Category Early Music

Early music with classical guitar, lute, theorbo, vihuela and Baroque guitar. Music of the Renaissance and Baroque eras for classical guitar.

Reading French Tablature on Guitar

Introduction to Reading and Playing French Tablature on Guitar

Introduction French tablature was a common tablature style for lute and early guitar in the Renaissance and Baroque period, in particular, around England and France. Early music enthusiasts and professions still use and read French tablature today. Like modern tablature,…

Josh Moore Plays A Fancy by Dowland

Josh Moore performs A Fancy (Poulton No.73) by John Dowland (1563-1626). This comes via Guitar Salon International and their YouTube channel and performed on a Wolfgang Jellinghaus La Romantica guitar. Great performance here with lots on nice attention to the motivic exchanges in the work…

Fantasia No.1 by Luis de Milan

Fantasia No.1 by Luis de Milán (c.1500-1561) – Originally for vihuela. PDF sheet music arranged for classical guitar. Comes with both a notation edition with left hand fingering and a separate unfingered notation edition and a modern tab edition. PDF Download.…

Yair Avidor Plays La Forqueray by Duphly

Yair Avidor Plays La Forqueray by Duphly

Yair Avidor performs his transcription for theorbo of La Forqueray by French harpsichordist and composer Jacques Duphly (1715-1789). This comes via Avidor’s YouTube channel. Originally for keyboard, Avidor states, “This fine piece, so full of grandeur, is taken from Duphly’s Troisième livre de pièces de…

A Brief History of Pitch and Tuning

Musicians on Pitch – A brief history of pitch and tuning practices in music, in particular, in the music of Bach. The amazing Netherlands Bach Society via their YouTube from their project All of Bach interview various musicians on the history of pitch and tuning…

Duo Diversitas Play Sonata BWV 1020 by Bach

Duo Diversitas with Marisa Minder (guitar) and Evgeniya Spalinger (Flute) perform the third movement Allegro from Sonata in G minor, BWV 1020 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). This comes via Minder’s YouTube channel.  This is originally for flute and obbligato harpsichord and arranged…

Marcin Dylla Plays Sonata in D Minor by Weiss

Classical guitarist Marcin Dylla performs Sonata in D Minor by Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1687–1750), originally for Baroque lute. This comes via Dylla’s YouTube channel. Great performance by Dylla with excellent pacing and attention to the flowing galant style of Weiss.…

Evangelina Mascardi Plays London Suite IV by Weiss

Evangelina Mascardi performs London Suite IV in G major by Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1686–1750) on Baroque lute in Orte, Italy. This comes via Mascardi’s YouTube channel. I adore Weiss and Mascardi’s performance is wonderfully elegant. The combination of a strong rhythmic character and flowing galant lines…

Rercercata Bella Collaboration with Elizabeth Pallett

Rercercata Bella, an anonymous Renaissance lute work from the Siena Lute Book. Performance, sheet music, lesson, and discussion for classical guitar or lute. This is a collaboration with Elizabeth Pallett via Luteweb on YouTube (go subscribe) and Luteweb.com. I had…

Baroque Guitar Works on a Saers Guitar A90

Baroque guitar works performed on a Saers Guitar A90. Here I’m performing two Baroque guitar works to get a bit more out of the Saer guitar that I recently reviewed. The first work is a beautiful little Aria by Italian…

Why do we need scholarly editions of music?

Why do we need scholarly editions of music? Here is an excellent video on the importance of creating music editions with a scholarly or inquisitive mind. This is outrageously relevant to lute and early guitar scores that include a variety…

Evangelina Mascardi, vihuela

Evangelina Mascardi Plays Fantasia VII by Mudarra

Evangelina Mascardi (Vihuela) performs Fantasia VII by Alonso Mudarra (1510–1580) from Tres libros de musica en cifras para vihuela. This comes via Mascardi’s YouTube channel. Beautiful performance with excellent voice entries, phrasing, and rhythmic delivery. I learn so much about a natural delivery of…