LUTE NEWS THE LUTE SOCIETY MAGAZINE NUMBER 138, p.
19 - 26, JULY 2021
The resting position of the right-hand little finger in lute playing, a survey, by Bernhard Fischer
Right-hand technique has, understandably, been a central point of dis-
cussion for lutenists since the beginning of the revival. In Lute News 77
Bill Carter reminded us that some early German and Italian players,
perhaps continuing a mediaeval tradition, secured the lute with the
both the ring and little fingers of the right-hand, using only the thumb,
index and middle fingers to play; while Lute News 94 Mimmo Peruffo
presented Old Master paintings and soundboad wear marks showing a
remarkable consistency of hand position from c.1600 onwards, perhaps
dictated by string set-up and tensions. But perhaps there has never been
a thorough survey of little finger position within the broader study of
right-hand technique. Bernhard Fischer has now attempted such a sur-
vey, with the kind help of David van Edwards.
Earlier last year I had the chance to inspect the small Andreas Berr
lute (built in 1699 in Vienna, Austria) in the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. During this, I observed on the soundboard wear marks
probably resulting from the holding position of the little finger of
the right hand. The ‘finger mark’ was approx. 4–5 cm away from
the bridge towards the rose. The full report is available on the
Ning website, ‘Lute—A network for lovers of lute music’, (http://
lutegroup.ning.com/forum/topics/the-andreas-berr-lute-from-the-
museum-of-fine-arts-a-report-from?xg_source=activity).
After returning to Vienna, I looked into little finger holding
instructions from various historic lute manuscripts and books of
the 17th and 18th century. The sources I found are as follows, in
chronological order.
1. Written instructions
Marin Mersenne, Harmonie Universelle, (1636), Livre Second, des
Instruments, p. 77 (now downloadable at the Gallica website):
En 4. lieu, le petit doigt doit estre appuyé sur la table du Luth
proche du chevalet, & de la chanterelle, car ceux qui se mettent
derriere ledit chevalet, contractent une mauvaise habitude, qui se
change par [recte: pas?] apres la nature: de sorte qu’il est difficile
que les enfans, que l’on accoustume à cette mauvaise pratique, la
changent quands ils sont plus grands. C’est pourquoy il leut faut
faire construire de petits Luths, afin que les espaces des chordes
soient conformes à la grandeur de leur main, & qu’ils la posent
tout d’un coup comme les grands.
(Fourthly, the little finger is supported on the table of the lute
near the bridge, and the first string, because those who put it be-
hind the aforesaid bridge, contract a bad habit, which by nature
does not change; in such a way that it is difficult for children,
whom one makes accustomed to this bad practice, to change it
when they are older. That is why it is necessary to have small
lutes built for them, so that the string spacings conform to the
size of their hands, and they place their hands straight away as
grown-ups do.)
In the Burwell Lute Tutor (1660–72) we find this.
For the right hand, it must be placed between the rose and the
bridge, but nearest to the bridge. Your hand must lie upon the
belly of the lute with the little finger only, which must be as it
were glued unto it.
Thomas Mace, in Musicks Monument (London, 1676), The Sec-
ond, and Civil Part: Or, The Lute made Easie’, teaches the reader
in two paragraphs to:
19
set your Little Finger down upon the Belly of the Lute, just
under the Bridge, against the Treble or Second String
and
The 2d. thing to be gain’d is, setting down your Little Finger
upon the Belly, as aforesaid, close under the Bridge, about the
first, 2d, 3d, or 4th Strings . . .
Esaias Reusner, gives a rare and precious clue to the practice of chang-
ing hand position to change the sound; in Neue Lauten=Früchte
(Berlin, 1676):
Erstlich muß der kleine Finger nicht hinter, sondern für den
Steg etwas gesetzt werden, welches lieblicher klinget
(First, the little finger shall not be placed behind but before the
bridge, for a more smoother sound)
and in Erfreuliche Lauten-Lust (Leipzig, 1697) he adds:
An der rechten Hand muß der kleine Finger vor dem Steg ge-
setzt werden, wann man lieblich spielen will, soll es aber etwas
stärker klingen, kann auch wol den kleinen Finger hinter dem
Steg setzten.
(The little finger of the right hand is placed before the bridge, if
one would like to play with a soft sound, however if a stronger
sound is desired the little finger can be placed behind the bridge.)
Jacques Gallot, Pièces de Luth (Paris, 1684), who according to
George Torres’ very useful compilation of the French luthiste’s
Avertissements (in JLSA xxxvi, 2003) seems to be the only French
baroque player to deign to give advice, says simply that:
Il faut tenir le petit doigt de la main droitte sur la table prozche le
chevalet ou les cordes sont attachées et les autres doigts en demy
cercle pout estre prest a toucher et le poulce avance en sort quil se
trouve tousiours au dessus des doigts.
(One must hold the little finger of the right hand on the sound-
board near the bridge, where the strings are attached, and the
other fingers in a half circle in order to be ready to play, and
the thumb moves forward, in such a way that it is always above
the fingers.)
In Cabinet der Lauten (Breslau 1695) composed and published by
Philipp Franz Lesage de Richée we learn that:
Muß der kleine Finger der rechten Hand nicht hinter, sondern
vor den Steg gesetzt werden.
The little finger of the right hand shall not be placed behind but
in front of the bridge.
Ernst Gottlieb Baron in Historisch-theoretisch und practische Unter-
suchung des Instruments der Lauten (Nürnberg, 1727) instructs the
reader as follows:
Damit es [die Laute] nun aber auch befestigt werde, so dienet
zur Nachricht, daß in der linken Hand der Daumen und in der
rechten Hand der kleine Finger dazu das meiste contribuieren
müssen. Denn mit dem Daumen wird die Laute vorwarts an den
Lute News 138, July 2021
 Tisch, mit dem rechten kleinen Finger aber, welchen man oben
bey der Chantarelle oder kleinsten Saite hinter den Steg, allwo
er sich in eine kleine Rundung zusammen schließt, setzen muß,
getrieben, welche auch ohnedem auf dem dicken rechten Bein
etwas ruhet. Wenn es aber auf die Frage ankommt, an welchem
Ort man die Lauten Saiten berühren soll, damit der Thon seine
gehörige Kraft hat? so dienet zu wissen, daß solches in dem Cen-
tro des Spatii zwischen dem Stern und Steg geschehen müsse,
weil da die Berührung den größten Effekt thut.
(1728), whereas the author of lute manuscript PL-WRu-2002 rec-
ommends a little finger position in front of the bridge. In several of
these written statements, the little finger position—and therefore
the likely position of the right-hand fingers in play—is discussed
in accordance with sound and volume effects. Perhaps no fixed or
universal rule existed as where to place the right-hand little finger.
2. Iconographic evidence

(In order to stabilize the lute the following serves as advice: that To further substantiate one or the other hypothesis, I inspected my
in the left hand the thumb and in the right hand the little finger own collection as well as various lute iconography databases and
must make the most contribution. While the lute rests on the other online resources with pictures from the 17th and 18th cen-
right thigh, the lute will be pushed forwards towards the table tury showing the baroque lute from different perspectives. Several
with the thumb while the right [hand] little finger must be placed hundred pictures were identified initially. Next, such pictures were
behind the bridge up by the Chanterelle or thinnest string, right selected in which the baroque lute is actually played or directly held
where it ends in a little curve. When it comes to the question: at in position in individual or group, where the view of the instru-
which position one ought to touch the lute strings to produce ment allows us to see the position of the right-hand little finger.
the proper strength of tone, it serves one to know that this should This yielded 55 drawings or paintings ranging from 1610 to 1764
be in the centre of the space between the rose and the bridge,
(I can supply an annex of images on request, and likewise an annex
because there the touch makes the greatest effect.)
of original images of the written sources, above.) Then the pictures
were grouped into three categories regarding the resting position
In the lute manuscript PL-Wu RM 4137 (1728 or soon after) a
of the right-hand little finger: behind the bridge, at or in direct
hand-written comment is added at the last pages of the little book:
contact with the bridge, and in front of the bridge.
The result was surprising for the author, at least: while 8 pictures
Man setzte den kleinen Finger der rechten Hand in die Ecke oder
Höhlung der Saitenhalterung bey der Chantarelle. clearly showed the little finger behind the bridge, and 19 pictures
showed the little finger in front of the bridge, 28 pictures showed
(One puts the little finger of the right hand in the niche or curve the right-hand little finger either directly on top of the bridge or in
of the bridge next to the chanterelle.) direct and close contact with it, or on the concave side of the curvy
end or niche of the bridge.
The lute manuscript PL-WRu-2002 ( the ‘Kniebandl’ manuscript, When David Van Edwards searched his lute iconography da-
1740) states: tabase, on the Lute Society website, for ‘little finger behind the
bridge’ this resulted in 52 entries, searching for ‘little finger in front
Muß der kleine finger der rechten Hand nicht hinter sondern vor of the bridge’ resulted in 200 entries, whereas ‘little finger on the
den Steg gesetzet werden. bridge’ resulted in 399 entries (though these were figures for all
lutes, not just baroque ones). Accordingly, majority of visual repre-
(Do not put the little finger of the right hand behind the bridge sentations show the right-hand little finger not in front, but on or
but in front of it.) behind the bridge.* Here are some representative examples of the
different types of image.
Taking all this written evidences together, we can see that the cor-
rect positioning of the little finger of the right hand was thought Little finger behind the bridge
important by lute composers and players. Second, if there had not
been different little finger positions in general practice, or if only
one (correct) little finger position had been in use widely, this issue
would surely not have been stressed repeatedly in various baroque
lute books, in Germany in particular.
The question whether the little finger should rest before and/or
behind the bridge has sometimes raised controversies in modern
times among lute teachers and players. In his article ‘Some 18th
century German sources for right-hand placement and fingering’
Robert Barto (LSA Quarterly, 2007) argues that ‘all information we
have from the middle of the 17th century onwards would indicate
that “behind the bridge” was no longer recommended’. However,
in the opinion of the author the quotations gathered here tell us a
slightly different and more varied story: Mace (1676) favours a lit-
tle finger position just close behind the bridge—something which
Mersenne had rejected. Esaias Reusner stipulates a little finger posi-
tion before (1676) and behind (1697) the bridge, depending on the
desired quality of sound. Mary Burwell’s teacher, whoever he was Portrait of A Lutenist, detail, late 17th century, anonymous
(1660–72) instructs us to ‘glue’ the little finger onto the belly near-
est to the bridge. In 1695 Philipp Franz Lesage de Richée supports
the little finger position before the bridge. Ernst Gottlieb Baron
(1727) suggests a little finger position behind the curvy end of
the bridge, as does the scribe of lute manuscript PL-Wu RM 4137

Lute News 138, July 2021 20

 Self-portrait with his wife, detail (1675), by Frans van Mieris
Lute player, detail (1620), by Theodor Rombouts

Le Duo, detail (1628), by Hendrik ter Brugghen The Concert, detail (1630), by Jan Hermanszoon van Bijlert

Le bouffon au luth, detail (1623), by Frans Hals The lute player, detail (1667), by Gerard ter Borch

Little finger in contact with the bridge

An allegory of hearing, detail (1750), L’homme au luth, detail (1615), Pierre Paul Rubens (attributed)
by Anna Rosina von Lisiewska

A lady playing the lute, detail (1654), by Ferdinand Bol Musician, detail (1660), by Theodore van Thulden

21 Lute News 138, July 2021


The concert, detail (1623), by Gerrit van Honthorst
Little finger in front of the bridge
The lutenist, detail (1661), by Hendrick Martensz Sorgh
La Joueuse de luth chantant son amour, detail (1649),
by Simon Vouet
Le concert, detail (1624), by Gerrit van Honthorst
The luteplayer, detail (1630), by Jan Miense Molenaer
Lute News 138, July 2021
So we see there is an impressive amount of visual evidence that the
little finger of the right hand was placed behind the bridge, and
equally evidence supports the position of the little finger in front
of the bridge. However, there is an overwhelming support for the
little finger position as reported by Mace, Baron, Burwell and the
lute manuscript PL-Wu RM 4137, namely that the right-hand lit-
tle finger is positioned nearest to the bridge, or perhaps touches the
bridge, or the soundboard at the concave side of the curvy end of
the bridge, or if the bridge ends in a niche, in this corner.
The positioning of the little finger into the curved or ‘niche’ end
of the bridge as described by Baron is perfectly shown in the 1737
portrait of Adam Falckenhagen, the well-known German lutenist,
by Johann Wilhelm Stör.
Even the famous 1690 painting and engraving of Mouton by
François de Troy shows that the right hand little finger is not far
away from the bridge.
An awkward stretch
To position the little finger on, or close to, or behind the bridge,
while at the same time playing in the middle between the bridge
and the rose, apparently required a massive stretching of the little
finger towards the end of the lute. In his aforementioned article,
Robert Barto noted that ‘on a typical lute of the period it seems
that it would be very uncomfortable to place the little finger be-
hind the bridge and then play half-way between the rose and the
bridge. However, such uncomfortable little finger positions are
documented in great detail in various pictures, including a 1727
portrait of Baron himself.
22
 This lute by Daniel Achatius Stadlmann, Kremsmünster, Benedik-
tinerstift no. 20, shows the same wear on the bridge itself together
with some indentation wear on the soundboard just behind the
bridge by the second course.

The lute player, detail (1624), by Hendrick ter Brugghen

This lute, firmly attributed to Frei by Wegerer, with neck and peg-
box made by Fux ? and handwritten label: Hans Frei in Bologna
//. Printed label: Matthias Fux // Röm. Kay. May. Lautenmacher
in Wienn 16 [ms] 83 zuegericht //, shows a little finger wear about
an inch in front of the bridge but very pronounced thumb or finger
wear right across the string band.
Mrs. Arabella Hunt, detail (1692), by Godfrey Kneller

3. Wear marks on surviving instruments

David Van Edwards initially sent me a photo of the liuto attiorbato

by Sellas (Paris E.1028) which shows a very clear hollow on the
soundboard behind the bridge where the little finger had rested,
indicated by an arrow.

This lute has printed labels: Magno dieffopruchar a venetia //

[ms] 1604 //, and: Matthias Fux // Röm. Kays. May- // Hoff-
Lautenmacher in Wienn 16[ms]85 // [ms]zuegericht //. This
has classic wear implying plucking point about halfway between
bridge and rose.

Very kindly, David went on to search through the photos of 503

historic lutes in his collection, and found 18 with visible wear marks,
these are shown with his comments below. Chris Goodwin added in
a couple more pictures from the Vihuela Society’s visit to the Barce-
lona instrument museum (see Lutezine 118). (The reader may also
care to look at Mimmo Peruffo’s photos from Kremsmunster in Lute
News 94).
On a body attributed to Hans Frei, with neck and pegbox made The same is true of this lute, with printed label: Jacob Weiß/ Lau-
by Matthias Greimble (1678/79?) this lute in Kremsmünster, Ben- then- und Gei- // 17 genmacher in Saltzburg [ms]14 //. Krems-
ediktinerstift, shows both a lot of movement of the little finger up münster, Benediktinerstift No. 17.
and down but also lot of little finger wear on the end of the bridge
itself where it has worn off the black

23 Lute News 138, July 2021

By contrast, this lute with printed label: IN PADOVA Vendeliò [!] The same is true of this Giovanni Tesler? lute, Stockholm, Stiftelsen
// Venere 1603 [printed !] // (probably a 17th century forgery from Musikkulturens Främjande (The Nydahl Collection) KN 33.
the Füssen area) now Darmstadt, Hessisches Landesmuseum, Kg
67:106, has severe wear on and just behind the bridge: it is surely
no coincidence that the bridge has lost an ear.

On this Tielke 1698, in a private collection wear just in front of

bridge looks makes it look as if the finger was mostly in the curve
of the bridge end.

This lute with handwritten label: Mangnus Hellmer Zu Füessen //

[...] 1609 Jahr me fecit 3 [serial no.?] //, in Darmstadt, Hessisches
Landesmuseum, Kg 67:104 is another case of clear wear and loss
of the staining on the bridge end itself.

Again on this instrument by J.F. Tiphanon, 1782, in New York,

Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA. 1982.241.1, it looks as if the
little finger was anchored in bridge curl.

On this Wolfgang Wolf, 12 course lute in Füssen again the treble

end of the bridge has the stain worn off. And not much other evi-
dence of little finger wear on the soundboard.

This J. C. Hoffmann lute in the Hornimann Museum 1975-506

LAB 4792 shows wear widely distributed up to halfway between
bridge and rose but . . .
A Sympert Niggel mandora in Nürnberg, Germanisches National-
museum MIR 895; stain has worn off the treble end of the bridge.

Lute News 138, July 2021 24

. . . also a sense that the anchor position was the bridge-end curl. Not too clear on the photo, but clear on the original and marked
here with a white ellipse, is wear on the soundboard of an Andreas
Berr instrument in the Museum of Fine Arts, Arthur T. Cabot
Fund, USA 1986.7. In fact, it also looks as if there is wear just
behind the bridge at the treble end, if you look carefully . . .

This soundboard of a Laux Maler in Paris, Musèe de la Musique,

This Sixtus Rauwolf lute in the Fugger Museum in Babenhausen
E.2005.3.1 has wear from the bridge to halfway to the rose.
has very obvious wear marks from the curve of the bridge end up
to nearly half way to the rose.

This lute by Friedrich Pryffer of 1546 in the Wartburg Museum,

This lute with printed label: Magno Dieffopruchar a Venetia// Bar- Eisenach, Germany KH 51, seems to have had a single owner, us-
celona, Museu de la musica MDMB 404 has long traces of wear ing it in a consistent way. Arrow shows deep single little finger wear
from bridge to rose point. Must have been a single owner!

This 10-course Buchenburg of 1613, also in Barcelona, has wear of

the staining on the treble end of the bridge.

Out of 21 lutes then, purposely including double counting where

there is wear in more than one category, 4 show marks behind the
bridge, 9 show wear on the bridge, perhaps 7 were played with the
little finger resting in the curl of the bridge end, and 10 were played
with the little finger resting in front of the bridge.

25 Lute News 138, July 2021

Conclusion
There has been some discussion in the modern literature regarding
the correct positioning of the right-hand little finger on the belly of
the lute. The predominant view is that the little finger touches the
soundboard in front of the bridge to allow the other fingers to play
the strings halfway between the rose and the bridge.
Here we have seen evidence that this view is incomplete. As
reported by various historic sources, a ‘one-and-only’ or ‘correct’
position for the little finger does not really exist, though opinions
could be dogmatically held. All options were available and were
widely used: the little finger can touch the belly behind the bridge,
or make direct contact with the bridge, or rest on the soundboard
in front of the bridge.
The reasons for this variety are also alluded to in the historic
literature: the lute sound varies depending on the exact location
where the strings are struck with the playing fingers. Touching
the strings in the centre between rose and bridge produces a soft
sound, whereas playing close to the bridge generates a stronger
sound and bigger volume.
Resting the little finger directly on the bridge, perhaps, gives a
closer contact and more reliable stable position for the right hand.
Other reasons for choosing different right-hand positions could
result from variations in the sizes of lute instruments (including
the position of the bridge in relation to the rose), variations in the
anatomy of the right hand of the individual lute player, variations
NEWS
Congratulations to the Deutsche Lautengesellschaft, who have just
started their own Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/
channel/UCaHOxQSVf8XefHJGWQ_gBZQ. The very first film
is of Musiche Varie, Susanne van Os and Martin Lubenow, per-
forming early baroque works on theorbo and cornetto, then music
for renaissance lute, baroque lute and 19th century guitar. It costs
nothing to subscribe.
Via the reviews columns I (CG) have been trying to keep track of
all the lute quartets which play regularly together, and now there is
a new one, an all-female quartet based in Basel, the Casulana Lute
Quartet, consisting of Alice Letort, Emma-Lisa Roux, Cornelia
Demmer and Talitha-Cumi Witmer. We look forward to discs,
films and concerts. You can hear them performing the Vallet lute
quartet suite on the new Deutsche Lautengesellschaft channel at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkC1BIgoFhM.
Congratulations to Jadran Duncumb, a real star of the younger
generation of players, on his new post teaching lute at the Scuola
Civica di Milano. The deadline to apply for courses there is 6th
September.
In May, Partridge’s auction house in Macclesfield held a 4-day
auction selling instruments including numerous lutes, guitars etc
from the estate of the late Ephraim Segerman. Numerous items
with a starting price of tens of pounds sold for hundreds, or over
a thousand pounds, and the auctioneer was heard to remark that
many of the instruments had been undervalued in the pre-auction
estimates! Many of the instruments are basically good but needed
restoration, which will doubtless keep the nation’s restorers busy
for a while! Luke Emmet was one of the purchasers, and you will be
able to read about one of his purchases in the next issue.
Lute News 138, July 2021
in the physical properties and adjusted tension of gut strings, etc.
What also becomes clear is that if the little finger makes a con-
tact to the bridge or behind the bridge, the little finger has to be
stretched out and a gap opens up between the ring finger and the
little finger. This posture seems to be unusual to us today because
majority of lute players started playing with the guitar or renais-
sance lute.
Accordingly, it is up to us to rethink and re-adjust our baroque
lute playing style and hand position. Anyway, we do not have any
recorded sound from this period, so we can only imagine the sound
ideals from the 17th to the mid-18th century, and these too were
surely not unvaried over half a dozen generations of lute players—
Bernhard Fischer, fischer.be@aon.at
I should like to thank David Van Edwards, Yasuhiro Kadano,
Joachim Held and Stephen Murphy for their suggestions and gen-
erous support in the preparation of this study.
* Editor’s footnote: In fact with the efforts of Lute Society members,
David, and webmaster Luke Emmet the database continues to grow and
grow; in July 2021 the figures are now: 61 ‘behind [the] bridge’, 240 ‘on
soundboard in front of [the] bridge’ of which at least 164 are certainly
from 1600–1800. Just a handful have the little finger actually above the
rose; 178 of all periods have the ‘little finger in the air’ and 182 have
little finger ‘halfway between bridge and rose’ but mostly from before
1600; only 74 from 1600 or later. 180 images have the right-hand little
finger ‘on [the]bridge’.
Members will be sorry to hear of the passing of David Wade, sud-
denly, at Easter, had been a member for more than 20 years, and of
Dieter Weber at the end of May, also a long-standing member, who
had regularly contributed his original compositions to our archive,
for all to enjoy.
Despite the return of some live concerts, musicians continue to
face cancellations and uncertainty. To help period-instrument
ensembles to continue planning and performing, the Continuo
Foundation is now inviting applications for a second round of
grants; £100,000 is available for grants to projects scheduled from
October 2021 to March 2022. However, this amount will be in-
creased by any additional donations received before 1st September
2021, with 100% going to grants.
This new round follows the initial £150,000 in grants awarded
in March 2021 to 23 ensembles, creating 377 paid engagements
for freelance musicians. The first round highlighted the number of
excellent ensembles struggling in lockdown, and the great need for
support. Since April 2021, four new recordings, one opera world
premiere and numerous concerts—filmed for streaming and with
live audiences—have taken place. The vibrant calendar of current
grantee events continues until October.
Grants from Continuo are open to professional UK-based peri-
od-instrument ensembles. Applications have a submission deadline
of 9 August 2021. Grant decisions are expected by 21 September.
Full details on how to apply are available on the Foundation’s web-
site: www.continuofoundation.co.uk
BBC Radio 3 is going to broadcast Brian Wrights’s ‘Tombeau for
Julian Bream’ played by Bernhard Hofstoetter on August 14th ,the
first anniversary of Julian Bream’s death, on their Breakfast Show.
When did they last broadcast a contemporary piece for the lute?
26