Another Lute Website
(lute video's)
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Welcome
Welcome
Welcome to Another Lute Website, a large curated collection of lute videos from across the web. Here you will find recordings of solo lute music and lute songs by more than 250 composers, from the early lute traditions up to the late 18th century.
Introduction
Introduction
This page gives an overview of the most important composers for the lute, with links to their individual video collection pages. An alphabetical list of all composers can be found here Enjoy! The selection is based on the
lute article on Wikipedia Lutes were widely used in Europe from at least the 13th century, and historical sources mention many early players and composers, although the earliest surviving lute music dates only from the late 15th century. Lute music flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries, when many composers published collections of their works and a large number of manuscripts were produced, even though much of the repertoire has been lost.
From the second half of the 17th century onwards, lutes, vihuelas and related instruments gradually lost popularity, and almost no new music was written for them after 1750. Interest in the lute and its music was revived only in the second half of the 20th century
The earliest surviving lute music is Italian, preserved in a manuscript from the late 15th century. In the early 16th century, Petrucci published lute music by Francesco Spinacino (videos) (fl. 1507) and Joan Ambrosio Dalza (videos) (fl. 1508); together with the so‑called Capirola Lutebook, these sources document the earliest phase of written lute music in Italy.
The leading figure of the next generation of Italian lutenists, Francesco Canova da Milano (videos) (1497–1543), is now regarded as one of the most important lute composers in history. Much of his output consists of fantasias and ricercares, in which he explores imitation and sequential writing to expand the possibilities of lute polyphony.
In the early 17th century, Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger (videos) (c. 1580–1651) and Alessandro Piccinini (videos) transformed lute technique, and Kapsberger may also have influenced the keyboard music of Girolamo Frescobaldi (videos).
French written lute music began, as far as is known, with the prints of Pierre Attaingnant (videos) (c. 1494–c. 1551), which include preludes, dances and intabulations. A particularly important figure was the Italian composer Albert de Rippe (videos) (1500–1551), who worked in France and wrote highly complex polyphonic fantasias; his works were published after his death by his pupil Guillaume de Morlaye (videos) (born c. 1510), who did not, however, continue de Rippe’s intricate polyphonic style.
French lute music (videos) declined in the later 16th century, but modifications to the instrument (such as additional diapason strings and new tunings) led to a major stylistic shift that, in the early Baroque, produced the famous style brisé—broken, arpeggiated textures that influenced the suites of Johann Jakob Froberger. The French Baroque school is represented by composers such as Ennemond Gaultier (videos) (1575–1651), Denis Gaultier (videos) (1597/1603–1672), François Dufaut (videos) (before 1604–before 1672) and many others.
The final phase of French lute music is exemplified by Robert de Visée (videos) (c. 1655–1732/3), whose suites fully exploit the expressive and technical possibilities of the instrument
The history of German written lute music begins with Arnolt Schlick (videos) (c. 1460–after 1521), who in 1513 published a collection containing 14 songs for voice and lute, three solo lute pieces, and several organ works.
After Schlick, a succession of composers further developed German lute music, including Hans Judenkünig (videos) (c. 1445/50–1526), the Neusidler family—especially Hans Neusidler (videos) (c. 1508/09–1563)—and others. In the second half of the 16th century, German tablature and native repertoire were gradually superseded by Italian and French tablature and a more international repertoire.
German lute music experienced a later revival through composers such as Esaias Reusner (videos) (fl. 1670), but a distinctly German style fully emerged only after 1700 in the works of Silvius Leopold Weiss (videos) (1686–1750), one of the greatest lute composers. Some of Weiss’s pieces were transcribed for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach (videos) (1685–1750), who also wrote a few works for lute himself, though it is uncertain whether these were intended for the lute, another plucked instrument, or the lautenwerk.
Among other European countries, England and Spain are particularly important for the history of the lute. English written lute music began only around 1540, yet the country produced numerous lutenists, of whom John Dowland (videos)(1563–1626) is perhaps the most famous. His songs and solo pieces circulated widely, and his influence reached far beyond England: keyboard composers in Germany were still writing variations on his themes decades after his death. Dowland’s predecessors and contemporaries, such as Anthony Holborne (videos) (c. 1545–1602) and Daniel Bacheler (videos) (1572–1619), are less well known today, but their dances and variations form an essential part of the rich English lute repertoire.
wrote mainly for the vihuela; their principal genres were polyphonic fantasias and differencias (variation sets). Luys Milan (videos) (c. 1500–after 1560) and Luys de Narváez (videos) (fl. 1526–49) were particularly important for shaping lute‑style polyphony in Spain. Perhaps the most influential virtuoso of the period was the Hungarian Bálint Bakfark (videos) (c. 1526/30–1576), whose dense, highly demanding contrapuntal fantasias go far beyond the technical and polyphonic complexity of many of his Western European contemporaries.
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