This is a list of composers who wrote for lute and similar period instruments:

theorbo The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box (a hollow box) with a wooden top, typically with a sound hole, and a neck extending ...

chitarrone The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box (a hollow box) with a wooden top, typically with a sound hole, and a neck extending out ...

vihuela The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...

etc. Composers who worked outside of their country of origin are listed according to where they were most active, i.e. German-born

Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger (also: ''Johann(es) Hieronymus Kapsberger'' or ''Giovanni Geronimo Kapsperger''; c. 1580 – 17 January 1651) was an Austrian-Italy, Italian virtuoso performer and composer of the early Baroque period. A prolific and h ...

is listed under Italy. Within sections, the order is alphabetical by surname (or, in cases of, for example, Pietrobono and Lorenzino, by first name).

Renaissance and Baroque

Italy

Late 15th century to mid-16th century

Giovanni Maria Alemanni Giovanni Maria Alemanni (also ''Joannis Marie'', ''Gian Maria'', etc.) (fl. 1st quarter of the 16th century) was an Italian composer and lutenist. Practically nothing is known about his life or work. The only known collection of his music, publishe ...

( fl. 1500–1525, no compositions survive) *

Pietro Paolo Borrono Pietro Paolo Borrono, or Petro Paulo da Milano or Petter Paul Borrono (born about 1490, Milan - died 1563) was an Italian composer and lutenist of the renaissance.Douglas A. Smith: ''A history of the lute from antiquity to the Renaissance'', Lute S ...

(c. 1490–1563) *

Franciscus Bossinensis Franciscus Bossinensis (''fl.'' 1509 – 1511) (Francis the Bosnian) was a lutenist-composer active in Italy in the 16th century. Bojan Bujić, "Navigating through the Past": Issues Facing an Historian of Music in Bosnia, ''International Review of t ...

(fl. 1510) *

Vincenzo Capirola Vincenzo Capirola (1474 – after 1548) was an Italian composer, lutenist and nobleman of the Renaissance. His music is preserved in an illuminated manuscript called the Capirola Lutebook, which is considered to be one of the most important so ...

(1474after 1548) *

Marco Dall'Aquila Marco Dall'Aquila (c.1480 – after 1538) was a Venetian lutenist and composer known for musical forms called polyphonic ricercars. He was born in L'Aquila but lived and worked in Venice. He often performed at concerts in the houses of nobles in ...

(after 1538) *

Joan Ambrosio Dalza Joan Ambrosio Dalza (fl. 1508) was a Milanese lutenist and composer. His surviving works comprise the fourth volume of Ottaviano Petrucci's influential series of lute music publications, ''Intabolatura de lauto libro quarto'' (Venice, 1508). Dalza i ...

(fl. 1508) * Francesco Canova da Milano (1497–1543) *

Francesco Spinacino Francesco Spinacino ( fl. 1507) was an Italian lutenist and composer. His surviving output comprises the first two volumes of Ottaviano Petrucci's influential series of lute music publications: ''Intabolatura de lauto libro primo'' and ''Intabolat ...

(fl. 1507) *

Giovanni Angelo Testagrossa Giovanni Angelo Testagrossa (9 April 1470 – December 1530) was an Italian lutenist and singer. He was born in Pavia and worked in Milan, Mantua, Ferrara and many other cities. Testagrossa was a renowned teacher; his pupils included Isabella d' ...

(1470–1530, no compositions survive)

Mid 16th–17th centuries

* Bellerofonte Castaldi (1580–1649) *

Francesco Corbetta Francesco Corbetta (ca. 1615 – 1681, in French also Francisque Corbette) was an Italian guitar virtuoso, teacher and composer. Along with his compatriots Giovanni Paolo Foscarini and Angelo Michele Bartolotti, he was a pioneer and exponent o ...

(c.1615–1681), composer for Baroque guitar *

Fabrizio Dentice Fabrizio Dentice (also Fabricio, Fabritio) (1539 in Naples – 24 February 1581 in Naples) was an Italian composer and virtuoso lute and viol player. Fabrizio was the son of Luigi Dentice (1510–1566) who served the powerful Sanseverino family ...

(c.1539–1581) * The Galilei family: **

Vincenzo Galilei Vincenzo Galilei (born 3 April 1520, Santa Maria a Monte, Italy died 2 July 1591, Florence, Italy) was an Italian lutenist, composer, and music theorist. His children included the astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei and the lute virtuoso and ...

(late 1520s1591) **

Michelagnolo Galilei Michelagnolo Galilei (sometimes spelled Michelangelo; 18 December 1575 – 3 January 1631) was an Italian composer and lutenist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras, active mainly in Bavaria and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He ...

(1575–1631), his son *

(c.1580–1651, of German descent) *

Simone Molinaro Simone Molinaro (c. 1570 – May 1636)''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart''. Personenteil, Band 12, Kassel 2004, p. 308. was a composer of the late Renaissance in Italy. He was especially renowned for his lute music. Life and career Molina ...

(c.1570after 1633) *

Alessandro Piccinini Alessandro Piccinini (1566 – 1638), was an Italian lutenist and composer. Piccinini was born in Bologna into a musical family: his father Leonardo Maria Piccinini taught lute playing to Alessandro as well as his brothers Girolamo (d. 1615) and ...

(1566–1638) * Giovanni Zamboni (fl. second half of the 17th century)

Late 17th–18th centuries

Francesco Bartolomeo Conti Francesco Bartolomeo Conti (20 January 1681 or 168219 July 1732) was an Italian composer and player of the mandolin and theorbo. He also wrote the oldest mandolin method book that has survived. Little is known about the biography of Conti. He ...

Ludovico Roncalli Count Ludovico Giuseppe Antonio Filippo Roncalli, or simply Count Ludovico (1654–1713), was an Italian composer. Roncalli was born in Bergamo on 6 March 1654 and baptized at the church of San Pancrazio in the Città Alta in Bergamo on 8 June 16 ...

(1654–1713) * Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)

France

Pierre Attaingnant Pierre Attaingnant (or Attaignant) (c. 1494 – late 1551 or 1552) was a French Music publisher (sheet music), music publisher, active in Paris. Life Attaingnant is considered to be first large-scale publisher of single-impression movable type for ...

(c.1494c.1551, publisher, possibly composer) *

Robert Ballard Robert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942) is an American retired Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island who is most noted for his work in underwater archaeology: maritime archaeology and archaeology o ...

(1575–1649) * Julien Belin (c.1525/30–1584) *

Jean-Baptiste Besard Jean-Baptiste Besard (c.1567 – c.1625) was a bisontin lutenist, composer and anthologist who lived and worked in the Holy Roman Empire.Julia Sutton: ''The Lute Instructions of Jean-Baptiste Besard'', in: ''The Musical Quarterly'' vol. 51, no. 2 ...

(c.1567after 1616) * Pierre Blondeau (fl. 1st half of the 16th century, treasurer, possibly composer) * Mlle Bocquet (fl. 1st half of the 17th century) * François de Chancy (1600–1656) * François Dufaut (before 1604before 1672) *

Jacques Gallot Jacques Gallot (or Jacques de Gallot, le vieux Gallot de Paris) (c. 1625 – c. 1695 in Paris, France) was a French lutenist and composer. He came from a Parisian family of lutenists and composers. He was a student of Ennemond Gaultier. In P ...

(died c. 1690) * The Gaultier family: **

Denis Gaultier Denis Gaultier (''Gautier'', ''Gaulthier''; also known as Gaultier le jeune and Gaultier de Paris) (1597 or 1602/3 – 1672) was a French lutenist and composer. He was a cousin of Ennemond Gaultier. Life Gaultier was born in Paris; two conflict ...

(1597/1603–1672) **

Ennemond Gaultier Ennemond Gaultier (Gaultier le Vieux, Gaultier de Lyon; also spelled ''Gautier'' or ''Gauthier'') (c. 157517 December 1651) was a French lutenist and composer. He was one of the masters of the 17th century French lute school. Gaultier was born i ...

(1575–1651), his cousin * Jacques Gautier (''Gaultier'') (fl. 1st half of the 17th century, died before 1660) * Pierre Gautier (''Gaultier'') (1599after 1638, active in Italy) *

René Mesangeau René Mésangeau (or Mézangeau, Mesangio, Mésengeot, Mesengé, Meziniot, Meschanson, Mesangior, Mazagau, Merengeau, Messangior, Mezanio, and Mezengau) (fl. 15671638) was a French composer and lutenist. He is considered to be one of the finest lute ...

(fl. 1567–1638) * Germain Pinel (c. 1600–1664) * Guillaume Morlaye (born c. 1510) *

Charles Mouton Charles Mouton (1617 - before 1699) was a French lutenist and composer. There were musicians in Mouton's mother's family, one of whom worked at the French court. Mouton was living in Paris in 1664, where he had several affluent students. He to ...

(1617–1699) * Jean-Paul Paladin (died before September 1565, Italian-born) * Julien Perrichon (1566c. 1600) * Jakub Reys (c.1550c.1605, Polish-born) *

Albert de Rippe Albert de Rippe (''Alberto da Ripa da Mantova'') (c. 1500–1551) was an Italian lutenist and composer. He was born in Mantua and worked there before 1528, when he left for France. There, he joined the court of Francis I. De Rippe was evidently held ...

(1500–1551, Italian-born) *

Adrian Le Roy Adrian Le Roy (c.1520–1598) was an influential French music publisher, lutenist, mandore player, guitarist, composer and music educator. Life Le Roy was born in the town of Montreuil-sur-Mer in northern France to a wealthy family. Very little ...

(c.1520–1598) *

Robert de Visée Robert de Visée (c. 1655 – 1732/1733) was a French lutenist, guitarist, theorbist and viol player at the court of the kings Louis XIV and Louis XV, as well as a singer and composer for lute, theorbo and guitar. Biography Robert de Visée's p ...

(c.1655–1732/3)

Spain

* Esteban Daza (c.15371591/6) * Miguel de Fuenllana (fl. 1553–1578) *

Francisco Guerau Francisco Guerau (1649 – 1722) was a Spanish Baroque composer. After being born on Majorca, he entered the singing school at the Royal College in Madrid in 1659, becoming a member of the Royal Chapel as an alto singer and composer ten years l ...

(1649–1722, composed for Baroque guitar) * Luys Milan (c.1500after 1560) *

Alonso de Mudarra Alonso Mudarra (c. 1510 – April 1, 1580) was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance, and also played the vihuela, a guitar-shaped string instrument. He was an innovative composer of instrumental music as well as songs, and was the composer ...

(c.1510–1580) *

Santiago de Murcia Santiago de Murcia (25 July 1673 – 25 April 1739) was a Spanish guitarist and composer. Biography Until new research was published in 2008, few details about the life of Santiago de Murcia were known. However, it is now known that he was born ...

(c.1682c.1740, moved to Mexico, composed for Baroque guitar) * Luys de Narváez (fl. 1526–49) * Diego Pisador (1509/10after 1557) * Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz (born probably before 1650, composed for Baroque guitar) *

Gaspar Sanz Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma (April 4, 1640 (baptized) – 1710), better known as Gaspar Sanz, was a Spanish composer, guitarist, and priest born to a wealthy family in Calanda in the comarca of Bajo Aragón, Spain. He studied music, theolog ...

(mid-17th century–early 18th century, composed for Baroque guitar) * Enríquez de Valderrábano (fl. 1547)

England

Daniel Bacheler Daniel Bacheler, also variously spelt Bachiler, Batchiler or Batchelar, (baptized 16 March 1572 – buried 29 January 1619) was an English lutenist and composer. Of all the English lutenist-composers, he is now credited as probably being th ...

(1572–1619) *

Thomas Campion Thomas Campion (sometimes spelled Campian; 12 February 1567 – 1 March 1620) was an English composer, poet, and physician. He was born in London, educated at Cambridge, studied law in Gray's inn. He wrote over a hundred lute songs, masques ...

(1567–1620) * Francis Cutting (c.1550c.1596) *

John Danyel John Danyel or John Daniel (Baptized 6 November 1564 – c. 1626) was an English lute player and songwriter. He was born in Wellow, Somerset, and was the younger brother of poet Samuel Daniel. His surviving works include "Coy Daphne Fled", abou ...

(1564c.1626) * The Dowland family: **

John Dowland John Dowland (c. 1563 – buried 20 February 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep", " Come again", "Flow my tears", " I saw my Lady weepe", ...

(1563–1626) **

Robert Dowland Robert Dowland (c. 15911641) was an English lutenist and composer. He was the son of the lutenist and composer John Dowland, who wrote almost 90 lute songs and other pieces written for the lute. Robert Dowland wrote only a few known compositions, ...

(1591–1641) *

Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder Alfonso Ferrabosco (baptized 18 January 154312 August 1588) was an Italian composer. While mostly famous as the solitary Italian madrigalist working in England, and the one mainly responsible for the growth of the madrigal there, he also compos ...

(1543–1588, Italian-born) * Cuthbert Hely (fl. 1620–1640) *

Anthony Holborne Anthony ''AntonyHolborne ''Holburne(c. 1545 – 29 November 1602) was a composer of music for lute, cittern, and instrumental consort during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Life An "Anthony Holburne" entered Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1562 ...

(c. 1545–1602) * The Johnson family: ** John Johnson (c. 1545–1594) **

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...

(c. 1580–1634) * Robert Jones (''fl.'' 1597–1615) * Thomas Robinson (''fl.'' 1589–1609) *

Philip Rosseter Philip Rosseter (1568 – 5 May 1623) was an English composer and musician, as well as a theatrical manager. His family seems to have been from Somerset or Lincolnshire, he may have been employed with the Countess of Sussex by 1596, and he was l ...

(1567/8–1623)

Netherlands/Belgium

* Emanuel Adriaenssen (c.1554–1604) *

Joachim van den Hove Joachim van den Hove (1567? – 1620) was a Low Countries, Flemish/Dutch composer and a lutenist. He composed works for lute solo and for lute and voice. Moreover, he wrote many arrangements for lute of Italian, French, and English vocal and i ...

(1567–1620) *

Constantijn Huygens Sir Constantijn Huygens, Lord of Zuilichem ( , , ; 4 September 159628 March 1687), was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer. He was also secretary to two Princes of Orange: Frederick Henry and William II, and the father of the scientist Ch ...

(1596–1687, no compositions survive) * Philips van Marnix van Sint-Aldegonde (1540–1598, no compositions survive) *

Johannes Matelart Johannes Matelart (also Matelart, Matellarto, Matelarte and other variations; first name sometimes Ioanne or Jean) (before 1538 – 7 June 1607) was a Flemish composer of the late Renaissance, active in Flanders, Bonn, and Rome. Details of his lif ...

(1538-1607) * Josquin des Prez (c. 1450–1521) *

Jacques de Saint-Luc Jacques de Saint-Luc (baptized 19 September 1616ca. 1710) was a Walloon lutenist and composer. Saint-Luc was born in Ath in 1616; nothing is known about his early years. In 1639 he was invited to become a musician at the court in Brussels, and ...

(1616–c.1710, worked in Paris, Vienna, etc.) *

Nicolas Vallet Nicolas Vallet (also ''Valet''; c. 1583 – c. 1642) was a French lutenist and composer who emigrated to the Dutch Republic. Vallet, a Huguenot, was born at Corbeny, Aisne, but fled around 1613 from France to the Netherlands for unknown reasons. I ...

(c. 1583after 1642, French-born) * Philip van Wilder (c. 15001554)

Germany/Austria

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

(1685–1750) *

Jacques Bittner Jacob Büttner, widely known by the French version of his name Jacques Bittner, (''floruit'' 1680s) was a lutenist and composer of Austro-Bohemian origin. He published 170 pieces for lute in Nuremberg in 1682 and 1683. Little is known about his ...

(fl. 1680) *

Ernst Gottlieb Baron Ernst Gottlieb Baron or Ernst Theofil Baron (17 February 1696 – 12 April 1760), was a German lutenist, composer and writer on music. Baron was born in Breslau into the family of Michael Baron, a maker of gold lace who expected his son to foll ...

(1696–1760) * Adam Falckenhagen (1697–1754) *

Bernhard Joachim Hagen Bernhard Joachim Hagen (April 1720 in or near Hamburg (?) – 9 December 1787 in Ansbach) was a German composer, lutenist and violinist. He was the last important composer of lute music in 18th-century Germany. Life Little is known about his ...

(1720–1787) * Hans Gerle (c.15001570) * Hans Judenkünig (c. 1445/50–1526) * David Kellner (1670–1748) *

Karl Kohaut Karl Ignaz Augustin Kohaut (''Carolus Ignatius Augustinus''; baptised August 26, 1726 – August 6, 1784) was an Austrian lutenist and composer of Czech descent. He is considered (along with Bernhard Joachim Hagen) to be one of the last important ...

(1726–1784) * Johann Kropfgans (1708-1770) * Wolff Jakob Lauffensteiner (1676–1754) * Elias Mertel (c.15611626) *

Hans Neusidler Hans Neusidler (also Neusiedler, Newsidler) (c.1508 – 2 February 1563), was a German composer and lutenist of the Renaissance. Life Neusidler was born in Pressburg (today Bratislava, Slovakia) and first enters the historical record in 1530, ...

(c.1508/091563) * Esaias Reusner (17th century) * Sebastian Anton Scherer (1631–1712, no lute compositions survive) *

Arnolt Schlick Arnolt Schlick (July 18?,Keyl 1989, 110–11. c. 1455–1460 – after 1521) was a German organist, lutenist and composer of the Renaissance. He is grouped among the composers known as the Colorists. He was most probably born in Heidelberg and ...

(c. 1460after 1521) *

Silvius Leopold Weiss Sylvius Leopold Weiss (12 October 168716 October 1750) was a German composer and lutenist. Born in Grottkau near Breslau, the son of Johann Jacob Weiss, also a lutenist, he served at courts in Breslau, Rome, and Dresden, where he died. Until re ...

(1686–1750)

Other countries

Bálint Bakfark Bálint Bakfark (; in contemporary sources Valentin Bakfark or (from 1565 onward) Valentin Greff alias Bakfark, his name is variously spelled as ''Bacfarc'', ''Bakfarc'', ''Bakfarkh'', ''Bakffark'', ''Backuart'') (1526–30 – 15 or 22 August 1 ...

(Hungary, c.1526/301576) *

Diomedes Cato Diomedes Cato (1560 to 1565 – d.1627 in Gdansk) was an Italian-born composer and lute player, who lived and worked entirely in Poland and Lithuania. He is known mainly for his instrumental music. He mixed the style of the late Renaissance with ...

(Italy, 1560/65after 1607 or 1618, active in Poland) * Wojciech Dlugoraj (Poland, 1557/8c.1619) *

Jan Antonín Losy Jan Antonín Losy, Count of Losinthal (German: ''Johann Anton Losy von Losinthal''); also known as Comte d'Logy (''Losi'' or ''Lozi''), (c. 1650 – 22 August 1721) was a Bohemian aristocrat, Baroque lute player and composer from Prague. His lut ...

(Bohemia, c.1643–1721)

20th and 21st centuries

* Dušan Bogdanović (US and Serbia) *

Johann Nepomuk David Johann Nepomuk David (30 November 1895 – 22 December 1977) was an Austrian composer. Life and career David was born in Eferding. He was a choirboy in the monastery of Sankt Florian and studied at an episcopal teacher training college in Linz, ...

(Germany) *

Alexandre Danilevsky Alexandre Danilevski (russian: Александр Данилевский; born in 1957 in Saint Petersburg) is a Russian-born French composer, lutenist, vielle player, active in Metz, France. He is the artistic director of Syntagma, an early m ...

(France and Russia) * Vladimir Vavilov (Russia) * Paulo Galvão (Portugal) * Jacopo Gianninoto (Italy) * Sandor Kallos (Ukraine and Russia) * Ronn McFarlane (US) * Robert MacKillop (Scotland) *

Toyohiko Satoh is a Japanese lutenist and composer. Life and career At Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Satoh studied music history with Tatsuo Minagawa and guitar with Kazuhito Ohosawa. He gave his first guitar recital in the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan concert hall in 19 ...

(Japan and Netherlands) *

Roman Turovsky-Savchuk Roman Turovsky-Savchuk (Ukrainian: Роман Туровський-Савчук) is an American artist-painter, photographer and videoinstallation artist, as well as a lutenist-composer,

(US and Ukraine) * Jozef van Wissem (US/The Netherlands) * Andrei Krylov (Canada and Russia) {{DEFAULTSORT:Composers for lute * Lute