The "fretting" of the ʿŪd in Arabian music theory and consequences on Music practice
Frettage du ʿŪd (luth arabe) dans la théorie musicale arabe et influence sur la pratique
Résumé
The fretting of the `ūd is one of the most controversial issues of Arabian musicology. Many studies published in
the 20th century have conflicting opinions on a subject the essence of which appear to stretch beyond organological
issues.
Among all the manuscripts of the Arabian golden age from the 8th to the 11th century, only two describe a “fret”
system made from actual ligatures tied at specific places on the finger-board, or fret-board of the `ūd. The first
description is from Al-Kindī, nick-named the ‘Philosopher of the Arabs’, writing in the 9th century. The second is
from Ibn A-ṭ-Ṭaḥḥān, in the 11th century. He was an Egyptian Fatimid court musician. Both give relatively complete
descriptions of `ūd ligatures contradicting important assertions of philosophers and theorists such as Al-Fārābī, in
the 9th and 10th centuries – he was known as the ‘Second Master’, Aristotle being the first – and Ibn Sīnā, known to
the West as Avicenna, and nick-named ‘the Commentator’ (of Aristotle), and also with other later writers such as
Urmawī, a musician and theoretician of the 13th century and Shirwānī in the 15th century. Furthermore, only few
contemporary authors have studied the possibility of the `ūd fretted according to ancient descriptions.
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