The Lute Society: Home Page

Christmas is coming! A Lute Society membership makes a great gift for the lutenist in your life! We can send out a new members' pack plus recent magazines (under plain cover if you want it to be a surprise on the day, last UK posting day: Thursday 20th December) and a welcome email with lots to download, on Christmas Eve, contact the secretary for details. Plus we have lots of other gifts, from lute music facsimiles to a lute-playing mouse paperweight, albums of Christmas music, and Lute Society Christmas cards showing a beautiful altarpiece by Gerard David in our catalogue.

Issue 127 of Lute News is now out - see its colour front cover and ezine. See a gallery of previous front covers on the publications page, under Lute News back issues.

158 early Cinquecento preludes and recercars - a bumper collection of early Italian lute music, all standards, beginner to advanced, see catalogue for details.

Beginners' lesson - 34 - Adrian le Roy Fantasie (piece no. 57 in '70 Easy to Intermediate Pieces for Renaissance Lute'), by Lynda Sayce.

New free plans available for a Four course guitar by Jesus Alonso Yllana

New Lute Iconography Database - the Lute Iconography Database is a new online resource holding around 2000 images and other depictions of the lute covering over 1000 years of the history of the lute, now available for scholars, players and lute makers and anyone else interested in the history of the lute. Delve in and enjoy!

Global map of Lute Society members An exciting new development to help put members in touch with each other. Find out if there are other members near you with our interactive membership map

Recent additions to our free downloads listings:

• A song setting of Miserere, My Maker (Anon) from the Turpyn Book of Lute Songs, by Wilfred Foxe.
• The Dohna Lute Book - a digital facsimile reconstruction of a book of three German tabulatures by Mattheus Waissel: Lautenbuch 1592-12, Tabulatura Allerley [1592]-13 and Tabulatura Guter 1592-14.
• Four Songs from the Book of Common Prayer for voice, lute and viol by Roy Marks.
• The Improvising Lutenist, by Gilbert Isbin - designed to teach improvisation in a contemporary style.

New page covering small ads - lute music for sale.

The Lute Online Resources Portal is now live. Most websites mentioned in the last 15 years of Lute News now have links there, and some of the pages are reasonably complete. Others have only sample content - particularly the composers and sources pages - new material will be added to these each day. You are warmly invited to send in interesting links you think we have missed - let's build a Grand Universal Lute Portal!

Looking for a lute player, accompanist, duet partner, or beginner's 'buddy'? We can help you find a lute player in your area, or for your special event (wedding, banquet, advert etc). We are also starting up a lute buddying scheme to put new players in touch with lute buddies in their area.

For previous news items, see Old news

Recent pages on this website

• Some selected recordings from meetings are now available.
• Back issues of Lute News now available for purchase online. Now you can fill in any missing copies in your collection.
• New pieces on our members' compositions pages - recent updates by David Protheroe, Steven Watson, Laudon Schuett and others.
• Photos of recent Lute Society meetings and events by Pam and Graham Hope - photo gallery - meetings and photo gallery - events. Also updated with gallery of many older photos from our archive going back to 2003.
• Update to our free baroque lute tabulature download page: Intabulations of Lully by Mouton, for 11 Course Baroque Lute.
• The first Lute Society summer school - Early Lute Society Summer Schools remembered by Bill Samson.

New Music Editions

See our catalogue for details and to purchase online:

• 158 early Cinquecento preludes and recercars - a bumper collection of early Italian lute music, all standards, beginner to advanced
• Christmas cards and albums of Christmas music for lute(s) and voice(s)
• Compendium of 178 Polish dances - another bumper edition!
• Fun merchandise! Lute-playing mouse paperweight

Contact the secretary

The Secretary, Christopher Goodwin
Southside Cottage, Brook Hill, Albury
Guildford, England GU5 9DJ
Tel: (+44/0)1483 202159

or if your email bounces back from this, try