What Is A Lute?

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What Is A Lute?

2 Answers

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Answer 1

A lute basically is a plucked string instrument which has a fretted neck along with a deep round back. Lutes are entirely made of wood. The soundboard of the lute is usually designed in the shape of a teardrop. Nearly all lutes comprise of a single decorated sound hole beneath the strings, which is known as rose. The sound hole is not open, but is covered with fencing in the shape of an intertwining vine or a decorative knot, engraved straight from the wood of the soundboard.

The back section of a Lute is made from thin strips of hardwood, known as ribs, which are connected from edge to edge to create a deep rounded body for the instrument. The player of a Lute is known as lutenist, lutanist and at times lutist even.

Answer 2

It can mean two things. In a general organological (meaning the study of the forms of instruments) sense, a "lute" is any string instrument with a neck and strings that run roughly parallel to the soundboard. This distinguishes them from zithers, which have strings parallel to the soundboard but with no neck, and harps, with necks perpendicular to the soundboard. By this definition, guitars, violins, and banjos are all types of "lute."

Usually, though, "lute" is taken to mean a specific kind of instrument popular in Europe in various forms from the late Middle Ages to the Baroque. It generally had a round pear-shaped body with a rounded back made up of thin wooden staves or ribs. The neck was fairly wide to accommodate several pairs of gut strings. It had frets, but unlike the metal frets of a guitar they were made of gut and tied around the neck.