A collection of 28 fingerstyle guitar solos and duets by fingerstyle guitarist John Renbourn. These solos are drawn from Medieval and Renaissance lute dance tunes and solos. All solos are in notation and tablature. the online audio contains 17 of the solos from the book.

A collection of 28 fingerstyle guitar solos and duets by fingerstyle guitarist John Renbourn. These solos are drawn from Medieval and Renaissance lute dance tunes and solos. All solos are in notation and tablature. Includes access to online audio containing 13 of the solos from the book.

The name of this book is no exaggeration. It includes some of the most gorgeous music that the authors El McMeen and Sandy Shalk know. To make things even more interesting, none of the music was originally written for guitar! In addition to Celtic favorites, El includes his arrangements of two of the most beautiful arias in all of opera: "Che Gelida Manina" from Puccini's "La Boheme" and "My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice" (“Mon Coeur S'ouvre à ta Voix”) from "Samson and Delilah" by Camille Saint-Saëns. Sandy's contributions range from Celtic to French love songs to Stephen Foster, manifesting Sandy's gift for chordal subtleties and innovation. Each piece is in either standard tuning (EADGBE) or Drop D tuning (DADGBE). Written in standard notation and tablature with computer generated audio files of each arrangement.

Contains compositions for the dance during the Medieval (14th cent. ) & Renaissance (16th cent.) eras. The selections chosen have a fast, distinctive rhythmic nature, the one exception being Byrd's Pavan the Earl of Salisbury,Ó which captures the spirit of Elizabethan England. Very few dance compositions have survived 600 years despite the great popularity dancing surely had in all the classes. This book includes dance tunes from all parts of Europe. Most of the Renaissance music is from the lute repertoire. Also included are tunes for the Renaissance four-course guitar, vihuela, & the virginal. No editing changes have taken place. A CD with 27 tunes accompanies the text.

Players of all kinds of instruments including flute, fiddle, mandolin, recorder, whistle, guitar, harp and more can use this collection of music which is popular at modern renaissance festivals. the music is presented simply, with melody lines and chord symbols, allowing for a wide range of interpretation. In addition to many period dance tunes, the book contains a selection of vocal numbers with lyrics included. Each selection is accompanied by text to suggest ideas for performance, place the music in a modern festival context and provide useful information to those interested in studying historical sources of early music. Cantiga's arrangements of some of the tunes in this book can be heard on the companion recording. They are played at a listening tempo by the ensemble: Wooden flute or recorder, fiddle, cello, harp and percussion.

For years, classical guitarists have enjoyed playing the lute music of the English composer, John Dowland (1563-1626). Forty of his beautiful compositions are included in this volume. the book is intended for the guitarist with intermediate to advanced fingerstyle technique, and can be played on both nylon and steel string instruments. In order to help capture the unique character of Dowland's music, renaissance lute tuning (capo on the third fret with the G string tuned to F sharp) is used throughout. the pieces progress more or less in order of increasing difficulty, and special care has been taken to be sure any group of consecutive pieces can be played with satisfying results. Standard notation with TAB. Includes FREE downloadable companion audio files.

The guitarists' guitarist and the songwriters' songwriter, the legendary Bert Jansch has influenced stars as diverse as Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Paul Simon, Sandy Denny, Nick Drake, Donovan, Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Bernard Butler, Beth Orton and Laura Marling. Unassuming, enigmatic and completely focused on his music until his death in October 2011, he remained singularly resilient to the vagaries of fashion, being rediscovered and revered by new generations of artists every few years. Born in Edinburgh in 1943, Jansch became an inspirational and pioneering figure during Britain's 'folk revival' of the 1960s. In 1967 he formed folk/jazz fusion band Pentangle with John Renbourn and enjoyed international success until they split in 1973, when he returned to a solo career. In Dazzling Stranger, Colin Harper looks at the career Jansch enjoyed, which has secured his standing as one of the true originals of British music.

Most of the music in this book comes from editions or manuscripts from England in the late 1500's. There are also a few French pieces. the cittern was popular in Italy, England and France. Aside from various tunings, there were two main kinds of instruments being played during the 16th and 17th centuries: the 4 course (four sets of doubled strings), and the 6 course cittern with several editions of music to go along with both. the pieces I have chosen for this book were all written for the 4 course instrument and fall into three main categories: dance music, song arrangements and free pieces. the free pieces are basically preludes that explore the melodic range of the instrument. As the title suggests these pieces can be played very freely and need not have a very strict tempo. the dance pieces are not really meant to be danced to, but rather take their form and rhythm from the popular court dances of the time. These can be played with a wide range of overall tempo, but once a tempo is chosen, should be strictly adhered to. the song arrangements are settings of popular songs of the time as well as more formal vocal settings. Care should be taken in making the melody clear and singing. Since the range of the cittern and mandolin are the same, John Holenko has kept the melodies intact. Because of the difference in tuning however, the voicing of the harmonies have been changed so as to fit on the mandolin.

"An elegant anthology. The specialist will not miss the quiet sophistication with which the music has been selected and prepared. Some of it is printed here for the first time, and much of it has been edited anew." "Notes" This treasury of 47 vocal works edited by Noah Greenberg, founder and former director of the New York Pro Musica Antiqua will delight all lovers of medieval and Renaissance music. Containing a wealth of both religious and secular music from the 12th to the 17th centuries, the collection covers a broad range of moods, from the hearty "Blow Thy Horne Thou Jolly Hunter" by William Cornysh to the reflective and elegiac "Cease Mine Eyes" by Thomas Morley. Of the religious works, nine were written for church services, including "Sanctus" by Henry IV and "Angus Dei" from a beautiful four-part mass by Thomas Tallis. Other religious songs in the collection come from England's rich tradition of popular religious lyric poetry, and include William Byrd's "Susanna Farye," the anonymously written "Deo Gracias Anglia" (The Agincort Carol), and Thomas Ravenscroft's "O Lord, Turne Now Away Thy Face" and "Remember O Thou Man." Approximately half of the songs are secular, some from the popular tradition and others from the courtly poets and musicians surrounding such musically inclined monarchs as Henry VIII who himself is represented in this collection with two charming songs, "With Owt Dyscorde" and "O My Hart." Among the notable composers of Tudor and Elizabethan England represented here are Orlando Gibbons, John Dowland, and Thomas Weelkes. "