Le Luth Doré

29/10/2026

Nigel North turns Dowland's complete works into a performer's edition

Completeness alone does not make an edition useful to performers. Dowland’s music survives through variants, reconstructions, duets and competing editorial choices. The real challenge is to shape this material without losing its musical coherence. Nigel North’s edition does precisely that: it transforms the complete corpus into a practical and coherent path for study and performance.

Discover the edition:
https://leluthdore.com/en/products/john-dowland-the-complete-works-for-lute-solo-and-duet

27/10/2026

Weiss: London, Dresden and Moscow in one editorial collection

London, Dresden and Moscow form three principal manuscript sources for the lute music of Silvius Leopold Weiss. Le Luth Doré brings them together in eight volumes: two for London, five for Dresden and one for Moscow. Prepared by Jean-Daniel Forget and Guy Grangereau, with scholarly contributions from Markus Lutz, these editions connect the surviving sources with the work of today’s lutenists.

Read the full article:
https://leluthdore.com/en/blogs/journal/weiss-manuscrits-londres-dresde-moscou

19/10/2026

Pre-orders are open for Peter Croton’s Renaissance lute method!

A warm thank you to everyone who has already reserved a copy. Your support and trust mean a great deal to us.

Would you like to learn more about the book and support its reprint?

• Discover Peter Croton’s lute methods in our article
https://leluthdore.com/en/blogs/journal/peter-croton-art-du-luth-methodes-historiques

• Pre-order your copy of the Renaissance lute method
https://leluthdore.com/en/products/method-renaissance-lute-croton

Le Luth Doré

09/10/2026

The essential landmarks of Peter Croton’s methods

Two books, two historical worlds: the Renaissance lute and the Baroque lute. Croton’s pedagogy gives the player clear landmarks: tablature, polyphony, touch, repertory, continuo, dance rhythm, ornamentation, and historical fi*****ng. These are not abstract topics; they are the practical tools that allow a modern lutenist to enter the music with style and understanding.

Read the full article:
https://leluthdore.com/en/blogs/journal/peter-croton-art-du-luth-methodes-historiques

08/10/2026

Why is BWV 995 central to Bach on the lute?

Bach's relationship with the lute is not a simple catalogue fact. His autograph of BWV 995 is written in staff notation and preserves a reworking of the C-minor Cello Suite BWV 1011. A separate mid-eighteenth-century adaptation in French lute tablature was copied by an unidentified scribe; it transmits Bach’s music but is not in Bach’s hand. Nigel North's edition uses that evidence as a point of departure. It asks how Bach's textures can become playable on the Baroque lute without flattening their contrapuntal argument. That is why Bach on the Lute is not only a transcription project, but a study of what the lute can genuinely carry.

Read the full article:
https://leluthdore.com/en/blogs/journal/bach-on-the-lute-nigel-north

05/10/2026

We are delighted to share a new article from the Italian arts and culture weekly Punto e Linea Magazine, written by Francesco Rampichini and dedicated to Nigel North and Bach on the Lute.

The article presents the two-volume Le Luth Doré edition, with Nigel answering six questions about Bach, the lute, and the ideas and musical research behind the project.

A fascinating insight into Nigel’s approach to Bach and the work that led to Bach on the Lute.

Read the article:

L’esordio della prefazione a questi due ampi e – diciamo subito – magnifici volumi è perentorio: «ci è chiaro oggi, nel XXI secolo, che Bach non suonò mai il liuto».…

12/08/2026

BWV 995 anchors the history of Bach on the lute

Bach on the Lute begins with a historical question: which works truly belong to the lute, and how should the uncertain ones be played?

Read the full article:
https://leluthdore.com/en/blogs/journal/bach-on-the-lute-nigel-north

02/06/2026

Why does Dowland still move us?

400 years after his death, John Dowland remains a defining voice of the Renaissance lute. His works for lute solo and duet stand at the centre of a repertory shaped by melancholy, refinement, and expressive clarity.

Edited by Nigel North, this complete urtext edition brings together Dowland’s lute works in a form conceived for serious study and performance.

Read more:
https://leluthdore.com/en/blogs/journal/john-dowland-complete-works-lute-solo-duet

01/06/2026

Did Bach write for the lute?

Few questions in Bach scholarship have generated more discussion. While several celebrated works are traditionally associated with the lute, their relationship to the instrument remains the subject of continuing debate among performers, musicologists, and historians.

In Bach on the Lute, Nigel North explores this issue through the surviving sources, the characteristics of the instrument itself, and the broader context of eighteenth-century musical practice.

Read more:
https://leluthdore.com/en/blogs/journal/bach-on-the-lute-nigel-north

01/06/2026

Did Bach write for the lute?

One of the most debated questions in Bach scholarship.

In this article, Nigel North examines the relationship between Bach’s music and plucked instruments, drawing on decades of performance, research and editorial work.

Read the full article:

https://leluthdore.com/en/blogs/journal/bach-on-the-lute-nigel-north

Le Luth Doré® Urtext Editions