Mandora

(Calichon, Gallichon). A type of bass lute of the 18th century used for continuo accompaniment and solos, particularly in Germanic regions. Much confusion surrounds the instrument and its repertory as a result of the overly casual use of the term by most 20th-century writers, starting at least as early as Galpin (1910) and Sachs (1913). Adding to the confusion, modern writers frequently apply the French term Mandore to this instrument without any historical basis, since research shows that the latter term properly pertains to a small 16th- and 17th-century French type of treble lute. In fact, the term mandora is very rare before the late 16th century, when it is used either as a Latin term to refer to lute-type instruments of classical antiquity, or occasionally as an alternative to the Italian term mandola (see Mandolin).

To make matters even more confusing, 18th-century Germanic writers began to use an alternative or interchangeable name for their newly-developed bass lute: Calichon (the most common spelling used by writers), or one of its many variants (calchedon, colachon, colocion, galizona, gallichon, gallishon etc.). While mandora is the term found most often in German 18th-century sources, the two terms are sometimes equated, as in a manuscript in Donaueschingen (D-DO Mus.ms.1272) whose title page states that it is for ‘Gallishon: oder Mandor’, and another in Dresden (D-Dl Mus.ms.2/V/7) which indicates that it is for ‘Mandora’ on the title page, but for ‘Gallichona’ in the part books. But as 18th-century evidence reveals, whichever of these names is used, the same instrument is meant.

The name calichon and its many variants clearly derive from Colascione, the Italian term for a long-necked, two- or three-course lute type, which Italians developed from an instrument of Middle Eastern origin, and which Mersenne (Harmonicorum libri, i, 1635, and Harmonie universelle, ii, 1636–7) and Walther (Musicalisches Lexicon, 1732) both referred to as colascione in Italian and colachon in French, Kircher (Musurgia universalis, 1650, plate VII) as colachon in Latin. Despite having similar names, the colascione is not related to the German instrument under discussion, although some modern writers still confuse the two.

The construction of the mandora is similar to other lutes (see Lute, §2), having a vaulted body (back) constructed of separate ribs, a flat soundboard with either an integrally-carved rosette or one which is inserted into a soundhole, and a bridge consisting of a wooden bar acting as a string-holder glued to the soundboard. Unique to this instrument is the neck, which is long enough to allow for ten to 12 tied gut frets. The pegbox is either straight and set at a sharp angle to the neck (like a lute pegbox), or gently curving and set at a shallow angle, either case being fitted with laterally-inserted tuning pegs (although sometimes a flat pegboard with saggital pegs is found; see Morey, 1993, pp.66–76). The strings are of gut and are either single or, especially on Italian instruments, double courses. However, on German-made instruments, the first course (highest in pitch) is usually single (a chanterelle) and often has its own separate raised peg holder attached to the pegbox. The number of courses varies from five to eight, six courses being the most common requirement in music sources. Open string lengths tend to be fairly long (62–72 cm) on German instruments, but shorter (55–65 cm) on late Italian ones, probably because they tended to be tuned to a higher pitch.

At least 50 original instruments survive in collections around the world, however, as a result of the confusion surrounding the instrument, they usually are not recognized as mandoras. Many of these instruments are found in a more or less unaltered state, and therefore could be used as models for modern reconstructions. Examples are found in museums in Berlin, Claremont, California, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, The Hague, Leipzig, Milan, Munich and Paris.

The Germanic-style instruments are represented by such makers as Gregori Ferdinand Wenger in Augsburg (see fig.1), Jacob Goldt of Hamburg, Jacob Weiss of Salzburg, David Buchstetter of Regensburg and Mattias Greisser of Innsbruck, all dating from about the first half of the 18th century. Italian-style instruments are represented by Martino Hell of Genoa, Enrico Ebar of Venice, David Tecchler of Rome, Antonio Scoti of Milan and, toward the end of the century, Antonio Monzino and Giuseppe Presbler of Milan (fig.2). (See Morey, 1993, and Pohlmann, 1982, for a partial listing and some details of specific instruments.)

T.B. Janovka gave some of the earliest tuning information in his Clavis ad thesaurum magnae artis musicae (1701/R). Two tunings are reported: a ‘galizona’ or ‘colachon’ is tuned A'( or )–B'( or )–C–D–G–c–e–a, and, under a separate heading, ‘mandora’ is given as D( or )–E ( or )–F–G–c–f–a–d' (i.e. the same tuning but a 4th higher). Clearly, for Janovka at the beginning of the century, the terms ‘galizona’ or ‘colachon’, and ‘mandora’ denoted similar instruments of different sizes. His galizona, with its deep-pitched tuning, must have had a very long vibrating string length of over 90 cm. Its tuning is the same as for the wire-strung English Bandora, an instrument well-known in 17th-century north German states.

James Talbot (MS, c1690–1700, GB-Och) confirms the existence of such large instruments by giving the measurements of a ‘colachon’ owned by the Moravian composer Gottfried Finger. Its six single strings were tuned C–D–G–c–e–a with the sixth sometimes to A', and with the remarkably long string length of 97–9cm. Curiously, his notes about the ‘colachon’ merely reiterate the information given by Mersenne and Kircher on the colascione, which was clearly for a very different type of instrument than the one which he had lately measured.

There do not seem to be any surviving instruments that fit either Janovka's or Talbot's low-tuned galizona or colachon, however later music sources for ‘Gallichon’, ‘Calichon’ etc. use the higher tuning of Janovka's mandora, as do some that actually specify mandora. It should be noted that the first five courses (which are the main fingered ones), have the same interval pattern as the top five strings of the modern guitar. The sixth course was variable and is sometimes tuned to E( or ) or D. J.P. Eisel (Musicus autodidaktus, 1738, p.38) says that the ‘Calichon’ is tuned similarly to a ‘Viola di Gamba’: D–G–c–e–a–d', but no known music calls for this arrangement of intervals. Johann Mattheson (Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre, 1713, p.277) gives D–G–c–f–a–d', a pattern which, later in the century, was used at a tone higher by writers such as J.G. Albrechtsberger (Gründliche Anweisung zur Composition, 1790), whose tuning for ‘Mandora’ is E–A–d–g–b–e' (identical to that of the modern guitar), with D and C' for seventh and eighth courses, respectively.

Tuning to this pitch is shown as early as 1756 in the A. Mayr tutor for ‘mandora’ (I-Tr; see Prosser, 1991). One source of about 1740 (D-LEm Ms.III.12.8) suggests a seven course tuning of D–G–c–f–a–d'–f' but, as the manuscript itself does not name a specific instrument and as it contains mainly lute tablature in the so-called D minor tuning (see Scordatura, §3), it is conceivable that this tuning for the first six courses is actually a variant tuning for the D minor lute. Following a 19th-century annotation on the cover of the manuscript, however, modern bibliographers list it as being for ‘mandora’ or ‘mandore’.

The playing technique for the mandora involves the same right-hand finger style as for all 18th-century lutes and, because of the tuning intervals of the upper five courses, a left-hand technique that is similar to that of the 18th-century guitar (see Tyler, 1980, p.81). Music is notated either in so-called French tablature or in staff notation: bass clef for continuo accompaniments and, towards the later part of the century, treble clef for vocal accompaniments and soloistic passages in chamber music. The treble clef is meant to sound an octave lower than written, as is also customary in modern guitar notation.

Contemporary references to the mandora clearly indicate that it was commonly used for continuo, which makes a great deal of sense considering that its pitch and the flexibility afforded by its tuning made it ideal for playing the bass lines of the new musical styles of the late Baroque and early Classical periods. As well as chordal continuo accompaniments, it was also used to play single-line melodic basses, as a bassoon or cello would. What appears to be the first known music for it is the ‘Colachono’ obbligato part written in the bass clef to accompany an aria in J.S. Kusser's opera Erindo (1694; see Lück, 1960, pp.71–2). In 1709 Johann Kuhnau requested the purchase of a ‘Colocion’ for the Thomasschule in Leipzig in order to have more effective bass support for the singers (ibid., 73). Mattheson (op.cit., 277) highly recommends the ‘calichon’ over the normal lute for continuo support in chamber music, and Telemann wrote two concertos for two flutes and strings, for which the bass lines are marked for ‘Calchedon’ or bassoon.

In addition to normal continuo parts, the repertory contains many examples of fully composed accompaniments to vocal pieces, usually notated in the treble clef. The canzonetta ‘Senza costrutto ho cara’ (MS, early 19th century, GB-Lbl Add.17830) by Domenico Dragonetti is an example, with the accompaniment marked for ‘mandora’. Treble clef notation is sometimes used for solos and chamber music, for example, in the ‘duett for two mandoras’ published in The Philadelphia Pocket Companion for the guittar or clarinett (Philadelphia, 1794). The parts for ‘liuto’ in G.F. Giuliani's six quartets for mandolin, violin, cello (or viola da gamba) and lute (c1799, A-Wgm and I-Ls), as well as in his six sonatas for two mandolins and basso (GB-Lspencer), seem to have been intended for the same instrument, since they are notated in the bass clef and, for soloistic passages, in the treble clef, with chordal configurations that are idiomatic for a mandora tuned to e' (see Tyler and Sparks, 1989, pp.51–2, 57, 60 and 62).

There are about 55 sources of mandora music in tablature, ranging in size from large collections to fragments, all in manuscript and nearly all of Germanic origin. They contain solos, duets, song accompaniments, and chamber music with a variety of other instruments. Few studies of these manuscript sources have appeared, and very little of the music has been transcribed and published despite its quality. Critical editions are especially rare. Many sources have no composer attributions, but a continuing study of concordances is beginning to uncover music by composers such as S.L. Weiss and Johann Anton Logy. The sources that do carry composers names list Duke Clement of Bavaria, P.C. von Camerloher, Johann Paul Schiffelholz, J.M. Zink, Andrea Mayr, G.A. Brescianello and others. Brescianello, a violinist and composer at the Stuttgart court (1716–55), was a composer of high quality music, whose music for mandora warrants a complete modern edition. Other composers in non-tablature sources include J.F. Daube (Der musikalische Dilletant … Erste Band, 1771) and Georg Friedrich Albrechtsberger, at least one of whose three concertinos for ‘mandora’, ‘crembalum’ (jew's harp) and strings has been recorded. Although the citations are far from complete or accurate, many sources are listed by Boetticher (1978) and Pohlmann (5/1982).

The mandora is worthy of re-investigation for its distinctive tone colour and general usefulness in German Baroque continuo practice and its solo and chamber music repertory, as well as for the information such a study would yield on the compositional style and technique of vocal accompaniment from the early 18th to the early 19th century. This vocal repertory, as found, for example, in D-FS Wey.692, includes the music of Dittersdorf, Süssmayr and Mozart.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

E.G. Baron: Historisch-theoretisch und practische Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten (Nuremberg, 1727/R; Eng. trans., 1976)

J.F.B.C. Majer: Museum musicum theoretico practicum (Schwäbisch Hall, 1732/R, 2/1741)

F.W. Galpin: Old English Instruments of Music (London, 1910/R; rev. 4/1965 by T. Dart)

C. Sachs: Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente (Berlin, 1913/R, enlarged 2/1964)

A. Koczirz: ‘Zur Geschichte der Mandorlaute’, Die Gitarre, ii (1920–21), 21–36

R. Lück: ‘Zur Geschichte der Basslauten-Instrumente Colascione und Calichon’, DJbM, v (1960), 67–75

M. Prynne: ‘James Talbot's Manuscript IV: Plucked Strings – The Lute Family’, GSJ, xiv (1961), 52–68

J. Klima: ‘Gitarre und Mandora, die Lauteninstrumente der Volksmusik’, ÖMz, xviii (1963), 72–7

R. Lück: ‘Zwei unbekannte Basslauten-Instrumente: der italienische Colascione und der deutsche Calichon’, NZM, cxxvi (1965), 10–13

E. Pohlmann: Laute, Theorbe, Chitarrone (Bremen, 1968, enlarged 5/1982)

W. Boetticher: ‘On Vulgar Music and Poetry Found in Unexplored Minor Sources of Eighteenth-Century Lute Tablatures’, Studies in Eighteenth-Century Music: a Tribute to Karl Geiringer (New York, 1970), 76

W. Boetticher, ed.: Handscriftlich überlieferte Lauten- und Gitarrentabulaturen des 15. bis 18. Jahrhunderts, RISM, B/VII (1978)

W. Boetticher: ‘Zur inhaltlichen Bestimmung des für Laute intavolierten Handschriftenbestands’, AcM, li (1979), 193–203

M. Hodgson: ‘The Identity of 18th Century 6 Course “Lutes”’, FoMRHI Quarterly, no.14 (1979), 25–7

M. Hodgson: ‘The Development of the Callachon’, FoMRHI Quarterly, no.15 (1979), 35–7

D. Gill: ‘Mandore and Calachon’, FoMRHI Quarterly, no.19 (1980), 61–3

J. Tyler: The Early Guitar (London, 1980)

D. Gill: ‘Mandores and Colachons’, GSJ, xxxiv (1981), 130–41

D. Gill: ‘Alternative Lutes: the Identity of 18th-Century Mandores and Gallichones’, The Lute, xxvi (1986), 51–62

J. Tyler and P. Sparks: The Early Mandolin (Oxford, 1989)

P. Prosser: ‘Uno sconosciuto metodo manoscritto (1756) Considerazioni sull'identificazione della mandora nell XVIII secolo’, Strumenti per Mozart, ed. M. Tiella and R. Romano (Rovereto, 1991), 293–335

D. Kirsch and L. Meierott, eds: Berliner Lautentabulaturen in Krakau (Mainz, 1992)

D. Kirsch: ‘Musik für Mandora in der Universitätsbibliothek Eichstätt’, Sammelblatt Historischer Verein Eichstätt, liiivi (1993), 14–19

S. Morey: Mandolins of the 18th Century (Cremona, 1993)

D. Kirsch: ‘Die Mandora in Österreich zur Bestimmung eines Lautentyps des 18. Jahrhunderts’, Vom Pasqualatihaus, iv (1994), 63–81

P. Prosser: Calichon e mandora nel Settecento: Con un catalogo tematico del repertorio solistico (diss., U. of Pavia, 1996)

JAMES TYLER