Songs for lute and voice from the 15th and 19th centuries. Music by Attaingnant, Petrucci, Dowland and Schubert.

The introduction of music printing in Italy and France at the beginning of the 16th century opened up a world of popular music to countless ensembles. New printing houses in Venice and Paris published a wealth of three- and four-part compositions that could be sung or played on instruments. A natural consequence of this development was the arrangement of this polyphonic repertoire for voice and accompaniment. Prints in which the lower parts of the vocal originals were transcribed into lute tablature are among the earliest examples of music for voice and lute.

In these early editions, the transcription of the vocal version into lute tablature often leads to a simplification of the lower parts and thus to a more transparent compositional structure. At times, the reduced accompaniment omits important notes of the vocal original and sounds as if it were hastily assembled. These tendencies were countered in the present editions, which, in their more concentrated duo arrangement, gain in intensity and intimacy. The 16th-century editors liberally supplemented some pieces with interesting diminutions; others were added in the same spirit. Additional songs—especially the melodically charming Chansons Attaingnants—were arranged for lute accompaniment, thus expanding the repertoire for voice and lute.