The mandore is a musical instrument, a small member of the 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 family and the bandurria.
Mandora c. 1700–1799 exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Lombardic mandolin with 12 strings in 6 courses. The bridge is glued to the soundboard, like a guitar's bridge
A "Mandörgen" from the 1619 book Syntagma Musicum II by Michael Praetorius. See Praetorius' Plate 16. The instrument appears to have four courses of strings; three single strings and a set of double strings on the right
An example of a mandore made by Boissart, in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The back and neck are one piece, carved from a block of pearwood, and features images of Juno, Minerva and Venus in a beauty contest, the Judgement of Paris. The gargoyle-like head at the bottom is Medusa
A mandolin is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of eight strings. A variety of string types are used, with steel strings being the most common and usually the least expensive. The courses are typically tuned in an interval of perfect fifths, with the same tuning as a violin. Also, like the violin, it is the soprano member of a family that includes the mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello and mandobass.
Archtop mandolin
In 1787, Luigi Bassi played the role of Don Giovanni in Mozart's opera, serenading a woman with a mandolin. This used to be the common picture of the mandolin, an obscure instrument of romance in the hands of a Spanish nobleman.
Clockwise from top left: 1920 Gibson F-4 mandolin; 1917 Gibson H-2 mandola; 1929 Gibson mando-bass; and 1924 Gibson K-4 mandocello from Gregg Miner's collection.
Piccolo mandolin
