the Lute Harpsichord

Not only the harp, but also the lute was intended to be playable via a keyboard or at least to imitate its sound to such an extent that its literature and sound character would be available to keyboard instrumentalists. The history and significance of this instrument can best be divided into four chapters.

Chapter I

This idea particularly fascinated musicians and instrument makers in the Thuringia and Saxony regions during the first half of the 18th century. Among them was an extensive family of musicians whose name is known to every music lover today: the Bach family. One family member, in particular, gained some fame for the lutes he crafted, Johann Nicolaus Bach (1669-1753), an organist in Jena.

Jacob Adlung, an organist in Erfurt, was extraordinarily taken with the lutes of his time:

"The Lute Harpsichord is the most beautiful among the keyboards after the organ, and it gets its name because it imitates the lute in sound, both in terms of pitch and delicacy (Musica mechanica organoedi II, posthumous: Berlin 1768, p. 133) ... I have, up to now, seen none but those crafted by Mr. J.N. Bach in Jena, which are certainly quite beautiful. Some are almost in the form of a harpsichord, and the strings are placed at the back. And just as lute strings differ in thickness but not in length, so is it here; at least the length difference doesn't amount to as much as in the harpsichord. The rest of the body is the same, including the soundboard, the keys, the jacks or tangents, the quill plectrums, the tuning pegs, etc. The main difference lies in the strings and bridges. They must all be gut strings, otherwise there wouldn't be a lute sound, and their length must have the exact proportion of the length on the lute. (pp. 135f.) ... Hence, Mr. J.N. Bach has deceived the best lutenists when he played and didn't let them see his lute work, so that one would swear it was a regular lute. (p. 137) ... Creating such a lute work requires indescribable effort and accuracy, yet a good sum of money is paid for it, as I recall Mr. received 60 Reichsthalers for one with three keyboards (though only made of boxwood and ebony). ... Mr. Johann Georg Gleichmann ... also makes lute keyboards, which can be played forte, piano, and pianissimo ... However, I haven't seen any of this work, so I don't know if it compares with Bach's. (p. 138)"

Adlung's (greatly abbreviated here) report from his own knowledge of Johann Nicolaus Bach's instruments conveys something of the fascination that emanated from these instruments.

Chapter II

In a sidenote, the editor of Adlung's Musica mechanica organoedi, Johann Lorenz Albrecht, added that he "remembers seeing and hearing a lute-clavichord indicated by Mr. Johann Sebastian Bach and worked out by Mr. Zacharias Hildebrand in Leipzig around the year 1740, which had a shorter scale than the regular harpsichords but was otherwise constructed like another harpsichord. It had two choirs of gut strings and a so-called octave of brass strings. It is true, in its actual construction it sounded (when only one stop was pulled) more like a theorbo than a lute. But, when the so-called ... lute stop (which was the same as on the harpsichords) was pulled with the cornet stop, one could almost deceive even professional lutenists with it. Mr. Friederici also made such instruments, yet with some modifications. (p. 139)"

The lute keyboard in the house of Thomaskantor Johann Sebastian Bach did not come from his cousin in Jena but from Zacharias Hildebrand and externally corresponded to an "ordinary harpsichord," albeit — presumably not least because it used gut strings — with a shorter scale. The sound similarity to the theorbo was probably due in part to its larger bass range.

At least the Prelude BWV 998 "pour la Luth ò Cembal" and the Suite in E minor BWV 996 (according to a non-autograph note on the title page "for the lute work"; Ms. in the collection volume D-B Mus.ms. Bach P 801, p. 385; see above), but likely also some of Bach's other lute and keyboard works, were composed for or on this instrument. Bach himself knew the stylistic peculiarities of the lute music of his time, but probably not all the technical details of the instrument, although the family owned a lute. Thus, some peculiarities of Bach's lute compositions may have arisen from the fact that he conceived them on his lute keyboard. The scores of the works — not as usual in tablature but on two staves as for keyboard instruments — also point in this direction.

Chapter III

What became of this instrument?

Bach not only owned the aforementioned lute-clavier by Zacharias Hildebrandt but even a second one. This is revealed in the inventory of his estate (see also here on the Bach Archive Leipzig homepage). There are a total of 5 "clavecins" (harpsichords), a "small spinet," and two lute works listed, but curiously no clavichords. The family's string instruments, including several violas, various basses, a viola da gamba, and a violino piccolo (perhaps an heirloom itself), likely allowed not only the performance of orchestral literature in the family but also filling in at various performances where individual musicians and instruments were lacking. The value indications show the relative or sometimes rather lower appreciation of one instrument or another, such as the first-named harpsichord, which was valued more highly than both lute works combined.

Chapter IV

In preparation for the Bach Anniversary Year 1985, the idea arose to reconstruct Bach's lute keyboard. However, there were no concrete model instruments, leaving only the interpretation of the information conveyed by Adlung (and Albrecht). Two concepts of reconstruction emerged side by side:

One was based on the assumption that the body of a lute work must be made in a bulbous shape from thin wood strips, like a lute, and the string lengths of a lute must be adopted in order to create a keyboard instrument with a sound as deceptively similar as possible.

The second concept followed Adlung's hints more closely, suggesting that the outer form corresponded to the harpsichord, and the lute-like sound would be achieved through the approximation of scale lengths, intonation, and the calculation of different plucking points (as with Johann Nicolaus Bach with his own rows of jacks placed very close or differently distant from the hitchpin rail and each with its own manual per row).

As compelling as these ideas may seem, it must still be noted that both approaches remain hypothetical until an original lute keyboard is discovered somewhere and sometime. What is noteworthy, however, is that the lute keyboard, along with its model instrument, vanished without a trace from musical practice and public memory, and without the association with the Bach family and work, it would likely have at most anecdotal significance.

Cap. VI.

                                                                 An Instrumenten.

1. fournirt Claveçin, welches bey der Familie, so viel möglich bleiben soll    80      –             –

1. Clavesin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     5        –             –

1. dito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  50       –             –

1. dito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   .  5        –             –

1. dito kleiner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   20         –             –

1. Lauten Werck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30         –             –

1. dito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30         –             –

1. Stainerische Violine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8         –             –

1. schlechtere Violine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2         –

1. dito Piccolo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1         8            –

1. Braccie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5         –            –

1. dito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5         –           –

1. dito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .–       16           –

1. Bassettgen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6        –            –

1. Violoncello . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6        –            –

1. dito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . –       16          –

1. Viola da Gamba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    3        –          –

1. Laute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21      –           –

1. Spinettgen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3                     –

                                                                                                                          facit.    371.       16         –

The estate was divided among the family members, primarily the sons Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel, with the instruments going to the youngest son Johann Christian, except for an unspecified instrument from the estate of the violin maker Johann Christian Hoffmann, which went to Johann Christoph Friedrich.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's inventory of the estate mentions none of the instruments from their father's possession, and the estates of the other sons are not documented; thus, all traces are lost.

Chapter IV

In the lead-up to the Bach anniversary year in 1985, the idea arose to reconstruct Bach's lute-harpsichord. However, no concrete model instruments existed, leaving only the interpretation of the information passed down by Adlung (and Albrecht). Two reconstruction concepts emerged side by side:

One assumed that the instrument body of a lute-harpsichord had to be constructed in a bulging manner with splinters like a lute, and the string lengths of a lute had to be adopted to create a keyboard instrument with a deceptively similar sound.

The second concept followed Adlung’s hints more closely, assuming that the outer form resembled the harpsichord, with lute similarity achieved through the approximation of scales, intonation, and calculation of different plucking points (as in the case of Johann Nicolaus Bach, with separate plucking rows very close or differently distant from the wrest plank bridge, each with its own manual per row).

As plausible as these lines of thought seem, it must nonetheless be stated that both approaches are and remain hypothetical unless an original lute-harpsichord is found somewhere, someday. Remarkably, the lute-harpsichord and its model instrument disappear without a trace from musical practice and public memory, and without the association with the Bach family and work, it would probably possess merely anecdotal significance.