Lute Music of Shakespeare's Time

In 1596, William Barley published in London a lute tutor which contained for the first time English music for the lute and other plucked string instruments. His "new Booke of Tabliture" provided instructions for playing the lute, orpharion and bandora, and included an anthology of compositions and arrangements by the foremost English lutenists of the day—including Anthony Holborne, Francis Cutting and, most illustrious of all, John Dowland.

In editing the "new Booke of Tabliture" Mr. Newcomb has made available important evidence of the range and quality of the lute music of Elizabethan England—a range and quality that complemented the outstanding theatrical achievements of the time.

Mr. Newcomb has made available important evidence of the range and quality of the lute music of Elizabethan England. He provides notes on the instruments described by Barley, together with a discussion of the musical forms employed. The 1596 "new Booke of Tabliture" is reproduced in its entirety with critical notes on the edition of the original tablature and includes keyboard transcription, thus making the music available for a wide variety of instruments.