Mandore (instrument)
Introduction

* + - * + - * + - * 
									
									The **mandore** is a musical instrument, a small member of the [lute](/wiki/Lute "Lute") family, teardrop shaped, with four to six courses of gut strings and pitched in the treble range. Considered a French instrument, with much of the surviving music coming from France, it was used across "Northern Europe" including Germany and Scotland. Although it went out of style, the French instrument has been revived for use in classical music. The instrument's most commonly played relatives today are members of the [mandolin](/wiki/Mandolin "Mandolin") family and the [bandurria](/wiki/Bandurria "Bandurria").

The mandore arrived in France from Spain, and was considered a new instrument in French music books from the 1580s, but can be seen as a development of the [gittern](/wiki/Gittern "Gittern"). "...the small, lute\-like instrument of the Middle Ages called, until recently, the 'mandora' by modern writers, was originally called the 'gittern'...generally used for the small, four\-course, renaissance guitar—but it was still also occasionally used (until well into the 17th century) for the instrument that, during the 16th century, became known as the 'mandore'." In Spain the mandore was called *vandola*. Musicologist James Tyler said that the Spanish bandurria with three strings was the mandore, although it had four strings when it arrived in France. "... it is to the Spaniard Juan Bermudo that we must turn... in his *Declaration de instrumentos* (1555\), Bermudo speaks of the bandurria...the early bandurria, a small lute\- or rebec\-like instrument with 4th and 5th tunings, was the mandore...The Spanish sources seem to suggest that the early *bandurria*... was the mandore..." In its Spanish form the bandurria may have resembled the rebec.

The mandore was played widely across Europe, just as the earlier gittern had been. The Italians called it the mandola and even as the instrument became obsolete elsewhere, by the mid 17th century they had developed it into "an instrument with its own distinct tuning, technique and music." In Milan, Italy as the mandore or Lombardo, it remained in use into the late 19th century. That variant is known today as the [Milanese or Lombardic mandolin](/wiki/Mandolin%23Other_bowlback_styles "Mandolin#Other bowlback styles"), and retains the mandore's tuning. The Italians also called it the mandora or *[mandola](/wiki/Mandola "Mandola")*. The latter name is still used in the mandolin family for an alto or tenor range instrument. From the mandola, the baroque mandolino was created, which in turn became the modern mandolin.

The Germans continued to use *[quinterne](/wiki/Quinterne "Quinterne")*, their name for the gittern. [Michael Praetorius](/wiki/Michael_Praetorius "Michael Praetorius") recorded the names *mandürichen*, *bandürichen*, *mandoër*, *mandurinichen*, *mandörgen*, and *pandurina*. The latter name, pandurina, was also applied in the 1700s in Italy to the Milanese mandolin.


Are there any historical records of people playing the mandore together as an ensemble?