The Lute Society of America

Publications

Recordings

The LSA is proud to offer Palestrina’s Lute, a CD recording of the Venere Lute Quartet playing transcriptions of vocal music composed by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Historical evidence indicates that Palestrina composed at least some of his music on the lute. On this recording the Venere Lute Quartet has combined their unique talents with Palestrina’s inspiration to capture some of his rich vocal legacy in instrumental form. It includes arrangements of all movements of the Missa Brevis, as well as a number of motets and both secular and sacred madrigals, producing a disk unique among recordings of works of this composer. A detailed track listing is posted on a separate page.
The Sweet Division CD recording of the Venere Lute Quartet playing Nicolaes Vallet’s four-part settings from Secretum Musarum II, as well as their own original material, is still available. A detailed track listing, including a few MP3 samples, is available here.
Each of the disks costs US$15.00 + $2.50 for packaging and shipping within the United States (US$3.50 for shipment to Canada, $6.50 elsewhere), and they may be ordered either by phone at 925-686-5800 or by sending a check (drawn on a US bank) or money order to
The Lute Society of America, Inc.
P.O. Box 6499,
Concord, CA 94524.
Please note “Palestrina’s Lute CD” or “Sweet Division CD” on your check or money order. As an alternative, either of these CD recordings may be ordered on-line. Go to these pages:
To order Palestrina’s Lute.
To order Sweet Division.

Print Publications

In 1993 the Lute Society of America issued a Special Publication, the First Book of French Tablature, containing 26 relatively easy pieces taken from European manuscript and print sources of the 16th and 17th centuries. This PDF file lists the Contents. The cost of the book is $10 plus shipping, and it is available from Anne Burns, the LSA Librarian (see below for her address). As postage costs change frequently, please write to her for the exact total before sending money.
In May of 2002 the LSA published the 400-page monograph, A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance by Douglas Alton Smith, which may be purchased through a secure on-line page. The book has received a number of favorable reviews in musical publications as well as The Library Journal.
The LSA publishes a scholarly Journal, which appears as a single issue per volume per year, and a more casual Quarterly, with four issues per year. Members automatically receive copies of both of these, for the current year, in return for their dues payment. Advertisements are accepted for printing in either of these periodicals. On a separate page there is a list of the back issues of the Journal and the articles that each contains. They are available for purchase from the LSA Librarian, Anne Burns (see below). In an area of our website still under construction, a project is underway to post the complete tables of contents of the Newsletter and the Quarterly.
The Lute Society of America maintains a rental Library of Source Material for the lute and related instruments. Loans are made to LSA members only. Most of the items are available only in the form of microfilm, but some are available as loose paper copies, and there are a few audio cassette tapes. The Library catalog is available in plain text (110 KB) or RTF (123 KB) format.

The Librarian is:
Anne Burns, LSA
8175 S. Eston Rd.
Clarkston MI 48348
e-mail: lsa@reasonablefax.com

Errata

Mistakes sometimes happen. When appropriate, corrected versions will be posted here for incorrect items appearing in our print publications.

In the Fall 2009 issue of the Quarterly the author of the review of Gratie d’Amore is listed incorrectly. The review was written by Andrew Hartig.
From the Quarterly, September 2008, p. 47: A review of a Nigel North CD by Jim Stimson, which was missing its last few lines.
From the Quarterly, November 2005, p. 25: the first line of Hans Newsidler’s setting of the Lied, Ich bin ein Fischer auff einem See, for which the tops of the rhythm symbols were cut off in the printing process. (PDF, 22.2 KB)
From the Quarterly, February 2005, p. 41: Le Tombeau de Louis Frechette by Yves Patry, printed there without the rhythm symbols. (PDF, 34.4 KB)
From the Quarterly, February 2005, p. 16: the first line of Robert Johnson’s The Fairies’ Masque, printed there with the rhythm symbols cut off (PDF, 17.4 KB).

Retro-Publications

This material is plucked from early issues of the Newsletter of the Lute Society of America. Take a look and see what you missed by not being a member in the early days of the Society. To download any of these files to your hard disk for future use, select the link with the right mouse button and choose “Save Target As...” In most cases, you will probably achieve best results for the PDF files by printing with the “Fit to page” option turned off.

As is true for the other files on this site, this material is available to be downloaded and shared freely. However, we request that any further distribution also be at no cost and that the copyright notice be retained intact.

Music

Io vorrei pur fuggir, well-known from the recording by Walter Gerwig, edited for the December, 1971, issue by Cheryl Lew (PDF, 26.1 KB).
A Subplementum (page filler) printed by Georg Leopold Fuhrmann, taken from the January, 1972, issue (PDF, 12.9 KB).
A pair of anonymous Canaries from the Straloch MS, edited for the March, 1972, issue by Stanley Buetens (PDF, 41.0 KB). Note that in the MS only the pitches are supplied, so the suggested rhythmic interpretation was provided by the editor.
An anonymous Polish Dance from Gdansk MS 4022, edited by Donna Curry for the March, 1972, issue (PDF, 22.1 KB).
Another anonymous Polish Dance from Gdansk MS 4022, edited by Donna Curry for the June, 1972, issue (PDF, 26.6 KB).
A Phantasia printed by Matthäus Waissel, transcribed by Nancy Carlin for the November, 1972, issue (PDF, 33.8 KB).
A Gaillarde printed by Guillaume Morlaye in his Premier livre de tablature, taken from the February, 1973, issue (PDF, 23.2 KB).
Peg-A-Ramsey, a very easy piece by an anonymous composer, taken from the July, 1973, issue (PDF, 12 KB).
For the May, 1973, issue of the Newsletter Suzanne Bloch provided an Etude for sliding on a pivot finger. She noted, “You can play this with any rhythm you please or break the intervals upward or downward.” When no fingering is notated, keep the same one as for the preceding note (except for open strings). (PDF, 9 KB)
A Courante by an anonymous composer, taken from the January, 1974, issue (PDF, 32.5 KB).
From the April, 1974, issue, Le taxi triste, an Etude written by Suzanne Bloch to help in mastering the problem of simultaneous use of fingers 3 and 4 on the sixth and first courses, respectively, most typically on the third fret. The title resulted when the student for which the Etude was written arrived for his lesson shaken as a result of an incident involving a taxi. (PDF, 16 KB)
An intabulation by Sebastian Ochsenkuhn of a hymn tune by Heinrich Isaac, Herr Gott, laß dich erbarmen, better known as Innsbruck, ich muß dich lassen. The transcription from the German tablature was prepared by Douglas Alton Smith for the July, 1975, issue (PDF, 28.5 KB).
Ain niderlendisch runden dantz that appeared in Hans Judenkünig’s Ain schone künstliche underweisung (1523, Vienna). It was transcribed from the original German tablature for the October, 1975, issue by Ray Nurse (PCX, 90.6 KB – please select “Fit to page” when printing).
The Fantasia que contrahaze la harpa en la manera de Luduvico from the first of Alonso Mudarra’s 1546 Tres libros de musica en cifras para vihuela was edited for the July, 1976, issue of the Newsletter by Douglas Alton Smith. (PDF 40.4 KB)
Der Fuggerin Dantz and Hupffauff by Melchior Newsidler, transcribed from German into French tablature by Douglas Alton Smith for the January, 1977, issue of the Newsletter. (PDF, 41.4 KB)
Pavana – The Earle of Salisbury by William Byrd, printed in the January, 1979, issue of the Newsletter. (PDF, 31.8 KB)
Two pieces in Italian tablature that appeared as facsimiles on an insert in the January, 1979, issue.
- Fantasia Prima by Simone Molinaro from his 1599 Intavolatura di Liuto. (PDF, 109 KB)
- A Recercar by Marco dall’Aquila from MS 266 in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. (PDF, 239 KB)

Articles

Diana Poulton: An Appreciation of Her Life by Donna Curry, from the February, 1996, issue of the Quarterly. (PDF, 831 KB)

Editions

Early in the history of the Lute Society of America, separate editions of lute music were published approximately annually. They were distributed to then-current members free of charge and sold to nonmembers. The Board has now decided to make these editions freely available here for download. Again, we request that any further distribution be at no charge and that the copyright notice be retained intact.

Edition 2: La Bernardina by Francesco Spinacino, as a lute solo and as a duet for lutes in unison tuning – edition prepared by Lyle Nordstrom. (PDF, 70 KB)
Edition 5: Two English Duets, A Fancy by Mr. Marchant and A Treable & Ground, compiled and edited by Lyle Nordstrom. These duets had not previously been recognized as surviving in complete form, since the separate parts are found in different manuscripts. See the LSA Journal, Volume VI, page 46, 1973, for an overview. (PDF, 106 MB)
Edition 6: Dances from Matthäus Waissel’s Lautenbuch (1592), transcribed and edited by Nancy Carlin. (PDF, 112 KB)
Edition 7: Three Dances by Joanambrosio Dalza from Intabolatura de Lauto, Libro Quarto (1508), edited by Bruce MacEvoy. (PDF, 195 KB)
Edition 8: Six Branles from Jean Baptiste Besard’s collection, edited by Suzanne Bloch.
Edition 9: Eight Gautier Courantes in vieil accord, transcribed and edited by Peter Danner, with calligraphy by David S. Phillips.

Non-LSA Retro-Publications

During the 1970s, at the height of enthusiasm for the revival of interest in Early Music, a number of publications came into existence with the hope of spreading the news about this exciting new field. Many of them ceased publication fairly quickly, although a few, like Oxford University Press’ Early Music, have continued to thrive. Neverthless, there were some articles of enduring interest and value that appeared in the ephemeral journals, and we are pleased to be able to provide a wider free distribution for a few of them here. In this case also we request that any further distribution be at no charge and that the copyright notice be retained intact.

“Recommended Pitches for Lutes,” by Donna Curry, originally printed in Pro Musica Magazine, vol. 1, no. 6, p. 4 (1976), retro-published with permission of the author and the publisher. (PDF, 75 KB)
“Do-It-Yourself Lute Case,” by Donna Curry, originally printed in Pro Musica Magazine, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 16-22 (1977), retro-published with permission of the author and the publisher. (PDF, 456 KB)
“The Renaissance Thumb-Under Lute Technique,” by Bruce MacEvoy, originally printed in Divisions, vol. 1, no. iii, pp. 4-20 (1979), retro-published with permission of the author and the publisher. (PDF, 387 KB)

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