Sunday, 24 November 2:30 pm
Estaban La Rotta, Birth of the Lute Solo
Oak Bay United Church, doors 2:00, performance 2:30 PM
Solo 5-course lute, medieval chitaririno, and Renaissance chitarrino.
Estaban La Rotta, Pallade Musica’s lutenist, is a specialist in late medieval and early Renaissance plucked instruments, studying at the Schola Canticorum in Basle, which is the alma mater of Gustav Leonhardt among others. The lute was the first plucked instrument used to play polyphony, achieved using a pick and the fingers in combination. In the absence of music written for the lute, the early performance tradition seems to have been to adapt keyboard and vocal works. The first half of La Rotta’s program will be played on a 5-course lute (nine strings) and medieval chitarrino, the latter an ancestor of the modern guitar but with a smaller body. It includes selections from the Faenza Codex, an early 15th century manuscript with the first known collection of keyboard works, and from the recently discovered Wolvenbuttel Manuscript, which contains probably the first music written specifically for the lute, a compilation dating to about 1460. The second half of the program will be performed on a 4-course Renaissance chitarrino.
