The Cittern (also called cither or cithern)
is played by plucking the strings with the fingers or with a plectrum.
During the 16th century the Cittern is second in popularity only
to the Lute. It has a flat back, fretted fingerboard and a variable
number of strings. In its simplest form it has four courses of
2 or 3 strings each. The strings in each course are tuned in unison
with an added octave in some courses. The Cittern has many tunings
and is often retuned from one piece of music to the next. The
music (or tablature) gives the correct tuning to be used at the
beginning of each piece.
16th
Century Italian Cittern
This cittern from Urbino, Italy, ca. 1550 had the body, long neck, and pegbox carved from a single piece of wood.
(Image courtesy of the Rawlins Gallery at America's Shrine to Music Museum)
Cittern Replica
(Photo ocurtesy of Jim Hill at website Lark
in the Morning - see credits)
You may want to visit the following outside
of Virtual Renaissance:
The Cittern
Page
http://www.execpc.com/~danb/cittern.html
Contains information, history, music and web links to the cittern
References:
Baines, Anthony. European & American Musical Instruments.
Viking Press, New York, 1966.
Buchner, Dr. Alexander (translated by Iris
Urwin). Musical Instruments Through the Ages. Batchworth
Press Limited, London, England, 1961.
Haas, Karl. Inside Music: How to understand, listen to,
and enjoy good music. Doubleday, New York, 1984. ISBN:
0-385-18536-7
Hill, Jim. "Lark in the Morning". http://www.larkinam.com/ (20 June 1996)
Hindley, Geoffrey (ed.). The Larousse
Encyclopedia of Music. Excalibur Books, New York, 1982.
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