Bernhard Hofstötter, the lutenist on this album, was born in Vienna in 1975 and initially studied violin, winning a national competition in Austria.
Cultural Impact
The Cracow Lute Tablature includes numerous Latin aphorisms, mostly from Ovid's works, suggesting it served practical and educational functions for literary and musical entertainment.
Historical Context
The Cracow Lute Tablature is the only surviving lute tablature manuscript from the Polish-Lithuanian region, besides two lost sources.
Compositional Technique
The Cracow Lute Tablature functions as a lutenist's textbook, showing a learning progression from simple intabulations to dances with dense diminutions and specific fingerings.
Composition History
The Cracow Lute Tablature is a comprehensive manuscript with entries ranging from before 1553 to the early 17th century, created by at least five different scribes.
Composer Biography
The manuscript contains works by Valentin Greff Bakfark, a central figure in European lute music around 1550, who served at the court of Sigismund II, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
Instruments
Bernhard Hofstötter performs on a 7-course lute, a replica of an instrument by Vendelio Venere, made by Renatus Lechner in 2017.
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