Lute, Theorbo and Guitar Ensemble

58 Very Easy Pieces for Renaissance Lute edited by Christopher Goodwin, John H. Robinson, and Jeanne Fisher, with left-hand fingerings by Lynda Sayce. 58 very easy pieces for 6-course lute, in a variety of styles, chosen from English, and Italian sources, approximately graded in order of difficulty for the beginner, or those wanting something genuinely easy to play, for a change! 40 pages. Also available and often bought in conjunction with this book: Jacob Heringman: Blame Not My Lute - Accompaniment CD for 58 Very Easy Pieces

Various: 70 Easy to Intermediate Pieces for Renaissance Lute. The third of the Lute Society's graded anthologies of easy pieces, starting with very easy music and progressing a little further, to intermediate level. Music from English, French, German, Italian and Low Countries sources; preludes, exercises and fantasias, with Continental dance forms predominating, for 6 or 7-course lute; all the pieces (but one) can be played on a 6-course lute. 70 pieces, 48 pages.

40 Easy to Early Intermediate Pieces for Renaissance Lute edited by Christopher Goodwin, with left-hand fingerings provided by Jessica Gordon, typeset by Peter Lay. A sequel to 58 Very Easy Pieces for Renaissance Lute, containing 40 pieces from Cambridge University Library MS Dd.2.11, Negri’s Le Gratie d’’Amore (1602), and Judenkünig’s Utilis et compenditaria introductio of c.1519, graded according to difficulty with left-hand fingerings throughout. Progresses to barré chords.

Jacob Heringman: Blame Not My Lute - Accompaniment CD for 58 Very Easy Pieces

114 Early to Intermediate Pieces for Renaissance Lute from a Student’s Lute Book of 1603 and other Manuscripts, edited by John Robinson; 36 pieces for 6-course lute, 45 for or playable on 7-course; and 28 pieces for 10-course lute (mostly playable on 7-course with adjustment). The core of the anthology is a complete transcription of a Jena student’s lute book of 1603 (now Dresden MS M 297), plus music from seven other Continental manuscripts of the same period; English, Dutch, French, Italian and German pieces: preludes, ballets, courantes, saltarelli, passamezzi and other grounds, song tunes, and a few fantasias and variant forms of Dowland pieces, 78pp,

158 Early Cinquecento Preludes and Recercars for Renaissance Lute, ed. John H. Robinson. This bumper collection for 6-course lute contains modern French tablature for most of the known examples of these genres, and includes all those by Franciscus Bossinensis, Vicenzo Capirola, Joan Ambrosio Dalza and Francesco Spinacino from the prints of the Venetian printer Octaviano Petrucci, plus further pieces edited and reconstructed from the earliest Italian manuscripts. Plenty of music for players of every standard, from easy, via intermediate to advanced, plus exhaustive concordances and commentary on the sources. 168 pages

19 Easy to Early Intermediate Pieces for Baroque Guitar from French and Iberian Manuscripts edited by Monica Hall; little-known pieces from manuscript sources, addding to the stock of easy and intermediate music available to baroque guitarists. Ten pieces, including works by Le Cocq and Corbetta, are in French tablature, and nine more, all by ’anon’ are in Italian tablature. 24 pages.

The Straloch Manuscript, edited by Wayne Cripps, a reprinted from Lyre Editions by their gracious permission. 30 pieces for renaissance lute, easy to early intermediate, mostly on 6 courses with a few forays down to lower courses, even the 10th course in once place, but all really playable on 6 courses, 38 pp

The Rowallan Manuscript, edited by Wayne Cripps, a reprinted from Lyre Editions by their gracious permission. 39 charming Scottish lute pieces for renaissance lute, mostly 6-course, with a few for 7, 8, or 9 courses, easy or early intermediate standard, 40 pages

57 Easy Pieces in Italian Tablature: Il Manoscritto MBs 1511b edited by Gian Luca Lastraioli and Francesco Tribioli, published by the Italian Societa del Liuto and sold with their kind permission, with introductory essay in Italian; a gentle introduction to playing from Italian tablature. The complete contents of an early 16th century MS for 6-course lute. 48 pages.

Bach for Baroque Lute, edited by Wilfred Foxe. Collected together from recent issues of Lute News. The works indicated for or associated with the lute in Bach’s lifetime: BWV 995, 996, 997, 998, 999, 1000 and 1006a, all for 13-course lute in D minor tuning, 12 pages of introduction and examples, 65 pages of French tablature.

Lessons for the Lute intermediate pieces selected and fully fingered by Anthony Bailes and Anne van Royen. First published in 1983, now reprinted with corrections and expanded commentary, 19 pieces, 47 pages, All for 6-course lute.

A Diverse Collection of Easy Pieces for the Baroque Lute, edited by Wilfred Foxe, contains 44 easier pieces, some arrangements and some original tablatures, from English, French, Italian, Scottish, German and Irish sources, with original pieces by composers including Bach, Weiss, Kropfgans, Mace, de Visée, Scarlatti and Reusner. The anthology is intended for the 13-course player, but quite a few of the pieces do not use the 12th and 13th courses and so could be played on an 11-course lute. 44 pp.

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..

19 English Folk Songs edited by Christopher Goodwin, is a collection of new arrangements of English folk songs for voice and 7-course lute (all are playable on a 6-course instrument); the songs are easy, and the accompaniments mostly of early intermediate standard. Some arrangements are by Kristian Buhl Mortensen, or Cecil Sharp (intabulated editorially); most are new arrangements by Chris Goodwin. 44 pages, ISBN 0 905655 57 5

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

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 Collected Lute Music of Marco Dall’Aquila edited by Denys Stephens and John H. Robinson. A much expanded and augmented bound edition of the complete works of one of the great early Italian lutenists, printed over several years in Lute News, with additional information, introduction, inventory, concordances, commentary and bibliography; 32 pages of introduction, and 101 pages of tablature, all for 6-course lute, much of it not too technically demanding.

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

Anthony Holborne, Music for Lute and Bandora for 6 to 9-course lutes (mostly playable on 6 or 7-course lutes), transcribed and edited in two volumes by Rainer aus dem Spring. Holborne is the second best-represented composer in the sources after John Dowland: volume 1 (218 pages) contains 58 lute solos, plus variant versions, 19 bandora solos, 2 lute songs, 10 appendix items; volume 2 (148 pages) contains full critical commentary, with variant bars fully written out in tablature. This is a comb-bound reprint of the original perfect bound edition.

Songs from the additional manuscript 4900 and other early sources

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