Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lute
The European lute and the Near-Eastern oud both descend from a common ancestor, with diverging evolutionary paths. The lute is used in a great variety of instrumental music from the early renaissance to the late baroque eras. It is also an accompanying instrument, especially in vocal works, often realizing a basso continuo or playing a written-out accompaniment. The player of a lute is called a lutenist, lutanist, or lutist, and a maker of lutes (or any string instrument) is called a luthier. EtymologyThe words "lute" and "oud" derive from Arabic al‘ud (العود; literally "the wood").Recent research by Eckhard Neubauer suggests that ‘ud may in turn be an Arabized version of the Persian name rud, which meant "string," "stringed instrument," or "lute."[citation needed] Gianfranco Lotti suggests that the "wood" appellation originally carried derogatory connotations, because of proscriptions of all instrumental music in early Islam. Construction
A baroque- or classical-era lute. SoundboardLutes are made almost entirely of wood. The soundboard is a teardrop-shaped thin flat plate of resonant wood (usually spruce). In all lutes the soundboard has a single (sometimes triple) decorated sound hole under the strings, called the rose. The soundhole is not open, but rather covered with a grille in the form of an intertwining vine or a decorative knot, carved directly out of the wood of the soundboard. 
Renaissance lute (holding position). BackThe back or the shell is assembled from thin strips of hardwood (maple, cherry, ebony, rosewood or other tonewoods) called ribs joined (with glue) edge to edge to form a deep rounded body for the instrument. There are braces inside on the soundboard to give it strength; see the photo among the external links below. NeckThe neck is made of light wood, with a veneer of hardwood (usually ebony) to provide durability for the fretboard beneath the strings. Unlike most modern stringed instruments, the lute's fretboard is mounted flush with the top. The pegbox for lutes before the Baroque era was angled back from the neck at almost 90° (see image), presumably to help hold the low-tension strings firmly against the nut, which is not traditionally glued in place, but is held in place by string pressure only. The tuning pegs are simple pegs of hardwood, somewhat tapered, that are held in place by friction in holes drilled through the pegbox. As with other instruments using friction pegs, the choice of wood used to make pegs is crucial. As the wood suffers dimensional changes through age and loss of humidity, it must as closely as possible retain a circular cross-section in order to function properly, as there are no gears or other mechanical aids for tuning the instrument. Often pegs were made from suitable fruitwoods such as European pearwood, or equally dimensionally stable analogues. Matheson, ca 1720, stated if a lute-player has lived eighty years, he has surely spent sixty years tuning. BellyThe geometry of the lute belly is relatively complex, involving a system of barring in which braces are placed perpendicular to the strings at specific lengths along the overall length of the belly, the ends of which are angled quite precisely to abut the ribs on either side for structural reasons. Robert Lundberg, in his book "Historical Lute Construction," suggests that ancient builders placed bars according to whole-number ratios of the scale length and belly length. He further suggests that the inward bend of the soundboard (the 'belly scoop') is a deliberate adaptation by ancient builders to afford the lutenist's right hand a bit more space between the strings and soundboard. The belly thickness is somewhat variable, but hovers between 1.5 and 2 millimeters in general. Some luthiers tune the belly as they build, removing mass and adapting bracing to ensure proper sonic results. The lute belly is almost never finished, though in some cases the luthier may size the top with a very thin coat of shellac or glair in order to help keep it clean. The belly is joined directly to the rib, without a lining glued to the sides, although a cap and counter cap are glued to the inside and outside of the bottom end of the bowl to provide rigidity and increased gluing surface. After joining the top to the sides, a half binding is usually installed around the edge of the belly. The half-binding is approximately half the thickness of the belly and is usually made of a contrasting color wood. The rebate for the half-binding must be extremely precise to avoid compromising structural integrity. BridgeThe bridge, usually made of a fruitwood, is attached to the soundboard usually at 1/5 to 1/7 the belly length. It does not have a separate saddle but has holes bored into it to which the strings attach directly. Typically the bridge is made such that it tapers in height and length, with the small end holding the trebles and the higher and wider end carrying the basses. Bridges are often colored black with carbon black in a binder, often shellac, and often have inscribed decoration. The scrolls or other decoration on the ends of lute bridges are usually integral to the bridge, and are not added afterwards as on some Renaissance guitars (cf Joachim Tielke's guitars). Frets The frets are made of loops of gut tied around the neck. They fray with use, and must be replaced from time to time. A few additional partial frets of wood are usually glued to the body of the instrument, to allow stopping the highest-pitched courses up to a full octave higher than the open string ,though these are anachronistic and do not appear on original instruments. Given the choice between nylon and gut, many luthiers prefer to use gut, as it conforms more readily to the sharp angle at the edge of the fingerboard. StringsStrings were historically made of gut (or sometimes in combination with metal), and are still made of gut or a synthetic substitute, with metal windings on the lower-pitched strings. Modern manufacturers make both gut and nylon strings, and both are in common use. Gut is more authentic, though it is also more susceptible to irregularity and pitch instability due to changes in humidity. Nylon, less authentic, offers greater tuning stability but is of course anachronistic. Of note are the "catlines" used as basses on historical instruments. Catlines are several gut strings wound together and soaked in heavy metal solutions which increase the mass of the strings. Catlines can be quite large in diameter by comparison with wound nylon strings for the same pitch. They produce a bass which is somewhat different in timbre from nylon basses. The lute's strings are arranged in courses, usually of two strings each, though the highest-pitched course usually consists of only a single string, called the chanterelle. In later Baroque lutes 2 upper courses are single. The courses are numbered sequentially, counting from the highest pitched, so that the chanterelle is the first course, the next pair of strings is the second course, etc. Thus an 8-course Renaissance lute will usually have 15 strings, and a 13-course Baroque lute will have 24. The courses are tuned in unison for high and intermediate pitches, but for lower pitches one of the two strings is tuned an octave higher. (The course at which this split starts changed over the history of the lute.) The two strings of a course are virtually always stopped and plucked together, as if a single string, but in extremely rare cases a piece calls for the two strings of a course to be stopped and/or plucked separately. The tuning of a lute is a somewhat complicated issue, and is described in a separate section of its own, below. The result of the lute's design is an instrument extremely light for its size.
Ancient Egyptian tomb painting depicting lute players, 18th Dynasty (c. 1350 BC) The origins of the lute are obscure, and organologists disagree about the very definition of a lute. The highly influential organologist Curt Sachs distinguished between the "long-necked lute" (Langhalslaute) and the short-necked variety: both referred to chordophones with a neck as distinguished from harps and psalteries. Smith and others argue that the long-necked variety should not be called lute at all, since it existed for at least a millennium before the appearance of the short-necked instrument that eventually evolved into what is now known as the lute, nor was it ever called a lute before the 20th century. 
Ancient Egyptian painting depicting a player of the long-necked lute (center), 18th Dynasty (c. 1422-1411 BC) Various types of necked chordophones were in use in ancient Egyptian (where they were introduced from Asia in the Middle Kingdom), Hittite, Greek, Roman, Bulgar, Turkic, Chinese, Armenian/Cilician cultures. The Lute developed its familiar forms in Arabia, Persia, Armenia, and Byzantium beginning in the early 7th century. These instruments often had bodies covered with animal skin, as do the modern American banjo, Persian tar, Indian sarod, West African xalam, or Chinese sanxian. As early as the 6th century the Bulgars brought the short-necked variety of the instrument called Kobuz to the Balkans, and in the 9th century Moors brought the Oud to Spain. The long-necked Pandora/Quitra had been common Mediterranean lute previously. The Quitra didn't become extinct however, but continued its evolution, its descendants being Chitarra Italiana, Chitarrone and Colascione, aside from the still surviving Kuitra of Algiers and Morocco. In about the year 1500 many Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese lutenists adopted vihuela de mano, a viol-shaped instrument tuned like the lute, but both instruments continued in coexistence. This instrument also found its way to parts of Italy that were under Spanish domination (especially Sicily and the papal states under the Borgia pope Alexander VI who brought many Catalan musicians to Italy), where it was known as the viola da mano. Another important point of transfer of the lute from Muslim to Christian European culture might have been in Sicily, where it was brought either by Byzantine or later by Saracen musicians. There were singer-lutenists at the court in Palermo following the Christian Norman conquest of the island, and the lute is depicted extensively in the ceiling paintings in the Palermo’s royal Cappella Palatina, dedicated by the Norman King Roger II in 1140. By the 14th century, lutes had disseminated throughout Italy. Probably due to the cultural influence of the Hohenstaufen kings and emperor, based in Palermo, the lute had also made significant inroads into the German-speaking lands by the 14th century. Medieval lutes were 4- or 5-course instruments, plucked using a quill for a plectrum. There were several sizes, and by the end of the Renaissance, seven different sizes (up to the great octave bass) are documented. Song accompaniment was probably the lute's primary function in the Middle Ages, but very little music securely attributable to the lute survives from the era before 1500. Medieval and early-Renaissance song accompaniments were probably mostly improvised, hence the lack of written records. In the last few decades of the 15th century, in order to play Renaissance polyphony on a single instrument, lutenists gradually abandoned the quill in favor of plucking the instrument with the fingertips. The number of courses grew to six and beyond. The lute was the premier solo instrument of the 16th century, but continued to be used to accompany singers as well. 
A man playing a lute, painted by Jan Kupetzky, ca. 1711 By the end of the Renaissance the number of courses had grown to ten, and during the Baroque era the number continued to grow until it reached 14 (and occasionally as many as 19). These instruments, with up to 26-35 strings, required innovations in the structure of the lute. At the end of the lute's evolution the archlute, theorbo and torban had long extensions attached to the main tuning head in order to provide a greater resonating length for the bass strings, and since human fingers are not long enough to stop strings across a neck wide enough to hold 14 courses, the bass strings were placed outside the fretboard, and were played "open", i.e. without fretting/stopping them with the left hand. Over the course of the Baroque era the lute was increasingly relegated to the continuo accompaniment, and was eventually superseded in that role by keyboard instruments. The lute fell out of use after 1800.
The lute and its playing technique spread gradually from the Near East throughout Europe in the wake of the Moorish, Arab and Spanish conquests and the crusades. The short-necked lute first appeared in BC 1500 in Ancient China (under the name Pi-pa). Arab traders brought it to the Near East, where it was perfected.The long-necked lute first appeared around BC 2000 in Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Babylon cultures, and later is found in Persian, Arab, and Turkish folk music. These instruments were structurally the precursors of the baroque archiliuto and chitarrone (later the theorba). The instrument perfected by the Arabs was called ALÚD (which means wood, or made from wood) and to this day is among their folk instruments. The construction and playing technique has been preserved till today, and still without frets. In the early Middle Ages, the European lute still had four courses (i.e. four double-strings) like the UD, and the ancient playing technique of the instrument was preserved until the 15th century. Until the 16th century the lute was not a solo instrument, but was primarily used in ensemble playing. The plectrum playing style limited its possibilities. Its function in a piece of multiple parts was simply to play one of the parts; when accompanying singing to accompany the harmony, to double the part, or to paraphrase one of the melodies. The lute is depicted in European art from the 9th century; in literary works it is mentioned in the 13th century (Boccaccio, Caucher). In the second half of the 15th century, the instrument already had five courses, and more and more often the lutenists plucked with their fingers. From this time we can follow the development of the polyphonic playing style in the case of solo instruments (lute, organ). The first phase of plucking with the fingers, which meant the birth of the lute as a solo instrument,was the two-part playing style, the parallel runs, and the imitations of the small motifs that can be heard well in Fr. Spinacinos Ricercar. By the 16th century, the lute had six double-strings (except for the highest string, the chantarelle, which was single). In the Renaissance, the lute enjoyed the highest status among the instruments after the voice. That it was the most popular instrument of the Renaissance can be shown by its depictions in art works and in literature. Appropriate as a solo-instrument, proven as the most ideal partner for voice accompaniment, the main instrument for chamber music and for household music, it could be found in almost every aristocratic and bourgeouise home. By the end of the 16th century the lute had ten courses and there were already 7 kinds of lutes, appropriate for different voice ranges. Lute works from the 15th century have survived intact in their handwritten tablature. The tablature is an instrument-specific method of writing down the music that represents finger-placings and the sequence of the notes. The most commonly used system is the French tablature (see diagram), but there also existed Italian, Spanish (in which numbers represented the appropriate frets), and German (which were a combination of letters and numbers) systems. Not long after the first book printing, the first printed tablature appeared in Ottaviano Petruccis Velencian printing shop in 1505 (the score printing was Gutenbergs). Marco dAquilas lute volume has been lost. The first surviving publication (Intabulatura de Lauto) can be attributed to Francesco Spinacino from 1507. The lute enjoyed the greatest popularity in 16th century Italy. Lutenists played a pioneering role, independent of the vocal repertoire, in the development of instrumental forms. The lute works comprised a significant part of the intavolations, which signified a translation (intavolation) in the tablature of a vocal work (madrigal, chanson, frottola, motet, mass, psalm), where the composition is often complemented by instrumental ornamentation. In the intavolation of chanson Attaingnant (nr. 6), Claudin de Sermisys widely known hit, the parts of the vocal work (of four, three still remain) can be easily followed. In some places, however, the contours of the piece become completely indistinct; only the main motif is recognizable, such as in the transcription entitled Fr. Da Milano: Fantasia de mon Triste (Jean Richafort:De mon triste despleasir). The first independent instrumental form is considered the ricercar (from the word cercare, meaning to seek or explore). At first it was a short, unformed, sometimes imitative form, but became a polyphonic, even quasi-improvisational, preludium-type form. From 1530 certain formal symmetries characterized the ricercar and it was constructed from imitative motif-pairs (like the motet). This can be clearly seen in Fr. da Milano: Ricercar. In the first half of the 16th century the fantasia like other significant instrumental forms - could not be distinguished from the ricercar in terms of its structure. These forms were still undeveloped at the beginning of the century. The first printed fantasia was produced in 1535 by Luis Milan, and in 1536 fantasias were published among the works in Fr. da Milanos anthology. In Fr. da Milanos works the classic forms of the ricercar and fantasia evolved from consecutive expositions. Fr. da Milano studied counterpoint in Jousquins school. His works are often considered textless motets. The fantasia heard on this recording is built on a short (mi-fa-mi) motif, which is repeated a fifth higher (filling the intervals with frequent runs) and continues throughout the whole work. Francesco Canova da Milano (1497-1543) was the most significant and most highly respected lute composer and player of his time. According to his contemporaries he was the greatest musician of the era and even 50 years after his death he was remembered as a supernatural, miraculous lutenist. In his century, like Michelangelo, he received the Il Divino title from his contemporaries. From 1519 he was in the service of Popes Leo X, Paul III, Adrian VI, and later Clement VII. His works which he himself never published can be found in more than 40 publications of that time. Dances comprise a significant part of published lute works. Lutenists also performed a pioneering function in the coupling of dances and in the development of variations based on a recurrent harmonic structure. Passamezzo (nr. 5) is such a variation (Passo e mezzo one and a half steps). According to Arbeau, this dance is a faster variant of the pavane, the melodic embellishment of a more complexly laid down harmonic structure with short note values. Adrian de Roy along with Attaingnant was one of 16th century Frances most important music publishers and distributors, and from 1555 he also received the status kings lutenist from the court. In the 17th century the lute lived its golden age in England, where from that time around 2000 solo lute works have survived. The folk-music and ballad variations enjoyed an especially great popularity. One of the most well-known of these melodies is the ballad tune entitled Greensleeves (nr. 7), which is often arranged even today. The first transcribed version survives in a Dublin handwritten lute tablature. Shakespeare also mentioned it as an old folk-song in his comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor. Fr. Cutting arranged the four-stanza original song as a dance. The next folk-song heard on the recording, Robin is to the green wood gone, preserves the memory of Robin Hood, who was known already from the Middle Ages. In the 19th century one collector mentions 55 arrangements of this piece. One known version is sung by Ophelia in Shakespeares Hamlet (IV.5) with the lyrics Bonny Sweet Robin. In W. Shakespeares complete life works, he mentions two of his contemporaries by name. In The Passionate Pilgrim we find a reference to Edmund Spencer, the court poet, and John Dowland. Dowland to thee is dear, whose heavenly touch Upon the lute ravish human sense John Dowland was the English Orpheus (a century later Henry Purcell was called the same), the 17th century Renaissances most significant lute and lute-song composer. Because of his Catholic faith he spent most of his life on the continent. Only at the age of 49 could he fulfill his long-standing dream; when James I ascended to the throne he became a royal lutenist. Despite the distance, he had a significant place in the musical life of London, where he published his works. He left close to 100 solo lute pieces, not one of which was published during his life. By Dowlands time, the instrumental dances were mostly stylised. The tempos were slowed down in the interest of enriching the musical fabric. After the introduction of the melody we usually find ornamented, diminished variations on it, which shows the influence of the French diminution repertoire. This we can hear in each of Dowlands three dances. The song variation of Pavane Lachrimae Flow my tears, was already known throughout Europe in the composers lifetime almost as a folk-song. Earlier and later literary works often mention it simply as Lachrimae. The vocal counterpart of the Frog Galliard is the aria Now, O Now I needs much part. Queen Elizabeth I often called Duc dAnjou her frog, and perhaps that is the source of the title. Sir John Smith was probably one of Dowlands patrons. -------------------------- During the baroque period the development of the lute, which until that time had a unified construction, form and tuning throughout Europe, proceeded in two directions. The role of the bass became more important, due to harmonic considerations and new musical styles. The sound range significantly expanded downward, towards the bass. In this way larger and more powerful instruments were built. In Italy the instrument maintained its tuning, but new bass courses (bourdon-strings) were added and thus were born the archlute and the chitaronne, which was later called the theorbo. These were 14-15 double or single-string lutes, and were primarily used for song accompaniment and chamber music. They were also used in orchestral works, operas, oratorios, and passions as a continuo instrument (in the works of Monteverdi, Bach, Handel, Purcell, and Telemann etc.) until the end of the 18th century. In France the Renaissance lutes ten courses expanded to eleven and by 1630 they were experimenting with a completely new tuning (D minor, accord nouveux), primarily for solo repertoire. During the Baroque period, lutenists played a definitive role in the development of instrumental forms, primarily the suite. There was no thematic connection between the individual movements; they followed each other in a random order and could even be performed separately, depending upon the musician or the performance. The dances at that time were still short and stylised, like the poetry of the time, lute miniatures. Broken chords, broken polyphony, broken melody lines, sudden jumps between the melodies and the registers, and octave leaps were characteristic of the new style style brisé . The dances were less melodic and strove rather for effects. A significant codex of ornamentation quickly developed, and then they began to consciously work with the notes inégal (unequal playing style). The style was to become definitive for the French harpsichordists also. Ennemond Gaultier le vieux (1575 -1651) was the oldest member of a far-reaching lutenist family of many generations. He was Louis XIII s court lutenist and also the lute teacher of Cardinal Richelieu, among others. The prelude non mesure (nr.12) has no measures, neither are the note values given; the performer is entrusted with the formation of the work. The performer enjoys a similar liberty to determine the appropriate interpretation (ornamentation, formation, tempo, equal or unequal note-pairs) in the other dance movements as well, although they have measure markings. The tombeau (nr. 13) was one of the earliest instrumental musical forms in which the composer tried to communicate something concrete and personal. This usually took the form of an allemande or pavane. Gaultier here gives a tribute to his teacher, René Mézangeau (+1636). It is the Baroque periods first instrumental funeral music. With this he created a tradition among French lutenists, who later followed his example of reverence. The French courante (nr. 14) is slower and has more leaps than the Italian corrente, and therefore here it gives more opportunity for ornamentation and effects. About that time the gigue also occured in half-time, slow, and its character was even sometimes marked: Gigue grave (nr.15) or Allemande giguée. At first, the canarie (nr. 16) was the most lively of the dances. It was the precursor of the later 6/8 time gigue. (Lutenist Denis Gaultier first put the sarabande among the dances, but he belongs to the following generation). The last Versailles court lutenist -Robert de Visée - filled his post until the end of 1720. By the end of the 17th century, the center of lute-playing had moved to Germany, specifically, to Silecia,where the first generation still composed in the French style. From the 1720s we can find in Germany 13-course lutes (J.S. Bach composed for this kind of lute as well). Essias Reusner (1636-1679), who is considered S.L. Weißs predecessor, was one of the main links between the French and German schools. To him are attributed the first lute suites (1667) in which the dance movements follow each other in a determined order. Silvius Leopold Weiß(1685-1750) was undisputably the greatest lute composer and player of the Baroque period, and perhaps of all lute history. He came from a family of lutenists and from 1718 until his death he served as royal and chamber lutenist at the Dresden court, where he made music with colleagues such as Pisandel (the great violinist of the time), Quantz, Lotti, Hasse Heinichen, and Veraccini. He was the courts best-paid musician. For six years he was in Rome, during which time Corelli and D. Scarlatti were also working there. He had a long friedship with J.S. Bach. He appeared throughout Europe as a soloist and also performed as a chamber musician and in operas, not only in the nearby courts but also in Fuxs Vienna orchestra. Weiß composed about 70 suites, which he called Suonate or Partite. Besides these, he wrote many other separate pieces. Like Fr. da Milano and J. Dowland, he never collected his own works nor did he publish them. The musical critics of the time considered his compositions to be equal to Bachs harpsichord solo works. Weißs style was fed by two sources; he took some elements from the French style brisé, but rhythmically and harmonically he built from the stronger, livelier, Italian style. The Prelude (nr. 17) heard here is a relative of the French prelude non mesure improvisational style; except for the last four measures, in the tablature at the beginning of the work only a single note value is given. Rhythmically it is still free, but now it is more melodic and can be followed better harmonically. From the end of the 17th century, the majority of the Baroque dances (allemande, courante, sarabande) were primarily used as concert instrumental works instead of for dancing. They lost their dance character and became slower and more stylized. The Allemande (nr. 18) and the Sarabande (nr. 20) started to become like arias. In most of Weißs courantes he shows their relation to the continually moving, lively corrente of the Italian style, which has more defined measures than that of the French. His Gigues (nr. 19) are also closer to the 6/8 Italian Giga type. Mattheson and Quantz distinquished two kinds of Menuetts: the more measured Tanz-Menuet and the playful Spiel-Menuet (nr. 21.I.) In the Baroque period there also existed a Sarabande-Menuet (nr. 21.II), a slow, stylized dance which was closer to the typical sarabande rhythm. Count Johann Anton Losy von Losinthal (c. 1650-1720), a Czech nobleman, although only an amateur musician, was one of the determinant figures of the lute generation before Weiß. As a youth Weiß already admired him and presumably studied with him. The closing piece of the recording is lute literatures most well-known and greatest tombeau (nr. 23). It was written in the instrumentally very unusual and difficult key of B flat minor, full of diminished sevenths and other dissonant harmonies. It begins with an organ point, and the monotonously repetetive notes and harmonies, sudden dissonances and effects imitate the mood of a funeral bell and song; yet the framework (by then already rhetorically well-developed) and declamatory form of funeral orations can also be heard. Because of the Baroque lutes size, technical difficulty, and tuning problems (24-26 gut strings), by the end of the 18th century it gradually faded out of the music world, household music life, and amateur circles. At the end of the century one could still find court lutenist positions in the German and Austrian courts. Around that time it became natural to compose in the instrumental solo and chamber forms (the sonata, concerto, divertimento, galanterie, trio and quartetto a liuto obligatothe predecessor of the string quartet) appropriate for the new styles (early classical, galant style, the Vienna school). The last solo lute work (Variations on the champagne aria from Mozarts Don Giovanni) was composed in 1815 by Christian Gottlieb Scheidler, who was the last to enjoy the court solo lutenist status in Vienna. From the end of the 18th century the role of the lute, in both concert and domestic music life, was gradually taken over by the six string guitar. The guitar could be found already from the 16th century beside the lute, but its significance and true popularity increased starting at the end of the 18th, and has continued until today. Ottavino Respighi was the first to include the renaissance lute pieces in a few of his orchestral works (in 1917), and later in the renaissance of the instrument in this century one of Hindemits students, Johann Nepomuk David (1895-1977), continued with solo sonatas written for lute.
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Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a 
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SonataNo . 38 |
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SonataNo . 42 |
Robert Barto |
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SonataNo . 43 |
Robert Barto |
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SonataNo. 49 |
Robert Barto |
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SonataNo . 36 |
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| Miguel Angel Aldunce González |  |
| "SLW: Obras para Laúd vol. 2" | - CD / (private issue) |
– Sonata 11 in d
– Fantasie (9*) in c
– Fantasie in d (Sm 539)
| Robert Barto | |
| "SLW: Sonatas for Lute, Volume 1" | - CD / Naxos 8.553773 |
– Sonata 42 in a
– Sonata 49 in Bb
| "SLW: Sonatas for Lute, Volume 2" | - CD / Naxos 8.553988 |
– Sonata 25 in g (with Prelude 32*)
– Sonata 50 in Bb
| "SLW: Sonatas for Lute, Volume 3" | - CD / Naxos 8.554350 |
– Sonata 27 in c
– Sonata 35 in d
| "SLW: Sonatas for Lute, Volume 4" | - CD / Naxos 8.554557 |
– Sonata 37 in C
– Sonata 46 in A
| "SLW: Sonatas for Lute, Volume 5" | - CD / Naxos 8.554833 |
– Sonata 43 in a
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Cajetan Baron d"Hartig (11*)
| "SLW: Sonatas for Lute, Volume 6" | - CD / Naxos 8.555722 |
– Sonata 23 in Bb [the first releases of this CD have a wrong Sarabande: from Sonata 7, track 10 of the same disc]
– Sonata 45 in A
| "SLW: Lute Sonatas, Volume 7" | - CD / Naxos 8.557806 |
– Sonata 48 in f#
| Robert Barto & Karl-Ernst Schröder |
| "SLW: Sonate per 2 Liuti" | - CD / Symphonia SY98159 |
– Sonata 56 in Bb
– Sonata 59 in D
– Sonata 60 in A
| Paul Beier |
| "SLW: L"Esprit Italienne" | - CD / Stradivarius STR 33731 |
– Sonata [65] in A, "L"Esprit Italienne"
– Sonata [66] in c
– Sonata [67] in f#
– Fantasia (with Fugue) in D (Sm 544)
– Prelude (Podebrady ms) & Capriccio (25*) in D
– Prelude in A (Sm 300)
| "Falckenhagen–Weiss: Opere per liuto" | - (r) CD / Stradivarius STR 33448 |
– Prelude in d (Sm 451)
[+ Falckenhagen]
| Timothy Burris |
| "Lute Music in Kursachsen ca. 1730" | - (r) CD / Erasmus WVH 035 |
[+ Bach]
| Michel Cardin | |
| "SLW: Les plus belles pages du Manuscrit de Londres" | - CD / Amplitude CLCD 2017 |
– Sonata 28 in F, "Le Fameux Corsaire"
– Sonata 29 in a, "L"Infidèle"
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Logy (20*)
| "SLW: Le Manuscrit de Londres", Vol. 1 | - CD / SNE 596 |
– Sonata 2 in D
– Sonata 3 in g
| "SLW: Le Manuscrit de Londres", Vol. 2 | - CD / SNE 600 |
– Sonata 7 in c
– Sonata 10 in Eb
| "SLW: Le Manuscrit de Londres", Vol. 3 | - CD / SNE 605 |
– Sonata 12 in A
– Sonata 13 in d
| "SLW: Le Manuscrit de Londres", Vol. 4 | - CD / SNE 608 |
– Sonata 16 in A
– Sonata 17 in C
| "SLW: Le Manuscrit de Londres", Vol. 5 | - CD / SNE 615 |
– Sonata 19 in F
– Sonata 21 in f
| "SLW: Le Manuscrit de Londres", Vol. 6 | - CD / SNE 625 |
– Sonata 23 in Bb
| "SLW: Le Manuscrit de Londres", Vol. 7 | - CD / SNE 630 |
– Sonata 25 in g
– Sonata 26 in D
| "SLW: Le Manuscrit de Londres", Vol. 8 | - CD / SNE 635 |
– Sonata 28 in F, "Le Fameux Corsaire" – Sonata 29 in a, "L"Infidèle"
| "SLW: Le Manuscrit de Londres", Vol. 9 | - CD / SNE 645 |
– Sonata 31 in F
– Sonata 32 in F (with Menuet II [16*] and Gigue Sm 224)
| "SLW: Le Manuscrit de Londres", Vol. 10 | - CD / SNE 650 |
– Gavotte & Double in D (Sm 18 – see Sonata 2)
– Prelude, Ouverture, Courante & Bourrée in Bb (see Sonata 4)
– Allegro (1*) in G
– Courante Royale (2*) in G
– Prelude in Eb (Sm 46 – see Sonata 10)
– Menuet (4*) in G
– Fugue (6*) in C
– Fugue (7*) in d
– L"amant malheureux (8*)
– Fantasie (9*) in c
– Menuet (10*) in Bb
– Plainte (from Sonata 15)
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Cajetan Baron d"Hartig (11*)
– Bourrée (12*) in C
– Menuet (13*) in C
| "SLW: Le Manuscrit de Londres", Vol. 11 | - CD / SNE 655 |
– Menuet (15*) in d (see Sonata 20)
– Bourrée in F (Sm 209 – see Sonata 31))
– Prelude [& Fugue] (17*) in Eb
– Menuet & Trio (18* & 19*) in G
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Logy (20*)
– Prelude (21*) in C
– Menuet (22*) in C
– Gavotte (23*) in C
– Fantasie (24*) in C
– Capriccio (25*) in D
– Menuet (26*) in D
– Menuet (27*) in ?
– Mademoiselle Tiroloise (28*)
– Sonata 6 ["Concert"] in Bb for lute & flute
| "SLW: Le Manuscrit de Londres", Vol. 12 | - CD / (private issue) |
– Sonata 9 ["Concert"] in F for lute & flute
– Sonata 14 ["Duo"] in g for lute & flute
– Sonata 20 ["Duo"] in d + Largo (5*) for lute & flute
| Xavier Cauhépé |
| "Florilège de Musique pour Luth en concert" | - (r) CD / En Plein Vent DPV CD 9234 |
– Presto in Bb (from Sonata 49)
[+ Dowland, Gallot, Mouton, Vallet, de Visée, Bach, Kellner, Falckenhagen, …]
| Björn Colell |
| "… a Liuto Solo. Deutsche Lautenmusik des 18. Jh." | - (r) CD / Cavalli CCD 112 |
– Fantasie (9*) in c
– Chaconne in g (from Sonata 14)
[+ Kellner, Falckenhagen, Hagen, Straube]
| Alberto Crugnola |
| "German Lute Music of the XVIII Century" | - (r) – CD / Symphonia SY 05217 |
[+ Durant, Kleinknecht, Falckenhagen]
| Mario D'Agosto | |
| "SLW: Viaggio in Italia" | - CD / Niccolo NIC 1017 |
– Sonata 34 in d
– Sonata 44 in A
– Prelude, Toccata & Fuga in G (from Sonata 22)
| Eugen M. Dombois |
| "Die Barocklaute I-II" | - (r) – 2LP / RCA "Seon" RL 30385 |
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Logy (20*)
[+ Kellner, Bach, Conradi]
| Michael Dücker |
| "SLW: Zwei Sonaten für die Laute" | - CD / Thorofon CTH 2098 |
– Sonata 51 in g
| Eduardo Egüez | |
| "Tombeau" | - CD / E Lucevan Le Stelle Records EL 992310 |
– Sonata 52 in c
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Cajetan Baron d"Hartig (11*)
| Virginio Fadda | |
| "Lute and Baroque Guitar at the European Courts" | - (r) CD / Bongiovanni GB 5137-2 |
– Sonata 34 in d
[+ Foscarini, Sanz]
| Michael Freimuth |
| "Klingende Schätze aus Schloss Rohrau" | - (r) CD / Cavalli CCD 446 |
– Allamanda in (Harrach ms)
– Prelude in A (Sm 396) (see Sonata [65])
– Fantasia in a (Harrach ms)
– Fantasia in A (Harrach ms)
[no other solo lute music]
| Pierre Gross | |
| "Harpe de verre et Luth", with Ingeborg Emge | - (r) CD / Gallo 1045 |
[no other solo lute music]
| Jan Grüter |
| "Lautenmusik des Barock" | - (r) CD / kultmän CD011 |
– "Suite" in d (Prelude Sm 451 + mvts from Sonata [78])
– Fantasie (9*) in c
[+ Kapsberger, Pellegrini, Piccinini, de Visée, Losy, …]
| "Chacona" | - (r) CD / Laska (available from jg@lute.de) |
– Chaconne in A (from Sonata 12)
– L"amant malheureux (8*)
[+ Gallot, Foscarini, de Visée, Losy, Bach, …]
| Oswald Hebermehl | |
| "Lautenmusik des Barock von SLW" | - CD / AMU-Records 094-2 |
– Sonata 41 in a
– Prelude, Toccata & Fuga in G (from Sonata 22)
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Cajetan Baron d"Hartig (11*)
| Kim Heindel |
| "The Art of the Lautenwerk" | - (r) CD / Kingdom KCLCD 2020 |
[+ Dowland, Bach; & harpsichord composers]
| Joachim Held |
| "Händel, Telemann, Weiss" | - (r) CD / Ambitus 97929 |
[no other solo lute music]
| "Erfreuliche Lautenlust" | - (r) – CD / Hänssler 98.232 |
[+ Muffat, Lauffensteiner, Reusner, Losy, Biber]
| "German Lute Music of the Baroque" | - (r) – CD / Hänssler CD 98.234 |
[+ Falckenhagen, Hasse, Hagen, Gebel, Händel]
| Ernie Hills |
| (r) – LP / Oriana Records ORR 001 ["Renaissance and Baroque Lutes"] | - |
– Prelude (17*) in Eb
[+ Attaignant, Ballard, Cutting, Dowland, Milano, Kellner, Gebel]
| Hubert Hoffmann |
| "Losy: Lautenwerke" | - (r) CD / Extraplatte EX 445-2 |
[rest of programme Losy]
| Yasunori Imamura | |
| "SLW: Suonata per il liuto" | - CD / Capriccio 10745 |
– Sonata 45 in A (with Chaconne from Sonata 12)
– Prelude (from Sonata 13) & Fuga (7*) in d
| "SLW – Lute Sonatas Vol. 1" | - CD / Claves CD 50-2613 |
– Sonata 49 in Bb (with Introduzzione from Sonata 50
– Prelude (from Sonata 27) & Fantasie (9*) in d
| Konrad Junghänel | |
| CD / Accent ACC679102 | - |
– Sonata 7 in c (with Ouverture from Sonata 52)
– Prelude (21*) & Fuga (6*) in C
| "Lautenmusik von SLW" | - CD / DHM GD 772171 = Ars Musici AM 3025 |
– Sonata 25 in g (with Prelude Sm 462)
– Sonata 34 in d
– Ouverture in Bb (from Sonata 4)
| "German Lute Music of the Eighteenth Century" | - (r) CD / Accent ACC77801 |
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Cajetan Baron d"Hartig (11*)
[+ Bach]
| "Récital René Jacobs" | - (r) CD / Harmonia Mundi HMA 1901183 |
[+ Melli; no other solo lute music]
| Lutz Kirchhof | |
| LP / TTS HGP 8020 | - |
| "SLW: Lute Works, Vol. 1 & 2" | - 2CD / Sony S2K 48391 |
– Sonata 25 in g (with Prelude 32*)
– Sonata [65] in A, "L"esprit italien"
– "Suite" in d (mvts from Sonatas 11, 34, [74] + "orphans" Sm 433-438)
– Sonata [77] in F
– Prelude in D (from Sonata 2)
– Plainte in Bb [see Sonata 15]
– "Suite"in d: Prelude (Sm 451), Courante (from Sonata 36), Fuga (7*) & Presto (Sm 466)
– L"amant malheureux (8*)
– Prelude (17*) in Eb
– Fantasie (24*) in C
– Capriccio (25*) in D
| "SLW: Lute Works, Vol. 3" | - CD / Sony SK 57964 |
– Sonata 48 in f#
– Sonata 49 in Bb (with Prelude 31*?)
| "The Lute in Dance and Dream" | - (r) CD / Sony SK 48068 |
[+ Milano, Dowland, Kapsberger, Mouton, …]
| "Lute Music for Witches and Alchemists" | - (r) CD / Sony SK 60767 |
– Presto in Bb (Sm 454)
[+ Holborne, Dufaut, Vallet, Reusner, Falckenhagen, Hagen, …]
| Jay Klales |
| "The Portable Weiss Festival" | - (r) CD / Griffin Renaissance Records GRR-1001 |
– Sonata 9 in F, for lute & flute [with Orum Stringer, recorder]
[+ Baron (ensemble works)]
| István Kónya |
| "SLW: Lute Suites" | - CD / Odium OA-001 |
– Sonata 29 in a, "L"Infidèle"
– Sonata 34 in d
– Chaconne in g (from Sonata 14)
| "Lute Music from Three Centuries" | - (r) CD / Musica Aeterna MAE-001 |
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Logy (20*)
[+ Le Roy, Milano, Cutting, Dowland, Gaultier, …]
| Franklin Lei | |
| "SLW: Sonatas for Lute" | - CD / Naxos 8.550470 |
– Sonata 39 in C
– Sonata [78] in d
| Jakob Lindberg |
| "Baroque Music for Lute & Guitar" | - (r) CD / BIS CD-327 |
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Logy (20*)
[+ de Visée, Kellner, Bach, …]
| "SLW – Lute Music" | - CD / BIS CD-1524 |
– Sonata 29 in a, "L'Infidèle"
– 'Suite' in Bb (mvts from Sonatas 4 & 49)
– Prelude & Chaconne from Sonata 10
– Prelude (from Sonata 34) & Fugue 7* in d
| Andrew Maginley | |
| "The Baroque Lute" | - (r) CD / Inkling INK 001 |
[+ Bach, Falckenhagen]
| Viggo Mangor |
| "SLW: Music for Lute" | - CD / Paula PACD 43 |
– Sonata 52 in c
| "SLW: Le Fameux Corsaire" | - CD / Kontrapunkt 32222 |
– Sonata 28 in F, "Le Fameux Corsaire"
– Sonata 34 in d
| Edward Martin & Paul Berget |
| "Baroque Lute Duets" | - (r) see www.magnatune.com |
[+ Losy, Baron]
| Evangelina Mascardi |
| "Bach – Weiss" | - (r) CD / ORF CD345 |
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Logy (20*)
– Fantaisie (24*) in C
[+ Bach]
| Ron McFarlane |
| "A Distant Shore. Lute Music by ..." | - (r) CD / Dorian 90242 |
– Ciacona in A (from Sonata 12)
[+ Kellner, Bach]
| Jürg Meili & Thomas Schall |
| "Galante Lautenduette" | - (r) CD / The Lute Corner LC0101 |
[+ Corigniani, Falckenhagen, Hagen, Gleimius]
| José Miguel Moreno |
| "Ars Melancholiae" | - CD / Glossa GCD 920102 = GCD 2K0102 |
– Sonata 34 in d
– Chaconne in Eb (from Sonata 10)
– Prelude (21*) & Menuet (13*) in C
– Fantasie (9*) in c
– Chaconne in g (from Sonata 14)
| Mariusz Myszkiewicz |
| "Weiss–Bittner: Pieces for Lute" | - (r) CD / Ancient Music Edition KI-8721 |
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Logy (20*)
[+ Bittner]
| Nigel North | |
| "Baroque Lute" | - (r) CD / Linn CDK 006 |
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Logy (20*)
– Prelude (21*), Fantasie (24*) & Fuga (6*) in C
[+ Vivaldi, Bach]
| Hidefumi Oshima | |
| "Bach – Weiss" | - (r) — CD / Yufuin Music Supply YUFC-9710 |
[+ Bach]
| Luca Pianca | |
| "Bagpipes from Hell" | - (r) CD / Winter & Winter 910050-2 |
– Prelude (from Sonata 27) & Fantasie (9*) in c
[no other solo lute music]
| Pier Luigi Polato |
| "Baron: The Lute at the Court of Frederick the Great" | - (r) CD / Dynamic CDS 270 |
[rest of programme Baron]
| David Rhodes | |
| "Sonatas for Lute by SLW" | - LP / Cambridge CRS 2301 |
– "Suite" in F/d (mvts from Sonatas 1, 11 & 32)
– Menuet in D (from Sonata 2)3
– Allemande, Sarabande & Menuet in a (from Sonata 41)
| Toyohiko Satoh | |
| "SLW: Lautenmusik – Lute Music" | - 3LP / Philips 6768145 |
– Sonata 7 in c (with Prelude from Sonata 27)
– Sonata 41 in a
– Sonata 46 in A
– "Suite" in d (mvts from Sonatas 13 & 20 + Largo [5*] & Fuga [7*])
– Chaconne in A (from Sonata 12)
– Chaconne in g (from Sonata 14)
– Fantasie (9*) in c
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Cajetan Baron d"Hartig (11*)
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Logy (20*)
– Mademoiselle Tiroloise (28*)
| "Die Barock-Laute" | - (r) – *LP / Telefunken 6.42155AW |
[+ ??]
| "Baroque Lute Recital" | - (r) CD / Channel Classics CCS 0490 |
[+ Gallot, Bach]
| "Classical Lute" | - (r) CD / Klavier Records KCD-11026 |
– Sarabande from Sonata 19
– Fantasie (9*) in c
– Chaconne in g (from Sonata 14)
[+ Gaultier, de Visé, Baron, Bach]
| "A Little Consort Music" | - (r) – *CD / Etcetera ETC 1005 |
[no other solo lute music?]
| John Schneiderman |
| "SLW: The Dresden Manuscript, Sonatas 1-4" | - CD / Centaur CRC 2526 |
– Sonata 28 in F, "Le Fameux Corsaire"
– Sonata 32 in F
– Sonata 33 in F
| "Eighteenth-Century Lute Music" | - (r) CD / Titanic Ti-165 |
[+ Kellner, Hagen, Blohm, Durant]
| Haim Shazar |
| "Récital de Luth" | - (r) CD / Gallo CD-999 |
[+ de Rippe, Holborne, Dowland, Vallet, Melli, …]
| Aaron Skitri |
| "Théorbe & Luth": de Visée – Weiss" | - (r) – LP / Audivis AV 4951 |
– Fantasie (9*) in c
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Logy (20*)
[+ de Visée]
| Hopkinson Smith |
| "Lautenmusik von SLW" | - CD / EMI Reflexe 724382651321 |
– "Suite" in D (mvts from Sonatas 2, 18 & 26)
– Prelude (from Sonata 27) & Fantasie (9*) in c
– Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Logy (20*)
| "SLW: Pièces de luth" | - CD / Astrée E8718 |
– Sonata 48 in f# (with Sarabande from Sonata 45)
– Tombeau pour la mort de M. Comte de Logy (20*)
– Fantasie (24*) in C
| "SLW: Partitas pour luth" | - CD / Astrée E8620 |
– Sonata 22 in G
– Prelude & Gigue in D (from Sonata 2)
– Passacaille in D (from Sonata 18)
| Richard Stone |
| "SLW: Lute Works from the Dresden MSS" | - CD / Titanic Ti-213 |
– Sonata 49 in Bb
– Sonata 52 in c
| Richard Stone & Tempesta di Mare |
| "SLW: Lute Concerti" | - CD / Chandos CHAN0707 |
– Sonata 9 in F for lute & flute (+ viola da gamba)
– Sonata 53 in F for lute, 2 violins & bass
– Sonata 57 in Bb for lute & strings ["Concerto grosso"]
– Sonata 58 in d for lute, 2 violins & bass
– Sonata [90] in C for lute & strings ["Concerto a cinque"]
| Terrell Stone |
| "SLW: Sei Parthie di Varsavia dal ms. n. RM 4137" | - 3CD / Mondo Musica MM 96125 |
– Sonata 2 in D [Parthia 6]
– Sonata 11 in d [Parthia 1]
– Sonata 12 in A [Parthia 3]
– Sonata 15 in Bb [Parthia 4]
– Sonata 49 in Bb [Parthia 5]
| Olav Strandberg |
| "Intavolatura di liuto, tiorba e chitarrone" | - (r) – *CD / Intavolatura GLCD 4001 |
[+ ??]
| Stephen Stubbs |
| "J.S. Bach – Weiss: Lautensuiten" | - (r) CD / EMI CDC 754519-2 |
– Sonata [78] in d
[+ Bach]
| Alexander Suetin |
| "Orpharion. French and German Baroque Music" | - (r) – *CD / Rossijsky Instrument (?) |
[+ ??]
| Clive Titmuss | |
| "The Twilight of the Lute" | - (r) CD / Early Music Studio CD1 |
[+ Kellner, Bach, Falcknhagen, Straube]
| William Waters | |
| "SLW: Drei Sonaten aus dem Dresdner Manuskript" | - CD / Meister Musica MM003-2 |
– Sonata 42 in a
– Sonata 46 in A
| Jerzy Zak | |
| "SLW: Lute Music from Grüssau Manuscript" | - CD / Acte Préalable AP0024 |
– Sonata [87] in A
– Sonata [88] in D
| Christian Zimmermann |
| "Lauten- und Gitarrenmusik aus dem Barock" | - (r) CD / Antes BM-CD 31.9167 |
– "Comment s[c]avez-vous" (from Sonata 26)
[+ Bach, Hagen, Kohaut, …]
Modern and Contemporary (also see the Index of Contemporary Lute Music by David Parsons and Lynda Sayce)
- Johann Nepomuk David--Germany
- Vladimir Vavilov-- Russia
- Sandor Kallosz-- Hungary and Russia
- Stefan Lundgren-- Germany and Sweden
- Toyohiko Satoh -- Japan and Netherlands
- Ronn McFarlane -- USA
- Paulo Galvão-- Portugal
- Robert MacKillop--Scotland
- Jozef van Wissem-- Netherlands
- Alexandre Danilevsky France and Russia
- Roman Turovsky-Savchuk -- USA and Ukraine
- Jacopo Gianninoto -- Italy
- Maxym Zvonaryov-- Ukraine
- Lodovico Bollacasa -- Italy
- Martin Pals -- Netherlands
- Mikhail Puchkov -- Russia
- Nikita Koshkin -- Russia
Many historical lute pieces were published, but great many more are found only in manuscripts, perhaps belonging to the composer or perhaps belonging to some amateur lutenist who would copy unpublished pieces, or have a renowned guest inscribe a new composition while visiting.
The modern repertoire is largely drawn from historical publications and manuscripts, though quite a few modern compositions do exist. The historical corpus is vast, consisting of over 40,000 pieces, and about half of it exists only in the original manuscripts and has never been published. Much material circulates among lutenists in facsimiles of the manuscripts or as photocopies of handwritten copies. Historical lute music is most commonly written in tablature, though sometimes in ordinary musical notation instead. Several computer programs now exist designed specifically for the editing and printing of lute tabulature of many types.
Ottorino Respighi's famous orchestral suites called Ancient Airs and Dances are drawn from various books and articles on 16th- and 17th-century lute music transcribed by the musicologist Oscar Chilesotti, including eight pieces from a German manuscript Da un Codice Lauten-Buch, now in a private library in northern Italy.
Tuning conventions
Lutes were made in a large variety of sizes, with varying numbers of strings/courses, and with no permanent standard for tuning. However, the following seems to have been generally true of the Renaissance lute: A 6-course Renaissance tenor lute would be tuned to the same intervals as a tenor viol, with intervals of a perfect fourth between all the courses except the 3rd and 4th, which differed only by a major third. The tenor lute was usually tuned nominally "in g"(there was no pitch standard before the 20th century), named after the pitch of the highest course, yielding the pattern [(G'G) (Cc) (FF) (AA) (dd) (g)] from the lowest course to the highest. (Much renaissance lute music can be played on a guitar by tuning the guitar's third string down by a half tone.)
For lutes with more than six courses the extra courses would be added on the low end. Due to the large number of strings lutes have very wide necks, and it is difficult to stop strings beyond the sixth course, so additional courses were usually tuned to pitches useful as bass notes rather than continuing the regular pattern of fourths, and these lower courses are most often played without stopping. Thus an 8-course tenor Renaissance lute would be tuned to [(D'D) (F'F) (G'G) (Cc) (FF) (AA) (dd) (g)], and a 10-course to [(C'C) (D'D) (E♭'E♭) (F'F) (G'G) (Cc) (FF) (AA) (dd) (g)].
However, none of these patterns were de rigueur, and a modern lutenist will occasionally be seen to retune one or more courses between performance pieces. Manuscripts bear instructions for the player, e.g. 7e choeur en fa = "seventh course in fa" (= F in the standard C scale).
The first part of the seventeenth century was a period of considerable diversity in the tuning of the lute, particularly in France. However, by around 1670 the scheme known today as the [2]"Baroque" or "d-minor" tuning became the norm, at least in France and in northern and central Europe. In this case the first six courses outline a d-minor triad, and an additional five to seven courses are tuned generally scalewise below them. Thus the 13-course lute played by [3]Weiss would have been tuned [(A"A') (B"B') (C'C) (D'D) (E'E) (F'F) (G'G) (A'A') (DD) (FF) (AA) (d) (f)], or with sharps or flats on the lower 7 courses appropriate to the key of the piece.
Modern lutenists tune to a variety of pitch standards, ranging from A = 392 to 470 Hz, depending on the type of instrument they are playing, the repertory, the pitch of other instruments in an ensemble and other performing expediencies. No attempt at a universal pitch standard existed during the period of the lute's historical popularity. The standards varied over time and from place to place.
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