Solo Lute, Guitar & Theorbo

These medieval pieces sound great on the mandolin. They also lay right under the fingers. There is both notation and TAB and no page turns for any of the pieces in this book. The reason? This book is made for musicians, by musicians. You can get the book with a CD and the guitar and mandolin are separate tracks. You can turn the mandolin totally off and play with the cd. There is no "Tick Tick" before the pieces, instead there are two measures of intro with the guitar, so you can sit and listen to the CD and become familiar with the pieces without it sounding like a learning CD. There are chords with the music and at the end of the book, there are examples of what the guitar is doing for many of the tunes in both tablature and notation. These tunes sound terrific, and are a great addition to any repertoire. You can use them for any kind of gig, or you can try doing some medieval fairs, medieval feasts or medieval weddings. The bowl back mandolin looks so much like the lute, most people would never know the difference. Often when I play the lute, they ask me if it's a mandolin. I play lute, guitar and more recently mandolin. I know the music. These pieces are particulary suited for the sound of the mandolin. I love playing them. The book is beautiful and scored professionally. The paper is heavy stock. The titles may not make a lot of sense, but these are great pieces. Many have variations to make them longer.

Bach's Complete Works for Lute (BWV 995-1000, 1006a) arranged for Archlute by Cherici.

Various Cadenzas and Passaggi for Theorbo from the Modena manuscript G 239 by an anonymous 17th century composer. Review written by Lynda Sayce for The Lute 1996 Vol. XXXVI : This is an edition of the so-called 'Modena tiorba manuscript' which has been the subject of a two articles by Mirco Caffagni (in Italian, in Quadrivium IX, fasc. 1 (1970), and in English, in Journal of the Lute Society of America XII (1979). The manuscript contains songs for solo voice and continuo, not included in this edition, and a section of bass progressions realized in tablature for theorbo in A. The latter are of considerable interest, partly because of their rarity, (the only comparable source surfaced recently in New York) but largely because they are extremely florid yet idiomatic examples of continuo realization. Bagnati's edition include a detailed introduction with a description of the manuscript and its contents, in Italian only. He recounts Caffagni's hypothesis from the aforementioned articles, that the manuscript was written out by Pietro Bertacchini, a Modenese collector, singer, and player of theorbo and archlute, and that the continuo exercises date from c.1670. Then follows the critical commentary, and a facsimile page. The exercises range from two-bar cadential realizations to quite extended pas-sages which include many typical bass-line progressions, and vary in difficulty from basic chords to elaborate cadences with slurs, campanellas and running bass divisions. The edition itself include the bass part, tablature (Italian) and a two-stave transcription. All are accurately and clearly laid out, the editorial decisions are sensible (and are tabulated in the commentary anyway) and the transcription not only opens up the edition to players of other instruments, but clearly reveals the voice leadings and inversions for the benefit of theorbists too. Bagnati retains the original order, where the progressions are roughly grouped by key. There are a few awkward page turns, and both the font and spacing of the tablature could be rather more friendly to the eye, but these are tiny quibbles, and a book of this type should in any case be studied in detail and committed to memory. A must for anyone interested in continuo playing, whether you have a theorbo or not.

Lute Song Arrangements of Scottish Gaelic Airs , arranged by Betsy Small, as they appeard in The Lutezine 142, in a comb-bound performing edition. 39 melodies from Scots and Gaelic songs, newly intabulated for renaissance lute, of 6, 7 or 8 courses, mostly playable on 6 coures, easy or early intermediate standard, 16 pages..

The Siena Lutebook: Transcriptions of the anonymous fantasias edited by Niki Andronikou, in Italian and French tab, and staff notation, with extensive commentary; 14 fantasias from this important 16th century source, for 6-course lute, intermediate level and above, 92 pages

from "Le Premier Livre", Paris (1552)

from "Libro de musica para Vihuela intitulado Orphenica lyra" Seville, 1554

British Library Additional Manuscript 31389

Francesco da Milano Fantasias in British Sources edited by Gordon Gregory. All the music by Francesco da Milano in British manuscript sources, all 6-course,minimally edited to preserve local variants; 20 pieces of music: 11 fantasias close to the ’canonic’ versions, 3 ornamented or corrupt versions, and 6 pieces of doubtful attribution, 46 pages.

The Lute In Its Historical Reality by Mimmo Peruffo

This is a high quality collection of Easy Pieces for Mandolin. If you play the mandolin, this is a must have book/cd collection. These medieval pieces sound great on the mandolin. They also lay right under the fingers. There is both notation and TAB and no page turns for any of the pieces in this book. The reason? This book is made for musicians, by musicians. The book comes with a CD and the guitar and mandolin are on separate tracks. You can turn the mandolin totally off and play with the CD. There are two measures of intro with the guitar, so you can sit and listen to the CD and become familiar with the sounds of the pieces without it sounding like a learning CD. There are chords with the music and at the end of the book, there are examples of what the guitar is doing for many of the tunes in both tablature and notation. These tunes sound terrific, and are a great addition to any repertoire. You can use them for any kind of gig, or you can try doing some medieval fairs, medieval feasts or medieval weddings. The bowl back mandolin looks so much like the lute, most people would never know the difference. Allan the author plays the lute, guitar and more recently mandolin and has a wealth of knowledge about the music. These pieces are particulary suited for the sound of the mandolin. The book is beautiful and scored professionally. The titles may not make a lot of sense, but these are great pieces with many of them having variations to make them longer.

A generous anthology of Celtic melodies, collated and presented by Allan Alexander and Jessica Walsh, and arranged for the Mandolin. From Cremonea to Planxty Burke , every tune includes performance notes and historical information. Guitar chord symbols are provided to guide your accompaniments, and a full CD of examples is included featuring Angelina Galashenkova-Reed playing the Mandolin. Melodies are provided in both notation and tablature.

This collection provides a fantastic introduction to the works of John Dowland, containing the easiest of his compositions, arranged in their order of difficulty. Dowland ranks among the outstanding figures in the history of 16th- and 17th-century European lute music. Martin Hegel arranged the works originally composed for lute so that they can now be played on the guitar at an intermediate level. The edition is suited for both teaching and playing in one's spare time.

Renaissance Lute Music from German Sources for 6-course lute, edited and transribed into French tablature by Martin Shepherd. 56 pieces, chosen on grounds of musical quality from 16th century printed sources, and ranging from very easy to fairly hard. 92 pages.

The Complete Lute Solos of Philip Rosseter edited by Robert Spencer, Stewart McCoy and John Robinson. 10 solos, 4 in alternative versions from different sources, for 6 to 9-course lutes by this accomplished musician of the ’Golden Age’, 44 pages

Bach's Complete Cello Suites (BWV 1007-1012) arranged for Archlute by Paolo Cherici. This edition is in tablature and modern notation.

Anthology from Tablatures by Pietro Paulo Borrono and Franvcesco da Milano for Lute

The Welde Lute Book for 6 to 7-course lutes, edited by Ian Harwood, John H. Robinson, Martin Shepherd and Stewart McCoy. A manuscript of c.1600, with 60 facsimile pages containing 39 pieces of music by Dowland, Bacheler, Collard, Holborne, Byrd, John Johnson and Robert Johnson. With introduction and concordances. 96 pages

The Folger 'Dowland' Manuscript for 6 to 7-course lute (mostly 6-course), edited by Ian Harwood, John H. Robinson and Christopher Goodwin. A manuscript in use from before 1594, to the early 17th century, 78 facsimile pages with 75 pieces of music, including autograph works by John Johnson, and John Dowland. With introduction and concordances. 114 pages

The complete works for Guitar by Robert de Visee.

Music by François Dufaut, Jacques de Gallot, Denis Gautier, Ennemond Gautier and Charles Mouton.

Music by Michel Blavet, François Dufaut, Denis Gautier, Johann Gumprecht, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jean Mercure, Nicolas de Merville and Anonymous composers.

UOESDS17 Music by Charles Bocquet, François Couperin, Du Fresneau, Ennemond Gautier, Johann Gumprecht, Labolle, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Charles Mouton, Nicolas Chevalier and Anonymous composers.