1968, English, Object edition: Lute by Fabrizio Reginato

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Lute by Fabrizio Reginato
 
Bookmark: http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/174615141
Physical Description
  • Lutes
  • Musical Instruments
Published
  • 1968-1969
Language
  • English

Edition details

Title
  • Lute by Fabrizio Reginato
Published
  • 1968-1969
Physical Description
  • Lutes
  • Musical Instruments
Subjects
Summary
  • Lute with case and strings, wood /​ metal /​ fabric /​ paper, made by Fabrizio Reginato, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 1968-1969 Seven course (14 string) lute with [Norwegian] spruce soundboard with decorative gilt rose in the centre. The bowl shaped wooden back, made of Australian cedar, is constructed using a series of individual staves. The cedar neck has a rosewood fingerboard with 9 metal frets. The fingerboard continues onto the soundboard with five wooden frets tapering in length from long to short. The head has 14 wooden tuning pegs, seven on each side, each with a decorative white bead at the end. Black hard case purpose built for the instrument lined in blue velvet. Two packets of spare strings for lower strings.
Notes
  • Makers label: 'Reginato Lute/​ Fab.Brisbane.Anno 69' Label inside case: 'Manufactured &​ Guaranteed By/​ W.H. Stamford &​ Sons PTY LTD/​ High Class Case Specialists/​ Chatswood, NSW Australia/​ Leather Clothe Covered'
  • This lute by Fabrizio Reginato is significant to the Powerhouse Museum's collection on a number of levels. As well as being an example of Australian musical instrument making during the late 1960s and its use of both traditional and Australian timbers in its construction, it is also an important piece of material culture that helps to describe the development of the Early Music movement in Australia. One of several objects in the Museum's collection associated with the twentieth century revival of early music in both Europe and Australia, the lute is thought to be one of the earliest examples to be made in Australia during this revival. The instrument was commissioned and played by early music specialist Dr Patricia Brown who used it in performances from the late 1960s. This particular instrument was possibly responsible for the maker, often simply called "Reginato", leaving Australia to take up a career in Europe. The lute's quality and tone was recognised by visiting early music performers, Thomas Binkley and the Studio für Frühen Musik, who persuaded the maker to go to Europe to continue instrument making after seeing and hearing it played at a music festival in 1969. The lute provides a valuable comparison with other Australian-made early musical instruments in the Museum's collection, such as a lute by Arnold Black that was made twelve years later and at a time when the Early Music movement was more established and had the benefit of more informed research into early instrument design and construction techniques. In this context the lute is illustrative of the evolution of instrument making skills in Australia. From the late 1940s a number of key factors contributed to the development of early music in Australia. In New South Wales these included the establishment of the Music Department at the University of Sydney by Professor Donald Peart who had had an association in England with Arnold Dolmetsch, seen by many as the father of the Early Music movement. In the ensuing years several festivals also helped to popularise early music in this country such as Musica Viva's Music Festivals held in Mittagong and the annual Summer Music Festivals at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales. Specialists in early music performance became more prominent and groups such as the long established Renaissance Players established by Winsome Evans in the mid 1960s provided valuable opportunities for performance and training for many performers. The work done by Professor Roger Covell, who founded the Music and Music Education department at the University of New South Wales in the 1960s, was also fundamental in this development in Sydney and led to a broad range of summer schools, festivals and performances of early operas and recitals. The donor, Dr Patricia Brown, was also part of this development, first in Brisbane as an undergraduate and post-graduate student in Music at the University of Queensland, later as the first Music Librarian to be appointed at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, and then as an Associate Professor of Music at the University of New South Wales. References: M.Atherton; Australian MadeÂ?Australian Played (UNSW Press, Sydney, 1990). P.Brown; Personal communication with Dr Patricia Brown, April 2010 M.Campbell; Dolmetsch: the man and his work, (Hamilton, London, 1975). M. Dolmetsch; Personal Recollections of Arnold Dolmetsch (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1957). G.Huseby, P.Reidemeister, M. Caffagni; 'The Lute Worldwide - 2" in Early Music, Vol. 3 No. 4 (October, 1975), pp. 387-391. M.O'Loghlin; "Geoff Wills, instrument maker, 10/7/1919-14/9/2000" in Australian Folk Songs, website: http:/​/​folkstream.com/​reviews/​wills/​ H.Richmond, G.Goldschmidt, D.Curry, G.Huseby; 'The Lute Worldwide - 1" in Early Music, Vol. 3 No. 2, (April, 1975), pp. 199-205. J Smith; 'The Register of Early Instruments', in Early Music, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1973 pp.45-58. Michael Lea Curator, music & musical instruments August 2010
Language
  • English
Image Number
  • 407874
  • 4309
  • 2010/​90/​1

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