I am a young amateur lute player (just 21), so I guess I am a part of
the next generation of players. I think the lute will continue to be
played for the foreseeable future, since there's always someone strange
enough to fall in love with the lute's music and sound, but it's sad to
see little to no young people in ancient music and classical music
concerts in general. Perhaps it has to do with the distance that has
grown between contemporary composers and the general population, the
former usually earning their bread through the academia. Perhaps when
the older generation is gone, and large portions of the classical world
wouldn't be able to sustain themselves on concerts anymore we would see
some renaissance, but that's just speculation.
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020, 08:44 Jurgen Frenz,
<[1]eye-and-ear-cont...@protonmail.com> wrote:
It is my impression that there are quite a few outstanding young
players who will continue the tradition of great lute playing. Names
that immediately come to mind are Lukas Henning and Bor Zuljan. We
should ask the teachers at the Schola in Basels what they think of
young players. - Further, when you look at the "new members" section
in the latest Lute News magazine by the British Lute Society there
are quite a few Japanese sounding names - that indicates to my
opinion a growing interest in lute music outside of Europe which is
very encouraging.
Another thing is that amateurs who spend a lot of time and effort in
transcribing lute music from manuscripts and hard-to-find prints
into a modern typeset and put it for free online - Sarge Gerbode is
doing outstanding work in this respect (and if you doubt his
competency he also puts the faksimiles online so that everybody can
individually verify).
Those 3 ingredients (well trained young players, growing interest
outside of Europe and a large stock of available music without cost)
are an indication that we don't have to be concerned for the future
of lute playing. My opinion, that is.
âââââââ Original Message âââââââ
On Thursday, August 27, 2020 5:53 AM, howard posner
<[2]howardpos...@ca.rr.com> wrote:
> > On Aug 26, 2020, at 6:38 PM, Richard Brook
[3]richa...@mail.cs.dartmouth.edu wrote:
>
> > I note Henry VIII (source: Hilary Mantel) executed a lute player
for sleeping (so Henry claimed) with Anne Boleyn.
>
> That would be Mark Smeaton; hence Theodore's foreboding about a
Smeaton-themed movie. But it has more or less happened already.
Smeaton was a significant character in The Tudors, a Netflix series
that seems (as far as I could see from dropping in while my wife
binge-watched it), to combine insight and outrageous nonsense in
roughly equal measure.
>
> Addressing the larger question, assuming the world rebounds well
from Covid shutdown (a dicey proposition in the USA, I know) the
lute should do just fine because ensembles and orchestras should be
a steady source of professional gigs, and that area still seems to
be growing. Some responses here treat the lute as if it were just a
vehicle for solo lute music, which was never the case except in the
early days of the lute revival.
>
> > So things are looking up.
> > Dick Brook
> >
> > > On Aug 26, 2020, at 8:13 PM,
[4]theoj89...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu wrote:
> > > Dear luters:
> > > What does the future hold the lute?
> > > In the waning days of this wonderful email list (Thanks
Wayne!!), I
> > > thought I would invite thoughts regarding the future of the
lute and
> > > the lute community. As I muse, it seems that this present lute
revival
> > > started in 1960's - 70's largely out of the folk music revival
and
> > > early music revival. I notice that many of our fellow lute
enthusiasts
> > > are growing older (as am I). And with the recent passing of
Julian
> > > Bream, I thought it prescient to reflect:
> > > What will the next 10, 20, or 50 years look like for the lute
and lute
> > > community?
> > > Is interest in the lute on the decline, ascendency, or moving
in some
> > > other direction?
> > > Is this trajectory different in different countries?
> > > The internet has revolutionized access to manuscripts,
publishers, and
> > > recordings. Will the internet ultimately drive interest to
diversions
> > > other than the lute?
> > > And when will Hollywood finally make a sizzling historical
romance
> > > about a lute player and bring the lute back to be a symbol of
> > > seduction, as it should be? (Hopefully the movie won't be
about Mark
> > > Smeaton.)
> > > Thoughts?
> > > theodore jordan
> > > --
> > > To get on or off this list see list information at
> > > [5]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. mailto:eye-and-ear-cont...@protonmail.com
2. mailto:howardpos...@ca.rr.com
3. mailto:richa...@mail.cs.dartmouth.edu
4. mailto:theoj89...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu
5. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
