Ud - Laute

al-'ud - Laute

"Laute, allgemein jede Art von Saiteninstrument, das aus Hals und Resonanzkörper zusammengesetzt ist und dessen Saiten parallel zur Decke des Resonators liegen.

Im engeren Sinn ist dies die Bezeichnung für ein Zupfinstrument mit einem aus dünnen Spänen zusammengesetzten, birnenförmigen Resonanzkörper, einem kurzen Hals und einem meist vom Hals abgeknickten Wirbelkasten mit seitenständigen Wirbeln. Das Griffbrett ist mit Bünden versehen. Von den Stimmwirbeln (die sich im Wirbelkasten befinden) laufen sechs Saitenpaare (Doppelchöre) bis zu einem am Körper angeleimten Steg. Sie hatte zunächst vier Saiten und kam um 1500 zu ihrer klassischen Form. In der Renaissance wurde die Laute üblicherweise auf A-a, d-d¹, g-g¹, h-h, e¹-e¹, a¹ gestimmt, wobei von den fünf Doppelchören die drei unteren in Oktaven und die beiden höheren im Einklang gestimmt waren, während die höchstklingende Saite oft einzeln war. In der Decke befindet sich ein rundes Schall-Loch, das oft mit einer kunstvoll geschnitzten Rosette verziert ist.

Um 1600 wurden an der Laute zusätzlich vier freie Basssaiten angebracht. Diese Saiten wurden nicht mit den Fingern gegriffen, sie waren in absteigender Folge (F-E-D-C) gestimmt. Auch grössere Lauten mit immer mehr Basssaiten wurden gebaut, zu diesen zählen die Theorbe, die Chitarrone und die Erzlaute. Um 1640 verbreitet sich die von Denis Gaultier eingeführte Stimmung A-a, d-d¹, f-f¹, a-a, d¹-d¹, f¹-f¹. Ihre grösste Blütezeit hatte die Laute im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert. Die wichtigsten Komponisten von Lautenmusik waren u. a. Denis Gaultier in Frankreich und John Dowland und Thomas Morley in England.

Die Laute kam ursprünglich aus dem arabischen Kulturraum. Es war ein mit einem Plektrum gespieltes, vierchöriges Instrument. Weiter entwickelt wurde die Laute im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert in Spanien aus dem 'ud, der heute ein bundloses, mit dem Plektum gespieltes Instrument mit vier bis sieben Chören ist. Verwandte des 'ud und der Laute sind die rumänische Cobza, die Mandoline, und die mittelalterliche Mandola. Diese haben eine entfernte Ähnlichkeit mit den kurzhalsigen Lauten, die in den arabischen Ländern um etwa 700 v. Chr. aufkamen. Zu den Lauteninstrumenten, die sich auch nach Osten ausbreiteten, gehören u.a. die chinesische Pipa und die japanische Biwa. Bereits um 2000 v. Chr. waren in Mesopotamien Lauten mit flachen Körpern und langen Hälsen bekannt. Zur Lautenfamilie gehören auch die griechische Busuki und die japanische Shamisen."

Anfang 1998 publizierte die englische Lautengesellschaft einen Online-Beitrag:
The oud: a Western musician's perspective
Talk by Bill Badley at the meeting on 20 September 1997

The name oud, which of course gave rise to the word lute, means 'wood'; this otherwise slightly puzzling choice of name probably distinguishes the oud from similar instruments with a parchment soundboard (or instruments made from gourds? -CG). It exists today within a musical tradition which is predominantly oral, and where there is little sense of historical context. People don't know the sources of the music they play, and an 'old' tune could be fifty years old, or five hundred years old.
The origins of the oud are obscure. There is a Babylonian cylinder seal of around 2000 BC which shows an object which might be an oud-like instrument; certainly there was a recognisably oud-like four-stringed plucked instrument in the time of Mohammed, which by 632, when he died, was being played across Persia and Southern Arabia—poised to be carried far and wide by the great Arab/Islamic expansion of the seventh and eighth centuries.
An important figure in the early history of the oud is Ziryab who lived early in the ninth century. Hounded from his native Baghdad by a teacher jealous of his talent, he settled in the court of Cordoba, in the Islamic kingdom of Andaluz. A man of elegance and sophistication, he is credited with promoting the use of glass drinking vessels, and with being the first man to eat asparagus. According to tradition he added a fifth string to the oud (though whether at the top or bottom of the instrument is not clear) and invented the use of flexible horn instead of wood plectra, adding greatly to the instrument's flexibility. Graphic images from the Andaluz kindom make it clear that the oud was played by Arab, Christian and Jew alike, and that until the fourteenth and 15th centuries it does appear to have had frets, meaning that it cannot have been used to play quarter-tonal music, unlike the unfretted instrument in use today.
This change apart however, the oud is probably pretty much unaltered since that time—a striking contrast to the lute or guitar. The oud appears to have gone into something of a decline in the 16th century, enjoying a huge resurgence in popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries. This resurgence was bound up with the rising sense of Arab identity in modern times. A turning point, as far as the oud was concerned, was a cultural conference held in Cairo in 1932 where, as part of an attempt to bolster the academic respectability of Arabic music relative to European music, the values of the quarter tones were fixed. This has meant that, while Arabic music still maintains a degree of freedom similar to that found in mediaeval or folk music, there has been a certain loss of fluidity: it used to be said that a great player could make you laugh or cry according to where he placed the quarter tones. Nowadays electronic organs for sale in the Arabic world can be programmed with quarter tones. Arabic music is constructed of a series of scales or modes, each of which (as in classical Indian or indeed renaissance European music theory) is credited with provoking a variety of different emotions.
The oud is unquestionably the most popular single instrument in the Arab world. It crosses the divide between classical and folk or popular music. Song accompanied with the oud is especially highly valued, and in singing delivery of the poetry is the important thing (a striking parallel with Elizabethan lute song, some of us would say -CG). Arabic audiences are baffled by the idea that the oud player should be shy of singing just because he doesn't have trained voice.
Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad are the major cultural centres of the Arabic world—Damascus a bit less so nowadays. Cairo is the L.A. of the oud world, where oud recordings are churned out (in a musical tradition which was always non-written, tape recording is overtaking oral performance as a means of transmitting musical ideas). Economic factors are clearly coming into play; the blockade of Iraq has adversely affected (amongst other things) soundboard quality, while Palestinian makers are being priced out of the market under the influence of the Israeli economy; Nazareth's last oud maker has now gone into the repro-furniture business. Egyptian oud players set the instrument in a low tuning, the Iraqis in a higher tuning and some players are now adding a seventh string, so that they can play in both styles.
Indeed, the instrument is now in a phase of revolutionary development. The oud is very much a living instrument, and a great many people who would not consider themselves expert players can pick out a tune. The Yemeni school of playing is particularly vigorous. It is heavily drug-influenced, the drug in question being gat, which is taken in the form of leaves, which are chewed. Gat produces a speed-like high, with obvious effects on oud playing style. After dinner music making is common, and it is a particular honour to be asked to play at the 'blue hour' as the rays of the setting sun fall across the city.
Bill spoke of his personal experiences. His travels were in part financed by the British Council, who are very keen on 'collaborations'. European and Arabic traditions however are really so different that collaborations don't tend to be very successful. He described an Elizabethan evening consisting of Shakespeare translated into Arabic, and Holborne played on Arabic instruments, with a percussionist who could only play in 5, 7, or 9. It is slightly easier to relate to the traditions of the 'Andaluz' music of Morocco. In the mountains of Tetuan are families who claim to trace their descent back to the Islamic kingdoms of Spain, and indeed their musicians today, sitting in a circle and performing self-accompanied do remind you of mediaeval illustrations. Significantly, the 'Andaluz' music of today doesn't employ quarter tones. It is wonderful for the European lutenist to visit countries where an instrument of the lute family is well loved and is at the heart of a living culture, even if, when pressed, oud enthusiasts will say of the Western lute, 'well, it's just a guitar really, isn't it'.

Einen guten Papier-Einstieg bietet Jargy: La musique arabe, 1988. Hilfreich sind ausserdem die oft sehr ausführlichen Booklets der relevanten Sound-CDs. Weitere Erläuterungen zur Laute aus Briner 1998.