HAT'S NEW? First with the old: all the documents that have been reloaded have been revised and updated to the latest Django version. Richard Civiol in particular sent me a full batch of revised copies, and I  revised my own.  Links to Sarge Gerbode's files have been updated and refreshed, and broken links should now be  rare. I have also tried to uplift the quality of the facsimiles on this site, though this proved very difficult when the facsimiles were made from poor microfilm copies. 

    Inevitably,  the quality of the documents is uneven. Yet,I think this site represents an important resource for lute music, with well over 7,000 pieces available. Happily enough, this is still a drop in the bucket of the total number of surviving pieces for the lute!

Concert annoucements

Feel free to send your requests for annoucements of concerts, etc.

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Recently published

    Baroque Lute Method - by Miguel Serdoura. - A practical guide for beginning and advanced lutenists - Paris, 2007. 356 pages. A new edition is available with the Italian Editor UT ORPHEUS (www.utorpheus.com) in October / November 2008, in English and in French. Order by e-mail: (info@miguelserdoura.com)

his revised site offers a numbers of new and improved features, particularly in terms of searching, and a more convenient interface to the thousands of files available: mostly Django, Fronimo and tab scores, pdfs, and midi files. In addition to those, the site now also welcomes non-Django format scores, either in tablature or regular notation, MP3s and links to videos and otehr available resources on the Net.

hile reorganizing the old material, I thought that it would be nice to try and extend some of the services I have provided for lutenists to the Early Music community as a whole. So, this new site welcomes not only pluckers, but also whistlers, blowers, scratchers and pounders of all kinds that have an interest in Early Music, however they want to define that term. The old directory of lutenists, particularly, is now the new directory of Early music performers .

Les Barricades Mystérieuses - The first solo recording of Miguel Serdoura is available in November 2008 on the Deutch Label Brilliant Classics (www.brilliantclassics.com). The repertoire of this recording will be dedicated to the Chaconnes, Passacailles and Rondos of the French lute composers Ennemond Gautier, Jacques Gallot, François Couperin, the Belgian Jacques de Saint-Luc, and the German lute composers Silvius Léopold Weiss and David Kellner.

So, cheers and welcome!

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his site has also become more dynamic and open to collaborative efforts. This page can now be edited easily by anyone -- once given proper permissions -- so it can become a center for news, announcements of new publications,  advertising for luthiers, etc. 

    I am very interested in hearing from people who want to help actively manage, by regularly updating the content adding annoucements, featuring new music files, adding and editing content to  the various resource pages and tables that are available.

    It is now also possible to have international versions of the site, with significantly different content yet with similarly functionality in terms of searching and accessing scores and documents.  If you are tempted by that option, definitely let me know!