On Mar 3, 2008, at 7:27 AM, Rob MacKillop wrote: > How much did lute players learn about music (not just lute playing) > in the > Renaissance and Baroque periods?
They learned what other musicians learned, and were educated in the same ways. In the renaissance, they'd learn singing, the practice of hexachords, modal theory, counterpoint and enough of the seven liberal arts to understand the philosophical underpinnings of music. See, for example, the first page of the dialogue that begins Robinson's "Schoole of Musicke." In the 18th century, they learned continuo practice as well. They certainly didn't occupy the sort of peripheral position that classical guitarists occupied in the 20th century. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
