Lute Works, 1517

Featuring

Paolo Cherici
Vincenzo Capirola
Hayne van Ghizeghem
Bartolomeo Tromboncino
Antoine de Févin
Josquin des Prez

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Instruments

This recording uses both a lute in G and a vihuela in A, as the vihuela, though not a lute, is akin due to its identical tuning and was present in Italy.

Composer Biography

Vincenzo Capirola was born in Leno in 1474, later moved to Brescia and Venice, and died around 1550.

Album & Artwork

The Capirola manuscript is enriched with an extraordinary system of iconographic decorations, featuring a fantasy of subjects like peacocks, mythical creatures, and hunting scenes.

Compositional Technique

The Capirola manuscript includes detailed instructions and suggestions for performance practice, which are considered indispensable for performers then and now.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Vidal, the pupil who copied Capirola's lute works, intended for the manuscript to be preserved perpetually, believing the music contained as much harmony as musical art could express.

Composition History

The manuscript collection of lute compositions by Vincenzo Capirola, a gentleman from Brescia, was drawn up in 1517 by his pupil Vidal.

Compositional Technique

The direction 'tocca pian piano' ('play very softly') in Capirola's Non ti spiaqua lascoltar is considered by historians to be the earliest known dynamic marking.