'–C–F–B–d–g–c'.The name given by Praetorius (2/1619) to a nine-course bass Orpharion tuned G'–A'–C–D–G–c–e–a–d'. His illustration (see Bandora, fig.2) confirms his description:
The Penorcon is an instrument of almost the same kind, only its body is a little broader than that of the Bandora, and its neck or fingerboard is quite wide, so that nine courses of strings can pass over it. In length it is somewhat less than the Bandora and greater than an Orpharion.
Praetorius
is the only source for the name ‘penorcon’, but there is some incomplete music
‘for 3 Orph’ and ‘for iii Wiers’ [i.e three viols] in the Cambridge consort
books (GB-Cu Dd.3.18 f.55–6 [orpharion parts], Dd.5.20 f.10v
and Dd.5.21 f.11 [viol parts]) that seem to require a bass orpharion, possibly
a Penorcon, pitched B'–C–F–B–d–g–c'.
PraetoriusSM, ii
D. Gill: ‘An Orpharion by John Rose’, LSJ, ii (1960), 33–40
D. Gill: ‘The Orpharion and Bandora’, GSJ, xiii (1960), 14–25
L. Nordstrom: ‘The Cambridge Consort Books’, JLSA, v (1976), 70–103
IAN HARWOOD/LYLE NORDSTROM