The Lute Society: Home Page

Updated membership map - showing the current approximate location of Lute Society members who have chosen to share their postcodes - see membership-map

Christmas is coming and we have lots of gifts for the lutenist in your life, plus cards and albums of Christmas music. There are gifts to suit every pocket, from our jumbo-sized lute manuscript facsimiles, of Herbert of Cherbury's lute book, or Mathew Holmes' lute book, to beginners' books, selected CDs, and lute-playing mouse paperweights; see catalogue. A membership makes a nice present, and we can send a generous welcome pack to a specified address, and the welcome PDFs and free downloads on Christmas Eve, to not spoil the surprise, see membership.

Next meeting, February 8th at the Dutch Church in London (nearest tubes, Bank, Liverpool Street) see meetings for the timetable, in due course. All welcome, just turn up - the day is free except for the final recital, tickets available on the day.

Issue 131 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.

New Beginners' lesson - 38 - Gigue (piece number 4 from 'Diverse Collection of Easy Pieces for the Baroque Lute’)

Lute Iconography Database (LuteIDB) - now updated to contain over 2200 images and additional search attributes. LuteIDB is a great resource for lute makers, players, art historians, researchers, and anyone who has an interest in the iconography of the lute. See the introduction to LuteIDB for background and details of how to use the search engine. The live version is at LuteIDB online.

New Lute Society Music Index - Lute Society Music Index compiled by Michael Heseltine, where you can search all the music supplements of Lute News by title or author.

Japanese language page on the website of Taro Takeuchi, who offers help for prospective Japanese members whose English is not very good, tarolute.crane.gr.jp/lutesociety.html

Recent additions to our free downloads and members compositions listings:

• 16th century Spanish music arranged for renaissance lute and treble instrument by Joaquim Bogunya Chesa
• Sonnets and Epigrams, for voice and lute, by David Protheroe, with piano score supplement.
• 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
• 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

Donations

The Lute Society’s finances are ticking over nicely with the present membership fees and it is breaking even in a safe and steady manner. But we would like to be able to fund occasional additional activities without having to raise the general membership fees to a level which would put off some from joining. If you feel able to help in this way, it will be greatly appreciated.

General Fund Donation Donating with this button will enable you to add an amount of your choice to our general fund. There will be an opportunity for UK tax payers to gift aid their donation after they click the donate button.

Student Bursary Fund Donation Donating with this button will enable you to add an amount of your choice to our Student Bursary Fund which will enable us to fund deserving students for places on short term music courses such as Benslow. There will be an opportunity for UK tax payers to gift aid their donation after they click the donate button.

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