German lute composers

Introduction

The history of German written lute music started with Arnolt Schlick (c. 1460–after 1521), who, in 1513, published a collection of pieces that included 14 voice and lute songs, and three solo lute pieces, alongside organ works.

After Schlick, a string of composers developed German lute music: Hans Judenkünig (c. 1445/50–1526), the Neusidler family (particularly Hans Neusidler (c. 1508/09–1563)) and others. During the second half of the 16th century, German tablature and German repertoire were gradually replaced by Italian and French tablature and international repertoire, respectively.

German lute music was revived much later by composers such as Esaias Reusner (fl. 1670), however, a distinctly German style came only after 1700 in the works of Silvius Leopold Weiss (1686–1750), one of the greatest lute composers, some of whose works were transcribed for keyboard by none other than Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), who composed a few pieces for the lute himself.

(This is a copy from wikipedia)