A History of the Lute: From Antiquity to the Renaissance  
  
In ‘A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance’, Douglas Alton Smith traces the development of the lute from its mythical prehistory in Classical Greece to its glorious flowering in Europe’s golden age of polyphony.

The book explores the musical and cultural reasons why the lute became the pre-eminent musical instrument of the Renaissance, explaining why European poets associated the lute with the ancient Greek lyre. It recalls the sixteenth-century lute makers, who produced instruments of such musical and physical beauty that modern luthiers still emulate tem today. It explorers the world and the music of the most prominent medieval and Renaissance lute players, and composers.

The author weaves these and many other threads into a rich and detailed tapestry of a story that the general reader can enjoy. The book will also serve as an invaluable research tool for musicians, musicologists, and cultural historians. It’s scholarly depth, biographical and stylistic studies, extensive bibliography and index, 74 illustrations, and 55 musical examples will make it a standard reference work for the foreseeable future.

Author Douglas Alton Smith
Duration 366 pages
Dimensions 210mm x 275mm
Hard Cover

£65 including free UK shipping