Lutefest 2025 – Friday Schedule

Tastar de corde, ricercare, prelude, fantasy, toccata, etc.: what are these free pieces about? After a brief overview of these different improvisational styles and their functions, participants are invited to submit their pieces and invent their own little preludes.

Students often learn counterpoint using Fux’s Gradus ad Parnassum and his rules of species counterpoint, but Fux was born in the late 17th century, and his style of counterpoint–based largely upon the works of Palestrina–does not represent the breadth of available styles in the 16th century. This class will explore Thomas Campion’s A New Way of Making Fowre Parts in Counterpoint (1615) as an alternate approach to composing in four parts. Students will learn to use his rules and we will discuss ways in which to expand upon them. While composing four part harmonies is only one aspect of Renaissance counterpoint, this will serve as a jumping board for further exploration of sources from the 16th and early 17th century.

Masterclasses are open to performers and auditors. If you wish to apply to perform in this masterclass, please be sure to check the box on the first page of this form. You will need to send an audition video to the Festival Director. More information will provided after registration.

This PowerPoint presentation offers a chronological survey of female lutenists from across multiple centuries. We’ll begin by viewing some Medieval iconography of women playing the lute, then consider specific historical figures from the Renaissance (Leonora Orsini, Madalena Casulana, Anna Guarini) as well as the Baroque (Mademoiselle Bocquet, Wilhelmine of Bayreuth, the lesbian singer/lutenist Isabella Hunt). We’ll go on to discuss 20th century lute pioneers (Diana Poulton, Suzanne Bloch) and finish by recognizing some of the many prominent female lutenists from our own time.

While there has been extensive writing about the scholarly and historical aspects of the lute, there is still fairly little detailed writing about how to play the lute beyond a basic level of instruction. I’ll focus on those aspects of lute playing (both technical and musical) that are not usually addressed in lute method books or in basic private instruction.