1 The Romantic period signals the emergence of the highly individual composer away from tradition, the growing emphasis on written music and insistence on being faithful to the composer’s increasingly accurate written indications. Yet the much freer Baroque approach to musical performance has now even affected composers such as Beethoven (1770-1827) – with smaller orchestras, period instruments, changes in tempi and a different articulation of notes. Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) once complained that one of his musicians, trained in the earlier tradition, would not play “what was written” to the letter, and insisted on adding his own ornaments! This clearly implies that right into the early 19^th century there were still a few musicians carrying on the centuries-old tradition of personal improvisation, score or no score. The point is simply that the phrase “early music” does not refer only to specific periods; it also implies an attitude to performance fundamentally different from ours, based as it is on playing written material without any personal addition to it.

2 Arthur Ness is responsible for the cataloguing of the lute music by Francesco Canova da Milano, whose pieces are now referred to as “Ness n°-”.

3 As recently as 2004 a 200-page collection of seven manuscripts of lute music (in all, no less than a hundred and sixty-seven pieces) was found at Schloss Rohrau near Vienna, which was duly ascribed to Sylvius Leopold Weiss, the last great composer for the lute and virtuoso, who died the same year as his (then) lesser known friend Bach, in 1750.

4 The lute was imported into Europe in the Middle Ages through contact with the Arabs. Indeed the very word “lute” comes from the Arabic “al oud” meaning “wood”.

5 In the typically Renaissance “hierarchy of fingers” on the human hand, the thumb is the strongest, followed by the medium finger (because of the pincer movement and opposition of the two), then the index, then the ring finger, then the little finger. This is taken into account for right-hand fingerings and is actually an anatomical fact.

6 Quite a few monarchs played the lute: James V and VI of Scotland, Mary Queen of Scots and possibly her arch-rival Elizabeth I (known to have been proficient also on the virginals, a type of small harpsichord).

7 See Ulysses’s speech in William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, act 1, scene 3, l. 109-110: “Take but degree away, untune that string, / And hark what discord follows!”.

8 The workshops of lute makers were no paltry affairs, as inventories prove: we have strong evidence that the better-known luthiers actually contracted out certain tasks to suppliers, such as turning pegs or carving intricate roses, so as to meet the demand.

9 A system whereby notes are designated by specific syllables, widely in use outside Europe (traditional Indian and Chinese music function on such a system).

10 Tonality established itself only in the late 17^th century.

11 Jazz musicians use both systems.

12 John Forbes (Aberdeen), Songs and Dances to 3, 4 or 5 partes (for voice and violas de gamba), comprising 77 songs, 25 of which Scottish, with a few pieces by John Dowland.

13 Music of Carolan, published by O’Carolan’s son in Dublin.

14 Such lack of printed music probably reflects social, political and economic conditions. It takes a potentially thriving market for printers to do their trade, especially since lute pieces, using lute tablature, necessitated special fonts and engraving techniques, a costly and time-consuming business. The lute tablature does away with notes, showing only where the fingers should be put on the fingerboard, and note values.

15 The first such society to have been founded in Europe in 1956. There are now quite a few lute societies, in France, Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, The United States, and Japan.

16 From the Gaelic “Cailín ó Chois tSiúre mé” (“I am a girl from the Suir-side”).

17 As it is, the tune, originally repeated as many times as there were stanzas to the song, lends itself well to the Renaissance art of divisions if it is to be played several times.

18 William Shakespeare, Henry V, act IV, beginning of scene 4 (I underline):
Pistol: Yield, cur!
French Soldier: Je pense que vous êtes gentilhomme de bonne qualité.
Pistol: Qualitie calmie custure me! Art thou a gentleman?
What is thy name? discuss.

19 The only reference to the lute (among other instruments) is to be found in Peadar Ó Doirnin’s 1675 poem entitled “The Lover’s Invitation” (“Úrchnoc Chéin mhic Cáinte”).

20 See Richard Holland, Book of the Howlate (1450); Gawain Douglass, Palice of Honour (1501); Alexander Hume, Hymnes or Sacred Songs (1594); John Burel, The Queenis… Entry (1590); Robert Aytoun, Bothwell (1569-1638); William Drummond of Hawthornden, To His Lute (1585-1649).

21 For instance, “Swit Saint Nikcolas”, in The Rowallan Manuscript, folios 8-9.

22 One should bear in mind that in those days musicians were considered as servants, hence obliged to follow their masters wherever they went.

23 Pierre de Bourdeille, Seigneur de Brantôme (1540-1614), 16^th-century chronicler, went to Scotland in 1561 and spent some time at Mary Stuart’s court.

24 The only portrait of him – an unfinished miniature – shows him holding a lute, with the typical Renaissance right-hand thumb-inside position, the fingers parallel to the strings.

25 The masque blends instrumental and vocal music, costumes, dancing, poetry and allegories around set themes.

26 The “brawl” (French branle) is a circular dance with men and women holding hands so as to form a ring. The basic steps are two steps on the left followed by two smaller steps on the right, so there are many types of “brawl” involving more complicated figures.

27 Rob MacKillop, aka Robert Philips (see Bibliography: “References on Irish music – Books, book chapters, dissertations, reports and music scores” and “Recordings”).