The most important household instrument of the Renaissance was the lute, a close relative of the Arabic oud (عود) mandolin, and guitar, and known in Europe as the "king of instruments." The lute was ideal for home use: portable and capable of melody, harmony, and counterpoint.
Nicholas Lanier | Anonymous, c. 1613 | Lanier was a musician in the service of Charles I and Charles II. | Weiss Gallery
Solo Lute
Cross-Cultural Echos
The lute is the quintessential instrument of Europe's High Renaissance. However, the lute actually originated in West Asia, introduced to Europe by the Arabic-speaking Moors during their occupation of Spain and parts of Italy and France (711-1492). In Arabic, the lute is known as an oud or ʿūd (عود). The appearance of the oud in Europe during the Middle Ages is one example of many musical cross-cultural exchanges between West Asia and Europe.
The oud and lute are played similarly to the guitar, but feature a shorter neck and round back.
Lute Sheet Music
The earliest surviving lute manuscript dates back to late fifteenth-century Italy. The advent of the printing press in 1450 revolutionized the music industry by enabling the mass production of music scores. Notably, Petrucci’s publication of lute works by Francesco Spinacino (c. 1507) and Joan Ambrosio Dalza (c. 1508) sparked a wave of music across Europe. This influx of music not only popularized the lute but also helped establish it as a prominent instrument in both homes and royal courts.
Early lute music often imitated the style of polyphonic choral music. For example, this lute ricercare by Francesco da Milano (1497-1543) begins with each melodic line entering in succession, echoing or imitating the prior line:
La Compagna | Francesco da Milano | Israel Golani, Renaissance lute
La Compagna starts with typical imitative choral textures, but soon introduces fast scales and register changes that are uncharacteristic of vocal writing, hinting at stylistic shifts to come in the future. By the late Renaissance, lute composers had largely adopted an idiomatic instrumental style. That is, the use of musical techniques unique to the lute, such as arpeggiated chords, strums, tremolo, rapid scales, and ornaments.
John Dowland
The lute’s initial popularity in England can be traced back to the reign of Henry VIII, which lasted from 1509 to 1547. During this period, Henry employed lutenists at court, primarily Flemish or Italian performers, and even took lute lessons himself. However, the lute’s peak popularity occurred during the subsequent Elizabethan era. Ondeed, Queen Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was an exceptional lutenist.
John Dowland is recognized as the greatest English lutenist-composer of his era. Many of his works are for the lute and no less demonstrative of his genius than his songs and consorts. His lute solos have been revived by guitarists during the 20th century and often performed by early music specialists on replica lutes.
Dowland's solo lute setting of My Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home is an example of idiomatic lute writing: bristles with scales, arpeggios, and ornaments. This piece celebrates Lord Willoughby's return to England after leading a military force to help the Dutch win independence from Spain.
My Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home | John Dowland (first piece only)
Ensemble Music
Full Consort
Consort music, i.e., instrumental ensembles, was played as entertainment in homes and royal courts. An ensemble of similar instruments is a full consort. For example, soprano recorder, alto recorder, tenor recorder and bass recorder belong to the same instrumental family and, played together, form a full consort.
Broken Consort
An ensemble of mixed instrument types—e.g., violin, lute and flute—is called a broken consort.
Francis Pilkington (c. 1565-1638), a contemporary of John Dowland, was a composer, lutenist, and singer. Like Dowland, he earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Oxford. Unlike Dowland, Pilkington served the Church of England as an ordained priest. Pilkington mainly composed secular music and left a trove of lute solos and duets, ayres, madrigals, and lute songs.
Pilkington's Echo was written for two lutes, but played here on guitars. This work is unique insofar as melodic motives echo between the two guitars.
Echo | Francis Pilkington | Frary Guitar Duo (2:30)
Popular Dance
The secular tendencies of the Renaissance resulted in a surge of dance music. Much of the instrumental music of the Renaissance was based on popular dance forms such as the pavane, galliard, bourrée, and jig.
Dance music was popular entertainment in homes and royal courts. This music was optimized for enjoyment of the player and listener, featuring virtuosity and expressiveness. In other words, it was moving away from being danceable.
Praetorius
Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He arranged a collection of over three hundred dances for instrumental ensembles and published them in a book entitled Terpsichore. Terpsichore is the Greek goddess of dance and pronounced "terp-sick-core-rean." We'll listen to one of the pieces, La Bourrée, arranged here for broken consort. It's a brisk French dance in duple meter with clear-cut phrases, a strong beat and homophonic texture.
La Bourrée (Terpsichore,1612) | Michael Praetorius | Voices of Music (2:08)
Galliard
The Earle of Essex Galliard is based on a lively dance in triple meter known as a galliard. To gain favor at court, John Dowland dedicated his pieces to nobles, in this case, Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex. This work is also known under the title of Can She Excuse My Wrongs? The Earle of Essex Galliard is performed by a full consort of recorders (first piece of a set of two).
The Earle of Essex Galliard | John Dowland | Consortium 5 (5:49)
Jig
The jig is a spritely Irish folk dance, originating during the sixteenth century. Its popularity was such that jigs were performed after plays in Elizabethan theaters and, over four hundred years later, are still found in Celtic folk music.
Actor, dancer and comedian, William Kemp (c. 1600), was one of the original actors in Shakespeare's plays. He won a wager that he could dance from London to Norwich (eighty miles) and Kemps Jig commemorates that event.
Kemp's Jig is based on a repeating aab structure of cadencing four-measure phrases. Many versions of this piece are exist from the seventeenth century and today we listen to a version for broken consort.
Kemp's Jig | Anonymous | Broken Consort (listen to first piece only)
Vocabulary
lute, full consort, broken consort, Francis Pilkington, Michael Praetorius, bourrée, galliard, jig
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Solo Lute
Cross-Cultural Echos
Popular Dance
