Theorbo: The Long-Necked Bass Lute of the Baroque Continuo

Overview

The theorbo (Italian tiorba; also historically called chitarrone; French téorbe or théorbe; German Theorbe) is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, distinguished by an extended neck that houses a second pegbox above the first (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theorbo). Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box with a flat top, typically pierced by one or three sound holes decorated with carved rosettes. As with the lute, the player plucks or strums the strings with the right hand while pressing them down with the left. Wikidata Q840920 classifies it as a “plucked string instrument” (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q840920).

A theorbo differs from a regular lute in two essential respects. First, the neck extension carries five to eight extra unstopped bass courses called diapasons or bourdons. Second, it employs re-entrant tuning: the highest two courses are tuned an octave lower than expected, so the instrument’s actual top notes lie further down the staff than the visible string positions suggest. Its overall range is similar to that of the cello.

Origin and history

Theorbos were developed in late-sixteenth-century Italy in response to a single artistic demand: the new monodic and operatic music of the Florentine Camerata required a continuo instrument that could project a clear bass line beneath an unaccompanied solo voice. Giulio Caccini‘s influential collections Le nuove musiche (1602 and 1614) called for exactly this kind of accompaniment, and Claudio Monteverdi listed duoi chitaroni (two chitarroni) among the instruments required for his 1607 opera L’Orfeo. Musicians initially used very large bass lutes (string length of 80 cm or more) tuned re-entrant, but soon added a secondary pegbox so they could carry additional open bass strings without the lute body becoming impossibly large.

The two names chitarrone and tiorba coexisted from the start. Chitarrone in Italian is an augmentative of chitarra (literally “large guitar”); the etymology of tiorba remains obscure, with hypothesised roots in Slavic or Turkish torba (“bag” or “turban”), or — according to Athanasius Kircher — in a Neapolitan nickname for a perfumer’s grinding board. Robert Spencer noted that confusion between the two names existed already in 1600 (Chitarone, ò Tiorba che si dica); by the mid-17th century tiorba had taken preference, which is why English usage today says “theorbo”.

Parallel adaptations to smaller lutes (string length around 55 cm) produced the arciliuto (archlute), the liuto attiorbato, and the tiorbino, each with its own tuning and repertoire. In basso-continuo practice, theorbos were often paired with a small pipe organ.

Construction and materials

The classical theorbo is a 14-course instrument, though some makers built 15- or even 19-course examples (notably for Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger). The body is a curved bowl built up from thin ribs of yew, cypress, maple, or rosewood glued edge to edge — the same construction used for lutes and for the related Middle Eastern oud. The flat soundboard is spruce, decorated with one to three carved rosettes set into the soundholes. The first (“nut”) pegbox sits at the end of the fretted neck and carries the strings used for stopped notes; the second pegbox, mounted at the end of a long extension to the left of the player, carries the open diapasons.

Each course was sometimes a single string and sometimes a pair (a “double course”); the Syntagma Musicum of Michael Praetorius shows both arrangements in different theorbos. Piccinini and Praetorius mention occasional use of brass and steel strings as alternatives to the standard gut.

Playing technique

The combination of long bass strings and re-entrant tuning shaped a distinctive right-hand technique. Because the top two courses are tuned an octave down, players cannot play continuous fast scales across the highest strings as on a normal lute; instead they exploit the resulting voice-leading possibilities, breaking chords from the inside outwards. Alessandro Piccinini compared the resulting arpeggiated sound to that of a harp. The re-entrant design also forces continuo realisations to live in the middle of the texture rather than above the bass — when the figured bass climbs high, the player either plays the bass note an octave down or, in French practice, sounds chords whose lowest note arrives slightly after the bass.

Solo theorbo music is notated in tablature, with frets and strings represented as numbers or letters on parallel lines.

Cultural context

The theorbo was a defining instrument of the Italian seconda pratica, the new style of vocal music in which the words drove the harmony rather than the other way around. Caccini wrote in Le nuove musiche that the theorbo was “perfectly suited for accompanying the voice” because it could give “very full support without being obscured by the vocalist”. Italian writers called the theorbo’s diapasons its special excellence. The instrument also served as a more forgiving alternative to the lute for amateurs, since (as Italian writers noted) its rich sound could cover indifferent voice-leading.

In England, the Italian theorbo arrived early in the 17th century but was soon displaced by an alternative two-headed-lute design popularised by the French émigré Jacques Gaultier. English theorbos were tuned in G, double-strung throughout, and used reentrant tuning only on the first course; they suited flat-key repertoire better than the Italian-tuned A instrument. In France, theorbos remained current in orchestras and chamber ensembles into the second half of the 18th century (Nicolas Hotman, Robert de Visée), and court orchestras in Vienna, Bayreuth, and Berlin still employed theorbo players after 1750 (Ernst Gottlieb Baron, Francesco Conti).

Notable players and examples

• Italy: Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger (the most prolific solo composer for the instrument), Alessandro Piccinini, Giuliano Paratico.
• England: William Lawes (chamber and theatre music); the Gaultier-derived English theorbo tradition.
• France: Nicolas Hotman, Robert de Visée — both wrote idiomatic solo and continuo repertoire well into the late Baroque.
• 18th-century continental: Ernst Gottlieb Baron, Francesco Bartolomeo Conti at the Vienna court.
• Modern revival: the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s Elizabeth Kenny presented “Introducing the Baroque Theorbo” in January 2019, part of the wider historical-performance revival that has put theorbos back in opera pits, chamber groups, and continuo sections worldwide.

Comparison with related instruments

FAQ

Q1. What is the difference between a theorbo and a chitarrone?
None of substance — the two words refer to the same family of long-necked bass lutes. Chitarrone (Italian augmentative of chitarra) was the more common 17th-century term; tiorba won out by the 18th century, which is why “theorbo” is the standard English word today.

Q2. Why are the top two strings tuned an octave lower than expected?
The theorbo’s body and neck are too long to support the very thin, very high strings that normal high tuning would require — they would simply break. Tuning the top two courses an octave down (re-entrant tuning) keeps the instrument playable while giving the player a distinctive arpeggiated harp-like texture, as Piccinini noted.

Q3. What is the theorbo’s main historical role?
Playing basso continuo — the harmonic accompaniment for Baroque vocal and instrumental music between roughly 1600 and 1750. It was paired routinely with a small pipe organ for opera and oratorio.

Q4. What are the long unfretted strings called?
Diapasons or bourdons. They run from the second (upper) pegbox along the neck extension, past the fretboard, and over the bridge; the player sounds them by plucking with the thumb but cannot stop them with the left hand.

Q5. Is the theorbo still played today?
Yes — the historically informed performance movement has restored the theorbo to active use in opera, oratorio, and chamber music. Players such as Elizabeth Kenny, Stephen Stubbs, and Paul O’Dette work regularly with major Baroque ensembles worldwide.

Featured image: “Theorbe.png” — engraving from Michael Praetorius’s [Syntagma musicum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntagma_Musicum) (early 17th century), public domain (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Theorbe.png). Sources: Wikipedia “Theorbo” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theorbo); Wikidata Q840920 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q840920); Wikipedia “Basso continuo”; Wikipedia “Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger”; Wikipedia “Le nuove musiche”.