The lute reminds me of what someone once said: The Baroque period could have been much shorter if the lute players did not have to tune their strings constantly. This music is sublime!
I dislike the word fashion regarding instruments, the lute repertoire is a bit limited that is why, i am a classical guitar student, i love the cg sound but when i reach a certain level i will jump to lute or oud... both of the are great instruments, you have to love renaissance baroque and classical music for playing a lute, guitar jumps to romantic, Latin and latest compositions...just more flexible than the lute, but in baroque repertoire lute is unbeatable.
I think its a combination of factors. Trends in music were shifting. One explanation could be technology. More powerful, effective and 'easier' instruments become more popular. If you ever try to play a lute, they are just egregiously difficult instruments to play. It takes a lot of effort just to make a basic, nice sound on a baroque lute. In other words, the learning curve is quite steep. People don't cope well with lots of frustration accompanied by little reward. I was playing licentiate level repertoire on classical guitar before switching focus to baroque lute and its taken about 4 years of practice to be vaguely competent. Though if I was practising 3-4 hours a day it probably would have taken much less time.
This makes me think of my days at University Berkeley. My apartment friends would get together for long dinners with lute music and we would talk for hours. For some reason we felt we were vastly changing the world with our discussions. We might have been deluded ... but the music is still a delight.
Berkeley (to me) was the chance to larp and think you're changing the world before actually having to go out into it and realize, alas, that most of what's there is there for a reason. Cheers, pal!
RIP Michael Schaeffer. His style was unique: a soft, almost melancholy touch. Bought an album of his back in 1980 released on the Vox label soon after he had died, also on French Lute Music. Thanks to TheGloryofMusic.
Michael Schäffer's recording of French music may have been equalled by Hopkinson Smith's recording of Mouton, but, it has never been surpassed, and is generally without peer. The only way to explain such a mastery is that he must have been a master of it in another life, for musical talent and general intellectual and educational analysises simply cannot explain this.
Contemplating a life full of wonders, I look up in awe at this night sky and sigh deeply... for in my moments of ignorance I doubted the divinity of my existence. -Tenny H. Fau
What more can one wish for ...but this music is divine and glorius without the pompous attack which one could fear....Here we enjoy the balance between an old soul from the renaissance and baroque area of time itself....So much enjoing the sensitive touch of the strings from the Lute...With no stress and no expectations....this is pure joy....Thank you for uploading....and thanks to the performer and the composer, and the Lute maker and thanks to the music studio...
Beauté, raffinement, délicatesse. Que de tendres et douces émotions à l'écoute de ces airs d'un autre temps et pourtant si présent en mon coeur. De plus, c'est joué de main de maître. Merci beaucoup, Monsieur Schaeffer, vous me ravissez l'âme.
The lutenist Michael Shaffer was a great musician, artist of great sensitivity, expert in the executive praxis of the suites of French composers in accordance with the "style brise". In this CD version (already published in a vinyl edition by the RCA Red Seal label), listening to the beautiful Dufaut’s Sarabande, we can appreciate the great Michael Shaffer executive talent.
Yes, Michael Schaffer was extremely gifted in his approach to interpretation. well over 40 years have passed since this recording and not a single lutenist has surpassed this recording, and very few have made a recording that could be considered a peer of it. In my view, only Hopkinson Smith's recording of Vieux Gaultier is a kind of 'equal' to this.
This is far and away my favourite performance of Canarie des Castagnettes at 24:06. Schaeffer played it with such a light and playful touch, letting his technique shine instead of bogging the melody down with ornamentation. He makes other renditions of this piece sound overembellished and funereally slow by comparison. His work is a joy to listen to, I'm so glad it's has been uploaded for more people to appreciate.
And may I take this opportunity of praise you provide to spell the artist's name the proper way, so that he will not one day disappear completely from our memories because of all the variations that are around: his name is Michael Schäffer
This has been one of my favorite albums since adolescence. My mom had it on cassette and later I got it on CD. Now it’s shamefully out of print. Thanks for making it available to the world!
One of my favorite albums. I keep coming back to this one. Such a resonant instrument and mindful playing of it. The compositions don't overwhelm. They leave space for the imagination to render the world they came from.
ESTA MÚSICA MARAVILLOSA ME RECONFORTA , ESTA PAGINA CON INSTRUMENTOS DE CUERDA, LAUD, GUITARRA....NOS RECONCILIA CON TODOS LOS HUMANOS, UNO SIENTE PAZ Y GOZOSA ALEGRÍA
The classical guitar must have gotten its sound from the lute. How I wish to see and touch one in the flesh and maybe play it too even if I cannot and do not know how to play any musical instrument. I love how it sounds like and the painting is sublime, though the colors are not as rich as Italian Renaissance paintings. They calm my nerves and thoughts each time I see something like them.
I heard michael playing together with Eugen Dombois at Queekhoven in the Netherlands in the early seventies. He was the best luteplayer that ever lived! He died much too soon.
@@shawnmendrek3544 i could never ever disagree with your statement . i know how difficult it is to be a world class lutenist such as the player performing now. being able to play at this very high level meant a decade or two of intense learning and practice , and having keen interest in luthier instruments since their early years. of learning . i just love this performance and appreciate it. takk skal du ha . skal..
Simply fabulous. Great for relaxing and doing necessary tasks sometimes requiring intense concentration. It is entirely pleasant and reassuring without the tedium of amorphous 'relaxation' music that makes riding in an elevator a chore. Tell Mike I said hello.
Avec Seon , Harmonia mundi Desmond Dupré , la collection Réflexe d'EMI , la collection Hopkinson Smith chez Astrée , luth , vihuela et guitare baroque m'ont guidés sur un chemin intime de la Renaissance et du baroque très apaisant par sa sobriété sonore .Merci infiniment à tous ces grands éditeurs de disques vinyles et CDS sans oublier les preneurs de son.
Certainly one of the most beautiful recording of lute music ... I feel happy to hear it now in a cd version ... My old LP is now too scratching . Sheaffer was surely one of the most talented lutenist . Thanks for sharing.
felicidades al viejo continente. en verdad son unicos en interpretar estas piezas de la antigüedad. ponen en verdad todo su sentimiento y eso se percibe. gracias
...just a small musicology geek's footnote: the French scholars themselves refer to the period called "Baroque" by the rest of us as "Pre-Classic." The reason? the term "baroque" is synonymous with "grotesque" or "bizarre," which of course no self-respecting French music lover would find acceptable as terms to describe this transcendent music...
To my knowledge, in French, the term baroque is never used in the sense of grotesque but rather to designate only someone or something which surprises by its unexpected, bizarre character, or by its original, eccentric behaviour.
Wonderful! After several years of focusing on 20th century classical (starting with Debussy, speaking of French music) I'd forgotten how completely satisfying Baroque can be and had no particular knowledge of examples of French Baroque to refer to. So THANKS for the intro! A favor? Would yo u mind adding the times to the list of compositions so we can tell when pieces begin and end (so we can buy our faves!)?
I like Musik of Barock more than all compositions later . I think in that Time , (it begann with. Monteverdi and Shut up with Mozart.) After them Musik didn‘reach such a Quality , Deepnes , melodischen Express Ohne step Lower follow sometimes like Schubert ,Chopin and so on . But Nobody was so un
Ich war leider nicht fertig mit meinem Kommentar. Was ich zum Ausdruck bringen wollte, die Musik der Barockzeit Ihre „Musikalität“hat mE. Nichts Später - res je erreicht . Mein letztes Wort sollte „ uncomparible ( oder so ähnlich, mein Englisch verlässt mich ) lauten .
Because of this video I ended up buying the CD and found out how rare and precious it was. It was shipped to me from New York...and learned the touching story of this great lute performer. Just love it!
mariaotxandio, if you have time, could you please tell some of the story from the liner notes. At least the lute and its maker. I am now looking for this album thanks to TheGloryofMusic. Thank you.
Michael Schäffer was a german lutenist and a founder of the modern lute school revival. He teached at the Schola Basiliensis in Switzerland. He was the teacher of Hopkinson Smith and Robert Barto. François Dufaut (ca1605? - ca 1670?) was one of the more representative lutenist of the french "style brisé" (broken style) school during the 17th c..
Michael Schäffer died in 1978, at the early age of 41. This excellent work here was his last record. The early music community deeply mourned his death.
frenchiecocorico1 Michael Schäffer was indeed a german lutenist and one of the founders of the modern lute school revival. He taught at the Musikhochschule in Cologne. His college and very good friend (and fellow student with Walter Gerwig) Eugen Müller-Dombois, who taught at the Scola Cantorum Basiliensis was the teacher of Robert Barto, Paul O'Dette, Anthony Bailes and Hopkinson Smith amongst others. Schäffer's most important pupils are Konrad Junghähnel, Leif Karlson, Nigel North and Robby Faverey. On this recording ( made 7 months before his untimely death of cancer) he plays an 11 course french lute made by Michael Lowe.
