theorbo
(θiːˈɔːbəʊ)
Also 7 theorboe, 7–8 -orba; 7 theorb', 7–8 -orb, 8–9 -orbe.
[ad. F. téorbe, théorbe (17th c.), ad. It. tiorba ‘a kind of musicall instrument used among countrie people’ (Florio 1598), Sp. tiorba. The spelling with th appears first in Eng. (prob. after the theo- group); the ending -o for It. and Sp. -a occurs in other words: see -ado. Origin of the It. word unknown: some suggest that it was named after the inventor.]
A large kind of lute with a double neck and two sets of tuning-pegs, the lower holding the melody strings and the upper the bass strings; much in vogue in the 17th century. (Cf. archlute.)
| 1605 Chapman All Fooles Plays 1873 I. 144 Cor. Take thy Theorbo for my sake a little. Val. By heauen, this moneth I toucht not a Theorbo. 1611 Coryat Crudities 252 Two singular fellowes played together vpon Theorboes. 1652 Benlowes Theoph. i. lv, There sweet Religion strings and tunes, and skrues The Souls Theorb', and doth infuse Grave Dorick Epods. 1690 Shadwell Am. Bigot iv. i, I had provided this drum to sing to, which is better than a Theorb, or Harpsychord. 1697 tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 258, I never saw any Virginals or Theorba's here. 1899 E. Gosse J. Donne i. 28 A madrigal for the theorbo. 1906 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 338/2 The whole household purchased Theorbes. |
| attrib. and Comb. 1657 J. Gamble (title) Ayres and Dialogues. To be Sung to the Theorbo-Lute or Bass-Viol. 1676 T. Mace Musick's Monum. 236 A Stop..which my Work-man calls the Theorboe Stop. 1688 Playford (title) Harmonia Sacra..: with a Thorow-bass for the Theorbo-Lute, Bass-Viol, Harpsichord, or Organ. 1880 Shorthouse J. Inglesant xxii, He found a young man,..playing on a double-necked theorbolute. |
Hence
theˈorboed (
-əʊd)
ppl. a., converted into a theorbo;
theˈorbist, a player on the theorbo.
| 1611 Coryat Crudities 252 These two Theorbists concluded the night's musicke. 1889 A. J. Hipkins in Grove Dict. Mus. IV. 100/2 Early in the 17th century many large lutes had been altered to theorbos by substituting double necks for the original single ones... The theorbo engraved in Mersenne's ‘Harmonie Universelle’ (Paris, 1636) is really a theorboed lute. 1976 Early Music Oct. 414/2 Quantz wrote that the theorbist should sit behind the second harpsichord, between two cellists. 1980 Ibid. Jan. 50/1 A lutenist and theorbist are shown in the orchestra in two contemporary drawings of the performance of Teofane. |