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.

E. G. Baron's Study of the Lute (Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten) published in 1727, is one of the most comprehensive and important lute treatises in the 300 year history of the instrument. It contains much information that is unique to it, and deals with subjects that can be found in no other source. It is a mine of information concerning the history of the instrument, lute makers, composers, players, technique and performance practices of the day. At last, this work has been translated into delightful English by Douglas A. Smith, retaining much of the flamboyant flavor of the original. A long preface gives the background of the work, its era, and the life of Baron. The present edition improves the value of the original, since explanatory footnotes, appendices, and an index have been added. Also, the voluminous Latin and Greek passages have been translated. The book is both delightful and informative.

This is the first in-depth study in any language exploring the vast cultural range of instrumental music during the Renaissance.

Scholarly editions, which serve different purposes than performance editions, are not often designed with the modern guitarist in mind. for instance, Renaissance vihuela tablatures are usually transcribed with the open first string as G, not E. Most are presented in double-staff notation, a medium that is superior for realizing counterpoint but unconventional as guitar notation. Furthermore, these editions sometimes give idealized, but not realistic, solutions for voicing, note duration, and other matters that need to be considered within the limitations of our instrument. Guitarists who try to play from these editions essentially are faced with the task of transcribing the transcription!This 188-page anthology is designed as a companion volume to the Baroque Guitar in Spain and the New World (MB21122). It includes representative selections, edited for modern guitar, from the seven books for vihuela that were published in Spain between 1536 and 1576.As well as being fun and entertaining music for all to enjoy, these collections are intended to help bridge the gap between scholarly editions and performance editions by providing a hands-on introduction to tablature transcription and to issues concerning historically informed performance of early music on the guitar.A 188-page anthology, edited for modern guitar, from the seven books for vihuela that were published in Spain between 1536 and 1576A companion volume to the Baroque Guitar in Spain and the New World (MB21122)Intended to help bridge the gap between scholarly editions and performance editionsAn introduction to tablature transcription and to issues concerning historically informed performance of early music on the modern guitar.

Written by a distinguished musicologist, this comprehensive history of musical instruments traces their evolution from prehistoric times in a fusion of music, anthropology, and fine arts. Includes 24 plates and 167 illustrations.

Spanning a millennium of musical history, this monumental volume brings together nearly forty leading authorities to survey the music of Western Europe in the Middle Ages. All of the major aspects of medieval music are considered, making use of the latest research and thinking to discuss everything from the earliest genres of chant, through the music of the liturgy, to the riches of the vernacular song of the trouvères and troubadours. Alongside this account of the core repertory of monophony, The Cambridge History of Medieval Music tells the story of the birth of polyphonic music, and studies the genres of organum, conductus, motet and polyphonic song. Key composers of the period are introduced, such as Leoninus, Perotinus, Adam de la Halle, Philippe de Vitry and Guillaume de Machaut, and other chapters examine topics ranging from musical theory and performance to institutions, culture and collections.