Announcement of the Festival of the Lute
in Weimar
23 - 25 May 2025

The International Lute Festival of the German Lute Society will take place from 23 - 25 May 2025 in Weimar.
Venue of the event:
Musikschule "Johann Nepomuk Hummel"
Karl Liebknecht Straße 1
D-99423 Weimar
As has been the case since 1996, there will once again be concerts with top-class artists, masterclasses, lectures and an exhibition of instruments and music publications. For the first time, however, the German Lute Society will be organising an international lute competition (Detailed information about this). It is open to players under the age of 30, and the legendary Nigel North will chair the jury. Nigel North and Alice Letort will give solo concerts, among others, and members of the Weimar group ‘The Playfords’ will also perform.

Further information can be found on the festival flyer.

We mourn the death of Matthias Schneider (1946-2024)

Lautensuiten von Valentin Strobel

Music for the 11-course lute
Ed. by Tobias Tietze

For more information, you can download a corresponding PDF document.

Dieter Kirsch – Sigrid Wirth: The Lutenist Walter Gerwig, Biografy

With this biography of Walter Gerwig (1899-1966), the Deutsche Lautengesellschaft (DLG) commemorates a musician who championed the lute like no other in Germany in the 20th century.

Further information

Note: The first edition in English is in preparation and will be published shortly by Holzenburg Verlag.
€45,-, www.holzenburg-verlag.com

On our YouTube channel there are now some concert videos produced in connection with online events.

• Ingo Negwer plays an anonymous suite from the Rhorau Ms. of Count Harrach's family collection published by the Lautengesellschaft in 2010.
• Lynda Sayce performs music for Renaissance lute from the Marsh Lute Book (c. 1595) as part of a live concert for the German Lute Society via Zoom on February 19, 2022.
• Stathis Skandalidis plays Five Variations and Fugue on "Kein schöner Land in dieser Zeit", a composition by Brian Wright. These pieces were published by DLG in 2020 in two versions (for 8-course Renaissance lute and for 13-course Baroque lute). (Recording in February 2022).
• Michael Gondko performs from La Rhetorique des Dieux by Denis Gaultier (Online Festival on 20 November 2021).
• The Casulana Lute Consort with works by Nicolas Vallet - à 4 Luths (General Meeting on 9 June 2021)
• Michael Freimuth on the baroque guitar with sonatas from "Il primo libro delle sonate di chittara Spagniola" by Michele Platano (General Meeting on 9 June 2021)
• Suzanne van Os and Martin Lubenow play works by Marini, da Crema, Ortiz, Bach, Weiss, Piccinini, Dalza, Bassano, Zamboni, Sor (General Meeting on 28 November 2020).

Also to be found here are 2 video contributions to the publication "Teaching & Studying the Lute". More on this publication at Literature / Publications of the German Lute Society.

We mourn the death of Markus Lutz (1963-2023)

We mourn the death of Albert Reyerman,

member of the German Lute Society and widely recognised and respected in the lute world as publisher of the TREE edition. He passed away on 10 December at the age of 76.
Read more

Teaching & Studying the Lute

The papers presented at the "1st International Conference on Lute Study in Higher Education", which took place in Bremen from 27-29 September 2019, are now available in English as a joint publication of the DLG and the Lute Society of America as a paperback and e-book from AMAZON.

For further information you can download a corresponding PDF document.

See also Literature / Publications of the German Lute Society.

Twelve German Christmas Carols

The English composer Brian Wright has composed beautiful arrangements for twelve German Christmas carols for voice and renaissance lute.

For more information, you can download a corresponding PDF document.

See also Literature/Publications of the German Lute Society.

IL PRIMO LIBRO DELLE SONATE DI CHITTARA SPAGNOLA

The print „IL PRIMO LIBRO DELLE SONATE DI CHITTARA SPAGNOLA “ (Milano, 1671) by Michele Platano contains 10 sonatas for baroque guitar, which recently has been discovered by Michael Freimuth at the austrian Staatsarchiv (Vienna).

For further information you can download a corresponding PDF document.

See also Literature / Publications of the German Lute Society.

Brian Wright: Fünf Variationen & Fuge über „Kein schöner Land“

The English lutenist and composer Brian Wright wrote this work in 2020 in two versions: Version 1 for 8-course renaissance lute, Version 2 for 13-course baroque lute. Both versions are included in this edition. Everything, Theme, Variations and Fugue, are of medium difficulty, set sonorously and variedly, making use of the whole fingerboard.

For further information you can download a corresponding PDF document.

See also Literature/Publications of the German Lute Society.

Hans Gerle: Musica Teusch

Complete edition of the lute music from Hans Gerle’s publication ‘Musica Teusch’ (Nuremberg 1532). One of the first printed tutors for the ‘small and large violin’ (violin/rebec and viola da gamba) as well as for the lute. All pieces for 6- and 7-course lute are included in this edition. Converted from German to French tablature and published by Rainer Luckhardt.

For more information you can download the PDF-document

See also Literature / Publications.

54 pieces for 6-course lute

Volume 2 of “Music for Renaissance Lute” includes 54 easy-to-intermediate pieces for 6-course lute from 16 th century Italy, Holland, England, France and Germany. The music has been chosen from different lesser-known sources such as: the Cavalcanti Ms., Thysius Ms., Ballet lute book,as well as prints by Attaignant, Le Roy and H. Newsidler.

For more information you can download the PDF-document.

See also Literature / Publications.

55 French chansons and dances

At the Lute Festival in Füssen, this edition for the renaissance lute was launched, as a publication by the German Lute Society in collaboration with the Société Française de Luth / SFL. It contains 55 intabulations of chansons and dances from French originals that were arranged by German lutenists of the renaissance. Many of the arrangements are those of Hans Newsidler and Wolff Heckel, for whom French music was evidently particularly attractive. Other anonymous tabulatures originate from various manuscripts (for example Munich, Donauschlingen, Basel, etc.).

For more information you can download the PDF-document.

Pascale Bouquet has recorded two pieces from this edition and made them available on YouTube.

See also Literature / Publications.