The Ceterone (Italian), was an enlarged cetera (''Eng''.

cittern The cittern or cithren ( Fr. ''cistre'', It. ''cetra'', Ger. ''Cister,'' Sp. ''cistro, cedra, cítola'') is a stringed instrument dating from the Renaissance. Modern scholars debate its exact history, but it is generally accepted that it is d ...

), believed to be similar to the

chitarrone The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box (a hollow box) with a wooden top, typically with a sound hole, and a neck extending out ...

as a development of the chitarra and

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

to enhance the bass capabilities of these instruments.

Michael Praetorius Michael Praetorius (probably 28 September 1571 – 15 February 1621) was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms ba ...

includes such an instrument in his

Syntagma Musicum ''Syntagma Musicum (1614-1620)'' is a musical treatise in three volumes by the German composer, organist, and music theorist Michael Praetorius. It was published in Wittenberg and Wolfenbüttel. It is one of the most commonly used research sources ...

, describing its 'strong and magnificent sound like a

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

.' In the ''Sciagraphia'' is an illustration (plate 7) of a ''Dominici Zwölff Chörichte Cither'' (Dominici twelve course cittern), with re-entrant bass string tunings of eb, Bb, f, c, g, d, a, e, and treble strings tuned to b, g, d' and e'. The instrument has a body shape with constructional features similar to a

viol The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

or modern

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

. Some early 17th century illustrations of citterns have body shapes resembling this instrument, while the Swiss

halszither The halszither (german: "neck zither" or "neck cittern") is a stringed instrument from Switzerland. It has nine steel strings in five courses and is tuned: G2, D3 D3, G3 G3, B3 B3, D4 D4. See also *Cittern *Waldzither *Portuguese guitar The Po ...

– a traditional regional cittern that survived until the present, has also been constructed with a similar body. Plate 5 of the ''Sciagraphia'' illustrates a ''Gross Sechs Chörichte Cither''; (large six course cittern) – depicted with eight pegs inserted into the sides of the

pegbox A variety of methods are used to tune different stringed instruments. Most change the pitch produced when the string is played by adjusting the tension of the strings. A tuning peg in a pegbox is perhaps the most common system. A peg has a g ...

and six strings. Like the cittern, the ceterone was also built with a flat-backed body in teardrop shape, with a single large 'rose', and had fixed, metal frets (unlike the tied, gut

frets A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instrume ...

of the

family) and used metal strings. The unfretted bass strings were attached to a neck extension, the instrument totalling perhaps as much as 1.5 metres in length. A single original example exists in

Museo Bardini Bardini is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Aleksander Bardini (1913–1995), Polish theatre and opera director, actor, and professor *Gaetano Bardini (1926–2017), Italian tenor * Lorenzo Bardini (born 1996), Italian footballe ...

in Florence, dating from around 1600 and built by the cittern luthier Gironimo Campi. The museum has labelled the instrument as an ''arci cetera'', (arch cittern).

Sources

David Munrow David John Munrow (12 August 194215 May 1976) was a British musician and early music historian. Early life and education Munrow was born in Birmingham where both his parents taught at the University of Birmingham. His mother, Hilda Ivy (né ...

: ''Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance'', OUP 1976, supplied with the EMI boxed LP set of that name. Michael Praetorius: ''Syntagma Musicum II'', ''De organographia'', (Parts I & II). Wolfenbüttel, 1618–20 Thomas Robinson: ''New Citharen Lessons'', London, 1609. Robinson's book contains 5 pieces for a 14 course instrument and an illustration. The depiction appears to show 7 double string courses for the fingerboard and 7 open single string courses running up to a neck extension and presumably back inside to the pegbox. According to Robinson, the "...invention was first begun by an Italian in Italy, but altered, and strings augmented by me."

External links

Modern Ceterone constructed by Ron Banks of Texas, on which he uses a scalloped fretboard. This instrument has been modeled on the surviving Italian instrument by Campi. Italian musical instruments String instruments Necked lutes {{Lute-stub