-Neusidler 1: Hans Neusidler “Ein newgeordent künstlich Lautenbuch in zwen Theyl getheylt: der erst für die anfahenden Schuler’ (Nuremberg, 1536)37
-Neusidler 2: Hans Neusidler “Der ander theil des Lautenbuchs’ (Nuremberg, 1536)38

0.2 Primary source list/abbreviations

Printed lute tablatures
-Spinacino 1: Francesco Spinacino “Intabulatura de lauto libro primo” (Venice, 1507) 30

-Spinacino 2: Francesco Spinacino “Intabulatura de lauto libro secondo” (Venice, 1507)

13 The official name of the manuscript is suggested and discussed about “tablature’ by Marc Lewon in his dissertation; Lewon,

Transformational Practices in Fifteenth-Century German Music. 14 Ibid, p. 103, 171.

15 It contains also Neapolitan tablature, but added later period.

16 Robert Crawford Young and Martin Kirnbauer, Frühe Lautentabulaturen im Faksimile / Early lute tablatures in facsimile, ed. by Thomas Drescher (Pratica Musicale 6), (Winterthur/Schweiz: Amadeus, 2003), p. 130.

17 Ibid, pp. 162-163. The entire manuscript can be seen online:

http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/bcuf/CapRes0527

-Fri: Fribourg manuscript (Italian tablature) (CH-Fcu, Cap. Res. 527) [olim: Falk z 105]

-Loch: Lochamer Liederbuch (mensural notation & organ tablature) (D-B Mus. ms. 40613)29

The Lochamer Liederbuch contains not only keyboard tablature but also monophonic and polyphonic songs, and a section called “Fundamentum Organisandi” attributed to Conrad Paumann which will be discussed in chapter 2.3.

-WolfT: Wolfenbüttel Lute Tablature (Lute tablature)13(D-Wa cod. VII B Hs Nr. 264) ca. 1460

-Cap: Capirola Lute Book (Italian tablature) (USA-Cn Case M S V M C. 25) ca. 1517

Extraordinarily ornamented book preserving Vincenzo Capirola’s work,

created by his student Vidal. The book contains a preface explaining, among other things, the meaning of signs in intabulations and how to play the lute beautifully.

The preface starts as follows:

“Compositions of Meser Vincenzo Capirola, gentleman of Brescia. Considering that several divine works have been lost by the ignorance of their owners,

and desiring that this almost divine book written by me will be preserved forever, I, Vidal have adorned it with such noble paintings, so that if it should be owned by somebody with no knowledge in the (musical) field, he would keep it for the beauty of the pictures. Surely, the things written in this book have as much harmony as the art of music may express. This will be very clear to those who diligently read through it. It is most important to preserve this for the future, as several pieces have not yet been given by the composer to anybody else other than me. Do not be surprised if in the beginning or further on in the book you find some easy or short pieces, as I needed them at the beginning of my studies and being good I include them here.”18

-Pes: Pesaro manuscript (French tablature)15 (1-PESo MS 1144) from

ca. 1480–1490

The Pesaro manuscript consists of 170 paper leaves containing Italian poetry and tablature for lute and lira da braccio. The bookbinding suggests it is from the Salzburg school of bookbinding. At least 4 different scribes contributed to the creation of this manuscript.16

The Buxheimer Orgelbuch contains a piece, which is an intabulation of a chanson by Gilles Binchois “Jelaymors” (= “Je loe amours et ma dame mercye”). This piece is often cited as an indication that organ tablature was also used in plucked ensembles such as the lute duo: The rubric below the title of the piece “In Cytaris vel etiam In Organis” could indicate the alternative mode of performance for lute duo (or other combinations such as lute and harp, or solo harp/lute) (figure 1.10).28

Hans Neusidler (ca. 1508/9–1563) was a composer, lute player and lute maker.39 He is regarded as a lute teacher: he published eight books which also contain an introduction to lute playing and some of the pieces feature left-hand fingerings with dot signs (figure 1.14 and 1.15).40 Difficulties of the pieces are varied in his book with the pieces becoming more difficult towards the end. Neusidler's book starts from 1 to 2 voices, then progresses to 3 voices, and then 3 voices which are embellished with diminutions and eventually 4 voices towards the end of his book. Often, he reduces the number of voices of the intabulated models. There are some intabulations from chansons, which should have three voices, but are only

intabulated with tenor and contra tenor (lacking the cantus), which is unusual because cantus and tenor are regarded as the most important voices. Marc Lewon suggested to interpret this as a lute-duo practice: “Neusidler’s treatment of the lower voices of Cecus non judicat de coloribus [...] seems, in fact, to apply the same principle that Spinacino already used in his duets: tenor and contratenor are set up in a very similar fashion, while the missing upper voice can be added easily in the form of improvised diminutions.”41!

The earliest surviving lute tablature in Western-Europe. It consists of two paper folios containing five intabulations for five-course solo lute. The tablature is written on 5 staves with “open note heads” that are tied together with vertical lines (“concordancia” in historical terminology), and also indicates musica ficta with stems down, similar to keyboard tablature. These signs are similar to the ones explained in The Kassel Collum Lutine (D-Kl, 2° Ms. Math. 31, fols. I, II, 1r–v) which however does not contain any actual musical samples.14

Containing only one piece for lute, an intabulation of “De tous biens plain”, the Fribourg manuscript consists of 239 paper pages. It was owned by Peter Falk (1468–1519), a notary and court clerk in Fribourg as recorded in 1493, and mayor of Murten during 1505 to 1510. He is also documented to have frequently travelled to Milano. It is unknown when exactly it was written. It is often assumed to date somewhere between 1513 and 1519, but Young suggests that judging by the style the music it might have been composed long before the 1490's.17

These two publications by Italian lutenist Francesco Spinacino are the earliest publications of lute music.31 Aside from solo pieces, they contain duets that are generally considered to be a written documentation of the lute duo practice as it existed in the 15th century. However, the cantus part is written with a consistent rhythm, which contradicts the description of how Pietrobono improvised (Pietrobono was a lute well-documented lute

Figure 1.12 Spinacino 1, fol. 3r virtuoso in the 15th century, known for improvising on top of the tenorista.32 It will be discussed in Chapter 2.2 Pietrobono, Henricus and Orbo).

These two publications by Italian lutenist Francesco Spinacino are the earliest publications of lute music.31 Aside from solo pieces, they contain duets that are generally considered to be a written documentation of the lute duo practice as it existed in the 15th century. However, the cantus part is written with a consistent rhythm, which contradicts the description of how Pietrobono improvised (Pietrobono was a lute well-documented lute

Figure 1.12 Spinacino 1, fol. 3r virtuoso in the 15th century, known for improvising on top of the tenorista.32 It will be discussed in Chapter 2.2 Pietrobono, Henricus and Orbo).

These two publications by Italian lutenist Francesco Spinacino are the earliest publications of lute music.31 Aside from solo pieces, they contain duets that are generally considered to be a written documentation of the lute duo practice as it existed in the 15th century. However, the cantus part is written with a consistent rhythm, which contradicts the description of how Pietrobono improvised (Pietrobono was a lute well-documented lute

Figure 1.12 Spinacino 1, fol. 3r virtuoso in the 15th century, known for improvising on top of the tenorista.32 It will be discussed in Chapter 2.2 Pietrobono, Henricus and Orbo).