The lute was a popular instrument for both professionals and amateurs in England
and Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries. Professional lutenists required the
patronage of the Court to make a living and indeed many of their students
amongst the nobility became quite decent performers and composers in their own
right. As an "amateur with a day job" myself, I want to pay homage to those
whose love of music was expressed both through their compositions and their
patronage of the full time professionals.
The album opens with a Plainte by the great baroque lute composer Sylvius
Leopold Weiss. This is not a plainte of love, but rather a complaint to an
un-named patron who failed to pay his fee! There are two versions of this piece,
one each in the London and Dresden manuscripts. I have tried to use the best
features of both.
A Patron who did support Weiss was Prince Hyacinth de Lobkowitz (1680-1734), in
fact Weiss dedicated one of his Dresden lute sonatas to the Prince. Lobkowitz
was regarded as a fine performer and two of his lute suites survive. The suite
in Bb major performed here is tuneful, rhythmic and shows an advanced mastery of
technique. It is found in the Vienna 1078 manuscript.
Much less is known about Count Ferdinand Graf von Bergen (1678-1766), although
fully five suites of his have survived in three manuscripts. While his music is
charming the lute tablature can be awkward to play as written and does benefit
from some re-working. His suite in A minor, also from the Vienna 1078
manuscript, contains the rarely used Tournée, a dance in 2/4 time.
Johann Anton Logy (1650-1721) (also spelled Losy) was a Count in Prague and
composed for both baroque lute and baroque guitar. He is perhaps best known for
a piece written in his honor by Sylvius Weiss following Logy's death (Tombeau
sur la mort de Monseigneur Comte de Logi). The solo works performed here are
from the Swedish Kalmar manuscript. The four surviving duet movements (in A
minor and F major) do fit together well to make their own suite. The chaconnes
movement is an amalgamation of two chaconnes, the first in D minor and the
second in F major. This pairing was performed this way by the lutenist Toyohiko
Satoh during a recital at the Lute Society of America's Summer Seminar and I
feel that it works quite well.
The British physician Thomas Campion (1567-1620) was a poet and composer and
wrote over 100 lute songs that survive today. Unusual for the period, some are
written from the woman's point of view and we include three such examples here.
Finally, to close the loop of Patronage, the album ends with a new piece that I
commissioned from the modern day lutenist and composer Ronn McFarlane. Ronn is a
prolific performer, founding member of the Baltimore Consort and his album of
his own compositions, Indigo Road, was nominated for a Grammy. The Passacaglia
he wrote for this album is, I believe, one of his most beautiful compositions
and it's my honor to present the world premier.
