Luogo e data di registrazione		Studio du Domaine de Vernou, Indre-et-Loire (Francia) - novembre 1976
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer		Michel Bernstein
	Recording Supervision		Dr. Thomas Gallia, Milan
	Edizione LP		TELEFUNKEN - 6.42328 AP - (1 LP - durata 54' 00") - (p) 1977 - Analogico
	Originale LP		ASTRÉE - AS 15 - (1 LP - durata 54' 00") - (p) 1977 - Analogico
	Prima Edizione CD		ASTRÉE - E 7735 - (1 CD - durata 54' 00") - (c) 1989/1990 - AAD
	Note		Produced by Astrée

When the instrument used in this recording left the Venice workshop of Pietro Railich in the year 1644, lute making by German craftsmen in Italy had already seen a tradition going back some hundred and fifty years. Among the earliest lute makers in Italy of whom there is documentary evidence are Laux, Sigismund Maler and Hans Frei, all in Bologna, and Marx Unverdorben in Venice. Their products were highly esteemed bu the nobility and musicians of the time and established the foundations of the fame of Italian lute construction. Their characteristic elements are the long frawn shape of the body and narrow neck, usually accomodating 6 courses (eleven strings). Padua, in addition to Bologna and Venice, became a further centre for lute making, and it was here also that some members of the Tieffenbrucker settled down. Probably the most productive among them was Wendelin Tieffenbrucker, who was active in the period around 1600. Many instruments from his workshop can still be found today in museums and private collections. Similarly, his contemporary Michael Hartung is also regarded as one of the best lute makers of his age. In the second decade of the 17th century Venice became a lively centre where a large number of German lute makers worked, among them Matteo and Giorgio Sellas, Christoph Hoch, Giovanni Hieber, Martinus Kaiser and Pietro Railich. Many of these instruments are conspicuous for the particularly round contours of the body, recalling pictures of lutes of the 15th century. Our instrument from Pietro Railich's workshop is also one of these. The instrument, beloging to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, is in addition to some chitarroni and guitars, presumably the onsly extant lute from the workshop of Pietro Railich. It is signed as follows: PIETRO RAILICH ALLA GIOIA VENETIA 1644. The rear of the body flattens out considerably. 15 ribs made of rosewood with ivory inserts in between form the back. A rosette with a geometrical ornamentand floral elements has been carved in the spruce belly. The neck, made of a soft wood, has a rosewood and ivory veneer on the reserve side, like the back of the instrument, and possesses 9 catgut frets, which were tuned to medium pitch for this recording. The peg-box, arranged at the rear just like the back, has 20 pegs (that for the cantino is located in a different position). The instrument has 11 courses, of which the two upper ones are singly and the others doubly stringed. It is tuned A - d - f - a - d' - f' for the six highest courses, while those beloware adapted in diatonic sequence to the particular key. The American lutenist Hopkinson Smith, who now lives in Basle, is known for the fact that does research work into early music and treats the repertoire of music of the renaissance and the baroque periods in France, Germany, England and Spain with a new musical approach. As a pupil of Emilio Pujol and Eugen M. Dombois, he worked with Alfred Deller, Desmond Dupré and the Studio of Early Music. In 1972 he acquired his music diploma at Harvard University and then devoted himself to studying Latin American music, thanks to a Harvard University schilarship. In the same year he was awarded the Erwin Bodky Prize for his interpretation of early music. Hopkinson Smith is a member of the Ensemble Hespérion XX, he works at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and has a given concert performances throughout Switzerland, Germany, France, England, Italy, Spain and Yugoslavia. (English translation by Frederick A. Bishop)