J oumal

of the Lute Society of America

D( )UGlas Alton Smith

Editor

Michael Miranda
Associate Editor

Chris Henriksen
A Possible Likeness ofJohn Dowland

Douglas Alton Smith & Mirco Caffagni

Autobiography of Pietro Bertaccbini

George Torres
French Lyricism in 17rf' century ‘pieces de luth ’

Per Kjteil Farstad

Ufe & UCorAj· of Ernst Gottlieb Baron

Volume XXX
1997

ISSN 0076-1526
Journal of the Lute Society of America
Volume XXX 1997

Douglas Alton Smith

Editor

Michael Miranda
Associate Editor

Editorial Board
Paul Beier, Civica Scuola, Milan John Griffiths, University ofMelbourne
Dinko Fabris, Conservatorio di Bari Frederick Hammond, Bard College, N. Y.
Franco Pavan, Università degli Studi, Milano Wallace Rave, Arizona State University
Hopkinson Smith, Schola Contenuti, Basel Grant Tomlinson, Vancouver, B.C.

Contents

A Possible Likeness of John Dowland 1

Chris Henriksen

Autobiography of Pietro Bertacchini 7

Douglas Alton Smith & Mirco Caffagni

French Lyricism in 17th century ‘pieces de luth’ 25

George Torres

Life & Works of Ernst Gottlieb Baron 43

Per Kjteil Farstad

ISSN 0076-1526
 The Lute Society of America
OFFICERS
Caroline Usher, President
Dan Heiman, Vice President
Garald Famham, Treasurer

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dawn Culbertson
Terry Schumacher
Howard Posner
Dick Hoban

SOCIETY ADMINISTRATOR
Mary B. Hinely
MICROFILM LIBRARIAN
Anne Burns

The Journal of the Lute Society of America is an annual, refereed publication

that is free to all members of the Lute Society of America. It is not available by
subscription, but back issues in print may be ordered from the Microfilm
Librarian, Anne Burns, Dept, of Music, Theater and Dance, Oakland
University, Rochester, MI 48308-4401. Correspondence concerning
advertising rates should be addressed to the society administrator. The Society
welcomes new members. Information about the Society may be obtained for
Mary B. Hinely, P.O. Box 1328, Lexington, VA 24450, or from the editors of
the LSA’s publications.
The Journal welcomes contributions of scholarly merit and correspondence
dealing with issues raised within its pages. Authors should submit two double­
spaced hard copies of their typescripts. Electronic submission is particularly
encouraged, and authors are urged to contact the Editor for formatting
guidelines. Musical examples should be submitted on separate pages with
captions exactly as they are to appear in the article. Camera-ready musical
examples are also encouraged, but authors should consult with the editors in
order to ensure uniformity throughout the volume. Professionally produced,
high quality photographs should be submitted for all plates. For matters of
style, the Journal generally follows the Chicago Manual of Style, 13,h edition
(1982). Articles, correspondence, or queries should be addressed to Michael
Miranda, Dept, of Music, Loyola Marymount University, One LMU Dr., MS
8347, Los Angeles, CA, 90045-2659; phone: (310) 338-5158.
 From the Editor
This issue marks a changing of the guard at JLSA. Victor Coelho has
stepped down after nearly two decades as editor. We thank him cordially for
many fine articles and issues over the years, and for the acquisition and initial
editing of the four articles in this issue.
Since assuming editorial responsibilities in the winter of 2002, the new
associate editor, Michael Miranda, and I have finished the editing and
formatting of the articles printed here. We also undertook a revision of the
physical appearance of the Journal that we hope will find favor with Society
members.
At the time of this writing, in May of 2002, we have in hand more than
a dozen articles on aspects of the life and works of the late German Baroque
lutenist Silvius Leopold Weiss. These will constitute a series of Journals that
will appear in the course of the year 2002.
We cordially invite lutenists and scholars who are pursuing original
research on lute topics to send us the results of their studies for future
Journals.

Douglas Alton Smith

About the Authors

Lutenist and early guitarist OLAV Chris HENRIKSEN performs as a
soloist, and with many well-known ensembles in Europe and North America.
A specialist in historic stringing, he has advised several American musical
instrument museums including Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. He teaches at
the Boston Conservatory and the University of Southern Maine
Guitarist, lutenist, and musicologist GEORGE TORRES is Assistant
Professor of Music at Grinnell College, Iowa. His doctoral dissertation at
Cornell University was devoted to 17th-century French music for lute.
PER Kjetil Farstad is Associate Professor at Agder University
College, Faculty of Fine Arts, the Conservatory of Music, Kristiansand,
Norway. His doctoral dissertation (University of Góteborg, Sweden) was on
German galant lute music in the 18th century.
Musicologist DOUGLAS Alton Smith, who served from 1974 to 1982
as associate editor of JLSA, is a freelance writer in the San Francisco Bay Area,
California. His latest book is a history of the lute from antiquity to the
Renaissance, published by the LSA.
Lutenist, guitarist, and lute scholar MlRCO CAFFAGNI lives in Modena,
Italy, and on his nearby farm where he grows fruit and makes lambrusco wine
and balsamic vinegar. He has published editions of the lute music of
Alessandro Piccinini and Perino Fiorentino as well as an earlier article in JLSA
on the Modena tiorba manuscript.
The prominent American-born cornettist DORON DAVID SHERWIN has
been a member of, or collaborator with, many early music ensembles including
Concerto Palatino, Hesperion XX, the Clemencic consort, Tragicomedia, and
La Reverdie. He lives in Modena, Italy.
 A Possible Likeness of John Dowland
By Olav Chris Henriksen

ECENTLY I WAS STUDYING THE MUSIC and musicians at

R the court of the Danish-Norwegian King Christian IV while

preparing for a lecture, concerts and workshop. In the
process, I came across an anthology of five-part madrigals, Giardino
novo bellissimo) published in 1605 by Melchior Borchgrevinck,
organist and (at that time) head of the instrumentalists at the Danish
court. The collection is dedicated to King Christian IV, and has a
wonderfully engraved title page (plate 1), including an ensemble of
two singers and players of bass viol, bass lute and tenor lute (plate 2).
In his major study of music at the court of Christian IV,
Angul Hammerich states his belief that the player of the bass viol is
the composer himself, Melchior Borchgrevinck.1 2 If this is true,
then the picture probably shows actual court musicians at the
Danish court.
This leads to the next question: who are the remaining
musicians? The singers, being boys, are, at best, difficult to identify.
However, in 1605 the pride of Christian IV’s court chapel was the
lutenist John Dowland. Dowland’s duties as royal lutenist had begun
November 18, 1598,3 and sure enough, this picture has a well-
groomed lutenist placed prominently in the center.
A fact which supports this theory is that due to its success,
this volume went into a second edition in 1606, when also a second
volume was published. In the new edition, the fancy tide page was
replaced with a plain one, without the picture of the musicians.
The reason for this may be that since John Dowland had been
dismissed from court on March 10, 1606, it would have been an
embarrassment to have a portrait of him reprinted in a book still
dedicated to Christian IV.
If John Dowland is the tenor lutenist, then who played the
bass lute? Luckily, the Royal payroll still exists.4 From this, we
know of only two lutenists at court during Dowland’s stay in
Denmark. The first lutenist was John Maynard, who was hired as a
bass singer from October 12, 1599 until he fled during the summer

1 Melchior Borchgrevinck, Giardino novo bellissimo di variifiori musicati scieltissimi (Copenhagen:

Henrico Waltkirck, 1605).
2 Angul Hammerich, Musiken red Christian denfierdes bof(Copenhagen: Wilhelm Hansen, 1892).
5 See Diana Poulton, John Dowland (London: Faber and Faber, 1972).
4 Angul Hammerich published the parts relevant to music in his study, see Footnote 2.

JLSA, XXX (1997)

© 2002, The Lute Society ofAmerica
2 Journal of the Lute Society of America

of 1601. After his flight, he was no longer welcome in Denmark,

and would certainly not have been included in an engraving from
1605. Later he published The XII Wonders of the World (London:
Thomas Snodham, 1611), a collection of lute songs, duets and solos
for lute and viol in lyra tuning.
The second lutenist was Hans Nielsen (c. 1580—c. 1626), who
entered royal service as a lutenist in 1600. He was a student of
Melchior Borchgrevinck and twice (1599—1600; 1602—1604) was
sponsored by Christian IV to travel to Venice for further studies
with Giovanni Gabrieli. Between 1606 and 1608 he went to study
lute with Gregory Huet in Wolfenbuttel. Under the Italianized
name Giovanni Fonteio, he published IIprimo libro de madrigali a 5 voci
(Venice, 1606). Hans Nielsen was at court from May 5, 1604 until
1606. Since he was still somewhat of an apprentice, it seems
appropriate that he would be shown from behind with his face in
silhouette and playing the bass lute.
Portraits of musicians from the court chapel were not
uncommon in the Renaissance. See, for instance, the miniature by
Hans Mielich, portraying the musicians of the Bavarian court chapel,
where Orlando di Lasso is said to be the figure standing to the
extreme left.5 The picture comes from the choir book of
Penitential Psalms, copied between 1563 and 1570. Since Duke
Albrecht I, standing prominently on the left, had hired a large group
of musicians, including several players of most instruments, 6 it is
difficult to identify with certainty other musicians in the picture.7
This is further reflected on the title page of Orlando di Lasso,
Patrociniuw Musices, Priwa Pars (Munich: Adam Berg, 1573), where the
court chapel is engraved in detail by Johannes Nelt (Plates 3 and 4).
In conclusion, it is not unreasonable to believe that the
musicians shown on the title page of Giardino novo bellissimo di varii
fiori musicali scieltissinri are actual musicians at the court of Christian
IV. If so, this may well be the only known portrait of John Dowland.

5 Color reproduction in H.C. Robbins Landon and John Julius Norwich, Five Centuries ofMusic in
Venice (London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1991), p. 21.
6 There is more about the Bavarian court chapel in James Haar, “Munich at the Time of Orlande de
Lassus” in Man & Music: The Renaissance, ed. Iain Fenlon (London: The Macmillan Press Limited,
1989), pp. 243-262.
7 Some modem sources, including Luciano Alberti, Music ofthe Western World (New York: Crown
Publishers, Inc., 1974), claim the harpsichord player to be Orlando di Lasso, but the person to the
far left looks cxacdy like a separate portrait of Lasso, also by Mielich, in the same choir book.
A LIKENESS OFDOWIAND 3

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GIARDINO NOVO3
BELLISSIMO DI VARI I
FIORI MVSICAI I SCIEEI ISSIVI I
il Pruno libro de ,
Mild I icoa 11 A nC t' n q1 l t e Voc
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i
.............
Ó
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if //
Al.'.' ... x
Re b'l
,’i'· J.'i’IV 7jraui'!,‘< l/r. dfW.Td di’.

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DANEMARCA

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¡NELLA CITTA REGIACOPENHAV

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Plate 1
Title page of Melchior Borchgrevinck,
Ciaretino hoto betiissiwo di fartifiori musicati scietiissimi
(Copenhagen: Henrico Wakkirch 1605).
J ournal of the Lute Sc>ciety of America

Plate 2
Detail of Danish court musicians from the title page to Melchior Borchgrevinck,
Giardino novo bellissimo dì vanì fiorì musicali rr/z/Arr/zw (Copenhagen: Henrico Waltkirch, 1605)
M·
A I.IKENESS <>!·' DOWLAND 5

TAT ROCIN

ORLANDI DE LASSO.
111 uftrifs.Ducis Baiunx, Chon Nhgiilri,
CANT1ONVM, QVAS MVTETAS
VOCANT, OPV 8 NO WM.

PRIMA PARS.
lUuflriß: PrincipäD. G VILHELMl ComicisPala-
tiiil Rhctt^ vcnaiix ELuiri« Ducu Itbcriluj«
ia Lun cditum.
Monachij ex« udeb.it Adamus Berg.
~mTd. LXXiii

Plate 3
Title page o£ Orlando di Lasso, Patrodniuni Musices, Prima Pars
(Munich: Adam Berg, 1573)
Journal of the Lute Società' of America

Plate 4
Detail of Munich court musicians from the title page to Orlando di Lasso,
Pafrodninm Musices, Prima Pars (Munich: Adam Berg, 1573)
 A Musician’s Life in Seventeenth-Century Italy:
The Autobiography of Pietro Bertacchini
By Douglas Alton Smith and Mirco Caffagni
with Doron Sherwin

OST OF THE BIOGRAPHICAL and contextual details

M about early instrumentalists are hidden from us for sheer

lack of information. With few exceptions, we see their
perspective of the world only through the medium of their works
and the chronology of their sources. Therefore it is felicitous when
archival documents allow for detailed personal observations about
the life, affairs, thoughts, patronage, and instruments of musicians in
former times. The autobiography translated here is just such a
document. In the extent and the early date of its reflections on the
author’s own life, it has scarcely a peer among surviving documents
of early musicians.
Pietro Bertacchini was a seventeenth-century singer,
theorbist, guitarist, and lutenist. He was born and probably ended
his life in Carpi, a small town just north of Modena, but he traveled
widely and lived for extended periods in other towns or cities in
northern Italy.1 He played mosdy chamber music, though on a few
occasions he served as continuo player in opera performances in
Genoa and Venice. In later life he supported his family through his
father’s trade as a dyer. As a skilled musician and teacher, Bertacchini
enjoyed the esteem of aristocrats, many of whom engaged him as an
instructor. He tells his children of his relations with the nobility
with obvious pride. He was not sufficiently virtuosic to become
famous or wealthy, but he seems to have maintained a level of
income that freed him from want. Bertacchini does not seem to
have been a composer: he mentions no compositions of his own,
and none attributed to him survive. However, there is a remarkable
manuscript in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena that may stem from
his hand.
In approximately his fiftieth year, Bertacchini wrote a
manuscript of forty chapters on the craft of dyeing cloth, including
trade secrets he allegedly developed. To this treatise he appended a
chapter containing his autobiography. He writes that he compiled

1 See Plate 1. A moat surrounds the town walls. A canal in the upper center of the map flows in
front of the palace, turns behind a church at the left edge of the palace square, and proceeds down
the left side between some houses. Bertacchini’s house is behind the church.
JLSA, XXX (1997)
© 2002, The Lute Society ofAmerica
J ournal of the Lute Society of America

CC
Plate 1 - Map of the town of Carpi, ca 1670. Archivio comunale di Carpi.
Autobiography of Pietro Bertacchini 9

the entire manuscript for the personal and economic benefit of his
children. The original is lost, but the text of the autobiography has
survived in copies. Below is a translation of the part of Bertacchini’s
autobiography that pertains to music. An introductory section about
his ancestors and the dyer’s trade is summarized briefly. We have
preserved the original terms he uses for musical instruments and
some other technical terms in italics.
Bertacchini’s written language is influenced by his native
Modenese dialect, and while the theorbist had some formal
education, his writing style is often rambling, awkward, and
sometimes difficult to interpret. This translation attempts to clarify
the author’s meaning but not to polish the prose.

Translation2
Opera by me, Pietro Bertacchini, to impart all the knowledge and
precepts, precautions, and whatever else is necessary for dyeing in a
vat with woad3 and indigo, or at his [the reader’s] pleasure,
whether the desired dyeing job be large or small or hot or cold at
any time.
My reader, the present opus contained in this book is made by me,
Pietro Bertacchini, with the sole intention of passing on this
knowledge and instruction to my children. If I should fail [i.e., die]
and not be able to give them the virtue of music and of playing in
order to embellish their lives and activities, they cannot otherwise
find out either about their ancestors or the method of earning their
living with total freedom in the profession of dyeing cloth,
especially in vats of woad and indigo. Therefore I will first treat
our ancestors, beginning with my great-grandfather, knowledge that
my mother gathered and related to me many times.

(Translator s summary: Bertacchini tells of his great-grandfather

Domenico, who left his wife and son to travel to the Holy Land,
and of his grandfather Pietro, who apprenticed as a dyer in Ferrara
and then opened the first dyer’s shop in Carpi in 1598. The
musician’s father Giovanni Battista (1600-1654) became a dyer and
married the daughter of his landlord. Bertacchini names many other
members of the family in several generations so his children will
know them. He then explains how he came to be a dyer at age 49.
His mother had run the shop for years after her husband’s death,
but the business gradually declined. Pietro had to seek out and pay
an expert dyer to teach him the craft, regretting that his father had

2 Bertacchini’s original text appears in Memorie storiche e documenti sulla città e sull'antico principato di Carpi,
voi. 5 (Carpi, 1900), 9-21.
3 A dark blue dye can be extracted from the leaves of the woad plant
10 J OURNAL OF THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA

not committed his trade secrets to paper. Resolving not to repeat his
father’s mistake, he wrote a manual to ensure that his children
would always know a trade. The autobiography becomes more
interesting for musicians when it reaches the year of Pietro’s birth.]

I, Pietro Bertacchini, was born on November 26 in the Year of

our Lord 1641. When I was nine my father, who played the
arcilauto, chitarra, and mandola and who had studied them for two
years in Rome, began to give me lessons on the arcilauto. The
following year he had Signor Don Claudio Zucchi, Maestro di
Capella of the Cathedral of Carpi, give me lessons in canto figurato
while I continued studying Latin until I was thirteen.
Then my father died, and I continued studying music under the
above-mentioned maestro, and the study of the arcilauto by myself,
since my father had brought the carriage of my hands to the
utmost perfection. In my fifteenth year Signor Benedetto Ferrari,
Maestro di Capella of His Serene Highness Duke Francesco of
Modena, asked me to come and serve His Highness as second
soprano and promised to have me given instruction on the tiorba.
So I went to Modena, where I served His Highness as second
soprano, and served as first soprano in the Cathedral under Signor
Don Marco Uccellini, Maestro di Capella of the Cathedral of San
Geminiano and Maestro di Capella in the concerto of His Highness.
In my eighteenth year I lost my soprano voice, remaining a
good contralto for only six months, during which time I undertook
to return to Carpi, where my voice became a tenor. I continued
always the study of the tiorba and arcilauto, singing as I could, and
accompanying myself, until the age of twenty-three in the Year of
our Lord 1664.
At that time I had the desire to apply myself to the study of
playing the chitarra, since there was one of my father’s instruments
in my house. Because I had no one who could teach me even the
barest rudiments of this instrument, I managed by tuning it like the
arcilauto as well as like the tiorba. Then when I found a printed
book of chitarra sonatas in battute [a strumming style] with its
alfabeto [chord designation system], I learned all the letters [of the
alfabeto), studying Chiaccona and Passacagli and other sonatas, so that
after some practice I began to passeggiare [improvise divisions] a bit
on this instrument. Performing ever better, I began to regard it as
of little value to strum [batterla) the instrument and I gave up the
strumming altogether and applied myself exclusively to playing
from tablature as is customary on the tiorba and arcilauto. Then I
transcribed many easy sonatas from the arcilauto, and I became
Autobiography of Pietro Bertacchini 11

more strongly enamored of the chitarra, all the more because of its
greater convenience and of the small trouble of carrying it.
In 1667 I went to Rome on February 4. Passing through
Florence, I received the protection of Count Caprara Sargenti,
gentleman of the court of the Grand Duke [Ferdinando II Medici],
by a letter that I presented from the Signora Marchesa
Montecuccoli, his sister, who was then Governess of Carpi.
Arriving in Rome on February 22, I stayed there until
December 10, in which time Pope Alexander VII died and
Clement IX [Giulio Rospigliosi] was elected Pope. I had a chitarra
made with a level rather than a recessed rosette, which cost me
five Italian doppie? Passing again through Florence, I stopped
towards the twenty-second of the month at the court and the
house of Signor Giulio Cesare Gonzaga di Novellara, majordomo
of His Serene Highness the Grand Duke. On the twenty-fourth [of
December] I was in Bologna at the house of Signor Angiolo
Antonio Vivaldi until February 24,1668. Then I left for Mantua to
the house of Signor Conte Marcantonio Berni, cupbearer of Her
Highness the Archduchess, who, informed of the presence of my
person, wished on August 16 that I go to Goito where she was
staying with all her court, to string and tune her harp, which I did.
She conceded me the courtesy of offering me a place at the table of
her noblemen \Cavalieri\, so that I stayed for all of September.
Then I returned to Mantua and continued on to Viadana with a
letter from the Reverend Mother Strozzi to the Marchese Ferrante
Agnelli Suardi Maffei, Governor of the town, to be given secure
embarcation to Milan, since I carried letters of recommendation to
the Signor Conte Bartolomeo Aresi, President of the Senate of
Milan, and another for the Signor Count Vitaliano Borromeo. These
letters I had carried from Rome, the first from the Most Eminent
Signor Cardinal Homodei, brother-in-law of the President, and the
other from the Most Eminent Signor, Cardinal Borromeo, his
brother. But since I never went to Milan, these letters are still at
my house. The Governor and his wife, Signora Marchesa Gridonia,
coerced me with entreaties, and I was compelled to stay near Their
Excellencies until January 2, 1669, when Signor Marchese
Lodovico Gonzaga wished to take me with him to Mantua to
enjoy the Carnevale. Until November 17 1 could not leave, so that
only on that day I left for Carpi. Thus repatriated again, and having
my above-mentioned chitarra always close to me, I wished no
other application than its study.

4 The doppia is a gold coin, worth about two scudi, which are silver coins.
12 Journal of the Lute Society of America

When I was at home again I continued |to study] the chitarra,

but T also regained the skill 1 had lost on the tiorba, since I played
daily at the home of the Signori Lazzari.5

Plate 2 - The Lazzari family making music, 1730, by an unknown

painter. Museo comunale di Carpi.

1 found myself totally secure in playing accompaniments on the

tiorba, although 1 lacked the ability’ to play flourishes \rifiorimento\ on
it.
On the chitarra 1 had played by the |tablature] numbers, which
sufficed for me, and therefore I wanted to go to Genoa to seek
my fortune. I left with only’ my chitarra and arrived on 18 January’
1671. On the twentieth, at the home of the most illustrious
nobleman Signor Francesco Rebuffo, I was heard playing the tiorba.
Then 1 was asked to accompany’ in Argia, an opera in musica by
Padre Cesti under die direction of Signor Pietro Simone Augustini,
who was then Maestro di Capeila at the Jesuit Fathers in San
Ambrogio.6 The opera was played twenty-six times during
Carnevale, whereby' I had the fortune to be heard and become
known. At once I not only found myself students but also the
most illustrious nobleman Signor Stefano Lumellini, who wanted
to bting me to his house and table to give singing lessons to his
wife Signora Maria Geronima and instrumental lessons [lectione di
snonare\ to the most illustrious nobles: Signor Giovanni Giacomo
Grimaldi, son of His Serene Highness Alessandro, the Doge at that

5 A painting by Girolamo Martinelli of a later generation of the Lazzaris making music (dated 1730)
hangs today in the Museo Civico, Carpi.
6 Padre Antonio Cesti’s iAigia was first performed in Innsbruck in 1655 to honor the conversion
of the Swedish Queen Christina to Catholicism. For more than two decades it was often revived in
other cities. See the facsimile edition with introduction by Howard Mayer Brown (New York:
Garland, 1978).
Autobiography of Pietro Bertacchini 13

time, and Signora Maddalena, wife of His Highness and stepmother

of Signor Giovanni Giacomo; Signor Giacomino Doria, Signor
Don Federico Doria, uncle of the Prince Doria, Signora Maria
Brigida Spinola, wife of Signor Giovanni Pietro, Signor Domenico
Lercaro Imperiale, and Signor Domenico Doria di Lazaro Maria.
On 4 July 1673 I left Genoa and returned to Carpi with the
thought of remaining. But at that time I was sought by the Collegto
of the noblemen of Parma to give them lessons, so finally I was
constrained to go there at the beginning of February, 1674. Because
it did not please me to stay subject to a [certain] priest who was
director of this college, I returned home on April 12,1675.
On January 9, 1676 I left for Lucca at the behest of the
nobleman Signor Bernardino, who had already been my student at
the CoIIegio, for the accompaniment of an opera in musica, and then
to give him lessons. On the twenty-second of that month I arrived
in Lucca at the house of Signor Orsetti [and stayed with him] until
the tenth of May when I rented a private room, in order to live
alone and be able to give lessons.
In 1679 on March 28, the most excellent Council of the
Republic of Lucca thanked and honored me with one of the eight
positions in the musical establishment of the Palace in that city,
suspending the law which reserved these positions for citizens of
Lucca. I received a stipend of six silver scudi a month and the right
to apply for an increase in pay once a year in the future until death.
On June 29, 1681, 1 left the private room and rented a house.
And on 26 April 1682,1 married Signorina Margherita, daughter of
Signori Silvestro and Signora Chiara Gatti, and sister of Signori
Salvatore and Stefano, and of Signore Elisabetta, Orsola, and
Catterina. She, being approved and declared maestra in the
profession of weaving silk cloth, with the privilege of working two
looms, immediately started as a worker at a loom, with the useful
net income of four and one-half barboni per day.
On 20 April 1683, at 5:45 a.m. my first son, Giovanni Battista,
was born to me and was baptised in San Giovanni di Lucca on 21
April at 22 hours. His godmother was Princess Panfili Cibo,
Princess of Carrara, and now Her Serene Highness Duchess of
Massa. The godfather was Signor Abbot Giorgio Spinola,
nobleman of Genoa, nephew of the most eminent Signor Cardinal
Vescovo di Lucca and Signora Anna Maria Spada, noblewoman of
Lucca, and niece of the most eminent Signor Cardinal, performed
the function of proxy at the holy source in the name of the afore­
mentioned Duchess.
On 31 October 1684, at 18:45 and a half Camilla was born to
me, and was baptised in San Giovanni di Lucca on 1 November
14 Journal of the Lute Society of America

at 22:30. The godfather was Prince Cibo di Carrara, who is now

His Highness the Duke of Massa; the godmother was Marchesa
Anna Maria Manzi, noblewoman of Lucca, and Signor Nicolao
Santini performed the function by proxy in the name of the Duke.
On 1 April 1 1685, I resigned from the [service of the] most
excellent elders and standard bearers of Lucca and went with all
my family to Massa to enter the service of the Prince and Princess
of Carrara. I received a stipend of two doppie per month, the house,
twenty-four bushels of grain and twenty-four casks of wine per
year which was more than sufficient, and a place at the entrance of
Their Highnesses’ table, clothing for all my children, with the sole
obligation to sing and play at Their Highnesses’ will and command.
Then by order and edict, His Highness the Duke of Modena
commanded that each of his subjects must come and repatriate
himself. After having pardoned me once for six months and the
second rime for two years, the third time the Marchese Giovanni
Montecuccoli gave me to understand on the order of His Highness
that I must immediately report for repatriation, without making
further letters from Modena necessary, under pain of his
displeasure and the confiscation of my belongings. I was required
to leave at once, but to give me motivation and hope [he informed
me] that His Highness wanted me in his service.
Hence I had to leave Massa, within four days, on December
20, 1686, with all my family. I arrived in Modena on the 25th,
where I presented a letter of recommendation from the Prince and
Princess to His Highness the Duke. I explained that they had been
reluctant to see me leave their service, and presented him with a
marble chitarra? His Highness wanted me to play it for him in the
chamber, and he was very pleased with this marvel, made by [the
Carrara sculptor] Signor Michele Grandi who had accompanied us
in person from Carrara to Modena. He received as his reward
twenty-five doppie and a commission also to make a harpsichord of
marble. In six months he brought it to His Highness with four
flauti and a cometto all of marble, which were most beautiful things.

7 This marble guitar still exists today in the Galleria Estense, Modena.
Autobiography of Pietro Bertacchini 15

Plate 3 - Guitar of marble by Michele Grandi. Galena Estense, Modena.

His Highness had given me. to understand that he wanted me

in his service. Since on 30 October he had left for Rome, I went
with all my family to Carpi and arrived there at 3:00 in the
afternoon. His Highness returned from Rome with Signor
Marchese Francesco Segrati, governor of Carpi. Since this nobleman
was a dilettante flute player, and read music as well, as soon as he
returned to his government 1 had to give him lessons at the castello
[the seat of government] every day. These, lessons continued
throughout his governorship. When the Duke came with Prince
Cesare Ignatio to Carpi, His Highness wished the first time to hear
me play the chitarra and tiorba continuously for four hours. [They
liked it so much] that whenever His I lighness stopped in Carpi he
always wanted to be entertained by me in this way in his chamber.
This continued for fourteen months, during which time I
hoped that His Serene Highness desired to have me in his service.
But as I received only promises and no results, I resolved earnestly
16 Journal of the Lute Society of America

to go with only my instruments and luggage to Venice. This I did,

leaving on 16 December 1687, going to Modena, where I stopped
for two days and was offered the post of ahitante di camera to His
Highness the Duke, which I did not accept. On the contrary, I
wished to leave for Venice, and I arrived there on December 22 at
the house of Signor Nicola Corradi. At that time Anna was bom
to me, and I had His Highness made godfather by letter of proxy
to Signor Giuseppe Sacchelli, and Signora Ellena Sacchelli his wife
was the godmother.
In Venice in the month of January, 1688,1 had my first chitarra
student in the person of Count Luigi dalla Torre, the sole grandson
and chamberlain of the Ambassador of His Majesty the Emperor.
The second was Count Antonio Vidiman, the third Signor
Giovanni Loredani da San Steffano, and then other nobles such as
German noblemen who stayed in Venice only for the period of
Carnevale. Among these was Signor Giacomo Houblou, an
Englishman, who had already had a maestro in Paris and Rome. For
fifty-nine days of lessons on the tiorba he gave me fifteen ongatf as
well as allowing me the use of his gondola for giving lessons.
In Carnevale of 1689 I accompanied on the tiorba the opera in
the Teatro di San Luca8 9 owned by the Signori Grimani, and
increasingly received the friendship, knowledge \praticd],
conversation, and greatest familiarity possible of Signor Don
Giovanni Lagrenzi, gran Maestro di Cappella of the Serenissima
Repubblica at San Marco.
At that time there were three concerts [Accademie] where they
wanted me to accompany on the chitarra, and I indeed had that
honor. This is shown by a book that I have in my house, printed
by the Serenissima Repubblica, bound alia francese, and entitled La
Pallade Veneta, dedicated to the Duke of Modena. [The entries are
found in] the edition of March, 1688, on page 89 [sic! = 59], and in
the edition of July on page 42.10I left Venice on 10 June 1689 and
was in Mantua on the thirteenth of that month, at the house of
Count Romualdo Vialardi, Prime Minister of His Serene Highness
the Duke of Mantua. As a result of his letter [of invitation] I had
come to Mantua. His Highness wanted me to enter his service and
repeatedly offered conditions that satisfied both of us.
But thinking of my home and family nearby, I wanted to see
them again, so I left Mantua on July 22 and arrived in Carpi on the
twenty-third. There I found a certain Antonio Felice da Este, a

8 “Hungarians,” a unit of currency.

9 Alias Teatro San Salvatore. The opera was probably II Pertinacce, with music by Paolo Biego. The
authors are grateful to Eleanor Selfridge-Field for this reference.
10 See Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Pallade Veneta·. Writings on Music in Venetian Society 1650-1750 (Venice,
1985). Bcrtacchini is indeed mentioned in the March issue, but no July issue survives.
Autobiography of Pietro Bertacchini 17

dyer on the Passo della Pioppa. This man went to every market on
the pias^a of Carpi to take and return things to be dyed, and to sell
dyes, and his business was brisk. He came to me asking to rent
my shop, and we established that I would divide my shop in half
with him, which indeed happened, although I wanted to conduct
the business under my guidance and care. At the end of four
months he went bankrupt and left Modena on 15 February 1690,
never to return either to the State of Modena nor other locations
[in it]. I applied myself vigorously to the work of my shop, and
esteemed it above all other things. This would be for the benefit of
sustaining my family and my house.
For my greater diversion I continued my musical activity by
giving lessons and laying the foundations of the technique of all my
instruments and the voice, that they may facilitate learning through
practice.
I would assert that in this profession no one, not even princes,
could have instruments of greater beauty and especially of greater
quality than mine. [Nor do they have better] collections of Cantate
[written] by the premier virtuosi, like the sonatas collected by me
and of my copying with the greatest possible diligence, written
without errors just as if they were printed. All is adorned in books
well-bound with letters figured with much esteem and [at great]
cost to me. Musicians and Professori, wherever they be, have no
collection of such value, because besides the diligence [with which
I have assembled it], all of my collection is rare and will always be
new and never old, particularly to one who has a genuine
foundation [of knowledge].
The reason why I never wished to give copies of these copying
efforts of mine, those of the books I collected in Genoa and the
others in Lucca, which I received from the ladies and cavaliers and
nobility, is that they were thus rendered more rare and valuable and
increased in esteem in my hands. And I never wished to lend my
instruments, even to one who had greater nobility and power.
I had gotten them at very advantageous prices. For the huge
tiorba I paid ten doppie, and for the other of snakewood [serpentino],
ivory, and ebony, fifteen doppie. For the psaltery [saltero] I paid
seventy-four Genoese lire altogether. For the chitarra with the
recessed rosette and without the chiseled medallions on the tuning
pegs, nine doppie, and for the four medallions two doppie. The
pandora was given to me by His Serene Highness Duke Carlo, now
of Massa; His Highness had paid sixteen doppie for it in Bologna.
For the tiorba without a case I paid half a doppia. The arcilauti were
given to me.
18 Journal of the Lute Society of America

Thus may my children also do so, and they shall be assured of

having rare and valuable things if they know how to conserve
these efforts [i.e., possessions] of mine in their trunk, and always
keep it locked with its key. I had the trunk made in Genoa for this
purpose and it cost me four Spanish doppie, all fortified with plates
and bands of iron, as well as this book which I made with much
industry, effort, and expense, as you will see below. This book, the
fruit of my experience written in my own hand, will surely prove
itself useful for your livelihood and that of your family, the more
you succeed in applying its teachings together with [your]
experience.

* * *
The Modena Tiorba Manuscript
With these pieces of advice to his children, Pietro
Bertacchini’s story of his life closes. His date of death is unknown.
Though he was no composer, Bertacchini may have left a very
important collection of his own cadential realizations among his
effects. It is likely that the manuscript Mus. G. 239 in the Biblioteca
Estense of Modena is one of the books that Bertacchini describes
“with letters figured with much esteem and [at great] cost to me.”11
The manuscript’s calligrapher is anonymous, but several pieces of
evidence point to Bertacchini. The manuscript stems from
Bertacchini’s lifetime, features prominently a Modenese composer,
and corresponds visually to the manner in which Bertacchini says
he decorated his books. Further, it contains exercises that reveal an
analytical mind of the same sort that was responsible for compiling
a 40-chapter treatise on dyeing. To verify the attribution hypothesis,
however, one would need to find a document in Bertacchini’s
handwriting, but as yet none has been identified.
The Modena tiorba manuscript contains twenty-seven
compositions for soprano and continuo as well as a series of
cadential realizations in theorbo tablature. Half of the cantate and
can^onette in the Modena tiorba manuscript are by Bellerofonte
Castaldi, the eccentric Modenese theorbist who published two
books of theorbo and vocal music in the early 1620s. The rest are
unattributed, except for one by Monteverdi (Lasdatemi morire).

11 For studies of this manuscript, see, Mirco Caffagni, “The Modena tiorba continuo manuscript,”
Journal ofthe Lute Society ofAmerica 12 (1979), 25-42; Victor Coelho, The Manuscript Sonnes of Seventeenth-
Century Italian Latte Music (New York: Garland, 1995), 101-104; Kevin Mason, Tlx Chitarrone and its
Repertoire in Early Seventeenth-Century Italy (Aberystwyth: Boethius Press, 1989), 75-76, incl. facsimiles.
Autobiograpi iy or Pietro Bertacchini 19

Plate 4 - Beginning of the Lamento di Arianna, "Lasciatemi morire," by

Claudio Monteverdi. Page 1 of the Modena tiorba manuscript, Biblioteca
Estense, Mus. G. 239 (copied and calligraphed by Pietro Bertacchini?)

The final twenty-five pages consist of a series of cadential

formulas with written-out embellishments in tablature for the
theorbo. Perhaps these are the same exercises in rifiorlmento that
Bertacchini developed for himself after participating in the
chamber music events at the Lazzari home in Carpi. The cadence
realizations were clearly intended as exercises to practice and as
formulas to use during an improvised accompaniment. They
constitute a catalog of the most frequent cadences and bass
progressions a theorbist would encounter, with bass motion by step
and skip, ascending and descending, and combinations of these, in
all the most common keys.12

12 The whole-note C in the mensural bass line of example 2, measure one of Bertacchini*s (or the
intabulator’s) manuscript is a mistake purged in our transcription.
20 Journal of the Lute Society of America

Plate 5 - Final cadences from the Modena tiorba manuscript. Facimile of p.

103, Mus. Ms. G. 230, Biblioteca Estense, Modena.
Autobiography of Pietro Bertacchini 21

Given Bass:

Realized: 5 J J J
o-------------------------------------- ----- - ---------e-
- - p1

/ J J J ■e·
4Ì·J ·
*>· J· · n -3 ■ J -n--------------------
Tt--------------------
z;
1 1 li ' r- r '1 "

-e---------------------

J: ZQ «
17 r r 1 r 1 1 I r I r r- 1

Ji® Pi J-
fZ V p V
J o
<1
.. .p
r rrr

A·
•I·
J J J J J
·
C
F
J
■
Ji J
I JJJ J J J J
'
J
-
F F—
r f .

Plate 6 - Transcription of five cadences on p. 103, Modena tiorba manuscript.

It is notable, even remarkable, in what a cantabile manner the

compiler treats both the upper and lower accompaniment parts.
The upper part is not a sequence of chords but rather horizontally
conceived. Even the bass could here better be described as a basso
diminuito, a part as cantabile as the part above it, not merely a simple
harmonic support. Since continuo lines in prints that specify tiorba
or chitarrone as preferred or possible accompaniment instrument
tend to look no different than any other bass, these exercises offer
priceless insight into how a creative accompanist used the theorbo’s
22 J OURNAL OF THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA

contrabasses. If this musician was indeed Bertacchini, it is no

wonder that he was in great demand as a teacher.

Transmission of the Text

The somewhat convoluted story of how Bertacchini’s
words came down to us is itself an intriguing tale that reminds one
of Umberto Eco’s tongue-in-cheek, fictional account of the
transmission of The Name of the Rose. Anyone who wishes to compare
our translation with any of the Italian versions should understand
the history of this transmission. More than half a century after
Bertacchini’s death his dyer’s manual came into the hands of
Eustachio Cabassi of Carpi. Cabassi (1730-1796), a member of the old
nobility, who had a great interest in the history of his home town,
his patria. He collected a large quantity of materials pertaining to
Carpi’s past, among them documents, pictures, works of art, and
other objects to make a kind of historical library and museum.
Cabassi himself wrote a long manuscript on Carpi’s artistic history,
the Notice degli artisti Carpigiani, an encyclopedia of artists and
musicians from Carpi and Modena. Under the heading Bertacchini he
reproduced the theorbist’s autobiography, but not the treatise on
the dyer’s craft.
In the year of Cabassi’s death another preserver of Carpi
history was born — the priest Don Paolo Guaitoli (1796-1871). Like
Cabassi, Guaitoli assiduously collected or copied historical
documents. In the Carpi home of the Benetti family, from whom
Cabassi’s mother stemmed, he found and copied Cabassi’s Notice
manuscript with its Bertacchini excerpt. Guaitoli’s large library,
including his transcript of the Notice, today rests in the Museo
Cívico in Carpi.13 Cabassi’s and Bertacchini’s originals are lost, as is
the treatise on dyeing cloth.
At some point Guaitoli made an abbreviated copy of the
Bertacchini autobiography for yet another historian of Carpi, A. G.
Spinelli, omitting the part about the theorbist’s ancestors. This copy
is also in Carpi’s Museo Cívico.1415In 1900 Spinelli used this copy as
one of the sources for his book Notice spettanti alia storia della musica
in CarpiD
Bertacchini’s story was summarized in an article by Luigi-
Francesco Valdrighi in 1881,16 but it received virtually no attention
from other musicologists for a century, until Mirco Caffagni
commented on it in his article on the Modena tiorba manuscript.

13 The Notice MS bears the call number A. G. Ca. 237-IV.

M Call number A. G. Ca. 111-2.
15 See footnote 1, above.
16 Luigi-Francesco Valdrighi, “Pietro Bertacchini e altri musicisti del Sec. XVII” (Modena, 1881),
reprinted in Valdrighi, Musurgiarta (Bologna, 1970).
Autobiography of Pietro Bertacchini 23

Subsequently the complete transcript of the autobiography, gleaned

not from Spinelli’s short copy but from Guaitoli’s full copy of the
Cabassi Notice, has twice appeared in print.17
For the present publication, the authors have consulted
both the Spinelli and Garuti publications, and Mirco Caffagni also
compared the text with Guaitoli’s two manuscript copies, making
corrections where necessary.18

Timeline
1641: Pietro is born.
1650: Young Pietro begins to receive lessons on archlute from his
father.
1651: Pietro begins study of canto figurato with Claudio Zucchi in
Modena.
1654: Pietro’s father dies.
1656: Pietro sings soprano in choruses of the Duke of Modena
and the Cathedral of San Geminiano (Modena), and begins
to learn the theorbo.
1659: Pietro’s voice changes and he returns to Carpi.
1664: Pietro teaches himself the guitar.
1667: To Rome via Florence. Later visits to Bologna, Mantua,
Goito, and finally Viadana.
1669: November 17, returns from Viadana to Carpi. Plays daily
with the Lazzari family.
1671: (January) To Genoa. Plays theorbo in Cesti’s TArgia. Gives
singing and instrumental lessons to the Genoese nobility.
1673: To Carpi.
1674: To Parma, music instructor at the Collegio. Returned to Carpi
in 1675.
1676: To Lucca, serving Signor Orsetti and the city.
1682: Marries Margherita Silvestro.
1683: Son Giovanni Battista is born.
1684: Daughter Camilla is born.
1685: To Massa, to serve the Prince and Princess of Carrara.

17 Eustachio Cabassi, Notizie degli Artisti C.arpigiani con le aggiunte di tutto dò che ritrovasi d’altri Artisti dello
Stato di Modena, voi. 7 of Materiali per la storia di Modena medievale e moderna, ed. Alfonso
Garuti, (Modena, 1986). Mirco Caffagni, “L’autobiografia di Pietro Betacchini,” Bollettino delia
Serietà Italiana de! Liuto 3/2 (Aprii, 1993), 9-16.
181 wish to thank Patrizia Tomain and the lutenist Dr. Maurino da Col of tlx Veneto for checking an early version
ofthis translation and clarifying obscure phrases. Dr. Mino Caffagni of Modena kindly prodded me with copies of
bothpublished versions ofBertaccbini’s story and ofthe Guaitoli manuscript and delved into tlx transmission bistory of
the text. He and Mr. Sherwin corrected and commented on thefinal version of tlx translation, helping particularly with
Modenese diakct terms.
— DA.S.
24 Journal of the Lute Society of America

1686: (December) The Duke of Modena orders Bertacchini back

to Modena. The theorbist presents the Duke with a marble
guitar. In October he moves to Carpi.
1687: To Venice. Daughter Anna is born in Carpi.
1688: Pietro teaches guitar and theorbo to nobles in Venice; plays
theorbo in opera performances; associates with the
composer and San Marco organist Legrenzi.
1689: Return to Carpi via the court of Mantua.
1690: Pietro decides to become a dyer.

Berkeley, California and modena, italy

 Some Manifestations of French Lyricism in
Seventeenth-Century pieces de luth Repertoire

BY George Torres

RENCH BAROQUE MUSIC IS OFTEN COMPARED with

music of other nations of the period when, in fact, it ought
to be confronted on its own terms. One aspect of the French
style most commonly criticized is the nature of the melodic line.
This criticism is particularly leveled at French lute music of the
seventeenth century. Applying the same criteria to the music of
diverse repertories, nations and traditions can produce misleading
results. The purpose of the present study is to examine the nature
of French melody to see how it is manifested in the melodic style
of French Baroque lutenists.
What a routine comparison of seventeenth-century French
music to contemporary Italian or German repertories does not
show is how the French themselves viewed melody. In other
words, what did they consider good melody and how might it be
recognized in their airs? Because versification plays a large role in
the setting of words to music, it is important to analyze the problem
from the perspective of French versification in order to
demonstrate how these conventions were employed to produce
vocal melodies. The relationship between text and music produces
irregular groupings of melodic units or phrases. These groupings
bear a resemblance to the types of melodies found in lute music of
the period.
The next logical step is to analyze lute melodies and find
the correspondence between these and the vocal models. By
isolating the ends of melodic units and their coincidence with
harmonic and technical division, it becomes possible to see how
lute melodies are related to sung melodies. Not surprisingly, lute
melodies share stylistic traits with contemporary airs. From this
correspondence, we can infer that the players of instrumental music
imagined vocal models as a basis for these instrumental pieces: This
hypothesis not only explains the intrinsic quality of lute melodies,
but also supports the notion that the technical indications found in
so many manuscripts, provided a basis for musical interpretation as
well as supplying an aid to performance.1 But before turning to a

' With so much attention given to performance indications it is surprising that their treatment has
been undermined not only by scholars, but by performers as well. Even with our present “historical
awareness” some of the most renowned instrumentalists ignore the indications designated in the

JLSA, XXX (1997)

© 2002, The Lute Society ofAmerica
26 Journal of the Lute Society of America

discussion of some aspects of French melody, it is important to

settle the score with one of the more troublesome terms used to
describe the genre of pieces de lutb: style brisé. Because the term style
brisé has been so closely associated with melodic texture in this
repertoire, it is in our best interests to at least acknowledge its use,
and misuse, in previous discussions of French lute music.* 2

Style brisé
Style brisé in its most restricted usage, refers to the “broken
style,” the technique of separating simultaneous notes. The more
the term is used to describe many different traits (melodic
ambiguity, ornamentation and other such effects that are not
necessarily dependent on the breaking of chords) the less specific
the definition becomes. But scholars have not hesitated to use the
term to refer to more than just the separating of notes. This broad
application of the term is used by lute scholars including David
Ledbetter who writes:

On a purely technical level this [style brisé) denotes the process of

playing the notes of music in two or more parts successively rather
than simultaneously. But in the context of the repertoire as a whole, it
has much broader and deeper implications.3

Should the term be restricted to refer to the texture of

separated notes? Or should it have a broader implication and work
as a coverall term for the entire genre? As a restricted term, it
maintains a specificity that denotes a legitimate technique of the
period. A broader definition runs the risk of confusing the style
issue. Also, while coverall terms for entire genres are sometimes
created out of convenience, their perpetual use in scholarship is not
always subjected to criticism, and therefore makes any analysis that

sources for what is sometimes referred to as a more “practical” approach. This point is discussed by
Paul O'Dette in his article “Some Observations About the Tone of Early Lutenists,” in Proceedings of
the International Lute Symposium: Utrecht, 1986, p. 86-89.
2 Lionel de La Laurencie was the first to use the term in Les Luthistes (Paris: Laurens) 1928, p. 109.
David Buch's article on style brisé, in Musical Quarterly 71 (1986): pp. 52-67, was the first detailed
attempt to show the provenance of the term. However, Buch does not credit La Laurencie as the
first to use the term. Instead he quotes the 1928 publication from an earlier page where La
Laurencie states “Ce style «brisé» des luthistes français recontre encore un important imatateur en la
personne de l'Autrichien J.-G. Peyer qui, de 1672 à 1678 était au service de l'emporeur Leopold 1er,
à Vienne,” (p.82). Buch further comments that La Laurencie only uses the word “brisé” and that it
was not undl Manfred Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era (New York: Norton) 1947, that the term
was first used. David Ledbetter was also capable of straightening out the style brisé issue by restricting
its usage but instead has fully incorporated its broader implications in his text and has even come up
with new derivations of the word (brisaré) to further complicate the situation.
3 David Ledbetter, Harpsichord and Lute Music in 17th-Century France, (Bloomington: Indiana University
Press) 1987, p. 33. '
Manifestations of french lyricism 27

uses such terms potentially dogmatic. The study of this repertoire is

not dependent on a single term that describes the overall stylistic
effect, nor is one needed, and it is my intention to conduct an
analysis without using this problematic term, which has no period
significance anyway. If we are looking for terminology to aid in our
understanding of the repertoire, two terms from the period do have
an historical significance and offer a partial solution to the problem.
Seventeenth-century writers did not use the term brisé, but
rather had their own terms for the breaking of notes: arpègetnent and
notes séparées? In the case of separé, it may be used interchangeably
with the word brisé in discussions involving the restricted use of the
term. But as a replacement for the broad term used to refer to the
entire genre, separé would cause as much trouble as the term style brisé.
The term that is most often used to refer to collections of lute
music is pièces de luth? This is the lute’s counterpart to viol and
harpsichord literatures that are referred to as pièces de viole and pièces de
clavecin, respectively. The best alternative then is to use separé or notes
séparées for textural description, and to refer to the genre — without
referring to specific style traits — as pièces de luth.
To summarize, the term style brisé issue needs to be
addressed for two reasons. First, scholars have used the term rather
loosely, perhaps as a method of simplification, to describe the style
traits of an entire repertoire. Second, in its restricted sense, the term
describes an important technique that composers of the period
used to decorate the melodic line.

French Lyricism
Discussions of seventeenth-century lute style have criticized
the French for their treatment of melodic style. This can be seen
not only in recent musicological studies but in period descriptions
as well. In his book The Study of the Tute (1727), Ernst Gottlieb Baron
sharply criticizes the French style.

With regard to the characteristics of the French, they too often change
voices, so that one cannot even recognize distinguish the melody, and,
as already mentioned, there is little cantabile to be found, particularly
because they regard it fashionable to brush back chords on the lute
with the right hand, just as one would on the guitar; a constant
hopping around is required to give spirit and life to the pieces. I have*

4 The term notes separies should not be mistaken for Sebastian de Brossard's meaning of notes without
ligatures or as he also describes them, notes sciolte, in Dictionaire de la Musique, Paris 1703.
5 This is the term most commonly found in printed sources of lute music. The seventeenth century
practice of naming manuscript anthologies is less uniform. However, one sometimes encounters the
term pieces de lutb or remetí de pieces de luth on tide pages for collections of lute works as in Monin and
Prague 84, to name two.
28 Journal of the Lute Society of America

also observed that they also consider it delicate to avoid the deep
basses and prefer the middle register.6

Baron’s criticism is actually an accurate description of

French lute music of the period. His observation regarding voice
leading could be applied to the separé technique. But it also could
refer to the fact that, compared to the soprano dominated cantabile
style, French lute melodies appear in different tessituras in the same
piece, and the number of voices may change rapidly, as is also the
case in French harpsichord literature. French melodies do not
employ the cantabile style of composers Baron favors, like Sylvius
Leopold Weiss, and the absence of cantabile is one of the grounds
on which he attacks the French style.
A similar reception of French style is even found in more
recent scholarship. Wallace Rave’s dissertation on lute sources is the
most thorough treatment of the style. Embedded in his discussion,
however, is a tone that implies a deficiency in compositional
technique. Several of his statements, such as, “melody hardly exists
at all as such” and “nothing is consistent except ambiguity”, suggest
that the composers have not fulfilled some expectation.7
On the whole, French music is generally thought to be
distinct from music of neighboring countries. David Tunley writes:

Few would deny that much French music of the 17th and 18th
centuries — and a considerable amount before and after — exhibits a
style distinct from music of the same time written by composers of
other nationalities, even though they all shared a musical language.8

Scholars often describe French music in negative terms, and in the

musicological literature, it is often subject to “indifference and
even hostility on the part of musicians” that were raised on an
Italian and German repertory.9 It is no surprise then that French

6 Ernst Gottlieb Baron, Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten (Nuremberg: Rüdiger) 1727, reprinted
as Study of the Lute, translated by Douglas Alton Smith (Redondo Beach, Ca: Instrumenta Antiqua)
1976, p. 77.
7 Wallace Rave, “Some Manuscripts of French Lute Music 1630-1700: An Introductory Study,”
unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois), 1972, pp. 58-61.
Buch took Rave to task for this analysis in his style brisé article. He extrapolated a twelve point system
from Rave's text in order to prove that Rave was wrong in his analysis of French style stating that
Rave's observations were faulty and that the style traits that Rave cited as being absent in the music
were actually present in a some pieces by Gaultier. Rave’s analysis is one of die most detailed
discussions of lute style from the period and offers more than Buch was willing to credit him. The
present study does not intend to speak negatively of Rave’s analysis but merely points to the fact that
even the best work on the subject can at times view the French style as lacking, perhaps as a result of
comparison with the music of other genres.
8 David Tunley, “Couperin and French Lyricism,” The Musical Times, (1983): p. 543.
9 Ibid.
Manifestations of french lyricism 29

music and especially lute music, has been misunderstood by

scholars from Baron to the present.
It would now seem appropriate to pose the question: How
did the French themselves view the concept of melody? Recently,
David Tunley has provided insight on the matter of Baifs influence
in the seventeen and eighteenth centuries. In his article, “The Union
of Words and Music in Seventeenth-Century French Song: The
Long and the Short of It,” Tunley argues for an analysis of French
vocal music that must proceed from an understanding of the text.
His premise is that, based on the principles of quantitative prosody,
composers of airs created text-based melodies in which melodic
structure is based on the rhythmic nuances of the text declamation.
Composers of the period were familiar with the subtleties
of French verse and used this knowledge to their advantage in
producing melodies that fit their language. In his article “Couperin
and French Lyricism,” Tunley shows how the French were
dependent on the rhythm of the poetry to create their melodies. If
we are to understand the melodies of the French Baroque lute
school, we must look at the types of melodies that were employed
in airs at the beginning of the period. Wallace Rave puts the
beginning of the so-called style brise between 1600-1630.1011Tunley
maintains that the differences between the air of the 1630’s and the
later airs of Michel de Lambert consist mainly of details in
performance practice and that the melodies themselves remain
similar in style throughout much of the period." An examination of
some early airs from the first quarter of the seventeenth century
shows how the composers who were contemporary with the
earliest manifestations of seventeenth-century French lute style set
their poetry to music.12
One might expect to discern the influence of dance songs
that were published by Ballard between 1627 and 1669 in the
anonymous collections of Chansons pour dancer et pour boire. Melodies
based on dance rhythms would seem to have a direct bearing on the
study of the relationship between vocal airs and dance-based lute

10 Rave, p. 58.
11 David Tunley, “Solo Song and Vocal Duet: France,” in New Oxford History of Music. Volume VI:
Concert Music 1630-1750, edited by Gerald Abraham, (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 1986, p.
156.
12 When referring to the French air it is important to bear in mind that a number of different song
types fall under the rubric air. French solo song of the seventeenth century can be divided into the
following four main groups: (1) airs de cour, that is to say, serious secular songs (though sometimes
these also include drinking songs); (2) The more light hearted chanson with its squarer rhythms and
catchier tunes (also including chansons a dancer); (3) sacred solo songs (for example, Psalm settings by
Guedron) and (4) recits which formed an integral part of the ballet de cour. Here I will only focus on
the first category of airs de cour. For a discussion of the various types of airs see Nigel Fortune, “Solo
Song and Cantata,” in New Oxford History of Music. Volume IV: The Age of Humanism 1540-1630,
edited by Gerald Abraham, (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 1968, p. 189.
30 Journal of the Lute Society of America

pieces. A closer examination reveals, however, that although many

of these tunes are unbarred, they nevertheless retain the square
repetitive rhythms that actually look back to the Renaissance rather
than look forward to the Baroque period. “At the beginning of the
Baroque period” Bukofzer writes, “the airs lost their popular
features, notably their square rhythm and melodic simplicity.
Merged with the sophisticated tradition of vers mesuré they were
stylized to what Parran called in his Traité de la musique (1646), le style
fair™
In his treatise on singing, Bacilly spends over one hundred
pages discussing the concepts behind quantitative prosody.13 14 The
basic idea is that the treatment of a word is based on whether it is a
short, semi-long or long monosyllable, or whether it is a two or
more syllable word having either a masculine or feminine ending.
For example, if the word has a feminine ending, the penultimate
syllable receives the stress, and if the word has a masculine ending,
the stress is on the final syllable. Monosyllabic words are more
complicated, and Bénigne de Bacilly spends much of his discussion
on the various ways they should be treated.15 Let us then examine a
typical French air in order to see how the composers set the poetry
to music. The following air by Pierre Guédron serves as an example
of the relationship between poetry and music.16

13 Bukofzer (p. 145.) is referring to Antoine Parran’s four styles of composition that he uses as an
introduction to his discussion of the rules of counterpoint in Traité de ta musique (Paris: Ballard),
1639, pp. 85-6. Bukofzer cites the second edition of 1646 without giving the exact location within
Parran's Traité.
14 Bénigne de Bacilly, L'art de bien chanter (Paris, 1679), p. 327-428.
15 For a summary of Bacilly’s preferences see the appendix to David Tunley’s article, “The Union
of Words and Music in Seventeenth-Century French Song: The Long and the Short of it,”
Australian Journal ofFrench Studies 21 /2> (1984): pp. 295-6.
16 Originally from Jean Baptiste Besard, Thesaurus Harmonicas, (Cologne, 1603), fo. 80 vo. A modem
edition is in André Verchaly, yri/rr de courpour voix et luth (1603-45), (Paris, 1961) p. 8. The Besard is
an embellished version of a Guédron polyphonic setting for voices. There is another, more
readable version for lute and voice arranged by Bataille in Ain de differents autbeun mis en tablature de luth,
Vol. 3 (Paris, 1611) p. 45, which is closer in melody to the earlier Guédron version, and has a much
clearer reading of the text underlay than the Besard version. However, the melodic and rhythmic
liberty common in airs from the period is more apparent in the Besard version than the latter
Bataille version. In some cases the two versions differ in phrase lengths, which results in different
metric settings of the poetic scansion. Nevertheless, in an effort to make a connection between solo
voice and solo lute melodies, this analysis proceeds from the more decorative Besard version, as
edited by Verchaly. Also, the Besard predates the Bataille by eight years, and therefore may be
considered an entefassung of the version for voice and lute.
Manifestations of french lyricism 31

Example 1
1 Si jamais//mon ame blessée
8 (3+5) a
2 Loge ailleurs qu’en vous//sa pensée,
8 (5+3) a
3 Puissé-je estre//pour chastiment
8(4+4) b
4 Privé de tout/1contentement.
8(4+4) b

1 (b) (b)

[' ■■ J J·— J' ■"

Si · ja - mais mon a · me blés - sé

Figure 1 - Sijamais mon ame blessée. (Pierre Guédron)

This strophe is rich in the sorts of details one would expect

to find in French classical verse. The rhyme scheme of aabb
alternates two feminine and two masculine lines. The “ment” ending
of lines three and four are treated here as masculine endings. A
comparison of the words that would be considered long according
to Bacilly’s preferences are virtually the same as those set long by
the composer. But within the regularity of four consecutive lines
there is disagreement on the placement of their caesuras. The first
line has a three-plus-five division while the second line displays a
five-plus-three scansion. The remaining two lines each have a four-
plus-four structure. The musical setting of Si jamais results in four
independent phrases of varying length, producing an overall
structure that is different from what might be expected from an
octosyllabic quatrain. Consider for example the treatment of the last
32 Journal of the Lute Society of America

two lines. As far as the poetry is concerned, they are both eight
syllables long, but the fourth line is developed over nearly twice as
much musical time as the third (Figure 2).17

Figure 2 - Comparison of lines 3 and 4 of Sijamais mon ame blessée.

The third line is internally weaker than the fourth. Take for
example the caesuras in both. The third line, if divided after the
fourth syllable (the only real place to put a caesura in this line),
results in a feminine caesura. This is not only rarer than a hemistich
with a masculine caesura, but also considered weaker in French
versification of the period. Instead of showing any sort of musical
pause after this fourth syllable, Guedron has delayed the long note
value to the end of the line on the word chastiment. On the other
hand, the masculine caesura of the fourth line not only receives a
long note value, but is also ornamented with an port de voix from
below (Figure 3).

Figure 3 - Placement of caesuras in lines 3 and 4 of Sijamais mon ame blessée.

The placement of ornaments is often over the long note

value within a line or half line. According to traditional
versification, the “ent” ending at the ends of lines three and four

17 The third line is developed over the equivalent of eight quarter beats while the fourth line is
developed over twenty quarter beats.
Manifestations of french lyricism 33

should be considered feminine. In most of the airs examined for

this study, the “ent” endings are treated as masculine endings with
regard to syllable count. But with regard to their musical setting
they often receive special treatment. Both the third and fourth lines
of Si jamais end with a port de voix from above on the last syllable,
and the sequence is a short note followed by a long one (Figure 4).

3 ([,) .Port de voix 4

0 ! 1 ---------1--------- 1--------- 1--------- 1--------- 1--------- T------------ 1---- 1------------------------ ----
*1 J
· V >1 J1 at 1 J1
J J—rJ . J —J—■—-—1
Puis · sé · j’cs trc pour chas · ti - mcnt - Pri - vc · de

Figure 4 - Port de voix concluding lines 3 and 4 of Sijamais mon ame blessée.

A similar technique can be seen in the endings for the first

two verses, but as those are considered true feminine endings, their
treatment is slighdy different. In these cases, the shorter penultimate
note is placed on the strong penultimate syllable (Figure 5).

Figure 5 - treatment of feminine endings in lines 1 and 2

of Sijamais mon ame blessée.

This sort of attention to details of the poetry suggests why airs

serieux were constructed by independent means in order to create
individual lines that do not appear to share common musical traits
with one another.

Lyricism in Lute Melodies

Having examined an example of French melody from the
airs de cour repertoire, we can now look to see if any of the traits
34 Journal of the Lute Society of America

exemplified may be found in lute music of the period. Examining

some of these pieces will show what aspects of French lyricism, if
any, are manifest in the most common lute pieces. One way to go
about this would be to scan some lute pieces just as was shown
with the airs. The important difference, of course, is the absence of
a text, which obliges one to approach the task from another
direction. In order to find a parallel with text-based vocal music, a
relationship analogous to that between syllables and line lengths
must be established. Thus, if the syllable is the fundamental unit of
structure in a poetic line, then the individual notes should be
counted to see how they constitute larger punctuations. There are
several parameters involved in determining the length of the line:
(1) the placement of longer notes; (2) the placement of ornaments
(especially if they coincide with the longer notes of the line or half
line; (3) harmonic agreement (placing the end of a line at an
unresolved harmony would be similar to placing a caesura in the
middle of word) and (4) the technical implications of performance
indications in the tablature.
The following example is a sarabande by Dufaut taken from
the Barbe manuscript.18 The first two measures can be thought of as
a four-plus-four, eight-syllable line. Both the division of the half
line and the end of the line are determined by the two long note
values; the dotted quarter g in the first measure and the half note a
in the second measure (Figure 6).

" I am grateful to Éditions Minkoff for allowing me to reproduce examples from the facsimile
Manuscrit Barbe, (Geneva: Minkoff) 1985. The Dufaut sarabande is from p. 217.
Manifestations of french lyricism 35

The next two measures constitute the second line resulting in a

three-plus-five, eight-syllable line, again distinguished by the
placement of longer notes. The first three syllables present no
problems but the second half of the line must take into account the
harmonic relationship between the E-flat and B-flat harmonies.
In order to have the harmony and melody coincide we
must think of the f in measure four as a slur over one syllable
(Figure 7).
2
1 5

C \. n r I. p

Figure 7 — The second line of the Dufaut sarabande.

This places the beginning of the next phrase on the second beat of
the fifth measure. This last phrase of the first half of the sarabande
is another eight-syllable line of four-plus-four, with the final
syllable of the line on the first beat and the remaining two pulses
being an instrumental termination (Figure 8).
36 Journal of the Lute Society of America

Instrumental
termination

I I. 61 r

Figure 8 - Last four pulses of Line 3 with instrumental termination.

What is revealed in the first half of the piece can be thought

of as a kind of octosyllabic tercet, (four plus four); (three plus five);
(four plus four). More important, however, is that none of the
phrases is exactly like any other. At first, it seems that the rhythm of
the first four notes is going to be developed into a unifying motive.
But in broader analysis, not only is the anacrusis absent from the
beginning of the second line, but also the three plus five scansion
of the second line further keeps the line from resembling that of
the first line. This scansion of the second line not only pushes the
cadence to the first beat of measure five, but also begins a new
phrase with barely a pause to account for the phrase extension.
What results is a four-plus-four syllable line that is quite different
from the first line, which had a similar syllable distribution. Also,
any sort of motivic development is undermined by the inner
scansion that is produced by the octosyllabic structure.
The second half of the piece consists of two additional
lines with line four consisting of three-plus-five scansion. In fact,
not only is the scansion of this fourth line identical to the scansion
of line two, but their rhythmic setting is virtually identical as can be
seen in the first two measures of the second half of the piece
(Figures 9a and 9b).
Manifestations of french lyricism 37

i. U r I.

Example 9b

Figures 9a and 9b - Comparison of lines 2 and 4.

The last four measures of the piece constitute the petite reprise
(very common in sarabandes of the period) and form a unified
structural entity. By assigning eight syllables to the musical pulses in
that section, the resulting scansion is very similar to the last four
bars of the first half of the piece. A problem occurs, however, in
accounting for the gap between the end of line four (second beat
of the first measure of the last system) and the beginning of the
fifth line (third measure of the last system). These four pulses that
remain “uncounted” can be thought of as an instrumental interlude
(Figure 10).
38 Journal of the Lute Society of America

The next piece, by Dubut, is also taken from the Barbe

manuscript.19 This sarabande offers several different interpretations
with regard to its scansion. The piece consists of two eight-measure
halves. Thus, on the surface there may appear to be some regularity,
but an examination of the internal phrases show that they remain
distinct. The first line consists of a four-plus-four distribution, but
as with the earlier example, it will be demonstrated that four plus
four can yield uneven results. The first half of the first line is clear
enough: four pulses ending with the long note on the downbeat o f
measure two and coinciding with the harmony. The second line
begins on the third beat of measure two with the second and third
beats of the second measure slurred together to produce one
syllable pulse. The end of the line occurs in the fourth measure
with a falling fifth from b to e. This ending resembles the feminine
endings of lines one and two in the previous air, Si jamais, mon ame
blessée. The second line offers us the possibility of more than one
interpretation. The port de voix from below on the second beat o f
measure five coincides with a harmonic point of arrival. The ç on
beat two of the measure can be considered the long note of the
line, which would result in a two plus six scansion. On the next
measure, however, there is a struck suspension on the downbeat.
The suspension could be prepared by placing the coupe of the line
after the third beat of the fifth measure, thereby softening the
dissonance produced on the downbeat of measure six. This would
then result in a three-plus-five scansion with a much different

19 Barbe, p. 39.
Manifestations of french lyricism 39

articulation than the previous two-plus-six scansion (Figure 11).

Figure 11 - The Dubut sarabande illustrating two possible

scansions for line 2.

The second half of the piece is virtually identical to the first

half and requires no further explanation. The point to this piece is
that phrases or “lines” may be divided in more than one way in
order to arrive at a reasonable solution for determining its scansion.
Another aspect to be considered is the segmentation of the
melodic lines. One of the reasons the present study focuses on the
Barbe manuscript is because out of all the manuscripts from the
period, it is the richest in performance indications. Not just
decorative indications such as those used to describe
ornamentation, but also technical indications. The following
example will serve to illustrate this point. In the first sarabande
analyzed, the second line demonstrated a three plus five scansion.
By examining the tablature, a left-hand shift is apparent between the
second and third beats (Figure 12).
40 J OURNAL OF THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA

Figure 12 - The Dufaut sarabande illustrating the left-hand shift with

numbers above the staff representing left-hand fingers.

The scribe could have re-fingered the passage in order to

avoid the shift. But in all likelihood, the fingering prescribed is not
just a technical aid, but a musical one as well that is responsible for
distinguishing the internal structure of the phrase. Without
understanding that aspect of performance indications in manuscript
of the period, a fundamental guide in the notation of the period is
being neglected.

Conclusions
The two preceding analyses show different ways of
interpreting a melodic line within the context of seventeenth­
century French lute music. It has been shown that the various
sections of a piece can be scanned in more than one way and that
there may be more than one solution for any given piece. What is
important is the process and, if French melodies are to be
convincingly interpreted, one must proceed from an understanding
of the principles on which they are based. Previous discussions of
French music, and especially French instrumental music, criticize
the absence of melody. The problem is that the comparison of two
vastly different stylistic traditions does not accurately yield results
pertaining to the questions raised by the repertory as a whole. If
melody does not exist in the French repertoire it is because it is not
Manifestations of french lyricism 41

melody as defined by the expectations set up in comparing parallel

repertories. Rather, we must accept melody on its own terms and, in
order to understand the concept of seventeenth-century French
melody, we must proceed from an understanding of contemporary
French “lyricism.”
It has been shown that the composers of pieces de luth were
influenced by vocal practice, in which the sense of phrase
declamation was based on French versification. This led to an
idiomatic adaptation in playing style in which lutenist composers
developed new principles of phrase structure and, ultimately, a
uniquely French style of instrumental writing.
Portrait engraving of E.G. Baron by Stör, 1727.
 The Life and Works of
Ernst Gottlieb Baron (1696-1760)

By Per Kjetil Farstad

rnst Gottlieb (Theophil) Baron was bom on 16

E February, 1696 in Breslau. He was the son of Michael Baron

(d. 1717), a haberdasher (Posametitirer), policeman-lieutenant,
and later a sexton at St. Barbara church in Breslau. Though Ernst
Gottlieb was destined to undertake his father’s occupation, he
decided instead to study the lute at the age of fourteen (ca. 1710).'
His first teacher was probably the Bohemian lute player Jacob
Kohaut*2 (1678-1762), father of the lutenist Karl Kohaut (1726-82).
Baron studied at the St. Elizabeth Gymnasium in Breslau until 1715,
when he moved to Leipzig in order to study philosophy and law at
the university from 1715-19.3 Leipzig did possess a court, but was
also regarded as an important center of learning because of the
University and its collegium musicum In addition, Leipzig was growing
as a financial center in the extended Germany together with towns
like Breslau, Danzig, Königsberg, Frankfurt/Main, and Hamburg.
Other lutenists who studied at the University in Leipzig included
Adam Falckenhagen (1697-1754), who was there from 1719 to 1720;
Anton Gleitsmann (1698-after 1750) who studied law and music in
Leipzig in 1716 or 1717;4 and Johann Pfeiffer (1697-1761), who was
enrolled as a student at the University of Leipzig from 1717 to 1719,
and later Kapellmeister at the Bayreuth court and the composer of a
lute concerto.5 Baron states that Meusel (1688-1728) also studied in
Leipzig, “applying himself, aside from music, for several years to

'The standard studies of Baron are Boetticher (1949-51); z\ndreas Schlegel (1999); Per Kjetil
Farstad (1999); E. Reilly (1980), and D.A. Smith (1973); an excellent English translation of Baron’s
Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten (Nuremberg, 1727) is in Baron (1976); Baron’s philosophical
views arc examined in Boomgarden (1987). Source studies of Baron’s music are in J. Klima (1988),
L. Hoffmann-Erbrecht (1989), and H. Euer (1995).
2 “... und insonderheit dem Lauten-Spielen, welches er ums Jahr 1710, bey einem Böhmen,
Nahmcns Kohott, zu erlernen angefangen....” J. G. Walther (1732), 73.
’ See Lüer (1995), 87-105.
■•Baron (1976), 74.
5Concerto B-Dur für Laute und Streich-Quartett, Augsburg, Tonk. fasc.III, listed in Herbert
Küffner (1969), 103-96.

JLSA, XXX (1997)

© 2002, Tbe Lute Society ofAmerica
44 Journal of the Lute Society of America

study of law.”6 After his education in Leipzig, Baron traveled to

other cities and courts in order to earn money and perhaps secure a
position as a lutenist. Baron visited many cities between 1719 and
1728.7 First he went to Halle, then made an tour to the courts of
Cothen, Schleiz, Saalfield and Rudolstadt,8 ending up in Jena, where
he enrolled at the university on 16 April 1720.9 Baron remained in
Jena until 1723-24, studying under Jacob Adlung, a German organist
and scholar who taught him to play keyboard and expanded his
general musical knowledge:

He [Baron] studied with me in Jena and already then he tried to get

his book [Untersuchung\ printed; but when no one would pay him
money for his books, because nobody was satisfied with his far too
inflamed writing against Mattheson, it was cancelled.10

After departing Jena, Baron stayed in Kassel for eight weeks,

where he played for the Landgrave, and then continued on to Fulda
and Wurtzburg, before passing via Nuremberg to Regensburg. In
Regensburg he met Lord von Reck, who recommended him to his
brother-in-law Hrn. Christiani, the high-princely court-council at
Mecklenburg court. From there, Baron returned to Nuremberg. In
1727 he published his famous Historisch- Theoretisch und Practische
Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten, dedicated to Lord Ernst August,
Duke of Saxony.11 On 12 May 1728, Baron succeeded Meusel as
lutenist at the Saxon-Gotha court.12

6 Baron (1976), 72.

7 We know from the life of other lutenists, like Adam Falckenhagen that traveling to different
courts and towns was the best way to get exposure. Falckenhagen traveled to Leipzig, Merseburg,
Weissenfels, Dresden, and Weimar, finally ending up in Bayreuth. In addition, Johann Walther
mentions him as playing at different courts, even staying in Jena for two years.
®Lüer (1995), 90.
’Jacob Adlung, Anleitung gur musikalischen Gelahrtheit (Erfurt, 1758), quoted in Peter Päffgen (1985),
48-55.
10 Ibid., 49: “Er [Baron] studirte mit mir in Jena und wollte sein Buch [Untersuchung] allda
drucken lassen; aber da man ihm keinen Ducaten vor jeden Bogen bezahlen wolte, überdies auch
niemand zufrieden war, dass er allzu hitzig wieder Mattheson geschrieben, so unterblieb es damals.”
Adlung arrived in Jena after 1723, where he studied organ with Johann Nikolaus Bach and wrote
several theoretical treatises. Given his statement that Baron studied with him, it is likely that Baron
must have stayed in Jena for at least three or four years, beginning ca. 1723-24.
11 It is interesting to note from Adlung’s letter, above, that Baron’s Untersuchung was probably
finished about 1723-24.
12 Quoted from Marpurg, vol. I (1755), 544-46, where we are given a brief history of Baron from
1728 after he succeeded Meusel as court-lutenist.
Life and works of E.G. Baron 45

Following the death of the Duke in 1732, changes at the court

led to Baron’s resignation and he moved on to Eisenach.13
According to Marpurg, probably the most reliable source, he stayed
there until 1737, when he requested dismissal to try his luck in
Berlin, hoping to capitalize on the lucrative musical situation in the
Brandenburg states. Before Baron left Eisenach, the Duke presented
him with a letter of recommendation addressed to the Crown
Prince, and later King, Frederick II of Prussia. Baron was also
assured that if he was not satisfied with his station in Berlin, he
could return to his position in Eisenach. On his way to Berlin,
Baron visited Merseburg and played for the Duke. He then traveled
to the court of Prince Leopold of Cöthen to visit his old friends
(his last visit had been in 1719-20), who included the violinist and
viol player Christian Ferdinand Abel (1683-1737), a close friend of J.
S. Bach. After a successful performance at the Court in Cöthen,
Baron postponed further travels until the autumn. He thus became
well acquainted with “Capeilmeister” Fasch, “Concertmeister” Höck
and the oboe player Fröde.
At the end of 1737 Baron arrived in Rheinsberg, Berlin. He
now took advantage of the recommendation-letter he had received
from the Duke of Saxony at Eisenach. After delivering the letter to
His Majesty The Crown Prince, Baron was immediately employed as
a theorbist at the Court and, upon the founding of the court’s own
Royal Chamber and Chapel Orchestra, he was formally appointed
From 1742 until his death, Baron’s salary was 300 taler per year. Since
Baron did not bring a theorbo to Berlin, he was permitted to visit
Dresden to have one made to his own taste. Upon arriving in
Dresden, however, he purchased a theorbo from Silvius Leopold
Weiss (1686-1750).14 Baron also renewed acquaintances with many of
his friends and pupils there, including von Hoffer,15 and Johann
Kropffganss Jr. (1708-ca. 1770). Kropffganss had studied lute with
Weiss, among others. Another acquaintance was the Russian

13 Ibid., 544: “allwo er sofort des Glück hatte, bey der Hochfürsd. Kammer- und Capellmusik
aufgenommen zu werden.”
14 Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, Historisch-kritische Beyträge ¡¡er Aufnahme der Musik, in 5 Vol.s, Berlin:
G.A. Lange, Vol I, chapter VIII, p. 546.
15 Wolffgang Adam Anton Hoffer (d. 1757 in Mainz). In September 1740, the Viennese Hoffer was
employed as Chamberlain and lutenist at the court in Mainz. Hoffer was employed as Chamber
servant, at a salary of “400 fl. Bestallung nebst einem Quartier auf der Cantzley,” see (Marpurg,
[1755], vol. I, 546); Schweickert (1937), vol. 11, 28; H. Radke (1972), 320-21.
46 Journal of the Lute Society of America

Belgratzky (Bellagradszky, Beligratzky, Pelegrazki),16 a pupil of Weiss,

who stayed in Dresden from 1733 in the service of Count
Keyserlingk, and in Berlin for some time from 1737?7 Baron’s
duties at the Berlin Court included giving recitals and also chamber
concerts with two violins, one viol (Armgeige) and cello but his
primary duty was to play theorbo in the Royal Chamber and Court
Chapel Orchestra. Baron remained in Berlin until his death on 12
April 1760?8

Baron and Weiss

Although Baron’s presence in Berlin suggests a thriving lute
tradition in the city, not much is known about the culture of the
lute in eighteenth-century Berlin, and it seems that Baron was not as
influential there as Weiss had been in Dresden-Leipzig. It could be
that a declining interest in the lute in the 1740s, especially as a solo
instrument, somewhat hindered Baron’s career. It was primarily
through the orchestral music of such musicians as the two Grauns,
Quantz and Carl Philip Emanuel Bach that Frederick the Great put
Berlin on the map. Opera dominated the musical scene, and taste at
the court was mostly oriented towards Italy.
Baron probably gave lessons as well. Many of his suites
demand only an intermediate level of technique, which could mean
that he wrote music for his students and other amateurs. In general,
his compositions reflect the Italian style of the time with a strong
predilection for melody and simple harmonic patterns. He was not
entirely galant in his compositions even if his music contains
obvious galant characteristics. Baron also demonstrated a strong
interest in theoretical pursuits, which was probably encouraged
during the four years he studied philosophy and law at the
university of Leipzig. Moreover, in Berlin he lived among the most
important theorists of the time: Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718-16 18
17

16 Bielogradsky, Timofei went to Berlin in 1737, where he became the teacher of Johann Reichardt.
From 1739 to 1767 he was in Royal Russian service. He was employed in Dresden in 1741 because
of political instability in Russia, and stayed in the service of Count Brühl (1700-1763). According to
Eitner, Bielogradsky’s playing and singing was praised. Baron met Bielogradsky in Dresden about
1737 and he may have persuaded Bielogradsky to come to Berlin on this occasion. See F. W.
Marpurg (1755), “Lebensnachrichten,” 546; see also T. Crawford (1995), Preface; Eimer, vol. I,
420-21.
17 Crawford, op. cit., the Preface.
18 Marpurg op.cit., 545-
Life and works of E.G. Baron 47

95), Christoph Nichelmann (1717-62), Johann Friedrich Agricola

(1720-74), Johann Philip Kirnberger (1721-83), Johann Quantz (1697­
1773), and C. P. E. Bach, (1714-88). After 1740, Berlin was, after
Dresden, one of the most important musical centers in Germany,
and we must assume that Baron played a significant role as court
lutenist, teacher, and theoretican.
Baron’s main theoretical work is, of course, the Historich-
Theoretiscb und Practiscbe Utitersuchung des Instrumentes der Tauten, which
was printed in Nuremberg in 1727. It is the most important German
lute treatise of the eighteenth century, and Baron further claims it to
be the first comprehensive book about the lute and lute playing. His
goal was to write a pedagogical book for amateur lutenists
combining history, interpretation, and philosophy.19 To justify the
writing of his book, Baron criticized those lutenists who
“...distinguished themselves more with musical compositions than
with other writings that lead to true understanding.”20 Baron names
Mouton, Gallot, Gaultier, Saint Luc, and Philip Franz Le Sage de
Richee as having accomplished no more for the lute than leaving
their compositions to posterity. Even if the book appears superficial
in its treatment of diverse topics, it is still important for its
comprehensive historical view of playing technique, ornaments,
interpretation, and information about lutenists around 1727.
In his Untersuchung Baron praises the compositions and
playing of Weiss, and from this we can deduce that Baron had heard
him play first hand and had also studied several of his
compositions.21 Baron came to the Berlin court in 1737 and
remained there until his death in 1760. In the hundreds of letters
between Frederick the Great in Berlin and his sister Wilhelmine in
Bayreuth from 1728 to 1758, nothing is mentioned about Baron.
These letters contain many conversations about music and
musicians at the courts in Berlin and Bayreuth but the only lutenists
mentioned are Weiss, who impressed Frederick during his visit to
Dresden in 172822 and was thereafter the teacher of Wilhelmine,23

•’Baron (1976), 15-16.

20 Ibid., 15.
21 “Because I have seen several pieces by the elder Herr Weiss and have heard him play. . .,” ibid.,
70.
22 Ibid., 65.
23 Gustav Berthold Volz (1728-1758), vol. 1, 23.
48 Journal of the Lute Society of America

and Falckenhagen, who is alluded to by Wilhelmine in a letter to

Frederick 18 Oct. 1732.24
On one hand, the absence of reference to Baron in the
letters could imply that his role at court was quite anonymous. On
the other hand, Lorenz Christoph Mizler named Baron among the
most famous musicians in Germany (1747):

Among the Germans the most famous are Mattheson, Reih, Kaiser,
Telemann, Bach, Hasse, both Grauns [Graune], both Weiss [Weise],
Baron, Stolzel, Biimler, Pfeiffer, together with many others, partly
mentioned by Herr Rector, but partly however, for the most part,
omitted.25

Baron’s position as being among the most famous musicians in

Germany could be based on three factors:

1. His impact as a theoretician, arising from his main work, the

Entersitchungot 1727. Here Baron was no coward, criticizing one of
the leading music theorists of the century, Johann Mattheson, for
his attack on the lute. Baron’s theoretical background in music,
philosophy and law, acquired through his study in Leipzig, also
enabled him to enter into philosophical discussions about music,
law, and other matters popular in aristocratic circles. Among the
subjects taught at Leipzig University were grammar, dialectic,
algebra, rhetoric, geometry, astronomy, and music.

2. Exposurefromfrequent travel. Between 1717 and 1737, Baron appeared

in Leipzig, Jena, Gotha, Eisenach, Merseburg, Cothen, Dresden,
Breslau, Halle, Schleiz, Saalfeld, Wurzburg, Rudolstadt, Fulda, Kassel,
Nuremberg and Regensburg. Baron’s presence at these courts and
chapels was important in his evolving reputation as a leading lute
player. His popularity and sagacity are underlined by Gustav
Schilling’s remark: “... Baron was regarded in Jena, as well as

24 Ibid., 105.
25 Lorenz Christoph Mizler (Leipzig 1747), vol. Ill, 571, cited in Neumann & Schulze (1969), 446:
“Unter den Deutschen sind die berühmtesten Mattheson, Reinhard Kaiser, Telemann, Bach, Hasse,
die beyden Graune, die beyden Weise, Baron, Stölzel, Biimler, Pfeifer, nebst gar vielen andern, die
der Herr Rector zum Theil gcnennet, zum Theil aber, u. zwar die meisten, ausgelassen.”
Life and works of E.G. Baron 49

elsewhere, as an artist of broad education and as the best lutenist of

his time.”26

3. Baron’s influence as a theorbo-player at the Berlin Court. In addition to his

role as an accompanist, Baron also must have given both solo
recitals and mixed concerts, judging by his surviving compositions
of solo and ensemble music.

Baron and the Affekt of the Lute

In his Untersuchung, Baron describes the story of King Eric HI
of Denmark who was driven to commit murder by the power of a
lute’s sound.27 Baron disassociates himself from such things, but
does not deny that music can be impressive, striking, and may cause
an emotional change in the listener.
He explains how the sound of each string affects the
eardrum through vibrations and further communicates to the
nerves and life spirits. For instance, chromaticism can be used to
calm the life spirits28 whereas “where the air is driven faster by the
sound, a person feels more liveliness than usual....”29 Later in his
book, Baron states, “the practice or execution of music occurs in
two ways.”30 The first is to follow the score as written “with no
concern for galant additions that will press upon the emotions.” He
calls this method “simple, noisy, and affecting only common and
uncultivated temperaments, thus it is out of place at court.” He
believes that the second manner of playing — “properly called
oratory” — is the most correct:

I call it this [oratory] because it agrees with the chief goal of rhetoric.
If we observe the qualities of a good orator we will find that his
achievement consists of the following: the elegance of his words; the
loftiness and merit of his thoughts and subjects; and the persuasion
and emotion of the affects. A virtuoso musician must possess all
these qualities.31

35 Schilling, Gustav, Fincyciopadie dergesamten musikalischen Wisstnschafttn, Vol I. Stuttgart 1835, p. 446·
27 Baron (1976), 48: After listening to the lute, King Eric II of Denmark “...was driven by its
power to such frenzy that he committed many murders. The artist responsible for this is not named,
but it is recalled that he actually accomplished everything that he claimed he could. He claimed he
wanted to make the cheerful sad, the sad merry, the angry meek, and the meek mad.... For my part 1
doubt seriously whether art could have risen to the point where it could move the passions there in
the cold north, especially with this instrument and at that time, since everything was periodically in a
bad state of affairs. However, I do not wish to deny that music can occasionally effect something
extraordinary.”
28 Ibid., 48-49.
29 Ibid., 50.
30 Ibid., 117.
31 Ibid.
50 JOURN AL OF THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA

The oratorical ideal, inspired from Greek rhetoric, found its way
into music through the elegance and affects of galant expression.
This was what was demanded of a court musician, not “simple” and
“noisy” execution, but music performed with elegance, and with an
innate power to both still and arouse passions.
The following anecdote illustrates how lutenists of the time
might have evoked affects and passions in the listener, and provides
valuable information about the techniques they used to produce
such affects:

The former Royal Prussian chamber musician and lutenist, Mr. Ernst
Gottlieb Baron resided in Jena during 1720 or 1721. He was popular
and loved by the students for both his skillful lute playing and for his
jovial spirit. One evening, when he was joining a large party together
with the famous and unhappy poet [Johann Christian] Günther, one
of the topics of conversation was the effect of the old Greek music,
and the question was if the present music could be able to produce
the same [effect]. “And why not?” Baron answered. “Well, my dear
countryman and brother,” Günther said, “fetch your instrument and
show us what art can be capable of.” Soon the lute was in place.
Baron started with different ascending and descending runs built on
scales, he broke the triads often through every sort of artful
arpeggios, from time to time he took the audience, who was sitting
in a circle around him, by surprise doing unexpected enharmonic
changes; fled through the most difficult passages with melting
pathetic melodies, varied his playing through all graduations from forte
to piano, changed the measure of time frequently; suddenly he
animated his playing by caressing the tones; then by being aggressive;
then by being graceful, and then again by rage, in short Baron
surpassed himself this evening, and in future he possibly never played
so beautifully and with such affect as this evening.
As he often looked around on the audience, he noticed that
they became restless and started to twist their faces when he played
certain passages. He doubled and tripled these passages, and the
more restless movements by the audience, the more Baron got
inflamed, to show all his tricks to the audience.
He decided to evoke the passion of anger in them up to a
certain degree, and as soon as they would begin acting too strange
and restless, he wanted to soothe their rage through softer
modulations. In fact it happened on a certain place when he played
some loud dissonances, when also the same dissonances were
sounding, and when they were repeated with strong attacks, that the
listeners popped up from their places, knocked down chairs and
Life and works of E.G. Baron 51

tables, smashed the tobacco pipes, crushed a mirror, demolished a

coffee sendee and windows, and suddenly the swords flew out of
their scabbards and ratded against each other in the air. Now, Baron
thought that it was time to soothe the exasperated tempers, and
bring the peace back. But, he had barely started modulating softer
tones, when some of his devilish fellows attacked this Arion32 from
Jena; Luckily, he found the opportunity to withdraw from the
crowd, and he left the room with his smashed lute. However, he
had not removed himself more than ten steps from the battleground,
when suddenly he heard laughter and joy. Baron listened and noticed
that all were in good mood, he returned of pure curiosity, and
discovered—that a conspiracy behind his back had been taking place,
and all that happened, was prepared by the mischievous students.
Everyone laughed, and he could not resist from chuckling, and was
comforted by the fact that he, for this joke, was to receive at his
house the next day a far better lute than his old one.”33

32 Gustav Schilling, in his Encyclopädie dergesammten musikalischen Wissenschaften, vol. I (Stuttgart, 1835),
446, has the following comment to this anecdote and the word Arion: “In Jena, Baron found the
most favorable reception, not only because of his excellent lute playing, but also on account of his
admirable demeanor. One thing that often gave the students there the opportunity for all kinds of
pranks was his infinitely high conception of the beauty and power of his art. He wanted all the
fabulous little tales about Arion, Amphion, and so forth to be considered quite true events, and he
was never made more angry than when someone denied that more recent music had the power and
effect that earlier music could produce,” cited by Smith (1973), 55.
33 Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, liegende einiger Miisikbeiligen (Cologne, 1786), 158-161: “Der
ehemalige Königl. Preuss. Kammermusiker und I lutenist, Herr Ernst Gottlieb Baron, hielte sich
in den Jahren 1720 und 1721 in Jena auf, und machte sich sowohl wegen seiner Geschicklichkeit
auf der Laute, als wegen seiner jovialischen Laune unter den daselbst studirenden beliebt. Als er sich
an einem Abend in einer zahlreichen Gesellschaft befand, bey welcher auch der berühmte und
unglückliche Dichter Günther zugegen war, so wurde unter andern vieles von den Würkungen der
alten griechischen Music geredet, und die Frage aufgeworfen, ob die heutige Musik wohl
dergleichen hervorzubringen vermögend wäre. “Und warum nicht?” fragte Baron dagegen.
“Wohlan, mein lieber Landsmann und Bruder, sagte Günther, so lass dein Instrument hohlen, und
zeige uns was die Kunst vermag.” Es währte nicht lange, so war die Laute da. Baron fieng an
verschiedne Tonleitern auf- und absteigend durchzulaufen, unterbrach die Tiraden öfters durch
allehand künstliche Arpeggios; überraschte von Zeit zu Zeit die in einem Zirkel um ihn herum
gelagerten Zuhörer durch unerwartete enharmonische Übergänge; durchflochte die schwersten
Passagen mit schmelzenden pathetischen Melodien, nuanzierte sein Spiel durch alle ihm mögliche
Gradationen von forte und piano, veränderte öfters die Tactart; bald schien er die Töne zu
liebkosen, bald zu brüsquiren; bald von den Grazien und bald von den Furien beseelet zu werden,
kurz Baron übertraf sich diesen Abend, und spielte vielleicht in der Folge der Zeit niemals so schön
und mit solchem Affect. Da er sich öfters nach seinem Zuhörern umsah, so bemerkte er, dass sie
bej’ gewissen Passagen unter sich unruhig zu werden, und verdrießliche Gesichter zu machen
anfiengen. Er verdoppelte und verdreyfachte diese Passagen, und je mehr die unruhigen
Bewegungen seiner Zuhörer zunahmen, desto mehr wurde Baron angefeuert, alle seine Künste auf
seine Zuhörer zu versuchen. Er hatte es sich vorgenommen, die Leidenschaft des Zorns bis zu
einem gewissen Grad nach und nach in ihnen zu erregen, und sobald sich solcher durch gewisse
Unordnungen äussem sollte, ihren Unmuth durch sanftere Modulationen wieder herabzustimmen.
In der That, geschah es be)’ einem gewissen Orte, da er bald mit lauter scharfen Dissonanzen
fortlief, bald in eben derselben Dissonanz stille lag, und sie sehr vielmal hintereinander mit starken
Griffen wiederhohlte, dass alle Zuhörer nach einander von ihren Sitzen aufsprangen, Stühle und
Tische umwarfen, die Tobackspfciffen zcrschmitten, einen Spiegel zerschlugen, in einige
Caffegeräthschaften und die Fensterscheiben hineinarbeiteten, und che man es sich versah, so
52 Journal of the Lute Society of America

Aesthetics, philosophy, and the galant style

In the first three decades of the eighteenth century, Johann
Mattheson and Johann Adolph Scheibe were the principal German
writers on music. Like Baron, Mizler and Johann David Heinichen,
Mattheson’s writings, Das forschende Orchestre and Critica musica, dealt
with contemporary aesthetics.34 The rationalistic philosophy of the
German Johann Christian Wolff (1679-1754), inspired by British
writers such as Locke and Bacon, was new to the Germans and
exerted a distinct influence on writers such as Baron and Mizler.35
The galant style in Germany was current from about 1720 to
1750 and manifested itself in composition, art, architecture, poetry,
behavior, and fashion. It was a result of an aesthetic developed out
of a new social ideal in the first part of seventeenth
century—namely that of the galant homme, who aspired to act, live,
think, write, read, and speak in emulation of the aristocracy. The
German galant style in lute music was expressed in the works o f
Baron, Falckenhagen, and Bernhard Joachim Hagen (1720-87),
through features such as slow harmonic rhythm, short melodic
motifs, sudden rests, quick changes in dynamics and tempo,
extensive use of triads and triadic melodies, the use of sixths, tenths,
double trills in thirds, appoggiaturas, turnarounds, slides, and
triplets. Italian influences, primarily operatic, were incorporated
through the use of cantabile melodies and brilliant passage work,
while French influences included a cheerful, lively spirit,
expressive tonal language (derived from Gaultier), profuse
ornamentation, and stylized refinement.
The galant artist was expected to have “taste,” and be
knowledgeable about the newest Italian styles of playing and singing.
“A galant artist must not be narrow,” Baron states, “but rather should
be able to change himself like a chameleon.”36

fuhren die Degen aus den Scheiden und klirrten gegen einander in der Luft. Nun glaubte Baron,
dass es Zeit wäre die aufgebrachten Gemüther wieder herzustellen. Aber kaum hatte er mit gelindem
Tönen zu moduliren angefangen, als einige von den Teufelskindem über den jenaischen Arion
selbst herfielen; glücklich, dass er annoch Gelegenheit fand, sich aus dem allgemein gewordnen
Treffen herauszuziehen, und sich mit seiner zerschmetterten Laute aus dem Staube zu machen. Er
war aber noch nicht zehn Schritte von dem musikalischen Kampfplatze entfernt, als sich auf
selbigem ein gewaltiges Lachen und Jauchzen erhob. Baron horchte und merkte, dass alle wieder bey
guter Laune waren, gieng aus mehrer Cüriosität zurücke, und erfuhr—dass er hintergangen, und
alles was geschehen, unter den leichtfertigen Musenkindem, die den leichtgläubigen Baron gerne
einmal zum besten haben wollten, so verabredet gewesen. Sie lachten alle, er konnte sich nicht
enthalten, wenigstens mit zu schmunzeln, und tröstete sich in der Folge damit, dass ihm für den
Spaass eine ungleich bessere Laute, als er nicht gehabt hatte, den Tag darauf ins Haus geschicket
worden.”
34Boomgaarden (1986), v.
«Ibid., 16-19.
»Ibid., 148
Life and works of E.G. Baron 53

Mattheson’s Der Vollkommene Capellmeister of 1739 stresses the

importance of composing a good melody. Contrary to Rousseau, he
suggests beginning with the melody, adding the harmony second.37
Baron makes the same point in his Abriss einer Abhandlung von der
Melodie, Eine Materie der Zeit (1755):3839
40

If one wished to establish the harmonic triad as the main source and
derive the melody from it, one would be putting the cart before the
horse, for a hundred passages could be drawn out of frequent
inversion of a chord, but never a melody, which must have an orderly
39
sequence.

Baron provides concrete examples of how to create good melodies.

The creation of a good melody requires a good natural disposition

which exists in a good understanding, namely, in the capacity to
clearly imagine all things possible in music, also in wit, which is the
readiness to realize similarities, and whoever has this is sensitive and
capable of remarkable innovation, also imagination, which is a
strength of the soul to imagine melodies and their accompaniments
with ease, also critical ability, through which one differentiates, what
belongs to a thing and what does not, and how it differs from other
things.
Cultivation, which must happen via the keyboard, because all
harmony is found therein, at which one must begin with small
melodies and then gradually build up to longer melodies and to get
ideas from melodies, and then the thoroughbass will be set as the
basis, through which one learns consonances and dissonances, also
their use and then complete harmony.
Practice. For if one begins to create small melodies, then one should
tty' first with small galant pieces, until he reaches by and by a higher
science, where he has to take into consideration the recognition of
key, their typical semitones, their modulations, the art of subdy
returning to a key

^Johann Mattheson, 305.

38Published by A.. Haude and J.C. Spencr in Berlin in 1756.
39 “Und wollte man gleich Triadem harmonicam vor die hauptquelle fest setzen, und die Melodie
daraus herleitcn, so würde man nur die Pferde hinter den Wagen spannen: Weil man wohl durch
öfteres Versetzen eines Accords einige hundert passagen; niemals aber eine Melodie, die eine
ordentliche Folge haben soll, herausbringen wird.” Baron; Abriss, 11-12, dted in Joel Lester,
Compositional Theory in the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992), 223.
40 Baron, Abriss, cited from Boomgaarden, op. cit., 69.
54 Journal of the Lute Society of America

It is interesting to see how Baron, who published his book

in 1727, deals with the notion of galant. Douglas Alton Smith
observes:
For Baron, galant seems to have primarily a social and
secondarily a musical significance. To be a galant homme was to
be a man of refined manners, with the well-bred nobleman as
the ideal to be emulated, and to be conversant on a wide range
of topics in the arts and sciences—in other words, to be a man
of the Enlightenment.41

Baron suggests that Esaias Reusner, the Younger (1636-1679) “was

more galant in composition than his father [d. after 1660]... and
strove to practice cantabile...,”42 and that Jakob Büttner:

“... came even closer to the goal in 1682 when he published

one hundred seven ‘extremely charming and beautiful’ (to use
his words) lute pieces in Nuremberg, according to the latest and
most galant method of playing the lute at that time.43

In speaking about Weiss, Baron also uses the word galant·.

“Because the Weissian manner of playing the lute is considered the
best, most sound, galant, and perfect of all, many have striven to
attain this new method.”4445By referring to Weiss as the most galant
of all, Baron was most likely alluding to the ease of his playing, his
apparently effortless execution, which “astonished all the Italians in
45 .
Rome.” Mattheson’s musical understanding of galant was that it
represented the modern and the new. Thus, Baron may have
derived his ideas on the subject from Mattheson’s Das neu-eröffnete
Orchestre of 1713. Here, Mattheson claims that “The very most famous
galant composers in Europe” were, among others, Caldara, Vivaldi,
Scarlatti, Handel and Telemann.46
Since the word galant was used in the second decade of
eighteenth century to designate a new or modern musical style
consisting of light textures, simple harmony, standardized cadences
and periodic melodies, composers who wrote music in this style
called such pieces Galanterie pieces. Galanterie is thus a German term
for an up-to-date piece and was used by many composers of the
time. J. S. Bach employs the term in Die Clavieriibung (“bestehend in
Praeludien, Allemanden, Couranten, Sarabanden, Giguen,

41 Baron (1976), v.
42 Ibid., 66.
43 Ibid.
44 D.A. Smith (1980), 48.
45 Ibid.
46 From Johann Mattheson, Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre (Hamburg, 1713).
Life and works of E.G. Baron 55

Menuetten, und andere Galanterien”), and the word is also used by

Baron when he mentions the partitas of the Weiss family: “Their
lute concerti, trios, and Galanterie partitas are so filled with such
ingenious, charming, well-connected ideas that one beautiful and
exceptional thought accompanies another, as it were.”47
In a letter dated 21 March 1723, cited by Mattheson in his
Epborus (1727), Weiss uses the term this way:

... I have the firm opinion that next to the keyboard there is no
other perfect instrument than this [the lute], especially for Galanterie.
The theorbo and archlute, which are quite different, are not usable
for Galanterie pieces...”48

These statements suggest that the theorbo and archlute,

which were tuned in A and G, respectively, were strictly continuo
instruments, and were not used for playing Galanterie pieces or
other solos. Galanterie partitas were played on the 11- and 13-course
baroque lute in d-minor tuning. Baron’s use of the term Galanterie
pieces includes partitas, suites and even concertos.49 In the
concertos of the period the lute part was written out in tablature
and not as a figured bass line.50

Baron and French Lute Music

Baron draws a picture of French lute music of the time, a
description which seems typical of the way many Germans
experienced it:

“With regard to the characteristics of the French, they too often

change voices, so that one cannot even recognize the melody, and as
already mentioned, there is little cantabile to be found, particularly
because they regard it as very fashionable to brush back chords on
the lute with the right hand, just as on the guitar; a constant hopping
around is required to give spirit and life to the pieces. I have also
observed that they consider it delicate to use the deep basses very
litde, preferring instead the middle range. This is to say nothing of the

47 Baron (1976), 70: “Ihre Lauten Concerten, Trio, und Gallanterie-Partien, haben sie mit so
Sinnreichen, anmuthigen wohl connectirende Einfallen angefiillet, dass gleichsam ein schöner und
besonderer Gedanken den anderen begleitet.” Emst Gottlieb Baron, Historiscb-l'heorttisch und Pnutische
Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten (Nürnberg 1727), 78.
■^Johann Mattheson, Der neue Göttingscbe aber viel schlechter, als Die alten Lacedämonischen, urtbeilende Ephorus
urggn der Kirchen Music (Hamburg, 1727), 118: “...sondern ich bin der festen Meinung, das, nach
dem Clavier, kein vollkommeners Instrument als dieses, absonderlich zur Galanterie. Theorbe und
Arciliuto, welche unter sich selbst wieder ganz differiren, sind zu Galanterie-Stücken gar nicht
gebraucht...”
49 Baron, Untersuchung, 148.
50 See the concertos of Baron, Falckenhagen and Hagen.
56 Journal of the Lute Society of America

simple melodies I often hear. But one does find a few pieces that are
rather well composed.”51

The French preference for the middle ranges is very interesting,

stemming from the fact that the tradition of playing chords on 4th,
5th and 6th courses was inherited from Renaissance lute playing.
This technique was adopted by Reusner who played the 11-course
lute. Weiss adopted the technique as well. He played the 11-course
up to 1718, at least, and brought the technique to the 13-course lute.
This may be why Weiss frequently used the “8-foot bass” area
(around the 6th course). Falckenhagen, Kohaut and Hagen, who
played 13-course lutes, used the “16-foot bass” area much more
(10th to 13th courses) when accompanying melody, which is mostly
played on courses 1-3. Compared to Weiss, their bass lines thus tend
to be situated an octave lower. Weiss was familiar with large
stretches in the right hand when playing arpeggios, having played
such patterns from boyhood. Since the spacing between the first to
the eleventh course on an 11-course lute, and between the first to
the thirteenth course on a 13-course lute, remained the same over
time, Weiss could still play with the same right hand ease.52
Baron’s complaint that there was little cantabile in French lute
music indicates that he favored singable melodies. As for harmony,
the Italians only used mild dissonance while the French were not
adverse to harsher clashes. Baron, in his Untersuchung confirms the
co-mingled French and Italian influence on German music:

Whereas the Italian manner is grave and the French taste diverting,
we in Germany have adopted both, since our nation loves change
and jumps from one thing or extreme to another.... Merry Italy...
has something “very melancholy, excellent, singing, serious, flowing,
and ingenious in its music... Galant and complacent France... has a
free and lively nature and makes music more facetious, indifferent,
and frivolous than all other civilized nations.. ,.53

Baron lists the lutenists who contributed to the German lute

style of the eighteenth century, among them father and son Esaias
Reusner (the younger, mentioned above as writing in a more galant
style than the elder). The younger Reusner was consciously French
in his compositions, but his harmonic approach betrayed his
German heritage.54 Baron notes that “he strove to practice cantabile

51 Baron (1976), 77.

521 wish to thank Anthony Bailes for providing me with this information.
53 Baron (1976), 148-149.
541 am grateful to Anthony Bailes for information about the style of Reusner.
Life and works of E.G. Baron 57

on the instrument and to bring a better, pure harmonious essence

into his pieces.’”5 With regard to Weiss, Baron affirms as well the
Italian cantabile influence: “In arpeggios he (Weiss) has an
extraordinary full-voiced texture, in expression of emotions he is
incomparable, he has a stupendous technique and an unheard-of
delicacy and cantabile charm.’”6
One of the first “French” lutenists, according to Baron, was
Laurent Qacques-Alexandre) de Saint-Luc, (1663-after 1700), a lutenist,
theorbist, guitarist, and composer active in Vienna. Baron observes
that

Saint-Luc is one of the best, for he always allows something lyrical

to flow into his pieces, and he is praised by Herr von Besser in the
description of the nuptials of the Most Serene Crown Prince
Frederick of Kassel with Princess Louise Dorothee Sophie of the
Electorate of Brandenburg, which took place in 1700.’7

Besser also mentions that St. Luc performed a solo “Tafelconcert”

for the household at the Brandenburg court using the theorbo, lute,
and guitar. He was highly praised for the event:

At noon on June 6, food was served at the table in the Oraniensaal,

regaled by soft music on the theorbo, lute, and guitar, which the great
French artist de St. Luc stroked with an almost entrancing
gracefulness. And thereby he easily brought to pass the belief that His
Royal Majesty of France, as the rumor holds, found him worthy
before others occasionally to entertain him at royal meals with the
sound of his strings.’8

Jacques-Alexandre was in service as lutenist at the chambre du

roi of Louis XIV in France for some time before the turn of the
century. He journeyed to Vienna around 1700 and entered the
service of Prince Eugène of Savoy, who praised him, and gave him
the needed freedom and opportunity to both compose and

55Baron (1976), 66.

56 Baron (1976), 70.
57 He says: “And because it just then happened that the splendid French theorbist and lutenist
Monsieur de St. Luc was passing through Berlin on his way to Vienna, he was detained here until
the nuptials to increase the forces of the sinfonie, together with the well-known artists in our
service-Ricks, Attilio, Volumnier, and others.” Quoted from Baron (1976), 76.
58 A. Koczirz (1918), 88: “Den 6. Junii zu Mittage ward die Tafel in dem Oraniensaal gedecket, und
bei derselben nur mit einer stillen’ Musik aufgewartet: nemlich mit der Theorbe, Laute, und Gitarre,
die der französische grosse Künstler de St. Luc mit einer fast entzückenden Lieblichkeit rührte, und
sich dadurch den Glauben gar leicht zu wege brachte, dass S. königliche Majestät von Frankreich,
wie das Gerüchte von ihm gehet, ihn vor andern würdig befunden, Sic bisweilen mit dem Klange
seiner Saiten bey Ihren Mahlzeiten zu ergetzen,”
58 Journal of the Lute Society of America

perform. Emil Vogl characterizes the lute music of Saint Luc as a

typical example of the polished French style, but his music also
encompasses inconsistencies in style common among German
lutenists.59 Rottmann claims that St Luc’s influence on the Berlin
school is tangible, and that Baron owes much to St Luc, which
reinforces Baron’s opinion that St Luc was one of the finest
lutenists.

Theoretical works:
Apart from Baron’s main work, the Untersuchung, he was also
the author of many articles published in the 1750s. They are as
follows:

• “Herrn Barons Fortsetzung seiner in dem Walterischen Lexico

befindlichen Lebensumstände,” in Marpurg, Historisch-Kritische
Beyträge ^ur Aufnahme der Musik, vol. I (Berlin, 1755), 544-46.

• “Herrn Ernst Gottlieb Barons Beytrag zur historisch-

theoretisch-und practischen Untersuchung der Laute/’ in
Marpurg, Historisch-Kritische, vol. 2, 65-83.

• “Herrn Barons Abhandlung von dem Notensystem der Laute

und der Theorbe,” in Marpurg’s Historisch-Kritische Beyträge, vol. H,
119-23.

• “Herrn Barons zufällige Gedanken über verschiedene

musikalische Materien,” in Marpurg Historisch-Kritische Beyträge,
vol. II, 124-128.

• Abriss einer Abhandlung von der Melodie (Berlin, 1756), 12 pages.

• Versuch über das Schöne (Altenburg, 1757), [trans, of P. Yves/Marie

André: Essai sur le beau, 1741]; suppl. Des Herrn Gresset [...] Bede von
dem uralten Adel und Nutzen der Musik im Jahr 1751 gehalten [trans, of
Gresset: Discours sur l'harmonie), also published separately (Berlin,
1757).

A Catalogue of Baron’s Music

Few of Baron’s musical works contain information
regarding the circumstances of their composition. However, the
titles of the movements, the form of the music, and, of course, the
compositional style itself can provide valuable information.

’’Josef Klima (1984), 18.

Life and works of E.G. Baron 59

A cursory glance at Baron’s lute music preserved in

manuscript suggests that most of it can be played on a 12-course
lute. There are some movements in his suites that require a 13th
course, but they are rare. There are two possible reasons for this: 1)
Baron played the 13-course lute, but avoided the lowest course
because it was the weakest; 2) Baron’s “main” lute was most likely
the 12-course lute. He is portrayed with a 12-course lute in the
Untersucbnngff A closer look at the picture suggests that the first ten
courses can be stopped on the fingerboard, and the two lowest
courses go outside the neck. They are not tied to an extra bass rider,
but to the regular pegbox, and the nut has been accordingly
lengthened outside the neck for courses 11 and 12. The spacing
between courses 10 and 11 is wider than between the other courses,
which is a practical solution for the right hand.
Another possibility is that he wrote for 12 courses, but
when his music was intabulated by other copyists, a 13th course was
added. It is interesting that when Baron mentions the range of the
11-course lute in his Unterstichung he adds: “There is also one with
thirteen courses, whereby the eleventh course still lies over the
fingerboard....”*61 Baron thus was aware of the 13th course, but
evidently did not play it. Although he wrote his instruction book
for the 11-course lute, he himself seems to have preferred the 12-
course instrument.62* 64
It is, however, difficult to date Baron’s music according to
the number of courses. The lute parts in the Harrach collection in
the New York Public Library are for 11-course lute, and the
collection is believed to date from about 1740-1750/’3 But the suite
in Der getreue Musikmeister, edited by Telemann in 1728, requires a 13-
course lute.6·1
The movements in Baron’s solo music for lute are relatively
short, regardless of whether they ate early or late works. The
compositional style is galant, mixed up with typical baroque
sequences. The music tends toward the Italian style, but it is
especially in his two late solo partitas, and in his chamber music,
that the galant style fully asserts itself.

01 Sec Baron’s portrait at the beginning of this article.

61 Baron (1976), 102.
62 From what I can deduce from the extant tablatures of Baron’s music, it seems that he most often
played the 12-course lute.
“RISM B/V1I, 237-238; See also E.G. Baron, Suitefor 2 Lutes, Lynda Sayce (ed.), introduction. Sul
Tasto Publications, distributed by The Lute Society, England.
64G. Ph. Telemann (cd.): Mttsik/weis/er (I iamburg, 1728), 50, 51, 55, 60, 63.
60 JOURN AL OF THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA

Leipzig, Musikbibliothek der Stadt Leipzig, Ms. III.11.6.a (formerly

owned by the “Privatbibliothek Dr. Werner Wolffheim,” Berlin-
Grunewald):

Sonata â 2. Luthe è Flauto traversi d[i] Sfignor] Baron

0 Allemande
3/4 Courante
0 March
3/4 Menuet avec Trio
6/4 Loure
12/8 Gigue

Both parts are intact. According to MGG, this work was

composed around 1730-1740, while Meyer II suggests around 1730.65
The lute part is written for 11 -course baroque lute.66 It could have
been composed at the time Baron arrived in Berlin, and the
intended flute player may have been Frederick the Great himself.
The Allemande features imitation, sequences, parallel thirds, and
notated broken chords as the main ingredients. The “Italian”
courante has a light two-part character with imitation, sequences,
parallel thirds, and the characteristic use of triplets. Baron uses the
term Sonata even though the movements are typical of suite form.

• Fantasie für die Laute, 1757

In Leipzig, Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf published
Zwölf Menuetten für die Laute samt einer Fantasia von Herrn Baron, König/.
Preussischen Lautenisten.67 New lute tablature printing-types were tested
in this volume. The Fantasie requires a 13-course lute.

Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique (Ms II 4087)68

Ms. II 4087/1: Sonata â Liuto solo in B-flat:
0 Fantasia
3/4 Allegro
3/4 Bourrée
3/4 Aria
C Rondeau
3/4 Tempo di Minuetto

This sonata and the fantasia in B-flat major are listed in the
1769 Breitkopf catalogue as works by Weiss (no. 6), and are also

® Meyer (1994), 190.

«>RISM B/VI1, 167.
67 Now in the possession of Hessisches Musikarchiv der Philipps-Universität Marpurg.
® Schlegel (1992).
Life and works of E.G. Baron 61

attributed to Weiss in the Haslemere manuscript, GB-HAdolmetsch,

Ms. H. B. 2. Andreas Schlegel mentions that the attribution of the
Sonata in Bb-major to Baron is extremely improbable.69 The style,
however, is unlike that of Weiss, so the composer must be a third
person. The ascription to Weiss in Breitkopf and Haslemere seems
to be wrong, or perhaps the composer could be another member
of the Weiss family. 70 The first movement Fantasia is similar to the
Fantasia we find in 4087/4.

• Ms. II 4087/2: Sonata à làuto solo in E-flat:

c Allemande
3/4 Courante
3/4 Bourrée
3/4 Aria
3/4 Menuet
2/4 Capriccio
3/8 Vivace e piano

This seven-movement suite in E-flat does not have Baron’s

name or initials. The extensive use of thirds in the melody in every
movement and the use of double appoggiaturas are not seen in any
other works of Baron. Schlegel does not believe the suite can be
attributed to Baron:

The attribution of fascicle 2 is problematic. The Breitkopf scribe,

namely, specified no composer, while the initials L.A.V.G. suggest
that this fascicle, with fascicles 1 and 3, was associated with Luise
Adelgunde Victorie von Gottsched, wife of the famous professor of
literature. The Leipzig connection, stylistic similarity with a suite in
D-sharp major attributed to Jacobi in US-NYp, Vol. 12, and Baron’s
mention of Jacobi in the Untersuchungen..p. 82, led lute researcher
André Burguete to associate this sonata with Jacobi..71

60 Ibid., introduction.
701 am gratefill to Tim Crawford for this information.
71 Schlegel (1992), introduction. Jacobi, Gotlieb Siegmund (?-? /born in the second part of the 17th
century, d. after 1726). Ulrich Siegele estimates that Jacobi was bom in the 1680s (sometime
between 1685 and 1690). He is found in Leipzig in 1705 and in Rostock in 1706, where he studied
“Rechtswissenschaft.” In the Studentmatrikkel his birthplace is cited as Grimma, which is outside
Leipzig (Baron mentions Jacobi to be from Meissen, which is just outside Dresden. These places are
not far from each other).
In 1723 Jacobi was recommended to the Leipzig Bürgermeister, Gottfried Lange, by
August the Strong’s Kabinettminister in Dresden. Jacobi served for a time as lutenist at the Dresden
court. Siegele believes that Jacobi came to Leipzig in around 1723-24.
Siegele speculates that Jacobi came to move from Leipzig to Cöthen and mentions the
possibility that Lange may have asked Bach to recommend him to the Cöthen court. According to
Die Köthener Kawmemchnungen, Jacobi xvas stayed at the Cöthen court from about May to October of
1724, receiving 82 Reichstaler for the position. Die Köthener Kammerrechnungen also mention a payment
62 Journal of the Lute Society of America

• Ms. II 4087/3: Duetto a Unto, e Traverso in G:

0 Allegro
C Adagio
t Presto

Both parts are intact. According to MGG, this work may

have been composed around 1740, probably after Baron assumed
his position in Berlin. The lute part is written for a 13-course
instrument. The notation in Ms. H 4087 is in three different hands.
The initials “LAVG” on the front cover raise the possibility that
Luise Adelgunde von Gottsched (1713-1762) was the copyist of the
lute part.72 She was a competent lutenist and a friend of Weiss. Ms. H
4087/4-8 is intabulated by another person while the suites in Ms. H
4087/9-10 seem to have been copied by a third person.
In the two concertos for four instruments by Meusel (1688-
1728), preserved in Brussels Ms. IL 4089 (formerly in the private
library of Fetis, no. 2914), we encounter the initials of Gottsched

to Jacobi in 1726. From the level of salary’· Siegele calculates his stay in Cothen to have taken place
from about the 24th January to 6th April 1726.
His next journey took him to Blankenburg (Harz). In November he wrote a letter to
Flemming, asking him for a certificate of recommendation to the popular Duke Ludwig Rudolf in
Brauschweig-Wolfenbuttel. Whether Jacobi stayed in Blankenburg for a longer time, returned to
Cothen, stayed in Leipzig, or just traveled around visiting the many courts in Germany, is not
known.
Zuth mentions that Jacobi was a pupil of Weiss, and it is likely that there was a close
connection between the two lutenists. Baron also speaks well of him and his compositions.
Monsieur Jacobi from Meissen has also shown all lovers of this beautiful instrument that he is very
skilled at composing for the lute. His pieces, although they are somewhat pensive, sound good to
the ear, and there is a pleasant spirit in them. Baron, who was very fond of the new Weissian manner
of playing the lute, liked Jacobi's compositions, probably because they had the features of this new
style.
In fact, Jacobi is one of the many people on Baron’s list who had striven to attain this
new method. The other names were Kiihnel, Meusel, Gleim, Grave, and Gleitsmannn. All of these
had earned special merit on this instrument, Note that all these musicians (except for Grave) are
represented in the Harrach collection in New York. Moreover, the 1836 Breitkopf auction list
contains all these names.
72 Luise Adelgunde Victoria (Kulmus) Gottsched (b. Danzig 1713; d. 1762),. She came from a
musical home where her father played the lute, her mother clavier and cyther, and concerts for
amatuers were organized at their house. A certain secretary Klein on the violin and D. Rade on the
lute are reported to have played. Luise began playing the lute in her childhood, and was mostly self-
taught. In her biography her husband, the famous poet Johann Christoph Gottsched, writes that she
played “... the most difficult pieces of Weiss perfectly, almost at sight; and she even earned the
applause of this great master when he visited her in 1740, playing for her and hearing her play.”
She was a friend and pupil of S.L. Weiss. Together with a letter to her dated September 28, 1741,
Weiss sent her a Partita. D.A. Smith mentions the possibility of a connection between Weiss and the
Gottscheds.
From her biography we get the impression that she was a intellectual person, well
acquainted with music, poetry, writing and reading books. It is probable that she copied much of the
later lute tablatures herself. She also played basso continuo very well on the clavier, and when
arriving in Leipzig in 1735 she studied composition with Bach’s pupil Johann Ludwig Krebs who
also was well acquainted with the lute and lutenists in Leipzig.
Life and works of E.G. Baron 63

once more. The works in this manuscript are believed to have been
composed between 1715-50.
There are at least three possibilities as to why these initials
show up on the works in 4087 and 4089: 1) the intabulator was Luise
Adelgunde, 2) the works were dedicated to her, or 3) she could be
the owner of the works. In the Ms. II. 4087, Fs. I, II, and IH, the
copyist uses the symbol “3” to indicate the 10th course rather than
the usual “///a.” The same hand and idiosyncrasies appear in the
works of Meusel in Ms. II. 4089 (2 and 3)73 and in Ms. II. 4089 (15), a
concerto by Lauffensteiner, although this time without the initials.

• Ms. II 4087/4: £ Fantasia

This is concordant to the Fantasia contained in the suite in
B-flat (4087/1), but it is another handwritten copy (see the
comments under 4087/1).

• Ms. II 4087/5 Concerto, in C a Unto obligato, Violino e Basso.

C Allegro
3/4 Largo
C Presto

This contains the Violino and Basso parts. The lute part
appears in Ms. II 4087/7 (see below):

• Ms. II 4087/6: Concerto, in C a Unto obligato, Violino e Basso:

Again, the lute part appears in Ms. II 4087/7 (see below):
C Allegro
C Adagio
3/4 Vivace

In the beginning of the eighteenth-century, lute trios

appeared by Viennesecomposers such as Ferdinand Ignaz
Hinterleithner (Fanten-Concerte, 1699), Johann Georg Weichenberger
(ca. 1700), Wenzel Ludwig Freiherr von Radolt (1701), and Jacques
de Saint Luc. The trios by these composers are very similar in
structure: the upper voice (violin, flute, or another instrument)
doubles the upper voice of the lute part, while the lower voice
(cello) doubles the bass part of the lute.
In the trios of Philipp Martin and Baron from the 1730s
there is greater independence of each instrument. The bass part of
the lute acts more as harmonic support.74 The two concertos in Ms.
II 4087/5-6 are examples of such individual. The movements are

’’These are the library’s own designations.

74 Neemann, “Philipp Martin” op. cit., 545-65.
64 JOURNAL OF THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA

short and are relatively easy to play. The style is melodious, the
harmonic texture simple, and there is the use of short motifs and
sequences. They were probably composed sometime between 1730
and 1740 and performed at the courts of Gotha, Eisenach, or Berlin.

• Ms. II 4087/7: (Contains the lute part of Ms.II 4087/6)

C Allegro
C Adagio
3/4 Vivace

(Contains the lute part of Ms.II 4087/5)

C Allegro
3/4 Largo
C Presto
Ms. II 4087/7 contains the lute parts to the concertos in Ms. H
4087/5 and 6. Lothar Hoffmann-Erbrecht wrongly suggests these
lute parts to be a doubled Sonata da camera.15

Ms. II 4087/8: Unto Solo in F del Sigr. Baron

c Allemande
3/4 Courante
3/4 Menuet
3/4 Polonoise (Not in II 4087/9)
3/4 Sarabande
C Bourrée
3/4 Menuet
3/4 Polonoise (Not in. II 4087/9)
6/8 Gigue

This suite is the same as the F suite in 4087/9. The differences

between the suites are listed below:75
76

• Ms. II 4087/9: Unto Solo (in C-minor):

C Allemande
3/4 Courante
C Bourrée
3/4 Sarabande
3/4 Menuet
C Air
12/8 Gigue

75 Hoffmann-Erbrecht (1989), 233.

76 See Chamber Music of the 18th Century, Brussels Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Ms. II 4089, Alamire,
Belgium, 1990, author: G. Haenen.
Life and works of E.G. Baron 65

Suite in G-minor:
c Allemande
3/4 Courante
C Aria
3/4 Menuet
C Bourrée
3/4 Menuet
C Gavotte
3/4 Sarabanda
6/8 Gigue

Suite in F: Except for the Air movement, all the movements are also found in
the suite in F, Ms. II 4087/8:
C Allemande
3/4 Courante
3/4 Menuet
3/4 Sarabande
C Bourrée
3/4 Menuet
C Air (Not in II 4087/8)
6/8 Gigue

Suite in D-minor:
C Prelude
C Allemande
3/4 Courante
C Bourrée
3/4 Menuet
3/4 Sarabande
3/4 Menuet
C Aria
3/4 Polonoise

• Ms. II 4087/10: Liuto Solo in A minor:

C Allemande
3/4 Courante
3/4 Menuet
C Aria
C Bourrée
3/4 Menuet
12/8 Siciliano
12/8 Gigue
66 JOURN AL OF THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA

Suite in A-minor.
C Préludé
C Allemande
3/4 Courante
3/4 Menuet
C Bourrée
3/4 Menuet
C Gavotte
3/4 Sarabande
3/4 Menuet
12/8 Gigue

Suite in C-major:
C Allemande
3/4 Courante
3/4 Menuet
C Aria
3/4 Sarabande
C Bourrée
6/8 Gigue

Suite in G-major.
C Préludé
C Allemande
3/4 Courante
3/4 Menuet
C Bourrée
3/4 Polonoise
6/8 Gigue

The nine suites in Ms. 4087/8-10 are ail built upon the
conventional suite form: Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and
Gigue. As in most of the suites by contemporary lutenists in the
first part of the eighteenth century, these movements were
surrounded by other dance types such as Menuets, Bourree, and
Polonaise, which were more typical galant movements. Six of
Baron’s suites include an Aria, one has a Gavotte, and one has a
Prelude. The movements are relatively short compared to the works
of Weiss. Even the late partitas (see below) have relatively short
movements; thus, brevity is characteristic of Baron. Many of these
suites are of medium-level technical difficulty, and the harmonic
structures are modest and simple.
Baron probably wrote lute music for both pedagogical
needs and courtly chamber concerts and events. The easiest
Life and works of E.G. Baron 67

movements of these nine suites would have been excellent teaching

purposes. Most of these suites were probably written sometime
between 1725 and 1745.

Königsberg (Kaliningrad), Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Ms. 3026

FascicleVI.

The following partitas have been missing since WWII, but a copy
from the original manuscript has survived.7778

• Ms. 3026, Fascicle. VI: Partita in G, Galanterie G-Dur, composée par E. TH.
Baron, le 17 de Février l'an 1755 per il Liuto™
Introductione
Poco Allegro
Aria
Menuetto
Polonoise
Gigue

• Ms. 3026, Fascicle. VII: Partita in F avec la suite pour le luth F-Dur
composée par Emeste Théophile Baron:
Entrée
Poco Allegro
Gavotte Menuett
Menuett
Paisane
Sarabande Adagio
Menuett
Gigue

One of the contributors to the collection was the “Archiv

Finckenstein-Garden ” (Countess of Finckenstein-Garden), who
donated these tablatures to the library as a permanent gift in 1932.
The Ms. 3026 contained both solo and chamber music. In addition
to two Partitas of Baron, the collection contains works of Adolf
Faustinus Weiss (1741-1814),79 Adam Falckenhagen (1697-1754), and

77 The Partitas of Baron have survived through painstaking work by Erik Schütze, Josef Klima,
and Joachim Domning. Schütze copied the manuscript, Klima preserved a copy of Schütze in his
“Wiener-Lautenarchiv,” and Joachim Domning republished the Partitas from Klima’s copy in
1991.
78See the preface to Ernst Gotdieb Baron, Zwei Partitenßir Laute Solo, ed.J. Domning (1991).
79 Most of what was believed to be J.A.F. Weiss’ music, preserved in the National Library' in
Königsberg, is missing since WW II: (1) Signatur Ms. 2712 with the remark: “Noten von anno
1757 in 11 stücken, die zur Laute IV 35 antes No. 4068 Pruss. Mus. Gehören, welche pp Nithard
viel gespielt hat.”
These works are considered to have been played by the lutenists surrounding Reichart in
68 Journal of the Lute Society of America

two Arias with lute-accompaniment. The Partitas contain the

following inscriptions:
Partie de Galanterie G-dur, composée par E.Th. Baron le 17 de Février
l’an 1755per il Liuto, (fascicle VI)
Partie avec la suite pour le luth f-dur composée par Emeste Théophile
Baron (fascicle VII)

These two Partitas are among the finest of Baron’s

achievements.80*However, as Domning points out in his edition, one
cannot be certain about their authenticity since no original
manuscript exists. The Partita in F contains eight movements, the
Entrée, Poco Allegro, and the Sarabande adagio arguably being the most
successful. The headings of a few movements Poco Allegro and
Sarabande Adagio allude to sonata form, which is new to the solo
music of Baron. The same could be said about the two first
movements of the Partita in GF
The Partita in Fascicle VU, seems to be for the 12-course
lute, in contrast to the Partita in Fascicle VI which is intended for a
13-course instrument. It is not known when the Partita from fascicle
VII was written. Judging from the use of mixed movements from
both suite and sonata form, it could have been written about the
same time as the other Partita in Fascicle VI. The Galanterie suite in G
has a very galant touch, especially the introduction with its light
character, tunefulness, and elegant use of triplets.

Königsberg. One of the pieces is a Menuet con Variazione de Mr. Reichardt. Pieces from the book
could be connected to Weiss, but only one work indicates a Weiss, probably J. A.F. Weiss:
4.Canzonetten, Canto, Chitarra, Liuto übersetzt von Weiss:
Lagitation d’amore
Silencio che sento di Bianchi
Sul’Ara d’Esculapi
La Verita
Ms. 3026 - Archiv Finckenstein-Garden” (Countess of Finckenstein-Garden), who
donated their tablatures to the Library in Königsberg as a permanent gift in 1932. The Ms. contains
both solo and chamber music. Three works are connected to a Weiss, probablyJ.A.F. Weiss:
Weiss, Solo Liuto D moll;
Weiss, Concerto a 3 voci A moll, Liutho, Violino ed Basso, only lute part;
Weiss, Liuto solo c-dur und f dur;
All works are notated in French tablature for 13-course lute.
See: The New Grove, Vol. 20, 325-326, the Weiss articles by Edward R. Reilly and
Douglas Alton Smith; Hans-Peter Kosack, Geschichte der Laute und Lautenmusik in Preussen, volume 17
of “Königsberger Studien zur Musikwissenschaft”, Kassel, 1935, 91-96
a) Josef Klima, Emst Gottlieb Baron (1696-1760). “Partiten aus den verschollenen Handschriften
Berlin, Mus. ms. 40633 und Königsberg 3026. Themenverzeichnis von Josef Klima,” in Gitarre
und Laute 1/88, 33-34; Kosack, op. cit., 58; Joachim Domning, Emst-Gottlieb Baron sgvd Partiten fi'tr
Laute Solo, BL 02-1, Verlag die Barocklaute, Wuppertal, 1991; RISM B/VII, 1978, 153
811 have found numerous examples where the strict rules are neglected in the bass lines. It seems
like Baron more or less gave up on the rules, and the music could be far better harmonized.
Life and works of E.G. Baron 69

Cracow, Biblioteka Jagiellonska [formerly Berlin, Preussische

Staatsbibliothek, Mus. ms. 40633:

Partie De Mr Baron
Prelude (?)
0 Allemande
3/4 Courante
t Gavotte
3/4 Menuett
La Bassesse
3/4«) Menuet

The manuscript is for 11-course lute. Friedrich Wilhelm

Raschke, (ca. 1750) is mentioned by Koczirz as being “Electoral
Saxon Minister of War” from 1739 and likely possessed this
manuscript.82 Raschke may have worked as a lutenist at the court
chapel in Dresden and in the church after the death of Weiss, but
he was not formally employed. From a Menuet by Raschke, the year
of the manuscript is thought to be 1753. The manuscript also
contains music by Raschke, Gautier, Gallot, Mouton, Baron,
Weichmanberg, Fasch, and Bronikowsky. The partita by Baron was
probably written during the 1740s.

New York Public Library: Archive Harrach, JOG 72-29, vol. xiii
• Concerto a luth, oboe et Violoncello (in C minor);
C Concerto
C Molto Adagio
3/4 Vivace

Baron may have written this work after having met the oboe player
Frode in Zerbst.83

• Concerto a Unto, Violino (in D minor);

C Concerto (no further name)
3/4 Largo
3/4 Vivace

The manuscript is for 11-course lute. It is possible that

Baron wrote this concerto in the late 1730s, and the violinist may
have been the young Franz Benda (1709-1786) who was engaged by

82 It was in the private library of Dr. Werner Wolffheim, until 1932, then preserved in the
Preussische Staatsbibliothek, Musikabteilung until the end of the WW II. It is now at the
Jagiellonska Library in Cracow.
83 F.W. Marpurg, Historisch-Kritische Beyträge (Berlin, 1754), vol I, 545.
70 Journal of the Lute Society of America

the Prussian crown prince in 1733, and remained in this service

until his death.

• Concerto a Lauto, Plante Traverso,Violoncello (in G);

C Concerto
3/4 Largo
3/4 No tide (vivace?)

This was written for 11-course lute, probably early in

Baron’s Berlin period, ca. 1737-45. The flute player for these
concertos may have been the king himself, or even J.J. Quantz.
These concertos, like those in Brussels Ms. II 4087/3, 4087/5, and
4087/6, are all cast in a slow-fast-slow three-movement form.

A Flauto Dolce, au Lüth, par é Mr. Ernst Gottlieb Baron (in D minor):
C Concerto: Adagio
3/4 Allegro
6/8 Siciliana
6/8 Gigue
The names of the movements indicate a mix between suite and
sonata form. This is his only concerto work in four movements.

Suite à 2 Luth par Baron [in B-flat];

C Allemande
3/4 Courente
3/4 Menuet
C Bourrée

Baron met another lute player, Bielogradsky, in Dresden

about 1737.84 According to Eitner, Bielogradsky may have been in
Berlin in 1737 for as long as two years,85 and Baron’s suite for two
lutes may have been written in these years.

Mecklenburgische Landesbibliothek, Schwerin, D SWI: Mus. 966

• TRJO. / Flauto—Traverso. / Violino./ Basson./ Composta Del'.Singl: /

E.T.Baron./ JJB
Andante
Allegro
Un poco allegro e quasi scherzando

w Ibid., 546
85 Crawford, The Moscow “Weiss” Manuscript, preface.
Life and works of E.G. Baron 71

The manuscript dates from between 1750-59, but the trio

was probably written between 1730-50. The tide is taken from the
bassoon part. In the same collection we find the lute trios of Philip
Martin.86

Music of Baron in other sources:

In Der getreue Musikmeister, Hamburg (The Faithful Music Master),
edited by G. P. Telemann in 1728, we find another suite. The
Musikmeister contains music for many different instruments such as
harpsichord, lute, as well as ensemble and vocal music. Both Baron
and Weiss are represented.87

Suite (Partie) in F
Allemande
Courante
Menuett
Sarabande
Le Drôle
Bourrée
Gigue

The auction list from 1836 shows that Breitkopf published a

remarkable number of lute works.88 Some of the music was
purchased by the Belgian musicologist, critic, teacher and
composer, François-Joseph Fétis (25 March, 1784-26 March, 1871),
who collected a library now preserved in the Brussels Bibliothèque
Royale Albert I. The auction list describes 4 trios, 1 duet and 5 solos
by Baron.89

86 Martin, Philipp (Philippo Martino; Pilippo Martini; Philippi Martini) (?-?), lived during the first
part of the century, and is known through his Trio VI. His publisher in Augsburg, Johann
Christian Leopold, was active from 1726. Ncemann has shown that Martin’s trios were published
between 1730 and 1733. (Neemann, Philipp Martin, op. cit.,545-65.) It has, as yet, not been
possible to establish whether Martin lived in Augsburg. Joachim Domning, Germany, mentions that
the lutenist Philip Martini played a concert in Rostock on the 12th May 1738 in “Kaisersaal,” and
that both trio and soli were performed (personal communication with Joachim Domning).
Works: “Trio VI,” published by Johann Christian Leopold in z\ugsburg around 1730;
for 13-course lute in French tablature:
III. con Liuto, Flauto traversiere et Fondamento
III. con Liuto, Violino, et Fondamento
Libraries: Augsburg,; Bremen; Brüssel CR; Schwerin; Uppsala.
See Neeman (1926-7), 545-65; Pohlmann (1982), 90; Amos (1975), 213; Otto Kade (1893).
87 G. Ph. Telemann (ed.): Dergetreue Musikmeister, Hamburg, 1728, 50, 51, 55, 60, 63.
^Verzeichnis geschriebener... und gedruckter Musikalicn aller Gattungen welche am l.Juni 1836
und folgenden Tagen...von Breitkopf & Härtel in... Leipzig verkauft werden sollen, 59, quoted
from H. J. Schulze, “Wer intavolierte Johann Sebastian Bachs Lautenkompositionen?,” article in
Die Mnsikforscbung XIX, 1966/1, 32.
891 am grateful to Joachim Domning for giving me access to the list.
72 Journal of the Lute Society of America

Before World War II, more works of Baron were known in

the archives of Breitkopf & Härtel, but they are presumed lost.90

8. Ornaments in Baron’s works

In his Untersuchung he states that “... all instruments must
imitate the human voice.”91 He states that string and wind
instruments are “... the most adroit at imitating cantabile, because
the player can draw and sustain a tone on them for a long time.92
Baron also refers to “... the most elegant ornaments that occur on
the lute and that are peculiar to it in their execution.”93 Baron’s
Untersuchung is one of the most important lute sources in the
eighteenth century, particularly of the first third.
Baron’s ornamentation symbols are clearly inherited from
Reusner, Wenzel von Radolt, and Le Sage de Richee. Reusner,
however, used only a few ornament signs, a cross (ix) and a comma
(flj).94 The cross suggests a mordent in most contexts and not
vibrato. The comma indicates a trill or an appoggiatura from above,
depending on the context.95 The appoggiatura from below is drawn
with a bow under the tablature letter:

6S-)
In his Untersuchung Baron describes the following
contemporary ornaments for the lute:

Appoggiatura Appoggiatura
from below from above
“Einfallen” “Abziehen”

-at -- 1
i -J
* -

The slurs are inverted according to their direction (ascending or

descending).

90 Lothar Hoffmann-Erbrecht, “Emst Gottlieb Barons Kompositionen fur Laute Solo,” in

Quaestiones in Musica, Tutzing, 1989,227-40.
91 Baron (1976), 140.
92 Ibid., 141
9JIbid., 140.
’•Janet Dodge; “Ornamentation as indicated by Signs in Lute Tablature,” in Sammelbände der
Internationalen MusikgesellscbaftYX., 1907/08, 332
95 Thanks to Anthony Bailes for comments on this matter.
Life and works of E.G. Baron 73

Trill. Baron uses this sign for a trill:

1
1
-11- 1 1
In the Bach and Weiss sources, this sign also stands for a trill, but
Falckenhagen and Hagen interpret it as an appoggiatura.
Baron writes the Abytig and Einfall the same way as Le Sage
de Richee in his collection Cabinet der Tauten from 1695.96 Le Sage de
Richee also uses a comma (or a crescent-moon sign) after the
tablature letter to indicate the trill. Even in the middle of the
eighteenth century we find the crescent-moon sign in some lute
pieces by Bronikowsky and Raschke.97
In the Suite a 2 Euth by Baron (New York Public Library:
Archiv Harrach), the intabulator uses a comma sign for the
appoggiatura from above:

Allemande, lute part 2, m. 1

The sign for the appoggiatura from below also differs in the
various manuscripts of Baron’s music. In the Ms. II 4087 from the
Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique in Brussels (hereinafter Brussels 4087)
the following sign appears:

O „
psg;
rF
Appoggiatura from below:
Brussels 4087/9, Courante, m. 13

96 Dodge, op.cit., 352.

57 See Adolf Koczirz, “Verschollene neudeutsche Lautenisten,” Archiv fiir Musikwissenschaft, volume
III, 1921, 276
74 Journal ofthe Lute Society of America

But in the Harrach manuscript, Suite à 2 Lsttb, the bow under the
tablature letter signals an appoggiatura from below:

Allemande, lute part 2, m. 8

In his book, Baron distinguishes between two kinds of vibrato

(Bebung):
1. Vibrato executed with the left-hand thumb free:

His description of the second kind of vibrato is less clear:

It consists of placing the appropriate finger down and pulling the

string back and forth with it, so that the same kind of Bebung or
wavering tone is produced.”98 [emphasis added]

“...das man seinen darzugehörigen Finger aufsetzt, und damit die Saiten hin und wieder ziehe, auf
dass eben so eine Bebung oder schwebender Thon heraus komme” Baron, Untersuchung, 169.
Translation here by D.A. Smith, Baron (1976), 143.
Life and works of E.G. Baron 75

Of the expression “hin und wieder ziehe ” (pulling back and

forth), two interpretations are possible. I believe he is referring to
the so-called transversal vibrato, which means that the player has to
pull the string transversally on the neck (as opposed to). This vibrato
is widely used on the guitar today when playing in the first position
on the lowest strings."
The cross-sign (^x) stands for the trill in the music of
Falckenhagen and Hagen, and in intabulations of J.S. Bach’s lute
100 A similar cross sign is found in the tablature of Baron’s
music.99
two concertos for lute, violin and basso in C:

Brussels 4087/7, f 2V, Adagio

Again the same sign is found in the Allegro and Presto of the
following concerto (Brussels 4087/7 ff. 4 and 4V):

Brussels 4087/7, f 2V, Adagio

This should not be confused with his sign for vibrato in

lower positions on the lute, which he refers to in his book. In the
same Adagio this sign is even used on an open string, which is
impossible. We find more of the same in the Sarabande in Brussels
4087/8 (f. 3) of the first suite and the Sarabande in Brussels 4087/9 (f.
. How should we interpret the cross (x) here? In Brussels 4087/8
2)
it could mean a pralltrill or trill. In the 4087/9 Sarabande, it can be

99 Anthony Bailes shares this opinion because of Baron’s use of the word “ziehe” which means
“pull,” and Bailes adds: Can one pull a string along its length?
,<DBach wrote his lute music on the standard grand staff: he did not write any lute tablature.
76 Journal of the Lute Society of America

interpreted as a trill, pralltrill and mordent, but most likely a trill, and
in the Allemande (f. 3) and the Courante (f. 4), as a pralltrill or trill. Weiss
uses the same sign for a mordent, while in the tablatures of Bach,
Falckenhagen and Hagen, it should be interpreted as a trill. The
cross at the open string in the above example cannot be performed
as a mordent. This sign seems to be an alternative to the most
common trill sign:

For the most common trill sign in the intabulations of

Baron’s music, we can look again at the Allemande of the Suite à 2
Luth, from the Harrach Manuscript:

trill

In the Polonoise and Sarabande in Brussels 4087/8 (both on f.

2v) we find the intabulator using the double cross sign (#) for
vibrato both in the treble and bass strings:

This differs from what Baron shows in his book where he uses the
(# ) in the treble in higher positions and (x ) in the lower positions.
Why are there different ornament signs in all of Baron’s
works? One possible answer is that he wrote music for the lute
during a period of about thirty years (1720/25-1760) and the
ornament signs changed somewhat during this time, beginning with
Baron’s own instructions in his book and ending with Beyer’s
ornament table.101 Another factor is the idiosyncratic nature of
ornament symbols used by various intabulators, lutenists, copyists,
and publishers over time.

101 Johann Christian Beyer, Herrn Professor Gellerts Oden, Lieder und Fabeln, Leipzig, 1760
Life and works of E.G. Baron 77

We cannot find a specific sign for the mordent in the works

of Baron, but that does not mean that he did not use it. The signs
for the trill and appoggiatura from above can sometimes be
interpreted as a mordent. In addition, we should assume that Baron
was acquainted with the signs used in the works of Radolt and
Weiss,102 who used the cross sign (x) for the mordent.
Baron’s Untersuchungvi^ published in 1727, and my hope
when reading it was to discover the link between the German lute
ornament tradition of the 17th century and the 18th century. But
Baron unfortunately chose only a few ornaments for elaboration.
He chose signs that were

“... primarily designated in lute tablatures for beginners, until

they learn how to apply them at the appropriate places in
unornamented pieces themselves. Yet one must not think that
all of them are indicated there, because many cannot be
indicated as well as invented and executed.”103

It is remarkable how little uniformity exists in the

application and designation of ornament signs found in eighteenth­
century tablatures. The inconsistent use of signs found in the music
of contemporaries such as Weiss and Baron is most surprising. Both
Baron’s book and the tablatures of Baron’s works contain relatively
few ornament symbols. This peculiar discovery shows Baron to be
rather unique among the lutenists in the eighteenth century; instead
of being a creator of a trend, it is clear that Weiss was the one who
carried on the seventeenth-century ornament tradition, not Baron.104
In this article, I have tried to give a broad view of Baron’s life, his
contemporary status, and his solo music. Future research on Baron
that concentrates on archival materials from the courts in the Gotha,
Eisenach and Berlin areas will yield even more information, and
there is much still to learn about his chamber music and theoretical
works.

,oeBy the time Baron finished his Untersucbtmg (1727), Weiss already was a highly respected and
famous lutenist at an age of 41.
103 Baron (1976), 144.
10* For a further introduction to ornaments in the 18th century German lute music, see Farstad
(1998), 85-115.
78 J OURNAL OF THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA

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Berlin, 1926.
Telemann , G. Ph., ed. Der getreue Musikmeister, Hamburg, 1728.
Volz, Gustav Berthold. Friedrich der Grosse und Wilhelmine von Bayreuth,
Volume I: Jugendbriefe, 1728-1758; Volume II: Briefe der König^eit,
1740-1758. Berlin and Lepzig, 1924, and 1926.
Walther, Johann G. Musichalisches Lexicon. (Leipzig, 1732).
Ziesemer, W. and Henkel, A. Johann Georg Hamann, Briefwechsel, 1751­
1759. Republished in volumes 1-3, by Walther Ziesemer
und Arthur Henkel. Wiesbaden: Insel Verlag, 1955-1957.
Zuth, Joseph. Handbuch der Laute und Gitarre. Second edition from
Georg Olms Verlag, 1978. Reprint after the Vienna edition:
1926-28.
 A History of the Lute is a
complete history of the
instrument, its players and
composers, its music and its
cultural significance from
Greek antiquity to the end of
the Renaissance. It includes the
author’s evaluation and
synthesis of previous lute
scholarship by hundreds of
writers, as well as new
research.
Approximately 400
pages
75 illustrations
50 musical examples

PLUS $14.95 S&H

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Lute Society of America The Author Douglas Alton Smith
received bis Ph. D. in musicfrom
P 0 Box 100182 Fort Worth, TX 76185-0182
Stanford University in 1977 with a
Name
« dissertation on music of the
Address Baroque lutenist Silvias Leopold
City Weiss. From 1974 to 1982 be
served as associate editor of the
State Zip Country
Journal of the Lute Society of
E-Mail America, and is currently guest

send me_ _ _ _ _ copies at $85.00 plus $14.95 S&H each editor of three issues ofJLSA that
will be devoted to the life and
Total Amount enclosed?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ music of Weiss. Since 1973 he has
Check enclosed MC VISA published many academic studies
on the lute and its music,
Account #__________________ Exp_______
including the article “Lute" in The
or order on our website at New Harvard Dictionary of

www.lutehistory.com Music.