Hopkinson Smith’s many recordings have been widely praised. The press universally acclaimed the CD of his lute arrangements of the Bach solo violin sonatas and partitas, released in 2000. Gramophone called it “the best recording of these works on any instrument.” His recording of John Dowland’s music, issued in 2005 won a Diapason d’Or (a monthly recommendation of outstanding discs given by reviewers in the French magazine Diapason), and a New York Times review noted it as “wonderfully personal.” His recording of music from the world of Francesco da Milano, a Milanese lutenist, 1497-1543, who worked in Rome, was honored with a 2009 Diapason d’Or de l’Année — a more prestigious, yearly award, the French equivalent of a Grammy. It was called “the first recording to do justice to Francesco’s reputation.” In 2013 a CD with the first three Bach cello suites played on the German theorbo also won a Diapason d’Or, and BBC Music Magazine called it “totally riveting.” “Mad Dog,” which highlights the Golden Age of English lute music, won another Diapason d’Or, and the BBC called it “mesmerizing.” CSEM presented Hopkinson Smith in a concert of this music several years ago. Finally, Mr. Smith’s most recent recording, “Bright and Early,” has just been released. It is devoted to the very first sources of Italian music for the Renaissance lute, with works by Spinacino and Dalza printed in Venice in 1507 and 1508. These will be the focus of CSEM’s concert on April 19th.

Hopkinson Smith has performed widely and given master classes in Eastern and Western Europe, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Korea and Japan, sometimes combining the lifestyle of a hermit with that of a gypsy. In 2007 and 2009, he gave concerts and workshops in Palestine under the auspices of the Barenboim-Said Foundation and the Swiss Arts Council. He has also been honored with many awards. In 2010 he received the music prize from the Italian Region of Puglia, with the inscription “maestro dei maestri, massimo interprete delle musiche per liuto dell’antica Europa Mediterranea.” He was the 2015 winner of the music prize from the city of Petrer in the province of Alicante, Spain. In 2018 he was honored by the International Festival of Taxco in Mexico, and in 2021 he received the Chitarra d’Oro award from the Convegno Internazionale de la Chitarra in Milan. He teaches in Basel, Switzerland, at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.

Dalza (1508)

• Caldibi castigliano
• Caldibi Saltarello (reconstruction)

Dalza, Franciscus Bossinensis and Spinacino

• Poi che volse la mia stella (Dalza, 1508); intabulation of a frottola for 4 voices by Bartolomeo Tromboncino (in Frottole, Libro III, Venice, Ottaviano Petrucci, 1504, fol. XIX)
• Io non compro più speranza (Franciscus Bossinensis, Tenori e contrabassi intabulati I, Venice, Ottaviano Petrucci, 1509, fol. XLV); intabulation of a frottola by Marchetto Cara (in Frottole, Libro I, Venice, Ottaviano Petrucci, 1504, fol. X)
• Recercare 6 (Spinacino, 1507)
• Piva alla veneziana (Dalza, 1508)

**** Pause ****

From the Parisian prints of Pierre Attaingnant, 1529 and 1530

• Tant que vivray
• Sauterelle
• Branle de Poictou
• Destre amoureux
• Branle gay — Cest mon ami

Dalza and Spinacino

• Recercare 4 (Spinacino, 1507)
• Recercare 9 (Spinacino, 1507)
• Piva alla ferrarese (Dalza, 1508)

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Renaissance lute by Joel van Lennep, Boston, 1977 :
Six courses with octave stringing on the 3rd to 6th courses,
for "ringing clarity and brighter resonance"
The original sources for this program may be seen online at IMSLP.

But Spinacino’s tablatures are full of mistakes. There are passages of great coherence where one can clearly sense elements of a charismatic genius; and then there are absurd non-sequiturs, missing measures, and loose ends begging to be reconnected. (I have a theory as to how this might have occurred.) The narrative aspects of his Ricercare seem to evoke tales of soldiers and sailors in far-off lands or the pains of love and loss through an improvisatory style coming out of the polyphonic practice of the late 15th century. The challenge for the interpreter here is first of all to reconstruct a coherent text where the lacunae are filled out and disparate ideas are clarified and reconnected.

The music of Zoan Ambrosio Dalza is the perfect complement to the free-form Ricercare of Spinacino. Most of his pieces are directly inspired by popular dances arranged in suite-like groupings. His energy, invention and virtuoso flourishes are always present, and aficionados of Country Music will find some passage-work here that has an occasional hint of Bluegrass. Dalza states that his printed pieces are often somewhat simplified versions and that he would publish more elaborate variants in a later book. [There is no trace of this]. Taking the lead from Dalza, I have felt free to add diminutions and variations to most of his pieces.

Alternating with Spinacino and Dalza will be music from the first French lute tablatures. The two collections printed in 1529 and 1530 by Pierre Attaingnant contain improvisatory preludes, dance music—some requiring great lightness of touch, others with clear Celtic roots—as well as some of the most beautiful chanson settings ever.

The program will be played on a six-course lute with octave stringing on the 3rd through 6th courses. This solution, with its ringing clarity and brighter resonance, comes out of a late 15th-century tradition and is implied by the music itself.