This manual is a guide to the study of the Renaissance lute, taking the student on a step-by-step journey through technical matters and exercises of increasing difficulty. It is aimed at both the beginner and those who would like to improve their own technique. Special attention has been given to those who have specialized in guitar, so where necessary some important differences between the techniques of the two instruments have been underlined. All the material has been set out following a rational approach to the various challenges. To this end I thought it useful to write many of the exercises myself, especially those at the beginning of the course. I hope to guide the student from the technical basics to a level sufficient for playing music of intermediate difficulty. Of course, any material regarding technique will help the student progress to higher levels. The main areas covered are: hand positions, according to Renaissance practice; study of appropriate sonority; development of contrapuntal sensitivity; idiomatic techniques; introduction to the different Renaissance musical forms; recognition of different interrelational forms.

With the benefit of her many years' study of the repertoire and teaching of the instrument, Diana Poulton has completely re-cast her earlier book (An Introduction to Lute Playing, 1961) to produce, in A Tutor for the Renaissance Lute, the most comprehensive method for the lute based on Renaissance precepts. The book will be found equally useful to students working alone – giving clear instructions on all technical matters, progressively introduced according to their difficulty – and to teachers (providing a source of some seventy-five pieces from which to structure their pupils' progress). The advanced student, too, will find that much of the music is suitable for recital programmes.

This book is intended as an intensive course for teenage and adult beginners on the lute, with or without experience on the classical guitar, as a self- tutor or with a teacher, as well as for experienced lutenists who wish to re-evaluate their technique and musical approach. As a prerequisite, I assume basic knowledge of modern music notation and rudimentary sight-singing ability. If these skills are lacking, I suggest taking the time to develop them. There are several excellent modern methods available for the renaissance lute. I shall cover similar ground in some respects, while additionally emphasizing a vocal approach by using original or imagined texts and employing modern notation (in addition to lute tablature) to help deepen our understanding of the music. My experience is that these tools can bring us closer to the subtleties inherent in our repertoires. Furthermore, I put added emphasis on historical source material, rhetorical expression in performance, physical efficiency of playing based on anatomical principles, and on mental imagery and training. The focus is on solo music played in the ‘old tuning’ from 1507 (Spinacino) until 1623 (Piccinini), with a brief foray into early 18th century music (Zamboni). The instruments in question are lutes of six to ten courses (the latter were played long into the ‘baroque’ era, as well as the archlute. Different right-hand positions were used during this time; I will present the ‘thumb-under’ technique for 16th century music, and the ‘thumb-out’ position for 17th and 18th century music.

  Le Luth Doré is thrilled and very proud to announce the most recent addition to its highly acclaimed series of fine urtext editions of the historic plucked instrument repertoire and pedagogical treatises, Peter Croton’s eagerly anticipated "A Method for the Baroque Lute based on Historical Sources" (Le Luth Doré, Paris, 2022), a 352 page historical and practical guide to mastering the baroque lute, as well as an introduction to playing continuo in the d-minor tuning.  Teachers and students, as well as scholars, will want this important new work, the fruit of years of Croton’s careful research and scholarship, his personal solo performances and recordings as well as his practical experience teaching a generation of lute students at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland.  This book is an intensive tutor for the baroque lute, intended for those with previous experience on a lute-family instrument or the classical guitar, and the emphasis is on the learning process rather than developing a large repertoire.  The music and preparatory exercises contained within are based on original material taken primarily from historical sources in the 17th and 18th centuries. There is an exploration of historical performance practice, which gives us more understanding, and – in bringing us closer to the essence of the music – more possibilities for moving the listeners. In addition, there is an introduction to anatomy, biomechanics and mental training as relates to lute playing.