Stumbling Upon the Ukulele’s Oldest Living Relative

It is well-documented that the Hawaiian ukulele traces its heritage across the ocean to the 19th-century island of Madeira (see The Birth of the Ukulele, Ukulele Magazine, Fall 2014, The Mighty Uke, or The ‘Ukulele: A History). Would you be surprised, however, to find out that the earliest known relative of the ukulele was actually a four-course, seven-stringed instrument tuned exactly like a modern ukulele (gG CC EE A)? This mystery instrument was being played across Europe at the same time Shakespeare was penning “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and was popular on the continent in France, Spain & Portugal as well as in England … Queen Elizabeth was gifted three of them on one occasion (opens YouTube). Where had this instrument been hiding? How did I find out about it? Read on …

My Renaissance Rabbit-hole

Singing concerts full of renaissance madrigals accompanied by period instruments was one of the highlights of my college days (thank you Bruce Bales). Later I took courses in 16th-century counterpoint and Renaissance music history as part of my masters degree in music composition. I still love listening to or singing Dowland’s ‘lute songs’ when I get a chance, so when I came across a ‘lute-kulele‘ I felt had to have one. This is just the first step of the journey though …

The lute-kulele is a lute-shaped, tenor-scale ukulele with six strings in four courses; they are tuned in re-entrant gCCEEA by the manufacturer, but I think sound more ‘period’ with the linear tuning GCCEEA. I discovered this when researching the instrument and coming across the masterfully-played youtube videos of Stefan Dollak, who calls the instrument a ‘4-course lute.’ I messaged Stefan to ask about sheet music, but professional that he is, he answered that he was making it up and/or adapting it on the fly.

In searching to see if there was any 4-course lute music out there I didn’t come across much, other than a peculiar lute tuning of GDAG from The Lute Society’s lute tunings page, which confirms the existence of a 4-course lute in medieval times. Upon further search I found a page from The Lute Society of America (LSA) entitled, “Relatives of the Lute : Renaissance Guitar” (which unfortunately disappeared when they moved their website) … what I found there really surprised me.

The Renaissance Guitar … The Renaissance Ukulele?

It turns out that ukuleles, as we call them today, were being played five hundred years ago, at least if you consider a small guitar with a “My Dog Has Fleas” tuning of GCEA to be worthy of the name. Today we call this historical instrument the Renaissance Guitar, although it had many names in the 16-17th centuries (depending on the nation). It is believed to be the ‘original’ guitar, as no records of older instruments exist that use this body-shape/tuning-relationship (fourth, third, fourth still present in the top four strings of modern guitars, transposed down). Although the scale-length of the Renaissance Guitar was longer than a baritone ukulele (50-55cm or 19.7-21.7in), it had the signature guitar-shaped body and was tuned like a modern ukulele.

Is it an ukulele though? It depends on your definition. I’ve heard it argued that the only ‘true’ ukulele is a soprano-sized instrument with peg-head tuners made of native Hawaiian Koa wood. But I choose to be more flexible with my definition. As the saying goes, ‘If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck …”.

I think it is safe to say though that with the advent of the Hawaiian ukulele in the late 19th century, the guitar has in ways come full circle. I suspect that if we could trace the lineage back through the folk instruments of Madeira that were brought to Hawaii, we might find that the ‘original’ guitar never actually went away, it just traveled a lot, and for good reason.

How Was it Played?

As for the Renaissance Guitar’s use, the now missing LSA article stated, “During the Renaissance, the guitar may well have been used as it frequently is today, to provide a simple strummed accompaniment for a singer or a small musical group. However, there were also several significant music collections published during the sixteenth century containing contrapuntal compositions for guitar approaching the complexity, sophistication and breadth of repertory of those appearing in some publications for lute from the same time period.” Reading this was a ‘wow!’ moment for me.

Where Can I Get One?

Fortunately, I found a Renaissance Guitar replica in stock from from the German music company Thomann and ordered it so I could see what playing a super-long scale 7-string tenor ukulele was like. When it eventually came, I did have to get used to the gut frets that are tied to the neck (same as they are on the lute – apparently wire frets were a later invention), but the playability has proved amazing and the voice of the instrument is uniquely rich. Some other places that offer replicas include:

• The Early Music Shop
• Diabolus in Musica
• Pavan Model Renaissance Guitar (best price)

All of the above ‘authentic’ options are over a thousand USD. See below for more ‘poor man’ options.

Breaking it In

When I purchased the Thomann Renaissance Guitar in 2018, I felt it was appropriate to break it in with some new settings of song texts from the plays of William Shakespeare (1564-1616). I performed these at the 10th anniversary concert of the Salty Cricket Composers Collective. I also set a poem by Robert Herrick (1591–1674) for Christmas (on Facebook). I post this second one just to give you an idea of what the instrument sounds like and how I’m using it, coming from a decade+ of ukulele playing. I’m planning to record the Shakespeare settings this year.

How did it sound ‘Back in the Day’

If you’d like to hear examples of how the instrument was played ‘back in the day,’ I’ve located some wonderful recordings by some amazing players who have released recordings on Amazon. See “Comiença la musica para guitarra” by Massimo Lonardi, “Tabulatures de guiterne” by Michael Craddock, and “Renaissance Redux” by Jacopo Gianninoto. All of these are worth checking out.

Sheet Music for Renaissance Guitar

Although you can find lute-style renaissance guitar tablature (handwritten, with letters instead of numbers) for free on a number of web archives, Michael Walker has published modern transcriptions of almost all the music available for the renaissance guitar, and adapted other period music for the instrument. Although he has labeled these editions for baritone ukulele or modern guitar players (using only the top 4 strings), the tablature can be played on modern GCEA ukuleles and will sound in the original keys (just note that the staff notation will be a fourth off from what you’re playing). UPDATE: Renaissance Ukulele on blogspot has posted MANY free transcriptions of music from this period.

I would recommend playing with a low G for these transcriptions, or if you can spring for another ukulele, you might try any of the following ‘poor man’ Renaissance Guitar configurations:

• Kala KA-ATP-CTG Solid Cedar Acacia 5-String Tenor Ukulele with low and high g-strings on the fourth course : This will give you that wonderful double octave on the G, but single strings for ease of play on the remaining courses. The scale length is much shorter, but you’ll be playing all the same notes.
• Oscar Schmidt OU28T Ukulele : This well-reviewed 8-string with double courses on all the strings is closest you can get to the sound of the renaissance guitar for under two hundred dollars. Again, the scale length is nowhere near the size of a replica.
• Kala KA-ABP8-CTG Solid Cedar Acacia Baritone 8-String Ukulele (not available on Amazon the day of posting 2/4/21 likely due to pandemic issues, but search around and you may find one) : I purchased this baritone ukulele to see if I could make a ‘poor man’s’ renaissance guitar out of it. The scale-length is close enough to my replica and you get the distinctive sound of the double courses. I switched out the stock strings for a custom set of La Bella rectified nylon lute strings (recommended for renaissance guitar by Stefan Dollak) that I tuned up to GCEA. This works well, but is a bit more tense than the replica’s strings, which the manufacturer said were Aquila strings. I also ordered a custom set of new nylgut strings direct from Aquila in Italy, but it was a hassle and I think I like the La Bella’s fuller sound better (demo video to come).

Wrapping it Up

This renaissance rabbit-hole I quite accidentally stumbled into has made me reexamine my thoughts about the ukulele and what makes a uke a uke. While the instrument undoubtedly made its way through Madeira to Hawaii to the world, for which I am very grateful, the DNA makeup of the instrument is far more ancient. It seems to me a bit like when you dig into your personal ancestry and find out that you’re distantly related to Lady Godiva (which I am). In the end, how far the lineage traces back matters less than what we do with the instrument today. Whether you play ‘for fun,’ ‘for joy,’ ‘for others’ or ‘for community’ or all of the above says more about the you than the instrument you use. I’m grateful for all those that teach and have taught and brought so many people together through the ukulele, whether the origin of the instrument be new or old.

More to Read

• The Renaissance Guitar 1500-1650 by James Tyler in Early Music
• The Guitar in Tudor England by Christopher Page
• The Guitar and Its Music from the Renaissance to the Classical Era by James Tyler & Paul Sparks
• Christopher Page lecture: The Guitar in Tudor London.
• Renaissance Ukulele on blogspot has posted MANY free transcriptions of music from this period.

Addendum

This post has been edited as new information has been made available to me.

Several forum readers wondered why I didn’t focus on the Madeiran connection. One wrote to me to say:

This article is jumping on the bandwagon of genuine academics such as Christopher Page who have properly researched the Renaissance guitar … The connection between the Renaissance guitar and the ukulele is very interesting and compelling but all evidence (see King and Tranquada) supports the idea that the ukulele came to Hawaii from Madeira. The size comes from the machete and the tuning from the rajão. So where is the link between the Renaissance guitar and Madeira?

My reply:

While I am not employed in musical academia, I do have a masters degree in music and have researched and written many a paper, having spent plenty of time at the university library … one emphasis of study was Renaissance music for my masters degree. There is nothing unethical about reporting on the research of others if that research is credited, which I have done in many ways. While I was unaware of Christopher Page’s work (thank you for making me aware), I have referenced the mentor of one of my personal teachers under which I sang several full concerts of renaissance music, James Tyler, who’s article in Early Music is linked to, as well as John King who’s books got me started playing classical music on the ukulele in the first place.

I am fully aware that the ukulele came to Hawaii via Madeira and reference that in the very first paragraph of the article, “It is well-documented that the Hawaiian ukulele traces its heritage across the ocean to the 19th-century island of Madeira (see The Birth of the Ukulele, Ukulele Magazine, Fall 2014, The Mighty Uke, or The ‘Ukulele: A History).” This is a message to state, “Go read about that part of the story there.” My article is about my own personal discovery of the Renaissance guitar and how interesting I find it that this is the first known guitar-like instrument to sport the GCEA tuning. Are they ‘directly’ related. Not at all. I feel it is more like the great grand-daddy of the ukulele.

My speculation, and it can only remain a speculation (and academia is full of them), is that instruments like the rajão held on to this tuning in folk circles and then passed it on to the ukulele. Until we learn how to time travel though we’ll never know for sure …

Post filed under All UkulelePlay! Blog Posts.