A Provisional List of 16th and early 17th Century Builders of Citterns, Orpharions & Bandoras

What follows is a list of known 16th and 17th century builders of citterns, orpharions, and bandoras. The list is sorted roughly by region and provides links to information about surviving wire-strung instruments.

For related content, see also the Image Gallery of Old Instruments and Peter Forrester's Provisional List of Extant 16th and Early 17th Century Citterns.

If you know of something that I have not listed here, or if you have a correction, please contact me.

Sources:

• Dassenno, Flavio and Ugo Ravasio. Gasparo da Salò e la liuteria bresciana tra rinascimento e barocco, Fondazione Civilità Bresciana: Brescia, and Editrice Turris, Cremona (1990). See also Ravasio, Ugo. Liuteria Bresciana. http://www.liuteriabresciana.it  [NOTE: The original URL is not active post 2021 but is still accessible via the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20210624053956/http://www.liuteriabresciana.it/index.html] 

• Forrester, Peter. "A Provisional List of Extant 16th and early 17th Century Citterns", supplement to Wood and Wire — A Lecture by Peter Forrester. Published in Lute News: The Lute Society Magazine (2005).

• Giskes, Johan H. Tweehondred jaar bouw van strijkinstrumenten in Amsterdam (1600-1800), in: Jaarbook Amstelodamum 79 (1987), p. 56-64, cited in: Grijp, ibid. below.

• Grijp, Louis Peter. "The cittern of Sweelinck and Vermeer. Contextual information for the excavated Zuyderzee citterns," in: Michaelsteiner Konferenzberichte 66: Gittare und Zister — Bauweise, Spieltechnik und Geschichte bis 1800. (2005).

• Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Macmillan & Co., ltd.: London (1908).

• Michel, Andreas. "Quellen zur Geschichte der Zister in Sachsen vom 16. bis 19. Jarhundert," in: Michaelsteiner Konferenzberichte 66, ibid.

• Spring, Matthew. “Reconstructing the consort lessons of Richard Reade.” in Lute News 54 (June 2000), pp.6-14.

• Visscher, R. Iets over het muziekleven te Leeuwarden in het begin der 17e eeuw, in: De vrije Fries 28 (1928), pp.17-31, cited in: Grijp, ibid.

• Waldbauer, Ivan. The Cittern in the Sixteenth Century and its Music in France and the Low Countries. Dissertation. Harvard University (1964).