Cittern Music in the Sixteenth Century

• Works for the Cittern

• Composers for the Cittern

The cittern was strung with wire strings instead of gut and, unlike the other instruments discussed here, usually played with a plectrum. Many sixteenth-century citterns lacked a complete set of frets for each chromatic pitch; instead, important diatonic pitches were given frets with whole-tone gaps in between some of them.

Most French cittern music calls for a four-course instrument in one of two closely related tunings. Beginning with Virchi 1574, a six-course cittern, with chromatic frets, became common in Italy and, later, in England. The instrument remained quite popular into the latter half of the seventeenth century.

Cittern Tablature

Only French and Italian tablatures were used for the cittern. In some early French sources, the diatonic fretting arrangement is kept in the tablature, and care must be taken to transcribe the correct intervals.

French Cittern Tablature (4 courses)

French Tuning (Paduane from Morlaye 1552c)

                         \                 \             \ 
     \     \         \   \       \         \             \ 

e'= _c_____b___c_____d___d_______d___d_____c__e__d__c____b_
d'= _a___|_a___a___|_c______c__|_c___c___|_a___________|_a_
g = _a___|_b___a___|_d_________|_d___d___|_a___________|_b_
a = _b___|_a___b___|_c_________|_c___c___|_____________|_a_

Italian Tuning

e= ______a__________________________
d= ___________b_____________________
g= ___________________c_____________
b= __________________________d______

Italian Cittern Tablature (4 courses)

French Tuning

a= ---0----------------------------
g= --------1-----------------------
d= ---------------2----------------
e= ---------------------3----------

Italian Tuning

b= ---0----------------------------
g= --------1-----------------------
d= ---------------2----------------
e= ---------------------3----------

Italian Cittern Tablature (6 courses)

Virchi's Tuning

D= --------------------------------
F= --------------------------------
b= ---0----------------------------
g= --------1-----------------------
d= ---------------2----------------
e= ---------------------3----------

Kargel's Tuning ("Exempla" from Kargel and Lais 1575)

    |    \

B= --------------|---------3-------|-----------------|---
G= -0------------|---------3-------|-----5-----------|---
D= -0----0---5---|-3---0---3---3---|-1---5---0---0---|-5-
g= -3----2---3---|-5---2---3---5---|-3---8---2---2---|-3-
d= -0----2---0---|-3---0---3---3---|-1---5---0---3---|-0-
e= -3----1---3---|-5---1---6---5---|-3-------2---5---|-6-