mandolin
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

A mandolin (, ; literally "small
mandola The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...
") is a
stringed musical instrument In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play so ...
in the
lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), 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 "lu ...
family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in
unison Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...
, thus giving a total of eight strings. A variety of string types are used, with steel strings being the most common and usually the least expensive. The courses are typically tuned in an interval of perfect fifths, with the same tuning as a violin (G3, D4, A4, E5). Also, like the violin, it is the
soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...
member of a
family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
that includes the
mandola The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...
,
octave mandolin The octave mandolin (US and Canada) or octave mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted string instrument with four pairs of strings tuned in fifths, G−D−A−E (low to high). It is larger than the mandola, but smaller than the mandocello and its ...
,
mandocello The mandocello () is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It is larger than the mandolin, and is the baritone instrument of the mandolin family. Its eight strings are in four paired courses, with the strings in each course tuned in ...
and
mandobass The Mandobass is the largest (and least common) member of the mandolin family, sometimes used as the bass instrument in mandolin orchestras. It is so large that players usually hold it like a double bass—upright and supported on an endpin th ...
. There are many styles of mandolin, but the three most common types are the ''Neapolitan'' or ''round-backed'' mandolin, the ''archtop'' mandolin and the ''flat-backed'' mandolin. The round-backed version has a deep bottom, constructed of strips of wood, glued together into a bowl. The ''archtop'', also known as the ''carved-top'' mandolin, has an arched top and a shallower, arched back both carved out of wood. The flat-backed mandolin uses thin sheets of wood for the body, braced on the inside for strength in a similar manner to a guitar. Each style of instrument has its own sound quality and is associated with particular forms of music. Neapolitan mandolins feature prominently in European
classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
and
traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
like the
Andean music Andean music is a group of styles of music from the Andes region in South America. Original chants and melodies come from the general area inhabited by Quechua people, Quechuas (originally from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile), Aymara people, Aymar ...
of Peru. Archtop instruments are common in American
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
and
bluegrass music Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass has roots in African America ...
. Flat-backed instruments are commonly used in Irish, British, and Brazilian folk music, and Mexican ''estudiantinas''. Other mandolin variations differ primarily in the number of strings and include four-string models (tuned in fifths) such as the Brescian and Cremonese; six-string types (tuned in fourths) such as the Milanese, Lombard, and Sicilian; six-course instruments of 12 strings (two strings per course) such as the Genoese; and the tricordia, with four triple-string courses (12 strings total). Much of mandolin development revolved around the soundboard (the top). Early instruments were quiet, strung with gut strings, and plucked with the fingers or with a quill. However, modern instruments are louder, using metal strings, which exert more pressure than the gut strings. The modern soundboard is designed to withstand the pressure of metal strings that would break earlier instruments. The soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. There are usually one or more sound holes in the soundboard, either round, oval, or shaped like a calligraphic (f-hole). A round or oval sound hole may be covered or bordered with decorative rosettes or purfling.''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition'', edited by Stanley Sadie and others (2001)


History

Mandolins evolved from
lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), 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 "lu ...
s, a family of instruments in Europe. Predecessors include the
gittern The gittern was a relatively small gut-strung, round-backed instrument that first appeared in literature and pictorial representation during the 13th century in Western Europe (Iberian Peninsula, Italy, France, England). It is usually depicted p ...
and
mandore Mandore is a suburb and historical town located 9 km north of Jodhpur city in the Jodhpur district of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan. History Mandore is an ancient town, and was the seat of the Gurjar Pratiharas of Mandavy ...
or mandola in
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
during the 17th and 18th centuries. There were a variety of regional variants, but the two most widespread ones were the Neapolitan mandolin and the Lombard mandolin. The Neapolitan style has spread worldwide.


Construction

Mandolins have a body that acts as a
resonator A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a reso ...
, attached to a
neck The neck is the part of the body in many vertebrates that connects the head to the torso. It supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that transmit sensory and motor information between the brain and the rest of the body. Addition ...
. The resonating body may be shaped as a bowl ( necked bowl lutes) or a box (
necked box lutes Necking can refer to: * Making out, a term for heavy kissing of the neck or petting of that area * Necking (engineering), the process by which a ductile material deforms under tension forming a thin ''neck'' * Necking (electronics), thinning of tr ...
). Traditional Italian mandolins, such as the Neapolitan mandolin, meet the necked bowl description. The necked box instruments include archtop mandolins and the flatback mandolins. Strings run between mechanical tuning machines at the top of the neck to a tailpiece that anchors the other end of the strings. The strings are suspended over the neck and soundboard and pass over a floating bridge. The bridge is kept in contact with the soundboard by the downward pressure from the strings. The neck is either flat or has a slight radius, and is covered with a fingerboard with
fret 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 inst ...
s. The action of the strings on the bridge causes the soundboard to vibrate, producing sound. Like any plucked instrument, mandolin notes decay to silence rather than sound out continuously as with a bowed note on a
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
, and mandolin notes decay faster than larger chordophones like the guitar. This encourages the use of
tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are multiple types of tremolo: a rapid repetition of a note, an alternation between two different notes, or a variation in volume. Tremolos may be either ''measured'' ...
(rapid picking of one or more pairs of strings) to create sustained notes or chords. The mandolin's paired strings facilitate this technique: the plectrum (pick) strikes each of a pair of strings alternately, providing a more full and continuous sound than a single string would. Various design variations and amplification techniques have been used to make mandolins comparable in volume with louder instruments and orchestras, including the creation of mandolin-banjo hybrids with the drum-like body of the louder
banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...
, adding metal resonators (most notably by
Dobro Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally a gui ...
and the
National String Instrument Corporation The National String Instrument Corporation was an American guitar company first formed to manufacture banjos and then the original resonator guitars. National also produced resonator ukuleles and resonator mandolins. The company merged with ...
) to make a
resonator mandolin A resonator mandolin or "resophonic mandolin" is a mandolin whose sound is produced by one or more metal cones (''resonators'') instead of the customary wooden soundboard (mandolin top/face). These instruments are sometimes referred to as " Dob ...
, and amplifying
electric mandolin The electric mandolin is an instrument tuned and played as the mandolin and amplified in similar fashion to an electric guitar. As with electric guitars, electric mandolins take many forms. Most common is a carved-top eight-string instrument fi ...
s through amplifiers.


Tuning

A variety of different tunings are used. Usually, courses of 2 adjacent strings are tuned in unison. By far the most common tuning is the same as violin tuning, in
scientific pitch notation Scientific pitch notation (SPN), also known as American standard pitch notation (ASPN) and international pitch notation (IPN), is a method of specifying musical Pitch (music), pitch by combining a musical Note (music), note name (with accidental ( ...
G3–D4–A4–E5, or in
Helmholtz pitch notation Helmholtz pitch notation is a system for naming musical notes of the Western chromatic scale. Fully described and normalized by the German scientist Hermann von Helmholtz, it uses a combination of upper and lower case letters (A to G), and t ...
: g–d′–a′–e″. * fourth (lowest tone) course: G3 () * third course: D4 () * second course: A4 (; A above
middle C C or Do is the first note of the C major scale, the third note of the A minor scale (the relative minor of C major), and the fourth note (G, A, B, C) of the Guidonian hand, commonly pitched around 261.63  Hz. The actual frequency has d ...
) * first (highest tone) course: E5 () The numbers of Hz shown above assume a 440 Hz A, standard in most parts of the western world. Some players use an A up to 10 Hz above or below a 440, mainly outside the United States. Other tunings exist, including ''cross-tunings'', in which the usually doubled string runs are tuned to different pitches. Additionally, guitarists may sometimes tune a mandolin to mimic a portion of the intervals on a standard guitar tuning to achieve familiar fretting patterns.


Mandolin family


Soprano

The mandolin is the soprano member of the mandolin family, as the
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
is the soprano member of the
violin family The violin family of musical instruments was developed in Italy in the 16th century. At the time the name of this family of instruments was viole da braccio which was used to distinguish them from the viol family (viole ''da gamba''). The standa ...
. Like the violin, its scale length is typically about . Modern American mandolins modelled after Gibsons have a longer scale, about . The strings in each of its double-strung courses are tuned in unison, and the courses use the same tuning as the violin: G3–D4–A4–E5.


Piccolo

The ''piccolo'' or ''sopranino mandolin'' is a rare member of the family, tuned one octave above the mandola and one fourth above the mandolin (C4–G4–D5–A5); the same relation as that of the
piccolo The piccolo ( ; ) is a smaller version of the western concert flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or piccolo flute, the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the ...
(to the
western concert flute The Western concert flute can refer to the common C concert flute or to the family of transverse flute, transverse (side-blown) flutes to which the C flute belongs. Almost all are made of metal or wood, or a combination of the two. A musician w ...
) or violino piccolo (to the
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
and
viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...
). One model was manufactured by the Lyon & Healy company under the Leland brand. A handful of modern intruments makers build piccolo mandolins.


Alto

The
mandola The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...
, termed the ''tenor mandola'' in Britain and Ireland and ''liola'' or ''alto mandolin'' in continental Europe, is tuned a fifth below the mandolin, in the same relationship as that of the
viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...
to the
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
. Some also call this instrument the "alto mandola". Its scale length is typically about . It is normally tuned like a viola (perfect fifth below the mandolin) and tenor banjo: C3–G3–D4–A4.


Tenor

The ''
octave mandolin The octave mandolin (US and Canada) or octave mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted string instrument with four pairs of strings tuned in fifths, G−D−A−E (low to high). It is larger than the mandola, but smaller than the mandocello and its ...
'' (US and Canada), termed the ''octave mandola'' in Britain and Ireland and ''mandola'' in continental Europe, is tuned an octave below the mandolin: G2–D3–A3–E4. Its relationship to the mandolin is that of the
tenor violin A tenor violin (or tenor viola) is an instrument with a range between those of the cello and the viola. An earlier development of the evolution of the violin family of instruments, the instrument is not standard in the modern symphony orchestra. ...
to the violin, or the
tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...
to the
soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...
. Octave mandolin scale length is typically about , although instruments with scales as short as or as long as are not unknown. The instrument has a variant off the coast of South America in Trinidad, where it is known as the
bandol Bandol (; ) is a commune in Var department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, southeastern France. Bandol and the seat of its eponymous commune, was founded in 1595 and built around a small military fort. The region, located near the coast ...
, a flat-backed instrument with four courses, the lower two strung with metal and nylon strings. The
Irish bouzouki The Irish bouzouki () is an adaptation of the Greek bouzouki (Greek: μπουζούκι). The newer Greek ''tetrachordo'' bouzouki (4  courses of strings) was introduced into Irish traditional music in the mid-1960s by Johnny Moynihan of ...
, though not strictly a member of the mandolin family, has a reasonable resemblance and similar range to the octave mandolin. It derives from the Greek bouzouki (a long-necked lute), constructed like a flat-backed mandolin and uses fifth-based tunings, most often G2–D3–A3–D4. Other tunings include: A2–D3–A3–D4, G2–D3–A3–E4 (an octave below the mandolin—in which case it essentially functions as an octave mandolin), G2–D3–G3–D4 or A2–D3–A3–E4. Although the Irish bouzouki's bass course pairs are most often tuned in unison, on some instruments one of each pair is replaced with a lighter string and tuned in octaves, similar to the 12-string
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
. While occupying the same range as the octave mandolin/octave mandola, the Irish bouzouki is theoretically distinguished from the former instrument by its longer scale length, typically from , although scales as long as , which is the usual Greek bouzouki scale, are not unknown. In modern usage, however, the terms "octave mandolin" and "Irish bouzouki" are often used interchangeably to refer to the same instrument. The modern cittern may also be loosely included in an "extended" mandolin family, based on resemblance to the flat-backed mandolins, which it predates. Its own lineage dates it back to
the Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
. It is typically a five course (ten-string) instrument having a scale length between . The instrument is most often tuned to either D2–G2–D3–A3–D4 or G2–D3–A3–D4–A4, and is essentially an octave mandola with a fifth course at either the top or the bottom of its range. Some luthiers, such as Stefan Sobell, also refer to the octave mandola or a shorter-scaled Irish bouzouki as a cittern, irrespective of whether it has four or five courses. Other relatives of the cittern, which might also be loosely linked to the mandolins (and are sometimes tuned and played as such), include the 6-course/12-string Portuguese guitar and the 5-course/9-string waldzither.


Baritone/Bass

The
mandocello The mandocello () is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It is larger than the mandolin, and is the baritone instrument of the mandolin family. Its eight strings are in four paired courses, with the strings in each course tuned in ...
is classically tuned to an octave plus a fifth below the mandolin, in the same relationship as that of the
cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...
to the violin, its strings being tuned to C2–G2–D3–A3. Its scale length is typically about . A typical violoncello scale is . The mandolone was a
Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
member of the mandolin family in the bass range that was surpassed by the mandocello. It was part of the Neapolitan mandolin family. The Greek '' laouto'' or ''laghouto'' (long-necked lute) is similar to a mandocello, ordinarily tuned C3/C2–G3/G2–D3/D3–A3/A3 with half of each pair of the lower two courses being tuned an octave high on a lighter gauge string. The body is a staved bowl, the saddle-less bridge glued to the flat face like most ouds and lutes, with mechanical tuners, steel strings, and tied gut frets. Modern laoutos, as played on Crete, have the entire lower course tuned to C3, a reentrant octave above the expected low C. Its scale length is typically about . The Algerian ''
mandole The Algerian mandole (mandol, mondol) is a steel-string fretted instrument resembling an elongated mandolin, widely used in Algerian music such as Chaabi, Kabyle music and Nuubaat ( Andalusian classical music). The name can cause confusion, a ...
'' was developed by an Italian luthier in the early 1930s, scaled up from a mandola until it reached a scale length of approximately 25 to 27 inches. It is a flatback instrument, with a wide neck and 4 courses (8 strings), 5 courses (10 strings) or 6 courses (12 strings), and is used in Algeria and Morocco. The instrument can be tuned as a guitar, oud, or mandocello, depending on the music it will be used to play and player preference. When tuning it as a guitar the strings will be tuned (E2) (E2) A2 A2 D3 D3 G3 G3 B3 B3 (E4) (E4); strings in parentheses are dropped for a five- or four-course instrument. Using a common Arabic oud tuning D2 D2 G2 G2 A2 A2 D3 D3 (G3) (G3) (C4) (C4). For a mandocello tuning using fifths C2 C2 G2 G2 D3 D3 A3 A3 (E4) (E4).


Mandobass

The
mandobass The Mandobass is the largest (and least common) member of the mandolin family, sometimes used as the bass instrument in mandolin orchestras. It is so large that players usually hold it like a double bass—upright and supported on an endpin th ...
is the bass version of the mandolin, just as the
double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...
is the bass to the violin. Like the double bass, it most frequently has four single strings, rather than double courses—and like the double bass, it is most commonly tuned to
perfect fourth A fourth is a interval (music), musical interval encompassing four staff positions in the music notation of Western culture, and a perfect fourth () is the fourth spanning five semitones (half steps, or half tones). For example, the ascending int ...
s rather than fifths like most mandolin family instruments: E1–A1–D2–G2,. These were made by the Gibson company in the early 20th century, was also never very common. A smaller scale four-string mandobass, usually tuned in fifths: G1–D2–A2–E3 (two octaves below the mandolin), though not as resonant as the larger instrument, was often preferred by players as easier to handle and more portable. Reportedly, however, most mandolin orchestras preferred to use the ordinary
double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...
, rather than a specialised mandolin family instrument. Calace and other Italian makers predating Gibson also made mandolin-basses. The relatively rare eight-string mandobass, or "tremolo-bass", also exists, with double courses like the rest of the mandolin family, and is tuned either G1–D2–A2–E3, two octaves lower than the mandolin, or C1–G1–D2–A2, two octaves below the mandola.


Variations


Bowlback

Bowlback mandolins (also known as roundbacks), are used worldwide. They are most commonly manufactured in Europe, where the long history of mandolin development has created local styles. However, Japanese luthiers also make them. Owing to the shape and to the common construction from wood strips of alternating colors, in the United States these are sometimes colloquially referred to as the "potato bug", " potato beetle", or tater-bug mandolin.


Neapolitan and Roman styles

The Neapolitan style has an almond-shaped body resembling a bowl, constructed from curved strips of wood. It usually has a bent sound table, canted in two planes with the design to take the tension of the eight metal strings arranged in four courses. A hardwood
fingerboard The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The stri ...
sits on top of or is flush with the sound table. Very old instruments may use wooden
tuning peg 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 ...
s, while newer instruments tend to use geared metal tuners. The
bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
is a movable length of hardwood. A pickguard is glued below the sound hole under the strings. European roundbacks commonly use a scale instead of the common on archtop Mandolins. Intertwined with the Neapolitan style is the Roman style mandolin, which has influenced it. The Roman mandolin had a fingerboard that was more curved and narrow. The fingerboard was lengthened over the sound hole for the E strings, the high pitched strings. The shape of the back of the neck was different, less rounded with an edge, the bridge was curved making the G strings higher. The Roman mandolin had mechanical tuning gears before the Neapolitan.


= Manufacturers of Neapolitan-style mandolins

= Prominent Italian manufacturers include Vinaccia (Naples), Embergher (Rome) and Calace (Naples). Other modern manufacturers include Lorenzo Lippi (Milan), Hendrik van den Broek (Netherlands), Brian Dean (Canada), Salvatore Masiello and Michele Caiazza (La Bottega del Mandolino) and Ferrara, Gabriele Pandini. In the United States, when the bowlback was being made in numbers, Lyon and Healy was a major manufacturer, especially under the "Washburn" brand. Other American manufacturers include
Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...
, Vega, and Larson Brothers. In Canada, Brian Dean has manufactured instruments in Neapolitan, Roman, German and American styles but is also known for his original 'Grand Concert' design created for American virtuoso Joseph Brent. German manufacturers include Albert & Mueller, Dietrich, Klaus Knorr, Reinhold Seiffert and Alfred Woll. The German bowlbacks use a style developed by Seiffert, with a larger and rounder body. Japanese brands include Kunishima and Suzuki. Other Japanese manufacturers include Oona, Kawada, Noguchi, Toichiro Ishikawa, Rokutaro Nakade, Otiai Tadao, Yoshihiko Takusari, Nokuti Makoto, Watanabe, Kanou Kadama and Ochiai.


Other bowlback styles

Another family of bowlback mandolins came from
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
and
Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...
. These mandolins are closer to the mandolino or
mandore Mandore is a suburb and historical town located 9 km north of Jodhpur city in the Jodhpur district of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan. History Mandore is an ancient town, and was the seat of the Gurjar Pratiharas of Mandavy ...
than other modern mandolins. They are shorter and wider than the standard Neapolitan mandolin, with a shallow back. The instruments have 6 strings, 3 wire treble-strings and 3 gut or wire-wrapped-silk bass-strings. The strings ran between the tuning pegs and a bridge that was glued to the soundboard, as a guitar's. The Lombard mandolins were tuned g–b–e′–a′–d″–g″ (shown in
Helmholtz pitch notation Helmholtz pitch notation is a system for naming musical notes of the Western chromatic scale. Fully described and normalized by the German scientist Hermann von Helmholtz, it uses a combination of upper and lower case letters (A to G), and t ...
). A developer of the Milanese style was Antonio Monzino (Milan) and his family who made them for six generations. Samuel Adelstein described the Lombard mandolin in 1893 as wider and shorter than the Neapolitan mandolin, with a shallower back and a shorter and wider neck, with six single strings to the regular mandolin's set of 4. The Lombard was tuned C–D–A–E–B–G. The strings were fastened to the bridge like a guitar's. There were 20 frets, covering three octaves, with an additional 5 notes. When Adelstein wrote, there were no nylon strings, and the gut and single strings "do not vibrate so clearly and sweetly as the double steel string of the Neapolitan."


= Brescian mandolin or Cremonese mandolin

=
Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...
n mandolins (also known as Cremonese) that have survived in museums have four gut strings instead of six and a fixed bridge. The mandolin was tuned in fifths, like the Neapolitan mandolin. In his 1805 mandolin method, ''Anweisung die Mandoline von selbst zu erlernen nebst einigen Uebungsstucken von Bortolazzi'', Bartolomeo Bortolazzi popularised the Cremonese mandolin, which had four single-strings and a fixed bridge, to which the strings were attached. Bortolazzi said in this book that the new wire-strung mandolins were uncomfortable to play, when compared with the gut-string instruments. Also, he felt they had a "less pleasing...hard, zither-like tone" as compared to the gut string's "softer, full-singing tone." He favored the four single strings of the Cremonese instrument, which were tuned the same as the Neapolitan.


=Genoese mandolin, a blend of styles

= Like the Lombard mandolin, the Genoese mandolin was not tuned in fifths. Its 6 gut strings (or 6 courses of strings) were tuned as a guitar but one octave higher: e-a-d’-g’-b natural-e”. Like the Neapolitan and unlike the Lombard mandolin, the Genoese does not have the bridge glued to the soundboard, but holds the bridge on with downward tension, from strings that run between the bottom and neck of the instrument. The neck was wider than the Neapolitan mandolin's neck. The peg-head is similar to the guitar's.


Archtop

At the very end of the 19th century, a new style, with a carved top and back construction inspired by violin family instruments began to supplant the European-style bowl-back instruments in the United States. This new style is credited to mandolins designed and built by
Orville Gibson Orville H. Gibson (May 8, 1856 – August 19, 1918) was an American luthier who founded the Gibson (guitar company), Gibson Guitar Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1902, makers of guitars, mandolins and other instruments. His earliest known ins ...
, a Kalamazoo, Michigan, instrument maker who founded the "Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co., Limited" in 1902. Gibson mandolins evolved into two basic styles: the Florentine or F-style, which has a decorative scroll near the neck, two points on the lower body and usually a scroll carved into the headstock; and the A-style, which is pear-shaped, has no points and usually has a simpler headstock. These styles generally have either two f-shaped soundholes like a
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
(F-5 and A-5), or a single oval sound hole (F-4 and A-4 and lower models) directly under the strings. Much variation exists between makers working from these archetypes, and other variants have become increasingly common. Generally, in the United States, Gibson
F-hole A sound hole is an opening in the body of a string instrument, stringed musical instrument, usually the upper Sound board (music), sound board. Sound holes have different shapes: * Round in flat-top guitars and traditional bowl-back mandolins; ...
F-5 mandolins and mandolins influenced by that design are strongly associated with bluegrass, while the A-style is associated with other types of music, although it too is most often used for and associated with bluegrass. The F-5's more complicated woodwork also translates into a more expensive instrument. Internal bracing to support the top in the F-style mandolins is usually achieved with parallel tone bars, similar to the bass bar on a violin. Some makers instead employ "X-bracing", which is two tone-bars mortised together to form an X. Some luthiers now using a "modified x-bracing" that incorporates both a tone bar and X-bracing. Numerous modern mandolin makers build instruments that largely replicate the Gibson F-5 Artist models built in the early 1920s under the supervision of Gibson acoustician Lloyd Loar. Original Loar-signed instruments are sought after and extremely valuable. Other makers from the Loar period and earlier include Lyon and Healy, Vega and Larson Brothers.


Pressed archtops

The ideal for archtops has been solid pieces of wood carved into the right shape. However, another archtop exists, the top made of laminated wood or thin sheets of solid wood, pressed into the arched shape. These have become increasingly common in the world of internationally constructed musical instruments in the 21st century. Pressed-top instruments are made to appear the same as carved-top instruments but do not sound the same as carved-wood tops. Carved-wood tops when carved to the ideal thickness, produce the sound consumers expect. Not carving them correctly dulls the sound. The sound of a carved-wood instrument changes the longer it is played, and older instruments are sought out for their rich sound. Laminated-wood presstops are less resonant than carved wood, the wood and glue vibrating differently than wood grain. Presstops made of solid wood have the wood's natural grain compressed, typically creating a sound that is less full than a well-made, carved-top mandolin.


Flatback

Flatback mandolins use a thin sheet of wood with bracing for the back, as a guitar uses, rather than the bowl of the bowlback or the arched back of the carved mandolins. Like the bowlback, the flatback has a round sound hole. This has been sometimes modified to an elongated hole, called a D-hole. The body has a rounded almond shape with flat or sometimes canted soundboard. The type was developed in Europe in the 1850s. The French and Germans called it a Portuguese mandolin, although they also developed it locally. The Germans used it in
Wandervogel ''Wandervogel'' (plural: ''Wandervögel''; English: "Wandering Bird") is the name adopted by a popular movement of German youth groups from 1896 to 1933, who protested against industrialization by going to hike in the country and commune with na ...
. The bandolim is commonly used wherever the Spanish and Portuguese took it: in South America, in Brazil (
Choro ''Choro'' (, "cry" or "lament"), also popularly called ''chorinho'' ("little cry" or "little lament"), is an instrumental Brazilian popular music genre which originated in 19th century Rio de Janeiro. Despite its name, the music often has a fa ...
) and in the Philippines. In the early 1970s English luthier Stefan Sobell developed a large-bodied, flat-backed mandolin with a carved soundboard, based on his own cittern design; this is often called a 'Celtic' mandolin. American forms include the Army-Navy mandolin, the flatiron and the pancake mandolins.


Tone

The tone of the flatback is described as warm or mellow, suitable for folk music and smaller audiences. The instrument sound does not punch through the other players' sound like a carved top does.


Double top, double back

The double top is a feature that luthiers are experimenting with in the 21st century, to get better sound. However, mandolinists and luthiers have been experimenting with them since at least the early 1900s. Back in the early 1900s, mandolinist Ginislao Paris approached Luigi Embergher to build custom mandolins. The sticker inside one of the four surviving instruments indicates the build was called after him, the ''Sistema Ginislao Paris''). Paris' round-back double-top mandolins use a false back below the soundboard to create a second hollow space within the instrument. Modern mandolinists such as Joseph Brent and Avi Avital use instruments customized, either by the luthier's choice or at the request of the player. Joseph Brent's mandolin, made by Brian Dean also uses what Brent calls a false back. Brent's mandolin was the luthier's solution to Brent's request for a loud mandolin in which the wood was clearly audible, with less metallic sound from the strings. The type used by Avital is variation of the flatback, with a double top that encloses a resonating chamber, sound holes on the side, and a convex back.Artist To Artist: 10 Minutes With Avi Avital.
''The Bluegrass Special'', January 2011 by Joe Brent.
It is made by one manufacturer in Israel, luthier Arik Kerman. Other players of Kerman mandolins include Alon Sariel, Jacob Reuven, and Tom Cohen.


Others

The bulge on the instrument's back side is visible in this photo of a Vega cylinder-back mandolin


Mandolinetto

Other American-made variants include the mandolinetto or Howe-Orme guitar-shaped mandolin (manufactured by the Elias Howe Company between 1897 and roughly 1920), which featured a cylindrical bulge along the top from fingerboard end to tailpiece and the Vega mando-lute (more commonly called a
cylinder-back mandolin The cylinder-back is a style of mandolin manufactured by the Vega Company of Boston, MA between 1913 and roughly 1925. The design patent (US patent number D44838) for the instrument was issued on November 4, 1913 to David L. Day, who was director ...
manufactured by the Vega Company between 1913 and roughly 1927), which had a similar longitudinal bulge but on the back rather than the front of the instrument.


Mandolin-banjo

An instrument with a mandolin neck paired with a banjo-style body was patented by Benjamin Bradbury of Brooklyn in 1882 and given the name ''banjolin'' by John Farris in 1885. Today ''banjolin'' is sometimes reserved to describe an instrument with four strings, while the version with the four courses of double strings is called a '' mandolin-banjo''.


Resonator mandolin

A
resonator mandolin A resonator mandolin or "resophonic mandolin" is a mandolin whose sound is produced by one or more metal cones (''resonators'') instead of the customary wooden soundboard (mandolin top/face). These instruments are sometimes referred to as " Dob ...
or "resophonic mandolin" is a mandolin whose sound is produced by one or more metal cones (resonators) instead of the customary wooden soundboard (mandolin top/face). Historic brands include
Dobro Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally a gui ...
and National.


Electric mandolin

As with almost every other contemporary chordophone, another modern variant is the
electric mandolin The electric mandolin is an instrument tuned and played as the mandolin and amplified in similar fashion to an electric guitar. As with electric guitars, electric mandolins take many forms. Most common is a carved-top eight-string instrument fi ...
. These mandolins can have four or five individual or double courses of strings. They were developed in the early 1930s, contemporaneous with the development of the
electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
. They come in solid body and acoustic electric forms. Specific instruments have been designed to overcome the mandolin's rapid decay with its plucked notes. Fender released a model in 1992 with an additional string (a high A, above the E string), a tremolo bridge and extra
humbucker A humbucker, humbucking pickup, or double coil, is a guitar pickup that uses two wire coils to cancel out noisy interference from Single coil guitar pickup, coil pickups. Humbucking coils are also used in Microphone, dynamic microphones to can ...
pickup (total of two). The result was an instrument capable of playing heavy metal style guitar riffs or violin-like passages with sustained notes that can be adjusted as with an electric guitar.


Playing traditions worldwide

The international repertoire of music for mandolin is almost unlimited, and musicians use it to play various types of music. This is especially true of violin music, since the mandolin has the same tuning as the violin. Following its invention and early development in Italy the mandolin spread throughout the European continent. The instrument was primarily used in a classical tradition with Mandolin orchestras, so-called ''Estudiantinas'' or in Germany ''Zupforchestern'' appearing in many cities. Following this continental popularity of the mandolin family local traditions appeared outside Europe in the Americas and in Japan. Travelling mandolin virtuosi like Carlo Curti, Giuseppe Pettine, Raffaele Calace and Silvio Ranieri contributed to the mandolin becoming a "fad" instrument in the early 20th century. This "mandolin craze" was fading by the 1930s, but just as this practice was falling into disuse, the mandolin found a new niche in American
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
,
old-time music Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dancing, contra dance, clogging, and buck dancing. It is played on acoustic instruments, generally centering ...
, bluegrass and
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
. More recently, the
Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
and Classical mandolin repertory and styles have benefited from the raised awareness of and interest in
Early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750) or Ancient music (before 500 AD). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad Dates of classical ...
, with media attention to classical players such as Israeli Avi Avital, Italian Carlo Aonzo, and American Joseph Brent. In India, the mandolin is played in classical
Carnatic music Carnatic music (known as or in the Dravidian languages) is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and southern Odisha. It is o ...
. The musician U. Srinivas was perhaps the greatest mandolin player in this style. Lauded across the world for his virtuosity with the instrument, he died young.


Notable literature


Western European classical music

The mandolin appears sporadically in the Western Euoropean classical music tradition. It was often perceived historically as a folk instrument. Significant composers did write music specifically for the mandolin, but few large works were composed for it by the most widely regarded composers. The total number of these works is rather small in comparison to—say—those composed for violin. One result of this dearth being that there were few positions for mandolinists in regular orchestras. To fill this gap in the literature, mandolin orchestras have traditionally played many arrangements of music written for regular orchestras or other ensembles. Some players have sought out contemporary composers to solicit new works. Furthermore, of the works that have been written for mandolin from the 18th century onward, many have been lost or forgotten. Some of these await discovery in museums and libraries and archives. One example of rediscovered 18th-century music for mandolin and ensembles with mandolins is the ''Gimo collection'', collected in the first half of 1762 by Jean Lefebure. Lefebure collected the music in Italy, and it was forgotten until manuscripts were rediscovered.
Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...
created some concertos for mandolinos and orchestra: one for 4-chord mandolino, string bass & continuo in C major, (RV 425), and one for two 5-chord mandolinos, bass strings & continuo in G major, (RV 532), and concerto for two mandolins, 2 violons "in Tromba"—2 flûtes à bec, 2 salmoe, 2 théorbes, violoncelle, cordes et basse continuein in C major (p. 16).
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
composed mandolin music and enjoyed playing the mandolin. His 4 small pieces date from 1796: Sonatine WoO 43a; Adagio ma non troppo WoO 43b; Sonatine WoO 44a and Andante con Variazioni WoO 44b. The opera ''
Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...
'' by
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
(1787) includes mandolin parts, including the accompaniment to the famous aria ''Deh vieni alla finestra'', and Verdi's opera
Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the La Scala, Teatro alla Scala, M ...
calls for guzla accompaniment in the aria ''Dove guardi splendono raggi'', but the part is commonly performed on mandolin.
Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...
used the mandolin in his Symphony No. 7, Symphony No. 8 and Das Lied von der Erde. Parts for mandolin are included in works by Schoenberg (Variations Op. 31),
Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...
(Agon),
Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...
(Romeo and Juliet) and
Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...
(opus Parts 10) Some 20th-century composers also used the mandolin as their instrument of choice (amongst these are: Schoenberg,
Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...
,
Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...
and
Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...
). Among the most important European mandolin composers of the 20th century are Raffaele Calace (composer, performer and luthier) and Giuseppe Anedda (virtuoso concert pianist and professor of the first chair of the Conservatory of Italian Mandolin, Padua, 1975). Today representatives of Italian classical music and Italian classical-contemporary music include Ugo Orlandi, Carlo Aonzo, Dorina Frati, Mauro Squillante and Duilio Galfetti. Japanese composers also produced orchestral music for mandolin in the 20th century, but these are not well known outside Japan. Notable composers include Morishige Takei and Yasuo Kuwahara. Traditional mandolin orchestras remain especially popular in Japan and Germany, but also exist throughout the United States, Europe and the rest of the world. They perform works composed for mandolin family instruments, or re-orchestrations of traditional pieces. The structure of a contemporary traditional mandolin orchestra consists of: first and second mandolins, mandolas (either octave mandolas, tuned an octave below the mandolin, or tenor mandolas, tuned like the viola), mandocellos (tuned like the cello), and bass instruments (conventional string bass or, rarely, mandobasses). Smaller ensembles, such as quartets composed of two mandolins, mandola, and mandocello, may also be found.


Unaccompanied solo

*
Niccolò Paganini Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (; ; 27 October 178227 May 1840) was an Italian violinist and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices ...
:Minuet * John Peterson : Moving Fast Through Autumn Light (2000) * Larry Sitsky : The Three Names Of Shiva (1992) * Silvio Ranieri :Variations on a Theme by Haydn :Song of summer * Eric Gross : Cadenza No.1 : Cadenza No.2 : Cadenza No.3 : Cadenza No.4 : Cadenza No.5 : Cadenza No.6 : Cadenza No.7 : Cadenza No.8 : Cadenza No.10 : Cadenza No.11 * Raffaele Calace :Prelude No. 1 :Prelude No. 2 :Prelude No. 3 :Prelude No. 5 :Prelude No. 10 :Prelude No. 11 :Prelude No. 14 :Prelude No. 15 :Large prelude :Collard :Sylvia :Minuet of rose * Heinrich Koniettsuni :Partita No. 1, etc. * Herbert Baumann :Sonatine, etc. * Siegfried Behrend :Sense – structure * John Craton :The Gray Wolf :Perpetuum Mobile :Variations from Der Fluyten Lust-hof * Sakutarō Hagiwara :Hataoriru maiden * Takei Shusei :Spring to go * Seiichi Suzuki :Variations on Schubert lullaby :City of Elm :Variations on Kojonotsuki of subject matter * Gilad Hochman :Two Episodes for solo mandolin * Jiro Nakano :"Spring has come" Variations :Prayer :Fantasia second No. :Serenata :Beautiful my child and where :Prayer of the evening :Variations on September Affair of the subject matter * Makino YukariTaka :Spring snow of ballads *
Jo Kondo Jo, jo, JO, or J.O. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Jo'' (film), a 1972 French comedy * ''Jo'' (TV series), a French TV series *"Jo", a song by Goldfrapp from ''Tales of Us'' *"Jo", a song by Mr. Oizo from '' Lambs Anger'' * Jo a ficti ...
:In early spring * Takashi Kubota :Nocturne :Etude :Fantasia first No. * Yasuo Kuwahara :Moon and mountain witch :Impromptu :Winter Light :Mukyu motion :Jon-gara :Silent door


Accompaniment with solo

*
Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
: Sonatine in C minor, WoO 43a : Adagio in E major WoO 43b : Sonatine in C major WoO 44a : Andante and Variations in D major WoO 44b * John Craton :Dioces aztecas :The Legend of Princess Noccalula * Giovanni Hoffmann : 4 Quartet for Mandolin, Violin, Viola, and Lute : 4 Divertimenti for Mandolin, Violin & B.c. *
Johann Nepomuk Hummel Johann Nepomuk Hummel (14 November 177817 October 1837) was an Austrian composer and pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. He was a pupil of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Salieri, and ...
:Sonata in C major Op. 35 *
Vittorio Monti Vittorio Monti (6 January 186820 June 1922) was an Italian composer, violinist, mandolinist and conductor. His most famous work is his ''Csárdás'', written around 1904. Life and career Monti was born in Naples, where he studied violin and ...
:
Csárdás Csárdás (, ; ), often seen as Czárdás, is a traditional Hungarian folk dance, the name derived from ' (old Hungarian term for roadside tavern and restaurant). It originated in Hungary and was popularized by bands in Hungary as well as neighb ...
* Carlo Munier :Spanish Capriccio :Mazurka for concert :Waltz for concert :Bizaria :Aria Varia data :Mandolin Concerto No. 1 * Raffaele Calace :Mandolin Concerto No. 1 :Mandolin Concerto No. 2 :Mukyu motion :Tarantella :Song of Nostalgia :Elegy :Mazurka for concert * Silvio Ranieri :Warsaw of memories * Enrico Marcelli :Gypsy style Capriccio :Fantastic Waltz :Mukyu motion :Polonaise for concert *
Hans Gál Hans Gál Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE (5 August 1890 – 3 October 1987) was an Austrian composer, pedagogue, musicologist, and author, who emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1938. Life Gál was born to a Jewish family in ...
:Divertimento for mandolin and harp :Such as a duo for the mandolin and guitar * Norbert Shupuronguru :Serenade for mandolin and guitar * Franco Marugora :Grand Sonata for mandolin and guitar * Kurt Schwaen :Slovenia wind Dances such as * Dietrich Erdmann :Sonatine * Mari Takano :Light of silence * Rikuya Terashima :Sonata for mandolin and piano (2002)


Duo and musical ensemble

A
duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...
or duo is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece. A
musical ensemble A musical ensemble, also known as a music group, musical group, or a band is a group of people who perform Instrumental music, instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist ...
with more than two solo instruments or voices is called trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, septet, octet, etc. *Ella Von Adajewska-Schultz (1846–1926) :Venezuelan Serenade *Valentine Abt (1873–1942) :In Venice Waters * Charles Acton :Chants Des Gondoliers * Hermann Ambrosius :Duo * Emanuele Barbella :Sonata in D major for Mandolin and Basso Continuo *Ignazio Bitelli (c. 1880–1956) :L'Albero di Natale, pastorale for mandolin & guitar :Il Gondoliere, valse for 2 mandolins & guitar *Costantino Bertucci :Il Carnevale Di Venezia Con Variazioni *Pietro Gaetano Boni (1686–1741) :Sonate pour mandoline en la, Op. 2 n° 1 :Sonate pour mandoline en ré mineur, Op. 2 n° 2 :Sonate pour mandoline en ré, Op. 2 n° 9 *Antonio Del Buono :"In Gondola" Serenata Veneziana "Ai Mandolnisti Di Venezia * Raffaele Calace :Barcarola Op. 100 Per Chitarra :Barcarola Op. 116 Per Liuto "A Mio Figlio Peppino" * Gioacchino Cocchi :* ''Sinfonia for 2 Mandolins & Continuo'', (Gimo 76) * Jules Cottin :Au Fil De L'Eau * John Craton :Charon Crossing the Styx (mandolin & double bass) :Four Whimsies (mandolin & octave mandolin) :Les gravures de Gustave Doré (mandolin & guitar) :Six Pantomimes for Two Mandolins :Sonatina No. 3 for Mandolin & Violin *
Hans Gál Hans Gál Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE (5 August 1890 – 3 October 1987) was an Austrian composer, pedagogue, musicologist, and author, who emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1938. Life Gál was born to a Jewish family in ...
:Op. 59a Sonatina for 2 mandolins (1952) * Eric Gross : Hooperisms Op.181 (1991) * Eric Gross : Barbara and Deborah Op.175 (1990) * Eric Gross : Three Mandolin Duets Op.282 (2005) * Eric Gross : Paul and Adrian Op.165(1989) *Giovani Battista Gervasio :''Sonata for Mandolin & Continuo'' (Gimo 141) :''Sonata per camera'' (Gimo 143) :Sinfonia for 2 Mandolins & Continuo, (Gimo 149) :''Trio for 2 Mandolins & Continuo,'' (Gimo 150) :Sonata in D major for Mandolin and Basso Continuo :Sonata in G major for Mandolin and Basso Continuo *Giuseppe Giuliano :Sonata in D major for Mandolin and Basso Continuo * Geoffrey Gordon :Interiors of a Courtyard (mandolin & guitar) *Addiego Guerra :Sonata in G major for Mandolin and Basso Continuo * Positive Hattori :Concerto for two mandolin and piano * Sean Hickey :Mandolin Canons (mandolin & guitar) * Giovanni Hoffmann : 3 Duets for Mandolin and Violin : Serenade for Viola and Mandolin * Tyler Kaier :Den lille Havfrue (mandolin & guitar) * Peter Machajdík :Mit den Augen eines Falken for mandolin & guitar (2016) *Giovanni Battista Maldura :Barcarola Veneziana Di Mendelssohn * Edward Mezzacapo (1832–1898) :Le Chant Du Gondolier *Heinrich Molbe (1835–1915) :Gondolata Op. 74 Per Mandolino, Clarinetto E Pianoforte * Carlo Munier (1859–1911) :"In Gondola" Ricordi di Mendelssohn :Notturno Veneziano Per Quartetto Romantico * Jiro Nakano :Medaka, revolving lantern * John Peterson : Wired Life (1999) * Giuseppe Pettine (1874–1966) :Barcarola Per Mandolino * Hideo Saito, Jiro Nakano :Du edge Martino *
Domenico Scarlatti Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (26 October 1685 – 23 July 1757) was an Italian composer. He is classified primarily as a Baroque music, Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical peri ...
:Sonata in D minor (K77) :Sonata in E minor (K81) :Sonata in G minor (K88) :Sonata No. 54 (K. 89) in D minor for Mandolin and Basso Continuo :Sonata in D minor (K89) :Sonata in D minor (K90) :Sonata in G (K91) * Mari Takano :Silent Light for mandolin & harpsichord (2001) :Two Pieces for Two Mandolins (2002) * Sergeij Taneev (1856–1913) :Venezia Di Notte, Barcarola Op. 9 No. 1 :Serenata Per Voce, Mandolino E Pianoforte Op. 9 No. 2 Alla Contessa Tat'jana L'vovna Tolstaja *Roberto Valentini (1674–1747) :Sonate pour mandoline en la, Op. 12 n° 1 :Sonate pour mandoline en ré mineur, Op. 12 n° 2 :Sonate pour mandoline en sol, Op. 12 n° 3 :Sonate pour mandoline en sol mineur, Op. 12 n° 4 :Sonate pour mandoline en mi mineur, Op. 12 n° 5 :Sonate pour mandoline en ré, Op. 12 n° 6


Concerto

Concerto: a musical composition generally composed of three movements, in which, usually, one solo instrument (for instance, a piano, violin, cello or flute) is accompanied by an orchestra or concert band. *
Anna Clyne Anna Clyne (born 9 March 1980) is an English composer resident in the United States. She has worked in both acoustic music and electroacoustic music. Biography Born on 9 March 1980 in London, Clyne began writing music as a child, completing her ...
: ''Three Sisters'', for mandolin and chamber orchestra * Eric Gross : Concerto for Mandolin and Chamber Orchestra Op.141 (1984) : Concerto No. 2 Op.151 (1986) * Larry Sitsky : Zohar, Sephardic Concerto (1998) * Jane Stanley : The Spirit's Lay Concerto for Mandolin and Orchestra (2000) * Caroline Szeto : Concerto For Mandolin and Chamber Orchestra (1998) * Giovanni Hoffmann : Concerto for Mandolin and Orchestra in D Major *
Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...
: Mandolin Concerto in C major, :Concerto for two mandolinos in G major :Concerto for two mandolinos, 2 violons " in Tromba"—2 flûtes à bec, 2 salmoe, 2 théorbes, violoncelle, cordes et basse continuein in C major * Francisco Rodrigo Arto (Venezuela) :Mandolin Concerto (1984) * Dominico Caudioso :Mandolin Concerto in G Major * John Craton :Mandolin Concerto No. 1 in D Minor :Mandolin Concerto No. 2 in D Major :Mandolin Concerto No. 3 in E Minor :Mandolin Concerto No. 4 in G Major :Concerto for Two Mandolins ("Rromane Bjavela") * Gerardo Enrique Dirié (Argentina) :''Los ocho puentes'' for four recorders, mandolin and percussion (1984) *
Johann Adolph Hasse Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised 25 March 1699 – 16 December 1783) was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a co ...
:Mandolin Concerto in G major * Leopold Kozeluch :Concerto for piano, mandolin, trumpet and double bass in E major * Giovanni Battista Pergolesi :Mandolin Concerto in B major *
Giovanni Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born i ...
:Mandolin Concerto in E major :Mandolin Concerto in C major :Mandolin Concerto in G major *
Johann Nepomuk Hummel Johann Nepomuk Hummel (14 November 177817 October 1837) was an Austrian composer and pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. He was a pupil of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Salieri, and ...
:Mandolin Concerto in G major * Armin Kaufmann :Mandolin Concerto * Dietrich Erdmann :Mandolin Concerto * Herbert Baumann :Mandolin and the Concerto for Strings * Brian Israel (1951–1986) :Concerto for Mandolin (1985) :Sonatinetta (1984) :Surrealistic Serenade (1985) * Makino YukariTaka :Mandolin Concerto * Julian Dawes :Mandolin and the Concerto for Strings * Tanaka Ken :"Arc" for mandolin and orchestra * Vladimir Kororutsuku :Suite "positive and negative" * Avner Dorman :Mandolin Concerto * Gilad Hochman :"Nedudim" ("Wanderings") Fantasia-Concertante for mandolin and string orchestra (2014)


Mandolin in the orchestra

Orchestral works in which the mandolin has a limited part. *
Domenico Cimarosa Domenico Cimarosa (; 17 December 1749 – 11 January 1801) was an Music of Italy, Italian composer of the Neapolitan School and of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He wrote more than eighty operas, the best known of which is ''Il ...
:Opera ''La finta parigina'' * John Craton :Opera ''The Curious Affair of the Count of Monte Blotto'' * Michel Corrette :Concerto for orchestra '' 25 Concertos Comiques'': ''Concerto nr 24 in C major "La Marche du Huron"'' * Jonathan Dove :Opera "The Adventures of Pinocchio" (2007) * Lukas Foss :Symphony No. 2 "Symphony Of Chorales" (1958) * André Grétry : '' L'Amant jaloux'' (Paris, 1778) *
George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...
:Oratorio '' Alexander Balus'' *
György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde music, avant-garde composers in the latter half of the ...
:Opera ''Le Grand Macabre'' * Bruno Maderna :Opera ''Don Perlimplin, ovvero il trionfo dell'amore e dell'immaginazione'' :Violin concerto (1969) :Suite aus der Oper "Hyperion" (1969–1970) :"Amanda"/Serenata VI :"Composizione in tre tempi" *
Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...
:'' Symphony No. 7, Song of the Night'' :'' Symphony No. 8, Symphony of Thousands'' :Symphony '' Song of the Earth'' *
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
:Opera ''
Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...
'' *
Giovanni Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born i ...
:
The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ' ...
*
Willem Pijper Willem Frederik Johannes Pijper (; 8 September 189418 March 1947) was a Dutch composer, music critic and music teacher. Pijper is considered to be among the most important Dutch composers of the first half of the 20th century. Life Pijper was b ...
:Opera ''Halewijn'' :''Romance sans paroles'' :Symphony No. 2 :Symphony No. 3 *
Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...
:Ballet music ''
Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...
'' *
Ottorino Respighi Ottorino Respighi ( , , ; 9 July 187918 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. List of compositions by Ottorino Respighi, His compositions ra ...
:Symphonic poem '' Festivals of Rome'' *
Antonio Salieri Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian composer and teacher of the classical period (music), classical period. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subje ...
: Tarare (Paris, 1787) *
Rodion Shchedrin Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin ( rus, Родион Константинович Щедрин, , rədʲɪˈon kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ ɕːɪˈdrʲin; born 16 December 1932) is a Soviet and Russian composer and pianist, winner of USSR St ...
:Ballet music ''
Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, Анна Каренина, p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Tolstoy called it his first true novel. It was initially released in serial in ...
'' *
Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...
:Opera '' Moses und Aron'' :'' Variations for Orchestra'' * Niccola Spinelli : Opera '' A Basso Porto'': ''Intermezzo for mandolins and orchestra'' *
Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...
:Ballet music ''
Agon () is the Greek personification for a conflict, struggle or contest, describing a concept of the same name. This could be a contest in athletics, in chariot or horse racing, or in music or literature at a public festival in ancient Greece. i ...
'' *
Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma ...
:Opera ''
Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the La Scala, Teatro alla Scala, M ...
'' *
Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...
:Oratorio '' Juditha triumphans'' *
Anton Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...
:''Five Pieces for Orchestra''


See also

* List of mandolinists * List of mandolinists (sorted) * List of string instruments * Stringed instrument tunings *
Pandura The pandura (, ''pandoura'') or pandore, an ancient Greek string instrument, belonged in the broad class of the lute and guitar instruments. Akkadian Empire, Akkadians played similar instruments from the 3rd millennium BC. Ancient Greece, Ancien ...
* Quintola * Greek bouzouki * Bluegrass mandolin *
Mandola The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...
*
Octave Mandolin The octave mandolin (US and Canada) or octave mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted string instrument with four pairs of strings tuned in fifths, G−D−A−E (low to high). It is larger than the mandola, but smaller than the mandocello and its ...
*
Mandocello The mandocello () is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It is larger than the mandolin, and is the baritone instrument of the mandolin family. Its eight strings are in four paired courses, with the strings in each course tuned in ...
*
Mandobass The Mandobass is the largest (and least common) member of the mandolin family, sometimes used as the bass instrument in mandolin orchestras. It is so large that players usually hold it like a double bass—upright and supported on an endpin th ...
* Cittern * Domra *
Irish bouzouki The Irish bouzouki () is an adaptation of the Greek bouzouki (Greek: μπουζούκι). The newer Greek ''tetrachordo'' bouzouki (4  courses of strings) was introduced into Irish traditional music in the mid-1960s by Johnny Moynihan of ...
* Portuguese guitar * Troise and his Mandoliers


References

* * * * * * * *
Edition MANDO – Edition MANDO Verlags-Bestellung


Further reading

Chord dictionaries * A comprehensive chord dictionary. * A case-style chord dictionary. * A very comprehensive chord dictionary. Method and instructional guides * Instructional guide.


External links




Mandolin YouTube Channel

Accademia Mandolinistica Pugliese (Puglia-Italy)




* ttp://mandolin.music.coocan.jp/classics.html Works for orchestras that contain small parts for mandolin. Japanese website, but needed parts are in English.
Works for mandolin or with major parts for mandolin.

19 works from Italian composers, during the mandolins first rise, copies from manuscript into modern notation.
{{Authority control Baroque instruments Bashkir musical instruments Necked bowl lutes Necked box lutes Mandolin family instruments European musical instruments American musical instruments Japanese musical instruments Italian musical instruments Greek musical instruments German musical instruments Ukrainian musical instruments Venezuelan musical instruments Brazilian musical instruments Portuguese musical instruments String instruments Orchestral instruments Folk music instruments Blues instruments Lute family instruments