Hardwick Hall
39 Rowbotham, The breff and playne instruction to learne to play the gyttron and also
the cetterne (1568).
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octave ambiguity were apparently objected to, so English citterns were
the first to have fully-chromatic fretting and a unison triple brass course.
Fully chromatic fretting was soon adopted by some in Italy (mainly on
smaller instruments where the advantages in fingering stretch of semi-
diatonic fretting were not needed) and in Flanders and Germany. Many
French citterns adopted it before the beginning of the 17th century. To
replace the pattern of long, short and missing frets for visual location of
higher positions for finger stopping, the wooden strips behind the frets
were usually arranged in a pattern involving two different colours, dark
showing the original full-length frets and light showing the others.40
The Germans experimented with different tunings. Nevertheless, the
relative tuning of the first three courses of all types of cittern involved a
tone between the first and second courses and a fifth between the second
and third courses.41
THE MEULER STEEL REVOLUTION
Around 1580, a new kind of very strong iron wire becam

available. It possibly was a phosphorus steel, like other iron
wire from the period, but modified in composition
unknown way to greatly increase tensile strength. It ap
could be made in the workshop of Jobst Meuler in
Meuler's strings could tune over 6 semitones higher than
been expected for iron strings (and higher than gut
developed iron strings that could tune almost 10 semiton
previously (almost a fourth higher than gut strings).43
Meuler ran into trouble in 1608 because a rival obtain
(monopoly) on all wire-making from the Imperial Court
1610, the Nuremberg Town Council supported Meuler's
40 P. Forrester, 'Some notes on cittern fingerboards and stri

Q 32 (1983), Comm. 466, pp.19-22.
41 An 18th-century Spanish revival had a fourth between the
courses.
42 That there was an anomalously strong wire availab

apparent in the analyses of pitches and string stops reporte
in GSJ XXVII (1974). A few years later, Michael Morrow
letter by Heinrich Schutz referring to string-makerJobst
relevant. I mentioned this in FoMRHI Comm. 438 (19
subject of FoMRHI Comm. 439 (1983) by Karp. The evide
summarised in FoMRHI Comm. 440 (1983) by me, and
Meuler was properly researched in FoMRHI Comm. 866
43 E. Segerman, 'Praetorius's plucked instruments and
Q 92 (1998), Comm. 1593, pp.33-7.
44 R. Gug, 'Jobst Meuler or the secret of a Nurember
Q 51 (1988),Comm. 866, pp.29-36.
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had invented a new kind of wire, in great demand, that others couldn't
make, and so was outside the specifications of the privilege. A more
powerful privilege was granted in 1621, after which Meuler was only
able to fill a wire order if he was given permission by a resolution of the
Town Council. No business can survive in these conditions, and his
specially strong wire became unavailable. Instruments designed for its use
either disappeared or changed to lower tunings. Any wire strong enough
to tune as high or higher than gut only appeared again late in the 19th
century with the invention of steel piano wire.
This especially strong wire led to the invention of new instruments and
adaptations of others. Two adaptations Praetorius discussed were the
replacement of gut by metal strings on the violin and on the theorboed
lute. English inventions were the Leero Viol, with sympathetic metal
strings tuned in unison with the bowed gut strings (used by Praetorius to
illustrate the viola bastarda), and the orpharion, a wire-strung instrument
tuned like a lute at the usual mean-lute pitch (that viols usually played at)
and even at the tone-higher pitch that treble lutes sometimes used (when
playing with violins or recorders).
The new wire allowed a 50% increase in string stop for the same pitch,
with the increase used to add to the bottom of the range of the
instrument. This is a basic factor in the design of the 12-course cittern
depicted by Praetorius. Another cittern shown by Praetorius that used
this wire to increase size with much less corresponding lowering of pitch
was the large 6-course cittern.
THE ENGLISH CITTERN
Another instrument invented to use this wire was the s

cittern. It appears to have been a 4-course version of the
cittern that Virchi apparently wrote his music book for
double courses and one triple course. At some point in E
instrument acquired a theatrical fool's head, and it could h
when the 'slight' cittern possibly became a common accesso
singing-dancing clown. When using the strong wire, it cou
octave higher than citterns had been usually tuned. With
tuning for the fourth course (a major third rather than the
3rd course of the French tuning previously used on English
cittern quickly became the standard cittern in fashionable m
At about this time there is a curious comment made b
Galilei:45 'The cittern was used first, before other nations,
which island they are already made to perfection.' Galilei
historian and must have been aware of Italian citterns sin
which probably was earlier than the recorded introductio
45 Vincenzo Galilei, Dialogo della Musica antica e della moderna (15
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into England. Perhaps he came to his conclusion because he came across
evidence of the citole in medieval England (Chaucer?) earlier than
elsewhere. His observation 'made to perfection' could possibly refer to
chromatic fretting, but more likely referred to high general quality of
workmanship in currently produced English citterns.
This opinion could well have been based on instruments by London
makers in the circle of John Rose. Rose was primarily a lute and
viol maker in London who was very interested in wire-strung
instruments, having invented the bandora in 1562. He apparently made
the Helmingham Hall instrument, dated 1580, originally as a 10-string
5-course cittern with a bandora-inspired wavy outline, and soon, with
Meuler's wire, converted it into what could well have been the first
orpharion. It was most likely in this circle that the small cittern was
created from combining the 'slight' cittern, Meuler's wire, a degenerate
Italian tuning and a theatrical fool's head.
Members of this circle had been making citterns for the affluent because
of the growing interest in the Consort of Six, an ensemble which very
much impressed Queen Elizabeth. That ensemble included treble and bass
viols, a flute, a treble lute, a cittern and a bandora. The date of Galilei's
publication makes it unclear whether the English cittern he referred to was
of the older larger French-tuned type or the later smaller Italian-tuned
instrument that was an octave higher. The Consort initially used the large
cittern, but it blossomed in popularity (producing all of the surviving
repertoire) when the small one became available and was adopted.
When the strong wire was available, the small cittern and the Consort
(of which it was an essential member) flourished.46 Anthony Holborne47
and Thomas Robinson48 published books of solo cittern pieces, the latter
including a tutorial method. Several manuscript collections of solo pieces
survive as well. Sets of music for the Consort are also plentiful. Printed
sets by Thomas Morley49 and Philip Rosseter,5so and printed music with
the option of Consort performance by William Leighton51 and Richard
Allison52 are supplemented by several manuscript sets. Almost all of this
repertoire of over 160 pieces for Consort has missing parts and a degree
of reconstruction is required for modern performance.
Praetorius53 wrote at length about the small cittern: Klein Englisch
Zitterlein. He was attempting to be comprehensive, and since he
46 E. Segerman, 'The instruments of the Consort'. FoMRHI Q 82 (Jan. 1996),

Comm. 1422, pp.43-9.
7 A. Holborne, The Cittharn Schoole (1597).
48 T. Robinson, New Citharen Lessons (1609).
9 T. Morley, The First Booke of Consort Lessons (1599 & 1611).
5s P. Rosseter, Lessons for Consort (1609).
51 W. Leighton, The Teares or Lamentations of a Sorrowfull Soule (1614).
52 R. Allison, The Psalmes of David in Meter (1599).
53 M. Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum II (1619).
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mentioned no other small cittern and no other English cittern, we can
presume that he was aware of no others. The tunings offered, from
courses 1 to 4 were g", d", a' or bb', and f". These tunings were also
given in his tables of instrument tunings. He learned about the
instrument in these tunings from an Englishman who came to Germany
three years prior to his writing about it (c. 1615). These tunings were not
previously recorded elsewhere for a cittern. They appear to be an
exploitation of Meuler's later stronger wire which allowed a lute or guitar
tuning an octave higher than normal. Praetorius admired the player's
style, which was to play divisions using a tremolo technique. The likely
repertoire played was the treble lute part of lute duets or of Consort
lessons an octave higher than usual. Praetorius apparently had copies of
this instrument made, and specified it in some of his large-scale vocal-
instrumental compositions, duplicating the violin parts.
In this style of playing in this tuning, the 4th course would be of
minimal use at the given high pitch. It was thus probable that the
reentrant aspect of this tuning was for ready conversion to standard
cittern tuning. This would easily be accomplished by crossing the 2nd
and 4th courses between the pegs and the nut and between the bridge
and the tail fixing, and tuning the strings a minor third lower for English
light-music pitch (the same as Praetorius's Cammerthon) or a tone lower
than that for English Consort pitch (that viols usually played in).
Praetorius did not mention the standard tuning for the English cittern
probably because it was of the degenerate Italian type, which was very
disrespectful, and perhaps with wishful thinking, he believed that it had
been permanently replaced by the octave lute/guitar tunings.
When the strong wire became unavailable, repertoire for the cittern
and the Consort apparently ceased to be produced. Nevertheless,
through the following few decades, the cittern (especially the cittern
head, which was that of an ugly fool) was mentioned frequently in
theatrical scripts, often associated with barbers.54 Robert Fludd55s writing
as early as 1618, mentioned that citterns were played in Consorts and by
themselves in barber shops. The tuning pitch given on his somewhat
bizarre drawing of a cittern was an octave lower than the tuning with the
strong wire. If this was not just another error (these are usually associated
with poor communication between Fludd and his continental pub-
lishers), it possibly reflected an alternative tuning used by barbers when
Meuler's wire was either difficult to get or overly expensive. The small
cittern could be tuned this way strung in iron and brass, or just brass
(Mersenne mentioned all-brass stringing as a possibility on citterns).
54 D. Abbott & E. Segerman, 'The Cittern in England before 1700', L.S.J.

XVII (1975), pp.24-48.
55 J. Godwin, 'Instruments in Robert Fludd's Utriusque Cosmi ... Historia',
GSJ] XXVI (1973), p.3
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Mention in the plays is understandable since the same kind of people
who frequented barber shops also frequented the theatre.
GUITTERN AND LATE CITTERN
From the 2nd decade of the 17th century, a growing num

citterns were retuned as Praetorius's Englishman did (bu
lower), so that players familiar with lute or bandora finger
them. Soon cittern playing and the reentrant cittern-tuning
new tuning were abandoned, and the 4th course was tun
third, an octave lower (relatively) than previously. The a
(considering that only normal iron wire was available) was
octave above the bandora. The Holborne and Robinson books were
known and respected for what could be played on the cittern, but t
music was no more played, and could not be played on the new tuni
The instrument with the new tuning was not a cittern, and it was
called 'gittern', an appropriate name because of the guitar tuning.
4-course Renaissance guitar was seriously out of fashion then, and
wire-strung instrument was probably considered to be a transform
revival of it (as well as a 4-course octave bandora). This gittern was play
in Germany and France56 as well as England.
We find no further evidence of citterns in England till the middl
the 17th century. Then a larger instrument, with about 46 cm string s
and iron, brass and twisted-brass stringing appeared, apparently t
resurrect the old highly-respected cittern in a new easily-playable f
for beginning amateurs. It was called 'cittern', its tuning was an oct
lower than the old cittern, and the larger size gave it the resonan
needed to make very simple music sound well enough. Both cittern
guittern then had 8 strings in 4 courses, and were usually played wi
quill, but finger playing was also acceptable. Playford published sev
books57 of very easy music for the cittern, recommending finger-play
in the second to compete more effectively with the Spanish gu
(which he disliked). The playing instructions were adapted f
Robinson's book. He also published one book for the guittern.
The final three pieces in the guittern book required a tuning wit
major 3rd on top followed by a minor 3rd and then a 4th, formin
minor chord. This tuning relates to a new growing fashion in tunin
amateur instruments with adjacent intervals of a major and minor th
forming either a major of minor chord. The lyra viol and French bar
lute pioneered such tunings, and they spread to other instrum
56 E. Segerman, 'A 1656 Tabley ms: On Viol Players, Cittern and Gitte
FoMRHI Q 46 (Jan. 1987), Comm. 774, pp.34-5.
57J. Playford, A Booke of New Lessons for the Cithern and Gittern (1652)
Musick's Delight on the Cithren (1666).
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in the second half of the 17th century. They also appeared on the baryton
and on the various versions of the viola d'amore.
THE 5-COURSE GITTERN AND CITHRINCHEN
Late in the 17th century the guittern acquired a fifth co

adding two strings (totalling 10) or by splitting the 4th
heavier twisted-brass 4th and 5th courses. The 5th course also followed
bandora tuning. This was also the basic tuning of the baroque guitar, so
repertoire for that instrument could be played on the gittern by plucking
and strumming with the fingers. Often the gittern also adopted the body
shape of the upper end of the bandora with a sweeping cut-off curve
below, ending up with a kind of bell shape, leading to the name 'bell
guittern'. It became popular in northern Germany and Scandinavia as
well as England, and took sizes between the larger cittern size and the
original smaller size. On the Continent it was called 'cithrinchen', where
it usually took a new-style chord tuning.
In most of the first half of the 18th century, we have no evidence of
either the cittern or guittern in England. Indeed, in 1697, William
Turner58 included these, as well as the orpharion and bandora, as old
English instruments that were 'laid aside'. Popularity of the guittern
(with the bell design) continued on the Continent. The courses of the
cithrinchen were usually tuned with a 4th interval on top, and then
alternating major and minor 3rds. Tuning and playing the instrument
with fingers like the baroque guitar was not uncommon. All of the usual
five courses could become pairs, or basses could be single when made of
heavier twisted brass, making a 6th course possible.59 So from 8 to 12
strings could be grouped in 5 or 6 courses.
Previously, except for Praetorius's English cittern, the name 'cittern'
was associated with a tuning in which the second course was a tone lower
than the first, and the third course was a fifth lower than the second. The
names that the players give to instruments have usually been based on the
technique needed to learn how to play it, in which tuning is a very
important component, and occasionally to project an image that the
audience would respond to. The cithrinchen tuning was not a traditional
cittern tuning, yet the instrument proclaimed that it was a cittern by
imitating the cut-away bass half of the neck from Italian citterns, by the
tapering of body depth characteristic of all citterns, by playing it with a
quill and by its cittern-diminutive name. It is likely that the name was
justified by Praetorius's book, which was well known in Germanic
58 M. Tilmouth, 'Some improvements in Music noted by William Turner in

1697', GSJX (1957), pp.57-9.
59 E. Segerman, '. .. the Wensler G30 cithrinchen stringing', FoMRHI Q 86
(Jan. 1997), Comm.1498, pp.25-6.
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countries at the time, where the English cittern was called a diminutive
of 'cittern' (zitterlein) though the tuning given was not that of a cittern.
THE 'ENGLISH GUITAR'
Around the middle of the 18th century, a screw-tuned finger

six-course 10-string version of a larger sized cithrinchen (with s
of about 43 cm) was developed, most probably in France whe
called 'cistre'. The bottom of the bell shape was filled out wi
cittern-like rounded curve and the body became wider and de
near-uniform depth). The French tuning, from the top down,
and major thirds, two fourths and a tone. The bass strings we
metal wound on iron, silk or gut. This differed from the cith
where they were made of twisted brass. It is much easier to mak
bass string that frets in tune by winding thicker metal onto a co
put enough twist into a thicker twisted string without breaking
process. Thus this change in bass string construction allowed s
to be used consistently without needing to obtain strings from
skilled string maker.
The French aristocracy then were fashion leaders in Europe,
treated musical instruments as fashion accessories. Instrument makers
were encouraged to create new instruments or instrument designs to
provide variety in amateur instruments to meet fashion needs. The recent
invention of a lathe with a screw-driven tool holder by Antoine Thiout
(for cutting threads on spindles used in clocks and watches) made the use
of screws on musical instruments the commercial proposition it never
had been before. French makers found uses for screws in tightening the
hair of bows and in tuning the strings of the cistre and mounting a
capotasto on it.
On the head of the cistre, there was a brass plate holding and covering
a set of screws, one for each string. The screws, turned by a watch key,
were threaded into nuts with hooks which stuck out from the plate and
rode along slots in it. The strings needed loops on both ends, one to
engage the hook and the other to go on the tail peg. The neck and
fingerboard had a number of central holes between adjacent frets through
which a capotasto could be attached by a screw and wing-nut, allowing
playing at various higher pitch levels with the same fingering.
The English aristocracy and affluent merchants that followed Paris
fashions quickly adopted this instrument, and within a decade of its
invention, local British makers were producing their own versions. In the
English tuning, the fifth course was tuned a tone lower than in the
French one, thus including all of the courses in the C major open-string
chord (this tuning was at Opera pitch, which was 2-3 semitones below
modern). These versions differed from the French ones by usually
abandoning the shoulder shape at the upper end of the body that was
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inherited from the cithrinchen (and ultimately from the bell gittern and
bandora), and replaced it by a more cittern-like basic shape (without
changing the wide and deep French proportions).
In England, this instrument was called 'guitar', or occasionally 'cetra'.
The latter was probably a more masculine-sounding substitute for 'cistre'.
One possible contribution to the choice of 'guitar' as the usual name is
the memory of the gittern a half-century earlier, which had similar size,
shape and string materials. Another is that the baroque guitar was
somewhat out of fashion in these circles at the time, but the guitar name
was still associated with the position of primary domestic hand-plucked
instrument, so the name helped this instrument to displace it in that
position.
The Portuguese 'guitarra' had the English design modification (with
an added two strings to make all courses pairs). It was introduced to
Portugal60 via English merchants who had strong commercial ties there.
The Norwegian 'sister' adopted the basic French cistre body shape, but
otherwise remained a cithrinchen. The tuning had the 6th course tuned
a fourth below the fifth, the rest being in standard 5-course cithrinchen
tuning.
After its initial burst of popularity, the French offered variations on
the basic cistre. One was a small-lute or mandora body (it was then
called a 'pandore'), and another was a compromise between the
original and the pandore model, with the back rather smaller than the
belly and sloping sides. The usual screw tuning device was not to
everyone's taste. Extra care is needed in finding the right screw to tune
with the watch key, the watch key can easily be misplaced, the extra
loop on each string was a bother and there was little leeway in where it
could be placed. So some players preferred ordinary tuning pegs,
especially on the pandore model, where they looked much more
traditional. Individual tuning machines were then invented so that
strings could be tuned at their proper places on a pegbox. They were of
worm-gear type, clearly the ancestor of those used on guitars today.
Tuning could still be by watch key, but more commonly by turning a
metal ring, which could be considered to be a built-in watch key. That
ring outlined a normal peg head, but it was not filled in during this
period because the artifice of a metal machine was fashionable and
disguising it as an ordinary peg was not.
The French instruments mentioned so far were mostly played there by
women, so the makers developed a larger cistre to be predominantly
played by men. It had a string stop of over 50 cm with 6 courses on the
fingerboard, and 2 or more courses of unstopped strings that were about
half-again longer, tuned from a second pegbox above (and offset from)
60 E. Segerman, 'Origins of the "guitarra portuguesa" ', FoMRHI Q 89 (Oct

1997), Comm.1543, p.39.
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the main one, as on a theorboed lute. Body shape could be any one of
those used on the smaller cistre plus an asymmetric variant of the
sloping-sides one, where the body met the neck much closer to the
bridge on the treble side than on the bass side. Tuning was either by
ordinary pegs or by individual-string machines. The highest 6 courses
were all tuned a minor third lower than the original smaller cistre, the 7th
course was tuned a fourth lower than the 6th, and subsequent courses
descended diatonically from the 7th. The first 2 courses were of iron, the
3rd of brass, the 4th of either brass or of metal wound on iron or silk.
These courses were all unison pairs. Lower courses were usually single,
made of metal wound on gut or silk, and if any were string pairs, they
were in octaves with the high octave of plain gut.
This new larger cistre had to be distinguished from the earlier smaller
one, and since the men playing it wanted to claim the name 'cistre' for
their own instrument, new names all around were called for. These
names became 'guitthare angloise' for the original smaller one, and
'cystre' or 'guitthare allemande' for the new larger one. At least these are
the names given by l'Abb6 Carpentier in his method published in 1771,
where he only mentioned the guitthare angloise in passing, showing a
not unexpected masculine disdain. It is likely that the name 'cistre' was
still widely uses for that smaller instrument.
The 'angloise' part of the name 'guitthare angloise' did not mean that
the instrument originated in England. In 1758, Bremner wrote in his
Instructions61 that the instrument was 'but lately introduced' into Britain.
By the time a name other than 'cistre' was needed in France, that name
could have reflected the great popularity that the instrument had already
achieved in England. But primarily, the 'angloise' was a domestic-fashion
model name, just as 'allemande' was. In 1802, H. C. Koch wrote in his
Musikalisches Lexikon62 that a proper 'deutsche guitarre' was developed
around 1780. It started with 4 courses and changed to 7 single strings
tuned, from the top down, minor and major thirds, a fourth, a tone, a
semitone, and a sixth. The open-string range of two octaves would not
require longer bass strings.
The names 'English guitar' and 'cittern', as widely used in recent times
for these instruments, are historically justified as English translations of
'guitthare angloise' and 'cistre'. There has been some feeling that we
should stop using 'cittern' for them to avoid confusion with earlier
citterns with 'proper' cittern tuning. The term 'late 18th-century cittern'
should be perfectly acceptable because 'cittern' is what so many
musicians then called it.
61 Cited in A. Baines, European and American Musical Instruments (1966), p.42.

62 Cited in S. Marcuse, Musical Instruments, a Comprehensive Dictionary (1966),
p.144
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APPENDIX
CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE SIZE AND PITCH OF

THE ITALIAN-TUNING ENGLISH CITTERN BEFORE 1620
In the first GSJ, when considering the period 1615 to 1650, D

In England, too, this would seem to have been a period characterise
deal of experiment in instrument-making and instrumentation, though
have rarely survived. Compare Praetorius's tantalising references to a k
zitterlein, tuned very much higher than the standard cittern, o
information given both by Bacon and by Playford concerning the viola
It is understandable to consider historical evidence of instruments that
does not correspond with what we already know about similar
instruments as bizarre experiments, but such evidence can become
credible when more evidence appears which can put these apparently
bizarre instruments in their proper historical perspective. That evidence
has been accumulating since Dart wrote.
Bacon63 and Playford64 did not write about the viola bastarda, but
about English lyra viols with sympathetic strings running underneath the
fingerboard, and Dart called it by that name because Praetorius did.
Praetorius wrote that the sympathetic strings recently appeared in
England, and were tuned in unison with the bowed strings. It was not
quite an 'experiment' since Playford wrote that he saw many (and I've
heard that they have been known in the 20th century, quietly 'restored'
to the expected and more highly valued 'unsympathetic' state). Playford
attributed the invention of this type of lyra viol to Daniel Farrant, while
Kircher65 gave the credit for this to the Earl of Somerset. In March 1609,
Edney and Gill applied for a Court privilege66 for the 'sole making' of
viols and other instruments with added sympathetic strings, which they
claimed to have invented.
Later in that year Ferrabosco printed a book67 in which he referred to
different tunings for the 'Lyra Violl'. Previously, 'leero' was a particular
tuning that any bass viol could take. It had then become a particular
instrument, an item of commerce.68 It thus seems likely that Ferrabosco's
'Lyra Violl' was the special type of viol that Bacon and Playford
discussed. Why it did not last is probably the same reason why the high-
pitched small English cittern and the orpharion (at lute pitch) didn't last
past the second decade of the 17th century: The especially strong wire
63 EF Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum (1627).

64 J. Playford, Music's Recreation on the Viol, Lyra Way (1661).
65 A. Kircher, Musurgia (1650).
66 D.Lasocki, GSJXXVIII (1985), p.130-1.
67 A. Ferrabosco, Lessons for 1. 2. and 3. Viols (1609).
68 E. Segerman, 'Lyra and other viols that played from tablature', FoMRHI Q
43 (1986), Comm. 716, pp.108-10.
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necessary for its tuning (made by Jobst Meuler in Nuremberg) was no
more available.
Three reasons why Dart and others did not take Praetorius's small
English cittern seriously was its unique relative tuning, pitch level and
size. No-one questioned these aspects of the English cittern because they
thought that they were already 'known'. Now, we are no longer
surprised by the relative tuning since most now accept that the 17th-
century English gittern described and depicted by Playford was just like
he showed and said it was, wire-strung, cittern-like and guitar-tuned
(Tyler still did not believe this in his 'Cithrinchen' entry and his
contribution to the 'Guitar' entry in the New Grove DoMI (1984), and
Baines was similarly in error in the 'Gittern' entry in his Oxford
Companion (1992)). The pitch level is now not a surprise since we know
about Jobst Meuler's specially strong wire and its necessary use on quite a
few other instruments (including the orpharion) at the time. There is no
question that the small size existed as an English instrument, but the
claim that this instrument was the one and only one that the Italian-
tuning 4-course repertoire was written for has been too much of a
wrench from previous modern thinking on the subject to be accepted.
That claim was made in 1975,69 and it is about time for it to be
considered by instrument historians.
Ian Harwood was a pioneer in producing 4-course versions of Italian
6-course citterns for use in playing the English Consort repertoire, and
he directed his own Consort for many years. He did very good research,
but sometimes believed the judgements of his modern ear more than
deductions from historical evidence. He felt that the musical balance
when the small high-octave English cittern was used in the Consort was
inferior to the balance (that he had long admired) when a low-octave
cittern was used. After the Abbott & Segerman 1975 article appeared,
Harwood always said 'I don't believe it' whenever the paper was
mentioned. He was never willing to debate the issue in scholarly
publications (in spite of my pressing him to do so). His authority as a
scholar was highly respected, so his opinion prevailed, and since then, all
professional performances using citterns have used his type. He was, after
all, the leading expert on the Consort because of his excellent research
into the origins of the Cambridge (Holmes) part books and his
reconstruction of much of the repertoire, which he generously shared
with others.
After a few years, Harwood wrote the article 'A case of double
standards?'70 suggesting that viols sometimes played at a pitch standard a
fourth higher than usual by using sets shifted one size smaller for each
69 D. Abbott & E. Segerman, 'The Cittern in England before 1700', L.S.J.

XVII (1975), pp.24-48.
70 I. Harwood, Early Music 9/4 (1981), pp.470-81.
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part, and that the Consort played at the higher standard using the treble
and bass of a small viol set, a small cittern, a small treble lute and an
orpharion as a bandora. The pitch of the cittern relative to the rest of the
ensemble was the same as he was used to, so he found the balance then
acceptable. At this pitch, Jobst Meuler's wire would not be needed.
There would have had to be appropriately small treble viols available for
this, and he cited such a surviving instrument by Henry Jaye made in the
1630s. Up to a half dozen English instruments of such a size that look
like viols survive, and all of them have been 'restored' with 6-string viol
necks and pegboxes replacing previous 4-string ones. Most can be dated
from the 1630s or 40s. In the GSJ (1996),71 I suggest that they could well
have originally been made as violins or violas with viol-like bodies, in
the same kind of spirit as Simpson's preferred division viol being made
with the body of a bass violin.
There is no early documentary evidence for any English treble viol
being smaller or larger or tuned higher or lower than another, and we
would expect such evidence if there were different sizes that could not be
functionally interchangeable, each in use widespread enough to be
commented on. When Morley and Rosseter specified 'treble viol' to play
in their Consort Lessons, they could only have meant the treble viol
normally used in that time and place, and there is ample evidence that it
would have been of similar size to that given by Praetorius and implied
by Talbot. Thus the fourth-higher Consort, if it ever existed, could only
have been a minority practice.
In the entry on 'Cittern' in the New Grove Dictionary of Musical
Instruments , co-authored by Harwood and Tyler, appears: 'Much of the
English solo music ... demands really extreme stretches for the left hand,
which are almost impossible with a larger instrument but become fully
practicable on the small cittern.' Beyond Praetorius, this is the strongest
evidence given in the Abbott & Segerman 1975 paper, and establishes
that the small cittern was essential for the Italian-tuning solo repertoire.
These stretches are not asked for in the much simpler Consort music, and
what remains to be considered is whether only the small cittern or a
larger size as well were used for the Consort repertoire.
This is an historical question, and what we today can consider to be
good balance is not historical evidence. It is largely a matter of what we
are used to. Modern viol and lute players almost universally use bass
strings wound with metal because that gives the balance desired, though
we know that for music from before 1660, such strings were unavailable.
It is clear that on the question of balance, more beautiful (to us) is not
more authentic. We cannot even say that early players would have wanted
our bass strings if they were available. That is shown to be false by the
evidence from Mace and Talbot indicating that once metal-wound
71 E. Segerman, 'Viol-bodied Fiddles?' GSJXLIX (1996), pp.204-6.
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strings were available, they were ignored by the players for a long time
except for when they could do things the players wanted that all-gut
strings could not do. That is because for all their lives they have enjoyed
music played on all-gut strings and so preferred the balance these strings
offered. The same can be said for modern lute and viol players and their
preference for the balance offered by metal-covered basses. I and a few
others are now used to the sound of the small cittern at the high pitch in
Consorts and prefer it, considering that the sound of the low-pitched
cittern muddies the texture because of so much overlap of pitches with
the bandora, and it can less well perform its function of being the
rhythmic focus of the ensemble.
There is no evidence for more than one size of cittern in the
fashionable circles that produced the repertoire. Specifications in p
and manuscript music and documentary evidence such as wills ne
mentioned 'small' or 'large', just 'cittern'. Praetorius was trying
comprehensive, and since he never mentioned any English cittern
than the small one, we can presume that he didn't know of any
English cittern. There is no evidence for Italian-tuned large Engl
citterns before the middle of the 17th century. The implication t
that there was only one size of cittern worth mentioning in the c
that produced the music and the documentary evidence. If there
only one size, it had to be the small one because of the finger-st
limitations in the solo repertoire. This does not rule out someone t
a surviving earlier French-tuned cittern (as played in Consorts before
small cittern was invented), tuning the 4th course up a semitone
playing whatever they could play of the repertoire on it. It is just un
that this was a fashionable thing to do at the time in the musical c
that produced the surviving music, which included the Royal mu
establishment and the English musicians touring abroad.
Two of the best researchers into the history of wire-strung instrum
are Peter Forrester and Donald Gill. In recent papers,72 each of the
indicated that he believes that the pitch that Praetorius reported f
tuning of the English cittern was an octave too high. To them, t
assumption resolves the problem that Praetorius's pitch, with the s
gauges he gave, leads to string tensions on the instrument that
considerably higher than one would expect from evidence on
similar instruments. It is possible that this problem was lived with b
players if Meuler didn't make any thinner wire gauges. It is also po
that the diameter equivalents of the gauge numbers changed in Ger
between Praetorius's time and over a century later, when we
evidence of what the diameter equivalents were.
72 p. Forrester, 'The Morley Consort Lessons and the English cit

FoMRHI Q 56 (uly 1989), Comm. 931, pp.46-50, and D. Gill, 'The Sevente
Century Gittern and the English Zitterlein', The Lute XXXV (199
pp.76-86.
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The basic issue here, though, is whether this problem justifies rejecting
Praetorius's pitch evidence. An assumption of error in an original source
is justified if it is the only way to resolve a source contradiction. There is
no contradiction here. An assumption of source error needs to be
supported by the postulation of a reasonably probable mechanism for
how the error happened. No such postulation has been offered, and
would be particularly difficult in this case. This rejection has not yet
been, and probably cannot be justified. I do hope that these researchers
will reconsider their position in the light of the more recent paper on
Praetorius's plucked instruments73 which shows how thoroughly
ordinary Praetorius's pitch for that instrument is amongst the others with
wire strings.
CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF THE CITOLE
The Utrecht Psalter was apparently written in France in the 9

It has several drawings of long lutes with body shapes that
bodies of Greek kitharas, except for the addition of a long
fretted fingerboard and the contraction of the lyre-type arm
small vestigial protuberances. The psalms (in Latin) associa
drawings identify this instrument as a 'cithara'. If what w
here were instruments used in France at the time, the long lu
arrived in Europe together with both types of carved sho
since there is no further evidence of long lutes here, they
quickly.
There is another possibility though. Winternitz wrote74 'Modern
investigations have shown, with almost general consent, that the drawings
of the Utrecht Psalter are based on much earlier models, probably
Eastern ...'. The artist apparently went to unusual lengths in attempting
to be historically accurate rather than just depict contemporary
instruments. Winternitz cited a similar instrument in a 6th century
mosaic in Libya, where and when it presumably was in active use. He also
cited a drawing in a 9th century bible of Charles le Chauve which shows
an instrument that was a cross between a kithara and a wide short lute,
looking mostly like the former but having a neck and fingerboard so that
it played like the latter. The thesis he proposed was that these instruments
were links in the gradual and continuous transformation of the kithara to
the cittern.
73 E. Segerman, 'Praetorius's plucked instruments and their strings', FoMRHI

Q 92 (1998), Comm. 1593, pp.33-7.
74E. Winternitz, 'The Survival of the Kithara and the Evolution of the
Cittern', Music Libraries and Instruments (1961), Hinrichsen, pp.209-14 (this was a
paper read at the Joint Congress, Cambridge, 1959, of the I.A.M.L. and the
Galpin Society)
106

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Winternitz's paper was very influential. Dart called it 'a most
important study of the evolution of these instruments [gittern and citole]'
in a footnote to his 1965 revised edition of Galpin's Old English
Instruments of Music. The 'Cittern' entry by Harwood and Tyler in The
New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments uncritically presented
Winternitz's thesis as the origin of the cittern (and, of course, the citole).
This was contradicted in the 'Citole' entry by Wright that just precedes
the 'Cittern' entry. Wright pointed out that there is a gap of over 200
years before about 1200 when vestigial lyre wings do not appear amongst
the many depictions of plucked instruments, so the continuity that
Winternitz postulated is not apparent. Also, these features do not appear
on the later Spanish instruments that are prime candidates for being
identified as citoles. Wright makes it clear that the citole's name did not
exist before the late 12th century, and in effect said75 that the only
instruments it could have developed from were plucked fiddles. Sachs76
had previously suggested this, but not with any conviction.
From an evolutionary point of view, it is clear that the immediate
precursor of the citole was the plucked fiddle (or widened short lute).
That was the only instrument around that it could have developed from.
But Winternitz was also right in the symbolic relationship between the
ancient kithara and some design features that commonly appear on the
citole, cetra and cittern. By incorporating these features, the players of
these instruments were trying to capture the authentic magic that
everyone believed the kithara had.
75 E. Segerman, 'Reviews of New Grove DoMI no. 4: Ca to Ci entries',

FoMRHI Q 43 (April 1986), Comm.698, pp.39-45.
76 C. Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments (1940), p.346.
107

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A Short History of The Cittern

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Author(s): Ephraim Segerman

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