Silvius Leopold Weiss (1685 – 1750) was one of the greatest musicians of his day. His music in modern times remains relatively unknown because his instrument, the baroque lute, became largely extinct by 1760. I have recorded this on an 11 string classical guitar tuned exactly as an 11 course baroque lute. Al the nuances of the composer’s intentions have been preserved.

The 11 string guitar was designed in 2002 by Terry Schumacher and built by Kenny Hill.

These sixteen pieces are from an important anonymous lute manuscript from the 16th century and are from anonymous composer(s). Each piece is a Recercar which in Italian means "to seek out".

The style is typical of lute compositions of the 16th century.

This recording is a rendition of lute music (of the Lute version above) played on a modern acoustic guitar. In modern times the guitar enjoys popularity not unlike the popularity of the lute in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In fact, guitarists now use tablature for music notation similar to their 16th century counterparts.