Lutanist
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Various lutes
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| strings | |
|---|---|
| Classification | |
| Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 321.321-5 (Composite chordophone sounded by the bare fingers) |
| Developed |
Classical antiquity (early lutes) Middle Ages (modern lutes) |
| Related instruments | |
Classical antiquity (early lutes)
Lute (/luːt/) can refer generally to any string instrument having the strings running in a plane parallel to the sound table (in the Hornbostel–Sachs system), more specifically to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either fretted or unfretted) and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes.
The European lute and the modern Near-Eastern oud descend from a common ancestor via diverging evolutionary paths. The lute is used in a great variety of instrumental music from the Medieval to the late Baroque eras and was the most important instrument for secular music in the Renaissance. It is also an accompanying instrument, especially in vocal works, often realizing a basso continuo or playing a written-out accompaniment. The player of a lute is called a lutenist, lutanist or lutist, and a maker of lutes (or any similar string instrument) is referred to as a luthier.
The words "lute" and "oud" possibly derive from Arabic al-ʿud (العود - literally means "the wood"). Recent research by Eckhard Neubauer suggests ʿud may in turn be an Arabized version of the Persian name rud, which meant "string", "stringed instrument", or "lute". It has equally been suggested the "wood" in the name may have distinguished the instrument by its wooden soundboard from skin-faced predecessors. Gianfranco Lotti suggests the "wood" appellation originally carried derogatory connotations because of proscriptions of all instrumental music in early Islam.
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Wikipedia