Is there any signficance in Erik Korngold's use of the lute in his operas? I was lstening to 'Die tote Stadt' and I noticed that Maria's portrait depicts her holding a lute with which she accompanied herself. Paul, her widowed husband, passes a lute to Marietta (a dancer who looks, and speaks,like his dead wife) and asks her to sing a song to lute accompaniment. I cant remember this in the performance that I saw in Stockholm under Leif Segerstam. Interestly, the lute appears in three of Korngold's operas although I dont know whether these were Renaissance or Baroque instruments. Has anyone any ideas? Charles Browne
