Lute

A renaissance-era lute
strings
Classification	Necked bowl lutes String instruments
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	321.321-5 (Composite chordophone sounded by the bare fingers)
Developed	Classical antiquity (early lutes) Middle Ages (modern lutes)
Related instruments
Angélique (instrument) Archlute Balalaika Barbat (lute) Bağlama Biwa Bouzouki Charango Chitarra Italiana Cobza Dombra Domra Dutar Kobza Komuz Kopuz Mandocello Mandola Mandolin Mandolute Oud Pandura Pipa Tambur Tanbur Tembûr Theorbo Tiorbino Topshur

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either fretted or unfretted) and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes.

The European lute and the modern Near-Eastern oud both descend from a common ancestor via diverging evolutionary paths. The lute is used in a great variety of instrumental music from the Medieval to the late Baroque eras and was probably the most important instrument for secular music in the Renaissance. 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 referred to as a luthier.

Etymology[link]

The words "lute" and "oud" derive from Arabic al‘ud (العود; literally "the wood").^[1] Recent research by Eckhard Neubauer suggests ‘ud may in turn be an Arabized version of the Persian name rud, which meant "string", "stringed instrument", or "lute".^[2] It has equally been suggested the "wood" in the name may have distinguished the instrument by its wooden soundboard from skin-faced predecessors.^[3] Gianfranco Lotti suggests the "wood" appellation originally carried derogatory connotations because of proscriptions of all instrumental music in early Islam.

Construction[link]

Soundboard[link]

Lutes are made almost entirely of wood. The soundboard is a teardrop-shaped thin flat plate of resonant wood (typically spruce). In all lutes the soundboard has a single (sometimes triple) decorated sound hole under the strings called the rose. The sound hole 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.

Back[link]

The back or the shell is assembled from thin strips of hardwood (maple, cherry, ebony, rosewood, gran, wood and/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.

Neck[link]

The 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."

Belly[link]

The 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 ancient builders placed bars according to whole-number ratios of the scale length and belly length. He further suggests the inward bend of the soundboard (the "belly scoop") is a deliberate adaptation by ancient builders to afford the lutenist's right hand 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, but 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, and 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.

Bridge[link]

The bridge, sometimes made of a fruitwood, is attached to the soundboard typically 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. The bridge is made so 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 integral to the bridge, and are not added afterwards as on some Renaissance guitars (cf Joachim Tielke's guitars).

Frets[link]

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 regarded anachronistic by some (although John Dowland and Thomas Robinson describe the practice of gluing wooden frets onto the soundboard ^[4]). 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.

Strings[link]

Strings were historically made of animal gut, usually from the small intestine of sheep (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 for playing period pieces, though unfortunately it is also more susceptible to irregularity and pitch instability due to changes in humidity. Nylon offers greater tuning stability, but is seen as anachronistic by purists, as its timbre differs from the sound of earlier gut strings. Such concerns are moot when more recent compositions for the lute are performed.

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 differs somewhat in timbre from nylon basses.

The lute's strings are arranged in courses, of two strings each, though the highest-pitched course usually consists of only a single string, called the chanterelle. In later Baroque lutes two 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.

History and evolution of the lute[link]

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 the long-necked variety should not be called lute at all because 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. It also was never called a lute before the 20th century.

Source of our knowledge about these instruments is since the ancient Greek Mantineia marble (4th century BC), now exhibited at National Archaeological Museum of Athens, depicting the mythical contest between Apollo and Marsyas, where ancient Greek Pandura is being played by a muse seated on a rock^[5] documenting that lutes have been first present in ancient Greece, since the Akkadian era.^[6]

Various types of necked chordophones were in use in ancient Greek, Egyptian (in the Middle Kingdom), Hittite, Roman, Bulgar, Turkic, Indian, Chinese, Armenian/Cilician cultures. The Lute developed its familiar forms as Barbat in Persia, Armenia, and Byzantium beginning in the early 7th century. These instruments often had bodies covered with animal skin, and it is unknown exactly when it became replaced with a wooden soundboard.

As early as the 6th century, the Bulgars brought the short-necked variety of the instrument called Komuz to the Balkans, and in the 9th century, Moors brought the Oud to Spain. The long-necked Pandura had previously been a quite common variety of the lute in the Mediterranean. The quitra did not become extinct, however, but continued its evolution. Besides the still surviving Kuitra of Algiers and Morocco, its descendants include the Chitarra Italiana, Chitarrone and Colascione.

Middle Ages[link]

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 Arabian to 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 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.

Painter David Hoyer playing a lute, painted by Jan Kupetzky, ca. 1711

Medieval lutes were 4- or 5-course instruments, plucked using a quill as 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.

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 almost fell out of use after 1800. Some sorts of lute were still used for some time in Germany, Sweden, Ukraine.

• 

  Ancient Greek (Tanagra) terracotta statuette depicting a player of the pandura, 4th century BC)

• 

  Christian and Muslim playing lute, miniature from Cantigas de Santa Maria by king Alfonso X.

Lute in the modern world[link]

The lute enjoyed a revival with the awakening of interest in historical music around 1900 and throughout the century. That revival was further boosted by the early music movement in the twentieth century. Important pioneers in lute revival were Julian Bream, Hans Neemann, Walter Gerwig, Suzanne Bloch and Diana Poulton. Lute performances are now not uncommon; there are many professional lutenists, especially in Europe where the most employment is to be found, and new compositions for the instrument are being produced by composers.

During the early days of the early music movement, many lutes were constructed by available luthiers, whose specialty was often classical guitars. Such lutes were heavily built with construction similar to classical guitars, with fan bracing, heavy tops, fixed frets, and lined sides, all of which are anachronistic to historical lutes. As lutherie scholarship increased, makers began constructing instruments based on historical models, which have proven on the whole to be far lighter and more responsive instruments.

Lutes built at present are invariably replicas or near copies of those surviving historical instruments that are to be found in museums or private collections. They are exclusively custom-built or must be bought second hand in a very limited market. As a result, lutes are generally more expensive than mass-produced modern instruments such as the guitar, though not nearly as expensive as the violin. Unlike in the past there are many types of lutes encountered today: 5-course medieval lutes, renaissance lutes of 6 to 10 courses in many pitches for solo and ensemble performance of Renaissance works, the archlute of Baroque works, 11-course lutes in d-minor tuning for 17th century French, German and Czech music, 13/14-course d-minor tuned German Baroque Lutes for later High Baroque and Classical music, theorbo for basso continuo parts in Baroque ensembles, gallichons/mandoras, bandoras, orpharions and others.

Lutenistic practice has reached considerable heights in recent years, thanks to a growing number of world-class lutenists: Robert Barto, Eduardo Egüez, Edin Karamazov, Nigel North, Christopher Wilson, Luca Pianca, Pascal Monteilhet, Lex van Sante, Ariel Abramovich, Evangelina Mascardi, Luciano Contini, Hopkinson Smith, Yasunori Imamura, Paul O'Dette, Jozef van Wissem et alii. Singer-songwriter Sting has also played lute and archlute, in and out of his collaborations with Edin Karamazov, and Jan Akkerman released two albums of lute music in the 1970s while he was a guitarist in the Dutch rock band Focus. Lutenist/ Composer Jozef van Wissem composed lute music and vocals for the Sims Medieval video game.

Lutes of several regional types are also common in Greece: laouto, and outi.

Lute repertoire[link]

Orazio Gentileschi's young lutenist, painted ca 1626, plays a 10-course lute, typical of the time from around 1600 AD through the 1630s. Music stands appear very rarely in paintings of the period—the music is most commonly laid flat on a table, as seen here.

Although lutes were in widespread use in Europe at least since the 13th century, and documents mention numerous early performers and composers, the earliest surviving music for the instrument dates from the late 15th century. Lute music flourished during the 16th and 17th centuries: numerous composers published collections of their music, and modern scholars have uncovered a vast number of manuscripts from the era—however, much of the music is still lost. In the second half of the 17th century lutes, vihuelas and similar instruments started losing popularity, and almost no music had been written for the instrument after 1750. The interest in lute music was revived only in the second half of the 20th century.

Improvisation was apparently a highly important aspect of lute performance, and so much of the repertoire was probably never written down. Furthermore, it was only around 1500 that lute players started the transition from plectrum technique to that of the right hand: the latter allowed for complex polyphony, for which notation had to be developed. During the next hundred years three schools of tablature notation developed gradually: Italian (also employed in Spain), German and French. Only the latter survived into the late 17th century. The earliest known tablatures are designed for a six-stringed instrument, although evidence of earlier four- and five-stringed lutes exists.^[7] Tablature notation depends on the actual instrument for which the music is written, and to read it, it is necessary to know the tuning, the number of strings, etc. of the instrument.

Renaissance and Baroque forms of lute music are more or less similar to those of keyboard music of the periods. Intabulations of vocal works were very common, as well as various dances, some of which disappeared during the 17th century, such as the piva and the saltarello. The advent of polyphony brought about fantasias: complex, intricate pieces with much use of imitative counterpoint. The improvisatory element, present to some degree in most lute pieces, is particularly evident in the early ricercares (not imitative as their later namesakes, but completely free), as well as in numerous preludial forms: preludes, tastar de corde ("testing the strings"), etc. During the 17th century keyboard and lute music went hand in hand, and by 1700 lutenists were writing suites of dances quite akin to those of keyboard composers. The lute was also used throughout its history as an ensemble instrument, most frequently in songs for voice and lute; these were particularly popular in Italy (see frottola) and England.

The earliest surviving lute music is Italian, from a late 15th century manuscript. The early 16th century saw Petrucci's publications of lute music by Francesco Spinacino (fl. 1507) and Joan Ambrosio Dalza (fl. 1508); together with the so-called Capirola Lutebook, these represent the earliest stage of written lute music in Italy. The leader of the next generation of Italian lutenists, Francesco Canova da Milano (1497–1543), is now acknowledged as one of the most famous lute composers in history. The bigger part of his output consists of pieces called fantasias or ricercares, in which he makes extensive use of imitation and sequence, expanding the scope of lute polyphony. The second half of the century saw no composers equal in stature, but in the early 17th century Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger (c.1580–1651) and Alessandro Piccinini (1566–1638) revolutionized the instrument's technique and Kapsberger, possibly, influenced the keyboard music of Frescobaldi.

French written lute music began, as far as we know, with Pierre Attaingnant's (c.1494–c.1551) prints, which comprised preludes, dances and intabulations. Particularly important was the Italian composer Albert de Rippe (1500–1551), who worked in France and composed polyphonic fantasias of considerable complexity. His work was published posthumously by his pupil, Guillaume de Morlaye (born c.1510), who, however, did not pick up the complex polyphony of de Rippe. French lute music declined during the second part of the 16th century; however, various changes to the instrument (the increase of diapason strings, new tunings, etc.) prompted an important change in style that led, during the early Baroque, to the celebrated style brisé: broken, arpeggiated textures that influenced Johann Jakob Froberger's suites. The French Baroque school is exemplified by composers such as Ennemond Gaultier (1575–1651), Denis Gaultier (1597/1603–1672), François Dufaut (before 1604–before 1672) and many others. The last stage of French lute music is exemplified by Robert de Visée (c.1655–1732/3), whose suites exploit the instrument's possibilities to the fullest.

The history of German written lute music started with Arnolt Schlick (c.1460–after 1521), who published in 1513 a collection of pieces that included 14 voice and lute songs and three solo lute pieces, alongside organ works. He was not, however, the first important German lutenist, because contemporaries credited Conrad Paumann (c. 1410–1473) with the invention of German lute tablature. However, this claim has yet to be proven, and no lute works by Paumann survive. After Schlick, a string of composers developed German lute music: Hans Judenkünig (c.1445–50–1526), the Neusidler family (particularly Hans Neusidler (c.1508/9–1563)) 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, and the Thirty Years War (1618–48) effectively stopped publications for half a century. 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 (although it is unclear whether they were really intended for the lute, rather than another plucked string instrument or the lautenwerk).

Of other European countries, particularly important are England and Spain. English written lute music only began around 1540, however, the country produced numerous lutenists, of which John Dowland (1563–1626) is perhaps the most famous. His influence spread very far: variations on his themes were written by keyboard composers in Germany decades after his death. Dowland's predecessors and colleagues, such as Anthony Holborne (c. 1545–1602) and Daniel Bacheler (1572–1619), were less known. Spanish composers wrote mostly for the vihuela; their main genres were polyphonic fantasias and differencias (variations). Luys Milan (c.1500–after 1560) and Luys de Narváez (fl. 1526–49) were particularly important for their contributions to the development of lute polyphony in Spain. Finally, perhaps the most influential European lute composer was the Hungarian Bálint Bakfark (c.1526–30–1576), whose contrapuntal fantasias were much more difficult and tighter than those of his Western European contemporaries.

Lute revival and composers[link]

The revival of lute-playing in the 20th century revitalized the interest of composers in the instruments of the lute family. One of the first such composers was Johann Nepomuk David in Germany. Composer Vladimir Vavilov was a pioneer of the lute revival in the USSR, also the author of numerous musical hoaxes. Sandor Kallos, Stefan Lundgren, Toyohiko Satoh applied modernist idiom to the lute, Elena Kats-Chernin, Jozef van Wissem and Alexandre Danilevsky minimalist and post-minimalist idiom, Robert Allworth serial composition, composing the first modern Concerto for the 11 course lute in his romantic 12-tone style, Roman Turovsky-Savchuk, Paulo Galvão, Robert MacKillop and Maxym Zvonaryov historicist idiom, and Ronn McFarlane New Age. This active movement by early music specialists has inspired composers in different fields; for example, in 1980, Akira Ifukube, a classical and film composer best known for the Godzilla's theme, wrote the Fantasia for Baroque Lute with the historical tablature notation, rather than the modern staff one.^[8]

Tuning conventions[link]

15-course Theorbo tuning chart.

1619 picture featuring Theorbos, a lute, citterns, a mandore, along with a "quinterne" (vihuela) and "Posche" (pochette).

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. 7^e 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 "Baroque"[1] 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 [2] 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.

Quotations[link]

The art of playing the lute formed a major part of instrumental music-making in the Renaissance before keyboard instruments assumed central significance. It was a refined, soft and at the same time colorful art, in sharp contrast to the agitated times in which it was practiced.

—Karl Schumann^[9]

This style knows nothing of the otherwise usual requirements and prohibitions of voice-leading; it can only be understood in relation to the fingering technique; it frequently applies the sound of open strings and in no way avoids the otherwise so despised parallel 5ths and octaves or unisons. The dissonances and other conflicting sounds which appear so often ... strike me as exciting and revealing.

—Carl Orff^[9]

See also[link]

Instruments[link]

European Lutes:

• String instruments
  • Angélique (instrument)
  • Archlute
  • Cittern
  • Laúd
  • Chitarra battente
  • Cobza
  • Gallichon
  • Kobza
  • Mandore
  • Mandora
  • Torban
  • Theorbo
  • Vihuela
  • Tablature
• Early music
  • Medieval music
  • Renaissance music
  • Baroque music
  • Classical Music
• Greek Music
  • Cretan Music

African Lutes:

• Gonje
• Xalam

Asian Lutes:

• Barbat
• Biwa
• Dombra
• Dotar
• Dramnyen
• Kutiyapi
• Laúd
• Oud
• Pipa
• Qinqin
• Setar
• Sitar
• Tanbur
• Tar
• Veena
• Yueqin
• Sapeh
• Stringed instrument tunings

Composers of lute music[link]

• Category:Composers for lute
• List of composers for lute

Lute players[link]

• Category:Lutenists

Lute makers[link]

• Michael Lowe
• Cezar Mateus
• Stephen Murphy
• Andrew Rutherford
• Antonio Stradivari
• Joachim Tielke
• Nico van der Waals

Notes[link]

1. ^ "Etymology Online". http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=lute. Retrieved July 12, 2010. 
2. ^ Douglas Alton Smith. A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance. p. 9. Lute Society of America (LSA), 2002. ISBN 0-9714071-0-X.
3. ^ During, Jean. "'Barbat'". Encyclopedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/barbat. Retrieved 17 April 2011. 
4. ^ "Dowland’s Lutes by Martin Shepherd". http://www.johndowland.co.uk/DowlandsLutes.htm. 
5. ^ 4th century BC, the trichord, pandouris on a Greek marble in ancient Greece
6. ^ Pandura, the first appearance in Greece.
7. ^ Apel 1949, 54.
8. ^ Yokomizo, Ryoichi (1996). 伊福部昭ギター・リュート作品集 (Akira Ifukube - Works for Guitar and Lute) (CD Booklet). Japan: FONTEC. pp.4. 
9. ^ ^{a b} From the liner notes to the Wergo edition of Orff's Kleines Konzert, with English translations by John Patrick Thomas.

References[link]

• The Lute in Europe by Andreas Schlegel, published by The Lute Corner (2006). ISBN 978-3-9523232-0-5
• A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance by Douglas Alton Smith, published by the Lute Society of America (2002). ISBN 0-9714071-0-X ISBN 978-0-9714071-0-7
• The Lute in Britain: A History of the Instrument and its Music by Matthew Spring, published by Oxford University Press (2001).
• Historical Lute Construction by Robert Lundberg, published by the Guild of American Luthiers (2002).
• La musique de luth en France au XVIe siècle by Jean-Michel Vaccaro (1981).
• Articles in Journal of the Lute Society of America (1968–), The Lute (1958–), and other journals published by the various national lute societies.
• Eckhard Neubauer, "Der Bau der Laute und ihre Besaitung nach arabischen, persischen und türkischen Quellen des 9. bis 15. Jahrhunderts", Zeitschrift für Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Wissenschaften, vol. 8 (1993): 279–378.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lute

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Lute.

Lute societies[link]

• The Lute Society (UK)
• The Lute Society of America
• The German Lute Society
• The French Lute Society
• The Lute Society of Japan
• The Belgian Lute Society
• The Lute and Early Guitar Society (Founded by Toyohiko Satoh)

Lute music online and other useful resources[link]

• reneszanszlant.lap.hu collection of many useful links: luthiers/lute makers, lute players, tablatures, etc. (in English and Hungarian)
• ABC Classic FM presents: Lute Project videos Watch Tommie Andersson play the theorbo, 7-course & 10-course lutes.
• Wayne Cripps' lute pages
• The Lute Lieder Site, library of songs and lieder with baroque lute accompaniment.
• The Ukrainian Lute Page Torban, a Ukrainian variety of lute/theorbo.
• Lute History by István Kónya
• Joachim Tielke The website for the great Hamburg lutemaker Joachim Tielke
• Musick's Handmade Facsimiles/Scans (Dowland, etc.) and pdfs - by Alain Veylit
• Sarge Gerbode's Lute Page 3000+ lute solo pieces by 140 composers in midi, PDF, TAB, and Fronimo formats
• Contemporary and Modern Lute Music Modern (post 1815) and Contemporary Lute Music. A list of modern lute music written after 1815

Photos of historic lutes[link]

• Photos of historic lutes at the Museum Cité de la Musique in Paris

Instruments et oeuvres d'art – search-phrase: Mot-clé(s) : luth

Facteurs d'instruments – search-phrase: Instrument fabriqué : luth

Photothèque – search-phrase: Instrument de musique, ville ou pays : luth

• Lutes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Articles and resources[link]

• Pioneers of the Lute Revivial by Jo Van Herck (Belgian Lute Academy)

Original: Over de pioniers van de luitrevival; Luthinerie / Geluit no. 15 (september 2001) and no. 16 (december 2001)

• Photos and Paintings
• French Lutenists and French Lute Music in Sweden
• La Rhétorique des Dieux
• Continuo for lutenists and guitarists: a tutor and music theory supplement Thesis by Roland H.B. Stearns

	Tota Pulchra Es noicon By Hans Judenkünig (1450-1526), lute played by Jan van Outryve (Capilla Flamenca)
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Muhammad Asad (2 July 1900 - 23 February 1992, Urdu: محمد اسد), born Leopold Weiss, was a Austrian Jew who converted to Islam, and a 20th century journalist, traveler, writer, social critic, linguist, thinker, reformer, diplomat, political theorist, translator and scholar. Asad was one of the 20th century's most influential European Muslims.^[1]

In 1947, Asad was given Pakistani citizenship by the newly established Muslim state of Pakistan and appointed the Director of the Department of Islamic Reconstruction by the Government of Pakistan, where he made recommendations on the drafting of Pakistan's first Constitution. In 1949, Asad joined Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as head of the Middle East Division and, in 1952, was appointed Pakistan's Minister Plenipotentiary to the United Nations in New York.^[2]

Muhammad Asad is famously known for his two publications - The Road to Mecca, a biographical account of his life up to the age of 32, his conversion to Islam from Judaism and his journey to Mecca, and his magnum opus, The Message of the Qur'an, a translation and commentary of the sacred book of Islam, the Qur'an.

In 2008 the entrance square to the UN Office in Vienna was named Muhammad Asad Platz in his honour. That is the first square in Austria to be named after a Muslim. ^[3]

Early years[link]

Leopold Weiss born on 2 July 1900 to a Jewish family in Lemberg, Galicia then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (which is currently the city of Lviv, Ukraine). Weiss was a descendant of a long line of Jewish rabbis; however, his father, Akiva Weiss, broke from tradition and became a lawyer. Leopold received a religious education and was proficient in Hebrew from an early age, as well as familiar with Aramaic. He studied the Jewish Bible or Tanakh, the text and commentaries of the Talmud, the Mishna and Gemara, also delving into the intricacies of Biblical exegesis and the Targum.

After abandoning university in Vienna, Weiss drifted aimlessly around 1920s Germany, working briefly for the expressionist film director, Fritz Lang (F.W. Murnau, according to The Road to Mecca). By his own account, after selling a jointly written film script, he splurged the windfall on a wild party at an expensive Berlin restaurant, in the spirit of the times. While working as a telephone operator for an American news agency in Berlin, Weiss obtained a coveted interview with Russian author Maxim Gorky's wife, his first published piece of journalism, after simply ringing up her hotel room.^{[citation needed]}

Weiss in Arabia[link]

Weiss later moved to the British Mandate of Palestine, staying in Jerusalem at the house of an uncle (a disciple of Sigmund Freud who later founded the Psychoanalytic Quarterly in New York) psychoanalyst Dorian Feigenbaum, the son of a successful banker in Lviv, Menachem Mendel Feigenbaum. He picked up work as a stringer for the Frankfurter Zeitung, selling articles on a freelance basis. His pieces were noteworthy for their understanding of Arab fears and grievances against the Zionist project. He was eventually contracted as a full-time foreign correspondent for the paper.

Conversion to Islam[link]

Weiss's assignments led him to an ever-deepening engagement with and understanding of Islam, which, after much thought and deliberation, led to his religious conversion in 1926 in Berlin and adopting the Muslim name, Muhammad Asad.

Asad spoke of Islam thus:

"Islam appears to me like a perfect work of architecture. All its parts are harmoniously conceived to complement and support each other; nothing is superfluous and nothing lacking; and the result is a structure of absolute balance and solid composure."

His travels and sojourns through Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan and the southern Soviet Republics, were viewed with great suspicion by the Colonial Powers. One English diplomat in Saudi Arabia described him in a report as a "Bolshevik" and he took a close interest in the many liberation movements that were active at this time with the aim of freeing Muslim lands from colonial rule.^{[citation needed]}

Asad in British India & Pakistan[link]

Asad left Arabia and came to British India in 1932 where he met South Asia's premier Muslim poet, philosopher and thinker, Muhammad Iqbal, who had proposed the idea of an independent Muslim state in India, which later became Pakistan. Iqbal persuaded Asad to stay on in British India and help the Muslims of India establish their separate Muslim state. Iqbal introduced Asad to Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan, a philanthropist and agriculturalist, who, on the advice of Muhammad Iqbal, established the Dar-ul-Islam Trust Institutes in Pathankot, India and Jauharabad, Pakistan. Asad stayed on in British India and worked with both Muhammad Iqbal and Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan.^[4]

When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Asad's parents were arrested and, subsequently, murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Asad himself was arrested in Lahore in 1939, a day after the war broke out, by the British as an enemy alien. This was despite the fact that Asad had refused German nationality after the annexation of Austria in 1938 and had insisted on retaining his Austrian citizenship. Asad spent three years incarcerated in a prison, while his family consisting of his wife, Munira, and son, Talal, after being released from detention earlier, lived under the protection of Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan at the latter's vast 1,000-acre (4.0 km²) estate in Jamalpur, 5 km west of Pathankot. Asad was finally released and reunited with his family in Jamalpur when the Second World War ended in 1945.^[4]

Asad supported the idea of a separate Muslim state in India and after the independence of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, in recognition for his support for Pakistan, Asad was conferred full citizenship by Pakistan and appointed the Director of the Department of Islamic Reconstruction by the Government of Pakistan^[5], where he made recommendations on the drafting of Pakistan's first Constitution^{[citation needed]}. In 1949, Asad joined Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as head of the Middle East Division and made efforts to strengthen Pakistan's ties with the Muslim states of the Middle East. In 1952, Asad was appointed as Pakistan's Minister Plenipotentiary to the United Nations in New York - a position that he relinquished in 1952 to write his autobiography (up to the age of 32), The Road to Mecca.^[6][5]

Later years[link]

Towards the end of his life, Asad moved to Spain and lived there with his third wife, Pola Hamida Asad, an American national of Polish Catholic descent who had also converted to Islam, until his death on 23 February 1992 at the age of 92. He was buried in the Muslim cemetery of Granada in the former Moorish province of Andalusia, Spain.

Children[link]

Asad had a son, Talal Asad, from his second Saudi Arabian wife, Munira. Talal Asad is now an anthropologist specializing in religious studies and postcolonialism. Asad also had a step-son named Heinrich (converted name Ahmad) with his first wife Else (converted name Aziza).^[7]

Publications[link]

Asad wrote several books. His autobiography, The Road to Mecca is an account of his Middle Eastern travels and his conversion, as well as his thoughts on the growing Zionist movement. He also wrote The Message of The Qur'an, a translation and commentary on the Muslim holy book based on his own knowledge of classical Arabic and on the authoritative classical commentaries. Considered one of the leading translations of the Qur'an, it has been criticised by some traditionalists for its Mutazilite leanings. He also wrote a translation and commentary on the Sahih Bukhari, one of the most authoritative collections of Hadith. In addition, he wrote This Law of Ours where he sums up his views on Islamic law and rejects decisively the notion of taqlid, or strict judicial precedent which has been accepted as doctrine by many Muslim sects, while being rejected by others such as the Salafis. He also makes a plea for rationalism and plurality in Islamic law, which he sees as the true legacy of the salaf or earliest generations of Muslims. In his book Islam at the Crossroads, he outlines his view that the Muslim world must make a choice between living by its own values and morality or accepting those of the West, in which case, they would always lag behind the West, which had had more time to adjust to those values and mores, and would end up compromising their own religion and culture. There are some playfully cryptic references to him in the recent bestseller The Orientalist by Tom Reiss (Random House 2005), and some slightly more sinister ones in the English translations of W.G. Sebald.

List of publications[link]

Books:

• 1. Jerusalem in 1923: The Impressions of a Young European (1923)
• 2. The Spirit of Islam (1934)
• 3. The Concept of Religion in the West and in Islam (1934)
• 4. The Spirit of the West (1934)
• 5. Sahih Bukhāri (1935)
• 6. Towards a Resurrection of Thought (1937)
• 7. Sahih al-Bukhāri (1938)
• 8. Sahih Bukhāri (1938)
• 9. Sahih Bukhāri (1938)
• 10. What Arafat? (1946)
• 11. The Outline of a Problem (September 1946)
• 12. Is Religion a Thing of the Past? (October 1946)
• 13. This Law of Ours (November 1946, December 1946, January 1947)
• 14. Construction or Destruction? (February 1947)
• 15. That Business of Imitation (April 1947)
• 16. What do we mean by Pakistan? (May 1947)
• 17. Notes and Comments (May 1947)
• 18. Towards an Islamic Constitution (July 1947)
• 19. Notes and Comments (July 1947)
• 20. Calling All Muslims (September 1947)
• 21. Arafat—Quarterly Journal of Islamic Reconstruction (March 1948)
• 22. Islamic Reconstruction (March 1948)
• 23. Islamic Constitution Making (March 1948)
• 24. The Road to Mecca (1954)
• 25. The Encounter of Islam and the West (1959)
• 26. Islam and the Spirit of our Times (1960)
• 27. The Principles of State and Government in Islam (1961)
• 28. Islam and Politics (1963)
• 29. Jerusalem: The Open City (1970s)
• 30. The Meaning and Significance of the Hijrah (1979)
• 31. The Message of the Qur’an (1980)
• 32. The Message of the Qur’an (1980)
• 33. The Principles of State and Government in Islam (1980)
• 34. Sahih al-Bukhāri (1981)
• 35. A Vision to Jerusalem (1982)
• 36. Jerusalem: A City for all People (1982)
• 37. A Tribe That Kept Its Name (1985)

Journal:

• Arafat: A Monthly Critique of Muslim Thought (1946–47)

Documentary[link]

A documentary titled A Road to Mecca: The Journey of Muhammad Asad, directed by Georg Misch, about the life of Muhammad Asad, was filmed in Austria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, USA, Morocco and Spain. The documentary, released in 2008, was selected by the following film festivals, picking up a few awards:

• 2009 Jerusalem Film Festival
• 2009 Dubai Film Festival
• 2008 FIDADOC Film Festival, Morocco (Jury Award)
• 2008 Diagonale Festival of Austrian Films (Best Cinematography Award)
• 2008 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival
• 2008 Vancouver International Film Festival

For more information go to: http://www.icarusfilms.com/new2009/mecc.html

Sources[link]

Books

• Asad, Muhammad. The Road to Mecca, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1954

• Azam, K.M., Hayat-e-Sadeed: Bani-e-Dar ul Islam Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan (A Righteous Life: Founder of Dar ul Islam Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan), Lahore: Nashriyat, 2010 (583 pp., Urdu) [ISBN 978-969-8983-58-1]

• Chughtai, Muhammad Ikram, Muhammad Asad: Europe's Gift to Islam, Volume 1, Lahore: The Truth Society, 2006 (1240 pp.)

• Windhager, Günther. Leopold Weiss alias Muhammad Asad: Von Galizien nach Arabien 1900-1927, Vienna, Austria: Böhlau Verlag, 2002 (230 pp., German)

Online articles

• Nawwab, Ismail Ibrahim. Muhammad Asad. www.TheTrueCall.com [1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Muhammad Asad's book This Law of Ours (Grandestrategy.com)
• Online Quran Project includes the Qur'an translation of Muhammad Asad (both the original English and the Spanish translation).

• The English translation by Muhammad Asad (with commentary) at the Online Quran Project
• The Spanish translation by Muhammad Asad at the Online Quran Project

• M. Asad's Contributions to Pakistan
• Brief Biography
• Compared Translations of the meaning of the Quran
• The Message of the Qur'an: Complete with commentary (HTML)
• Translation with commentary
• Translation without commentary
• Ben-David, Amir. Leopold of Arabia. Haaretz.com. [2][3]
• Martin Kramer. The Road from Mecca: Muhammad Asad
• Film by Georg Misch: A ROAD TO MECCA - The Journey of Muhammad Asad
• Short commentary on The Road To Mecca
• Muhammad Asad: A Jewish Lawrence of Arabia

v t e Pakistan Movement History East India Company Indian Rebellion of 1857 Aligarh Movement Urdu movement Partition of Bengal Lucknow Pact Khilafat Movement Nehru Report Fourteen Points of Jinnah Allahabad Address Now or Never pamphlet Two-Nation Theory Round Table Conferences Lahore Resolution Direct Action Day Indian Muslim nationalism Cabinet Mission Indian Independence Act Partition of India Radcliffe Line Pakistan Objectives Resolution Independence Republic Day Kashmir Freedom Movement Pakistani nationalism Osmanistan Noakhali genocide Organisations Muslim League Unionist Muslim League All India Muslim Students Federation Khaksars Leaders Syed Ahmed Khan Muhammad Iqbal Aga Khan III Muhammad Ali Jinnah Ghulam Bhik Nairang Liaquat Ali Khan Bahadur Yar Jung G. M. Syed Abdur Rab Nishtar Fatima Jinnah Choudhary Rahmat Ali Muhammad Ali Jouhar Shaukat Ali A.K. Fazlul Huq Sikandar Hayat Khan Zafar Ali Khan Khawaja Nazimuddin Abdul Qayyum Khan Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan Jogendra Nath Mandal more Activists Z.A. Suleri Hameed Nizami M.A. Zuberi Altaf Husain Yusuf Khattak Shaukat Hayat Khan Muhammad Asad Ziauddin Ahmed more

Robert Barto (born in San Diego in 195?) is an American lutenist specializing in the music of the Baroque and Empfindsamkeit periods, in particular the oeuvres of Sylvius Leopold Weiss and Bernhard Joachim Hagen. He is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego, having majored in historical lute performance. The recipient of a Fulbright scholarship, he continued his studies in Cologne, Germany and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland, with Michael Schäffer and Eugen Müller-Dombois, respectively. Having made Germany his home for many years, he travels and performs throughout the world.

In 1984, Barto took top honors at the "International Lute Competition" in Toronto and the "Musica Antiqua Competition" in Bruges, Belgium. His performances of note have included solo recitals at the Festival of Flanders, London's Purcell Room, the Utrecht Festival, and in New York City's "Music Before 1800" event. In 2000, Barto performed a tribute to Sylvius Leopold Weiss in Dresden. He also gave solo recitals for Bavarian Radio's "Bach Night" in Munich as well as the "Lufthansa Baroque Festival" also held in London.^[1]

He is greatly sought-after as a teacher, having given master classes in Spain, Sweden, Germany, Italy and Japan. He has regularly been on the faculty of the Lute Society of America's^[2] Summer Seminar series.^[3]

Barto has recorded eleven volumes of lute sonatas by baroque lutenist-composer Sylvius Leopold Weiss^[3] and two CDs of the solo works of Bernhard Joachim Hagen for the Naxos and Symphonia labels.^[4]

References[link]

Nigel North (born 5 June 1954) is an English lutenist and guitarist.

Student days[link]

He studied guitar on a scholarship to the junior department of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (1964–70), taking up the lute in 1969, at the age of 15. He maintains he was more or less self-taught on the instrument. He went on to study at the Royal College of Music from 1971 to 1974: classical guitar with John Williams and Carlos Bonell, viola da gamba with Francis Baines; lute (one term) with Diana Poulton, qualifying in 1974 with an A.R.C.M. diploma in lute performance. He completed his studies on the postgraduate course in Early Music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama 1975–1975 and with one month's study with baroque lutenist Michael Schäffer in 1976.

Teaching[link]

Overlapping his student years, in 1975 he was appointed Professor of Lute at the Guildhall School for Music and Drama, a position he held until 1996. From 1993 to 1999 he was Professor of Historical Plucked Instruments at the Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, Germany. From January 1999 he has been Professor of Lute at the Early Music Institute, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University and, from January 2005, has taught the lute at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, Holland.

He has written the standard modern textbook on continuo playing on the lute and related instruments:

• North, Nigel (1987). Continuo playing on the Lute, Archlute and Theorbo: a Comprehensive Guide for Performers. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-31415-1.  (review)

The following textbook is in preparation:

• Lute and Early Guitar - a Performance Practice Handbook Original didactic sources from 1500 - c.1760, for lute and guitar. Sources in facsimile, with translations and full editorial comment; covering the working repertoire of a modern lutenist. It will be a book in which one may find the answers to performance practice questions taken directly from original sources.

Professional career[link]

His recording life began in the mid-1970s; while studying at music college, he played viol, cittern, rebec and violin as well as his more usual instruments, lute, theorbo, mandolin and baroque guitar on recordings with some of the English pioneers of early music of that time, such as David Munrow with The Early Music Consort and Alfred Deller with The Deller Consort.

From 1974 to 1990 Nigel North played in baroque operas, baroque orchestras and chamber groups and accompanied singers in concerts, participating in over 100 recordings. Notable groups and people with whom he has worked:

• The English Concert (Trevor Pinnock)
• The Academy of Ancient Music (Christopher Hogwood)
• The Brandenburg Consort (Roy Goodman)
• Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Rene Jacobs)
• Red Byrd
• Fretwork
• London Baroque
• Peter Pears (Aldeburgh Festival, 1976)
• James Bowman
• Michael Chance
• Nancy Argenta
• Emma Kirkby

With Andrew Manze (violin) and John Toll (harpsichord) he formed the ensemble Romanesca in 1988; they played together for the next 10 years.

His solo lute debut was a Bach programme at the Wigmore Hall in 1977; in 1985 he performed all of Bach's lute works for the first time in London. Numerous recitals and recordings followed and from 1984 to 2001 he toured worldwide.

He has made transcriptions for lute of Bach's solo violin works and solo cello suites, which he has performed at the Wigmore Hall and recorded on a 4 CD set, Bach on the Lute (1994–1998). He has published an edition of these transcriptions for lute tablature, classical guitar and staff notation.

Other notable recordings include the complete lute works of John Dowland (4 CDs on Naxos Records), and a series of CDs of music by 17th-century French lutenists.

Published editions of lute music[link]

• Oxford University Press Lute Series
• Lute Music by William Byrd (Volume 6), 1976
• Lute and Bandora Music by Alfonso Ferrabosco (Volume 8), 1979, Stainer and Bell
• Tablature for 2 Lutes Volumes 1 and 2 (English Renaissance Treble and Ground Duets), 1983, Faber Music/Indiana University Press
• Varietie of Lute Lessons, Robert Dowland's anthology of 1610 (in preparation).

Sources[link]

• Stephen Haynes: 'North, Nigel', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2007-05-06), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
• 'North, Nigel', Hutchinson Encyclopedia of Britain, Helicon Publishing, March 2005

External links[link]

• http://www.nigelnorth.com/ - personal website
• Linn Records: Nigel North
• Indiana University: Nigel North

John Dowland^[1] (1563 – buried 20 February 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" (the basis for Benjamin Britten's Nocturnal), "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and has been a source of repertoire for lutenists and classical guitarists during the twentieth century.

Career and compositions[link]

Very little is known of John "the Bard" Dowland's early life, but it is generally thought he was born in London. Irish historian W. H. Grattan Flood claimed that he was born in Dalkey, near Dublin, but no corroborating evidence has ever been found either for that statement or for Thomas Fuller's claim that he was born in Westminster.^[2] In 1580 Dowland went to Paris, where he was in service to Sir Henry Cobham, the ambassador to the French court, and his successor, Sir Edward Stafford.^[3] He became a Roman Catholic at this time.^[4] In 1584, Dowland moved back to England where he was married. In 1588 he was admitted Mus. Bac. from Christ Church, Oxford.^[5] In 1594 a vacancy for a lutenist came up at the English court, but Dowland's application was unsuccessful - he claimed his religion led to his not being offered a post at Elizabeth I's Protestant court. However, his conversion was not publicized, and being Catholic did not prevent some other important musicians (such as William Byrd) from having a court career in England.^[3]

From 1598 Dowland worked at the court of Christian IV of Denmark,^[6] though he continued to publish in London.^[7] King Christian was very interested in music^[8] and paid Dowland astronomical sums; his salary was 500 daler a year, making him one of the highest-paid servants of the Danish court.^[9] Though Dowland was highly regarded by King Christian, he was not the ideal servant, often overstaying his leave when he went to England on publishing business or for other reasons.^[8] Dowland was dismissed in 1606^[8] and returned to England;^[9] in early 1612 he secured a post as one of James I's lutenists.^[10] There are few compositions dating from the moment of his royal appointment until his death in London in 1626.^[11] While the date of his death is not known, "Dowland's last payment from the court was on 20 January 1626, and he was buried at St Ann's, Blackfriars, London, on 20 February 1626."^[12]

Two major influences on Dowland's music were the popular consort songs, and the dance music of the day.^[13] Most of Dowland's music is for his own instrument, the lute.^[14] It includes several books of solo lute works, lute songs (for one voice and lute), part-songs with lute accompaniment, and several pieces for viol consort with lute.^[15] The poet Richard Barnfield wrote that Dowland's "heavenly touch upon the lute doth ravish human sense."

One of his better known works is the lute song "Flow my tears", the first verse of which runs:

Flow my tears, fall from your springs,
Exil'd for ever let me mourn;
Where night's black bird her sad infamy sings,
There let me live forlorn.

—John Dowland, ^[16]

He later wrote what is probably his best known instrumental work, Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares, Figured in Seaven Passionate Pavans, a set of seven pavanes for five viols and lute, each based on the theme derived from the lute song "Flow my tears".^[17] It became one of the best known collections of consort music in his time. His pavane, "Lachrymae antiquae", was also popular in the seventeenth century, and was arranged and used as a theme for variations by many composers.

Dowland's music often displays the melancholia that was so fashionable in music at that time.^[18] He wrote a consort piece with the punning title "Semper Dowland, semper dolens" (always Dowland, always doleful), which may be said to sum up much of his work.^[19]

Dowland's song, "Come Heavy Sleepe, the Image of True Death", was the inspiration for Benjamin Britten's "Nocturnal after John Dowland for guitar", written in 1964 for the guitarist Julian Bream. This work consists of eight variations, all based on musical themes drawn from the song or its lute accompaniment, finally resolving into a guitar setting of the song itself.^[20]

Richard Barnfield, Dowland's contemporary, refers to the lutenist in poem VIII of The Passionate Pilgrim (1598):

If music and sweet poetry agree,
As they must needs, the sister and the brother,
Then must the love be great 'twixt thee and me,
Because thou lovest the one, and I the other.
Dowland to thee is dear, whose heavenly touch
Upon the lute doth ravish human sense;
Spenser to me, whose deep conceit is such
As, passing all conceit, needs no defence.
Thou lovest to hear the sweet melodious sound
That Phoebus' lute, the queen of music, makes;
And I in deep delight am chiefly drown'd
When as himself to singing he betakes.
One god is god of both, as poets feign;
One knight loves both, and both in thee remain.

—Richard Barnfield, The Passionate Pilgrim^{[citation needed]}

Publications[link]

In 1597, Dowland published his First Book of Songs in London. It was one of the most influential and important musical publications of the history of the lute.^[3] This collection of lute-songs was set out in a way that allows performance by a soloist with lute accompaniment or various combinations of singers and instrumentalists.^[21]

Dowland published two books of songs after the First Book of Songs, in 1600 and 1603, as well as the Lachrymae in 1604.^[17] He also published a translation of the Micrologus of Andreas Ornithoparcus in 1609, originally printed in Leipzig 1517, a rather stiff and medieval treatise, but nonetheless occasionally entertaining.^[22]

Dowland's last, and in the opinion of most scholars, best work, A Pilgrimes Solace, was published in 1612,^[23] and seems to have been conceived more as a collection of contrapuntal music than as solo works.^[24]