Style bris Gaultier & the French Lute School Around 1600, Italian musicians abandoned their old style (renaissance) and established a new one (baroque). Somewhat later, probably around 1630, a new tuning (french tuning, d minor tuning or even baroque lute tuning) was invented for the lute by the circle of lutenists around le vieux Gaultier, or Gaultier de Lyon (Ennemond Gaultier, 1575-1651). The old (renaissance) tuning was based on the interval of a fourth. The new tuning introduced more thirds, enabling lutenists to write their music in a broken style (style bris), since it allowed more freedom for the fingers of the left hand. Soon the broken style gained great popularity throughout Europe. This tuning, incidentally, was already used by Mezangeau (late 16th century-1638), who may have been Ennemond Gaultiers teacher. It is difficult to separate Ennemond Gaultiers music from that of his cousin Denis Gaultier (Gaultier le jeune or Gaultier de Paris, 1603-1672). Nevertheless, their works are the most significant French contribution to the lute music of the period. They developed a new genre, the musical portrait, as well as the tombeau, which, in fact, they pioneered in the lute repertoire. Johann Jacob Froberger (1616-1667) was one of a number of composers of keyboard music, not only in France, who found inspiration in their music. Jacques Gallot (c.1600-c.1690), known as le vieux Gallot or Gallot de Paris, was a pupil of Ennemond Gaultier. His brother Antoine Gallot was known as vieux Gallot or Gallot dAngers. In addition to this minor confusion, there was a son of Antoine Gallot who was known as Gallot le jeune (?-c.1716).
Jacques Gallots compositions include several musical portraits and tombeaux, as well as dances such as courantes, sarabandes and canaries. Dufaut (Du Faut, Du Fault or Dufau), a pupil of the Gaultiers, was one of the most renowned lutenists of the 17th century. He travelled to England, Germany and many other countries, and was certainly a player of some character. Unfortunately little is known about his life. Charles Mouton (1626-c.1699) was probably a pupil of Denis Gaultier. The German lutenist Philipp Franz Le Sage de Riche (Le Sage=Weise in German - perhaps a relative of the great German lutenist Sylvius Leopold Weiss?) was a pupil of Charles Mouton, along with the daughter of the engraver Edelinck, who showed his thanks by engraving Moutons portrait after the painting in the Louvre by Francis de Troyes. Mouton was one of the last of the 17th-century French lute school.

Robert de Vise (c.1660-1725), who featured on Satohs previous CD (CCS 7795), was a guitarist, theorbo, lute and viol player, singer and composer. In 1716 he became official guitar teacher to King Louis XIV at Versailles. De Vises music reflects that of his contemporaries, such as Lully, Couperin, Marais and Forqueray, having a clearer harmonic structure than the music of his predecessors. Toyohiko Satoh Translation: Keith Freeman The Laurentius Greiff lute (1613) The lute used on this recording was built by Laurentius Greiff in Ingolstadt in Germany. His family was one of the many famous lute-making families in Fssen, including Maller, Frei, Tieffenbrcker and Gerle. We dont know the exact date of his birth or death. According to research by Dr. Richard Bletschacher (Die Lauten- und Geigenmacher des Fssener Landes, published 1978), Laurentius Greiff was lute maker at the court of Ingolstadt from 1600 to 1611. Given the inscription on the printed label in the lute Lawrentius Greiff, me fecit Ingolstadij, Anno **** the instrument was presumably made sometime between 1600 and 1611 in Ingolstadt. There is another hand-written label, the text of which is illegible except for 1613. This is clearly a repair label. The lute suffered a major accident which damaged the entire soundboard, as can be seen from the repair to the body. We believe this happened in 1613, so the soundboard must have been replaced in that year. The condition of the lute remained unchanged as an 8-course renaissance-lute: this is visible from the mark on the neck joint with the soundboard. We can therefore call this lute Laurentius Greiff 1613. The repair was most likely done by the maker himself, or by Johann Fitchtold I, also from Fssen, who was engaged in 1612 in stead of L. Greiff. Some time around 1670 the instrument was converted to an 11-course French baroque lute, a popular type in Germany. This involved replacing the neck with a new, longer and wider one and a new pegbox. The Laurentius Greiff lute stayed in this condition with a noble family in south Germany near Fssen until a few years ago. It is now owned by the performer on this recording. Restoring the lute to playing condition without losing the tiniest detail took the well-known Dutch lute maker Nico B. van der Waals four years. Needless to say, it is strung entirely with authentic gut strings made by Bernd Krschner (Germany) and Peruffo Mimmo (Italy). The beautiful sound of the lute on this recording provides us with valuable data on the sound of the historic lute. Toyohiko Satoh