Lutes and Viols
Historical Overview of Lutes and Viols
Para1Though they are both stringed instruments, lutes and viols differ in the way they
are played. While a lute is plucked or strummed with fingers or something resembling
a pick, a viol uses a bow to create sound. Long-necked lutes are an ancient instrument,
found depicted on Mesopotamian seals dating as far back as 2340–2198 BCE. The earliest
depiction of viols being used in Europe can be found in a Mozarabic manuscript in
the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid from c. 930 CE. The Arabic version of the lute (the
ūd) is the most successful and long lasting of its type. The viol, on the other hand,
was popular in Europe throughout the early modern period and was the basis for modern
violins.
The Lute
Para2Many different styles of fingered string instruments are popular in different areas
of the world, such as the Indian sitar and the Japanese samisen. In early modern England
and most of Europe, the lute was the primary musical instrument, played by amateurs
and professionals alike. It was second only to the human voice in its popularity.
Para3Through the 16th and early 17th century, composition of lute music went through a
golden age. Composers such as John Dowland (1563–1626) wrote extensively for the lute.
Lute music conformed to an easier style of music reading called tabs. The three most popular forms of tablature (or tabs) were French, Italian, and German.
Because of the much easier form of reading musical notation and therefore an easier
way of teaching, the lute became extremely popular. King Henry VIII may have composed
lute songs, as he is known to have been an accomplished musician.
The Viol
Para4The viol developed long after the lute and its forebearers. The first style of the
viol was known as the Viola da Gamba (“a leg viol”). This name refers to the style of how the viol was held. The Viola
da Gamba is held vertically between the legs similarly to the cello, which did lead
to some sexual innuendos. However, during the 15th century, the more popular style
of playing was known as the Viola da Bassico, (or “arm viol”) which is a horizontally-held style on the arm, a precursor to the
modern violin. Because the bassico was preferred, the 15th century was also the time
that viols were made smaller and easier to hold on the arm.
Lutes and Viols in Shakespeare
Para5Shakespeare famously features the lute in The Taming of the Shrew. During a music lesson, Katherina becomes enraged and smashes the lute over her teacher’s
head, who tells the tale:
Why, no, for she hath broke the lute to me.I did but tell her she mistook her frets,And bowed her hand to teach her fingering,When, with a most impatient devilish spirit,‘‘Frets’ call you these?ʼ quoth she. ‘I’ll fume with them!ʼAnd with that word she struck me on the head,And through the instrument my pate made way […](The Taming of The Shrew 2.1)
Para6Shakespeare also refers to the lute in plays such as Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, Henry IV, Henry V, Hamlet, and others. These plays feature music not only because of the pervasive presence
in music of the era, but because actors in the early modern period were also likely
to be skilled musicians. Including numerous songs and types of instruments in the
plays offered members of his playing company the chance to entertain audiences with
more than words.
Key Print Sources
Spring, Matthew. The Lute in Britain: A History of the Instrument and Its Music. Oxford University Press, 2004.
Otterstedt, Annette. The Viol: History of an Instrument. Trans. Hans Reiners. Barenreiter-Verlag, 2001.
Key Online Sources
Best, Michael.
Lutes and Viols.Shakespeare’s Life and Times. Internet Shakespeare Editions. University of Victoria, 1 Jan. 2011. https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/literature/music/lutes.html. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.
Pannicia, Melissa.
Lutes in Shakespeare.Our Warwickshire. The Warwickshire Museum, https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/article/lutes-in-shakespeare. Accessed 14 Sep. 2024.
Riley, Maurice.
History of the Viola.Internet Archive. Primrose International. 1980. https://archive.org/details/historyofviola01rile.
Prosopography
Jessica Boyd
Jessica Boyd was a student at Utah Valley University.
Kate McPherson
Kate McPherson is Professor of English and Honors Program Director at Utah Valley
University (Orem, UT, USA). In 2015, she began working to redevelop Shakespeare’s Life and Times, created by Michael Best, into the Early Modern England Encyclopedia. Her other publications include commentary on Pericles and The Comedy of Errors for the New Oxford Shakespeare (2016); the co-edited volumes Stages of Engagement: Drama and Religion in Post-Reformation England with James Mardock (Duquesne University Press, 2014) and Shakespeare Expressed: Page, Stage, and Classroom in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries, with Kathryn M. Moncrief and Sarah Enloe (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press,
2013). With Kathryn M. Moncrief, Kate has also two edited collections, Performing Pedagogy in Early Modern England: Gender, Instruction, and Performance (Ashgate, 2011) and Performing Maternity in Early Modern England (Ashgate 2008). She has also published numerous articles on early modern maternity
in scholarly journals. Kate participated in the 2008 National Endowment for the Humanities
Institute,
Shakespeare’s Blackfriars: The Study, the Stage, the Classroom,at the American Shakespeare Center. She also served as Play Seminar Director, a public humanities position, for the Utah Shakespeare Festival in 2017 and 2018.
Leah Hamby
Leah Hamby is the primary encoder for the Early Modern England Encyclopedia. Aside from encoding, she also works as an editor for the project and contributed
several articles of her own. She has been working on the EMEE since February 2023. As of February 2026, she is soon to graduate with honours from
Utah Valley University with a major in history and a minor in creative writing. Her
other work with the LEMDO program includes remediating William Kemp’s Kemp’s Nine Day’s Wonder for the Digital Renaissance Editions.
Michael Best
Michael Best is Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria, BC. He founded the
Internet Shakespeare Editions in 1996, and was Coordinating Editor until 2017, contributing two editions to the
ISE: King John and King Lear (the latter also available in print from Broadview Press). In print, he has published editions of works of Elizabethan magic and huswifery,
a collection of letters from the Australian goldfields, and Shakespeare on the Art of Love (2008). He contributed regular columns for the Shakespeare Newsletter on
Electronic Shakespeares,and has written many articles and chapters for both print and online books and journals, principally on questions raised by the new medium in the editing and publication of texts. He has delivered papers and plenary lectures on electronic media and the Internet Shakespeare Editions at conferences in Canada, the USA, the UK, Spain, Australia, and Japan.
Navarra Houldin
Training and Documentation Lead 2025–present. LEMDO project manager 2022–2025. Textual
remediator 2021–present. Navarra Houldin (they/them) completed their BA with a major
in history and minor in Spanish at the University of Victoria in 2022. Their primary
research was on gender and sexuality in early modern Europe and Latin America. They
are continuing their education through an MA program in Gender and Social Justice
Studies at the University of Alberta where they will specialize in Digital Humanities.
Orgography
LEMDO Team (LEMD1)
The LEMDO Team is based at the University of Victoria and normally comprises the project
director, the lead developer, project manager, junior developers(s), remediators,
encoders, and remediating editors.
University of Victoria (UVIC1)
https://www.uvic.ca/Metadata
| Authority title | Lutes and Viols |
| Type of text | Critical |
| Publisher | University of Victoria on the Linked Early Modern Drama Online Platform |
| Series | Early Modern England Encyclopedia |
| Source |
By Jessica Boyd, inspired by Michael Best’s Shakespeare’s Life and Times, Internet Shakespeare Editions
|
| Editorial declaration | This document uses Canadian English spelling |
| Edition | Released with Early Modern England Encyclopedia 1.0a |
| Sponsor(s) |
Early Modern England EncyclopediaAnthology Leads: Kate McPherson and Kate Moncrief.
|
| Encoding description | Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines |
| Document status | published, peer-reviewed |
| Funder(s) |
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Utah Valley University |
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