The Era Of The Lute & The Composer Who Made It Happen

Send us Fan MailDescriptionThe lutenist Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1687 – 1750) was one of the most prolific composers of the lute in history and was the virtuoso lutenist of his day. He was a contemporary of J.S. Bach and even competed with him in improvisation. Take a minute to get the scoop!Fun FactIn later life, Weiss became a friend of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and met J.S. Bach through him. Bach and Weiss were said to have competed in improvisation, as the following account by Johann Friedrich Reichardt describes: "Anyone who knows how difficult it is to play harmonic modulations and good counterpoint on the lute will be surprised and full of disbelief to hear from eyewitnesses that Weiss, the great lutenist, challenged J.S. Bach, the great harpsichordist and organist, at playing fantasies and fugues."About StevenSteven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.A Note To Music Students et al.All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] Love classical music? There's more to discover.If you enjoyed this episode, you can read the companion article and subscribe on Substack at The Classical Music Minute. And for a brand-new narrated classical music story every day, download the Classical Minute app for iPhone.Until next time, I'm Steven Hobé. Thanks for listening to The Classical Music Minute.