Weiss’s Lute Sonatas and Mattheson

Mattheson, a composer and “natural enemy” of the lute player, has written a series of “invectives” against the lute and the lute player in his book. He says, “When a lute player reaches the age of 80, he will have been tuning for 60 years for sure” and “Out of 100 lute players (and especially among non-specialized lute lovers), less than two can tune a lute exactly right. He also uses sarcastic “metaphors” to mock lute composers Weiss and Anton Losy. But consider this: if you really spent three-quarters of your life tuning, you would not have time to play the lute, and you would not even be able to sleep. So, at most, the estimated tuning time is around 20 years. I think the lute players of the world should be more outraged by Mattezon’s nonsense.

Strangely, however, Mattheson does not speak ill of the theorbo in the same way as he does of the lute, and he even speaks of the “usefulness” of the theorbo right after the lute commentary. I agree with Mattheson’s assertion about the superiority and attractiveness of the theorbo as an accompaniment instrument.

Weiss’s sonatas and suites are all for baroque lute. The American lute player Robert Barthes has recorded all of them. I would introduce at the end. #baroque #weiss #mattheson #lute #片山俊幸