The lute is a plucked string instrument characterized by a deep, rounded back, a flat soundboard, and a fretted neck, which produces a delicate and resonant tone.
The lute is most commonly associated with Renaissance and Baroque Europe.
The lute's ancestry stretches back thousands of years. Its earliest precursors can be traced to ancient Mesopotamia, where long-necked instruments like the tanbur were played. The Middle Eastern oud, introduced to Europe through Moorish Spain around the 8th to 9th centuries, became the direct ancestor of the European lute. By the 12th century, the lute had firmly established itself in European culture, flourishing in courts and among traveling musicians alike.
During the Renaissance (15th-16th centuries), the lute reached its golden age. It became the preeminent solo instrument of the time, prized for its versatility in both polyphonic and chordal textures. In the Baroque era (17th-18th centuries), larger variants such as the theorbo and archlute were developed to accommodate basso continuo playing. By the late 18th century, however, the lute declined in popularity, gradually replaced by the harpsichord and later the piano.
A revival began in the 20th century, with early music specialists rediscovering its repertoire and performance practice.
The word lute derives from the Arabic al-ʿūd (the wood), a reflection on the instrument's material and its Middle Eastern origins. Over time, the term evolved through Old French lut and Middle English into its modern form.
A traditional lute is distinguished by its bowl-shaped back, made of thin strips of wood, often maple or rosewood; a flat soundboard, usually spruce, with a decorative rosette carved into the sound hole; courses of strings, typically arranged in pairs, tuned in intervals of fourths with a third in the middle; and a pegbox bent back at an angle, fitted with wooden tuning pegs.
Lute players pluck the strings with the fingers or a plectrum. Renaissance technique emphasized alternating thumb and index finger strokes, while later styles favored more chordal strumming and complex fingerpicking. Ornamentation, counterpoint, and improvisation were central to lute performance.
The lute's repertoire is vast, spanning dance music, song accompaniments, and intricate solo works. Renaissance composers, such as John Dowland and Francesco da Milano, wrote expressive fantasias, pavans, and galliards. In the Baroque period, Sylvius Leopold Weiss composed suites rivaling those of J.S. Bach in scope and artistry. Much of this music survives in tablature notation, unique to the lute.
Notable players include John Dowland (1563-1626), Francesco da Milano (1497-1543), and Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1687-1750). Modern interpreters such as Hopkinson Smith, Paul O'Dette, and Nigel North have revived the instrument for contemporary audiences.
A collection of informational or instructional sites for the lute is provided below, and e-commerce sites offering lutes for sale may be found in the Musical Instruments section of our guide.
Recommended Resources
This appears to be a blog-style website about lutes, featuring sections for introducing the site and its purpose, project notes and information (GPT-3-generated lute song titles and a project involving building a lute from instrument plans), artwork featuring various lute-themed depictions, and an informational blog covering several related topics. Other resources include a directory of general lute websites, lute literature, lute societies, lute tablature, and beginner resources.
https://ilovelutes.com/
Igor Varfolomeev's website is a comprehensive English-language portal dedicated to lute music, covering history, instruments, performers, scores, recordings, videos, galleries, and educational material. Also featured are descriptions of Renaissance and Baroque lutes, theorbo/chitarrone, vihuela, cittern, mandolin, and torban, as well as biographies and photos of historical and modern players, luthiers, and publishers, and explanations of lute tablature, tuning, and how to play.
http://lute.ru/home_eng.htm
The LSA is a US-based non-profit dedicated to promoting the lute and its music through performance, scholarship, education, publications, and community events. The organization sponsors classes, masterclasses, and festivals for lute players at all levels. It publishes a regular journal, known as "LSA Quarterly," as well as other printed and digital resources for scholarship and performance practice—online projects such as the "Extant Lutes Database" document surviving historic lutes.
https://lutesocietyofamerica.org/
More than 60 years old, The Lute Society promotes the lute and its music. Membership benefits include a quarterly magazine, "Lute News," an annual scholarly journal, "The Lute," and discounts on the Society's list of pulbications, along with a New Member's Pack with over 100 pages of music in tablature, and free small ads on the site's website's "For Sale" and "Wanted" pages. The UK-basd organizaton holds quarterly meetings, playing days, and lutes for hire.
https://www.lutesociety.org/
The personal website of Elizabeth Pallett, who studied at Birmingham Conservatoire, where she specialized in the solo repertoire of the Renaissance lute, later studying with Nigel North and developing her skills further as a continuo player and soloist on a variety of different lute-related instruments, hosts a blog, video catalog, sheet music, lute tuition (including a beginner's tutorial and conservatoire resource), biography and discography, galler, press, and ways to support the project.
https://luteweb.com/
Mateus Lutes is the website of Cezar Mateus, an American luthier who specializes in fretted instruments of the 18th century and earlier. The site presents his instruments, ordering information, biographical data, and contact details. The home page features a short introduction and navigation to other pages, an instrument section showcases historically informed fretted instruments, largely lutes and related types, and an ordering page explains how to commission of buy instruments.
https://www.mateus-lutes.com/
