The lute is a medieval string instrument that resembles a half-pear with a slightly longer stem. It has a delicate, rich, guitar-like sound and is played by plucking the instrument with the pads of the fingers. Lutenists complain about how difficult it is to keep the instrument in tune because of the way it is strung. The art of construction was later refined by the Italians and Germans, and it evolved from the Arabic instrument known as the Ud. During the Baroque period, the instrument was phased out of use and replaced by keyboards.
The device’s pear-shaped body is made of a thin, almost translucent piece of pine, making it light and portable but also fragile. The instrument’s upper layer of pine is reinforced with slightly thicker wooden bars and features a rose hole in the center that serves as a speaker. To avoid breaking under the strain of high tension, the delicate instrument is strung lightly. Early models had a fretless neck, whereas later models had frets and a fingerboard.
Curved, molded strips of wood make up the back of this stringed instrument. From behind, these bent strips are glued together from edge to edge, giving the lute a bubbled appearance. To increase the instrument’s durability, the underside was made of stronger woods like sycamore, cedar, and cypress. The instrument had a two-toned appearance due to the different woods used.
The lute’s origins can be traced back to the Arab world, but it was later adopted by other countries and societies. The ancient Greeks, for example, associated the instrument with Apollo, the god revered as the conductor of the muses’ choir. The stringed instrument was used by Greek societies to emphasize climactic events in comedic and tragic theater productions. Its popularity grew, and it became one of Europe’s most revered instruments during the Renaissance. In fact, the majority of the music composed for it was composed during this time.
The lute was used in a variety of art forms, but it was most popular during the Renaissance. Because of its widespread use at the time, the lute appeared in many paintings and was frequently depicted with angels. Sculptors also liked the lute, and they carved figures holding it in churches and other places. Shakespeare used this device to emphasize certain plot points in his plays, based on Greek tragedies and comedies.