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Revision as of 12:59, 27 November 2002 by Derek Ross (talk | contribs) (sp)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The lute is a round-backed plucked-string instrument, developed in the Middle East and related to the Arabic oud.
The lute (its name is a corruption of the Arabic) was brought to Europe in the Middle Ages, but its heyday was the European Renaissance. The lute at that time had a variable number of strings, tuned in a pattern of fourths and thirds, rather like a guitar. It was particularly suited for the harmonies of the period, and was used as a solo instrument no less than as an accompaniment to singers or other instruments (sometimes as a basso continuo instrument). Lutes were made larger and more complex (see archlute, theorbo) over the course of the seventeenth century. Around the middle of the eighteenth century, musical tastes changed and the instrument was largely abandoned until the original instruments movements of the twentieth century brought about a revival.
Notable composers of lute music include Francesco da Milano, John Dowland, Denis Gaultier, Johann Sebastian Bach, Sylvius Leopold Weiss, Philip Rossiter ,Thomas Campion, Frederick the Great.