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Lute song
*** Shopping-Tip: Lute song
The
lute song was a generic form of music in the late
Renaissance music Renaissance and very early
Baroque music Baroque eras, generally consisting of a singer accompanying himself on a
lute, though lute songs may often have been performed by a singer and a separate lutenist.
Many of the composers of lute songs were themselves lutenists, and performed the songs themselves; many were also
madrigal (music) madrigalists or composers of
chanson chansons. In general, lute songs were written from about
1550 to around
1650, though there is evidence that some music was performed this way much earlier (for instance,
Baldassare Castiglione mentions that
frottola were sometimes performed by solo voice and lute, presumably in the first decade or so of the 16th century.)
The lute song flourished in
Italy,
France and
England; it had different styles and names in each location. In England, it was called the
ayre (or air). Famous composers included
John Dowland,
Thomas Campion, and
Philip Rosseter. In Italy, composers of lute songs included
Vincenzo Galilei and
Luzzasco Luzzaschi; the songs written later in the 16th century were the first to show Baroque characteristics. The French lute song was called the ''
air de cour'', and had a somewhat longer lifespan than elsewhere, due to the influence of ''
musique mesurée''; it also influenced early French
opera.
References and further reading
* {{NewGrove1980|Song|Geoffrey Chew|xvii|510-521}}
* Nigel Fortune, David Greer. "Air" in ibid., i, 180-182.
*
Gustave Reese, ''Music in the Renaissance''. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0393095304
Category:Musical forms
Category:Renaissance music
Category:Baroque music
