A Brief History Of The Lute

By the year 1500, the lute's almost universal appeal throughout Europe had made it a unifying element of Western music and culture. Renaissance composers, singers and dancers all found in the lute a perfect tool for the musical development and maturation of their art. In fact, the lute's unique musical and physical characteristics inspired artists and poets alike to elevate it to a place of such high honor that the lute's image has come to symbolize music itself. This traces the lute's development from the early instruments of Classical Greece to its glorious flowering in Renaissance Europe's golden age of polyphony. This illustrated and comprehensive book explores the historical and cultural reasons behind the lute's importance as the preeminent musical instrument of the Renaissance. With its lengthy bibliography, index, 74 illustrations and 55 musical examples, the author has told the lute's story with a scholarly and visual depth.

"Spring focuses on the lute in Britain, but also includes two chapters devoted to continental developments: one on the transition from medieval to renaissance, the other on renaissance to baroque, and the lute in Britain is never treated in isolation. Six chapters cover all aspects of the lute's history and its music in England from 1285 to well into the eighteenth century, whilst other chapters cover the instrument's early history, the lute in consort, lute song accompaniment, the theorbo, and the lute in Scotland."--Jacket.

The most comprehensive, authoritative work on understanding and building authentic lutes, by a world renown luthier and scholar. Historical section covers the development of the lute from the 15th through the 18th century with over 100 photographs of ancient lutes and 50 diagrams; practicum section covers the construction of the lute in minute detail with over 600 step-by-step photographs and a dozen diagrams. Includes a list of historic makers, catalog of extant historic lutes, bibliography and index, plus complete reduced images of seven lute plans.

"... a valuable book. It is an important link between the unknown of the Renaissance and the present." --The Triangle of Mu Phi Epsilon "Straightforward practicality is the most outstanding characteristic of this book." --Continuo "... a fine and very welcome book that is likely to remain the high standard of lute continuo instruction for some time to come." --Sixteenth Century Journal In this extraordinarily broad survey, Nigel North discusses the history of the lute, the archlute, and the theorbo and gives practical advice on technique, the choice of instrument for particular music, and the preparation of scores.

By the year 1500, the lute's almost universal appeal throughout Europe had made it a unifying element of Western music and culture. Renaissance composers, singers and dancers all found in the lute a perfect tool for the musical development and maturation of their art. In fact, the lute's unique musical and physical characteristics inspired artists and poets alike to elevate it to a place of such high honor that the lute's image has come to symbolize music itself. This traces the lute's development from the early instruments of Classical Greece to its glorious flowering in Renaissance Europe's golden age of polyphony. This illustrated and comprehensive book explores the historical and cultural reasons behind the lute's importance as the preeminent musical instrument of the Renaissance. With its lengthy bibliography, index, 74 illustrations and 55 musical examples, the author has told the lute's story with a scholarly and visual depth.

The lute played a central role in the rich musical culture of the seventeenth-century ‘Golden Age’ of the Dutch Republic. Like the piano in the nineteenth century, the lute was not just a popular instrument for solo music making, but was also used widely in ensembles and to accompany singers. Though mainly an instrument of the social elite and the aristocracy, it was also played by the numerous and prosperous burgher class. The first part of the book deals with psalm settings for the lute; the way professional lutenists coped with the harsh rules of the free market; Leiden as a veritable international lute centre; and the different types of lutes that can be reconstructed on the basis of the Dutch paintings of the period. The second part of the book is dedicated to Constantijn Huygens (1596–1687), the well-known poet and statesman, and avid player of, and composer for, the lute. The third and final section deals with Dutch sources of lute music, printed as well as those in manuscript. Taken together, this volume provides a broad and many-layered overview of the lute in the seventeenth century. Collectively, the articles will further the reader’s understanding of the lute in its social and cultural context, not only in the Netherlands, but also on the wider European canvas.

The first book-length study in any language dedicated specifically to lute, guitar, and vihuela.