Category Early Music

Early music with classical guitar, lute, theorbo, vihuela and Baroque guitar. Music of the Renaissance and Baroque eras for classical guitar.

Passacaille by Robert de Visée - Free PDF Sheet Music or Tab

Passacaille by Robert de Visée (PDF, Lesson)

Passacaille in E Minor by Robert de Visée (1655-1733) – From Livre de pièces pour la guitare (Paris, 1686), Suite in E Minor. Originally for Baroque guitar . Sheet Music arranged for Classical Guitar with either a Notation Edition or…

Drew Henderson Plays BWV997 by Bach

Canadian guitarist Drew Henderson plays Prelude, Sarabande, Gigue, and Double from the Suite for Lute in C minor, BWV 997 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). This comes via Henderson’s excellent YouTube channel. Great playing as usual from Henderson with a balanced sense…

Payssanos, Greensleeves by Murcia (PDF, Lesson)

Payssanos (Greensleeves Theme) by Santiago de Murcia (1682-1739) – Originally for Baroque guitar. Sheet Music arranged for Classical Guitar with Notation-Only or Notation + TAB. Left hand fingering. PDF Download. The level is Intermediate (Approximately Grade 6). Sheet Music or…

Theorbo Development in the 17th Century

Lutenist Elizabeth Kenny explains how and why the theorbo was developed in the 17th century, what it was used for, and what it’s like to carry it around on the train. “People complain a lot about the space that I…

Grade 3 Lesson: Tanz by Fuhrmann

This lesson comes from my new book Classical Guitar Repertoire Lessons Grade 3 – Seven pieces at the grade three level with dedicated lessons preparing you for each piece. Tanz – Supplement from Testudo Gallo Germanica by Georg Leopold Fuhrmann (1578-1616) –…

Grade 3 Lesson: Bella Gioiosa by Fabritio Caroso

This lesson comes from my new book Classical Guitar Repertoire Lessons Grade 3 – Seven pieces at the grade three level with dedicated lessons preparing you for each piece. Bella Gioiosa from Il Ballarion (Venice, 1581) by Fabritio Caroso (c.1526-1605) – YouTube…

Prelude in E Major, BWV 1006a for Guitar - Free PDF

Prelude in E Major, BWV 1006a by Bach (PDF)

Prelude in E Major from BWV 1006a by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) – PDF Sheet Music Arranged for Classical Guitar. From ‘Lute’ Suite in E Major. Includes both a notation-only edition and a TAB edition. Left hand fingering only. PDF download. Performance…

Daniel Shoskes Plays Fantasie by Morlaye on Renaissance Guitar

Daniel Shoskes, aka Kidney Kutter (he’s a Urologist) plays Fantasie by Guillaume Morlaye (c.1510–c.1558) on Renaissance Guitar by Dan Larson. This comes via Shoskes’ great YouTube channel. Charming piece and well played. Morlaye was a French lutenist, composer and music…

Johan Lofving Plays Kapsberger

Johan Löfving Plays Canario by Kapsperger

Swedish guitarist and lutenist Johan Löfving performs Canario by Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger (1580–1651) on theorbo. This comes via his fantastic Youtube channel. Charming little piece with some spicy strumming and golpe or tapping in the inner section. I love Löfving’s…

Lorenzo Micheli plays Toccata arpeggiata by Kapsperger on Theorbo

Italian guitarist and lutenist Lorenzo Micheli plays Toccata seconda arpeggiata (Venice, 1604) by Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger (1580–1651) on theorbo. Filmed in Palazzo Pignano, Italy by Drew Henderson. This comes via Micheli’s great YouTube channel. Kapsperger was a German-Italian performer and composer…

Merce Font Plays Sonata K.165 by Scarlatti

I’ve been meaning to feature guitarist Merce Font for awhile after seeing her cool vlog posts awhile back. Here she is playing Sonata K.165 / L.52 (original for harpsichord) by Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), arranged by Carlo Marchione. This comes via…

A Tutor for the Renaissance Lute - Poulton

A Tutor for the Renaissance Lute by Diana Poulton

A Tutor for the Renaissance Lute by Diana Poulton – Although this is a method book for lute, I’ve used it a lot for my classical guitar studies and for creating guitar editions of lute music. It’s an extremely helpful…