On Wednesday evening, May 28, Ronald Weering will give a lute concert in the Choir of the Martinikerk.
He has given the concert the title Les Larmes . The program includes works by Gallot, Gaultier, Reusner, Fresneau and Weiss.

'It is grave and serious music for modest and solemn persons and for the cabinet rather than a public occasion. This instrument demands silence and serious attention' (from the Burwell lute tutor)

The program consists of works for 11-course baroque lute. The instrument was developed in France and was very popular there in the seventeenth century. After some experimenting with different tunings, a standard tuning in re minor was eventually arrived at. This new tuning with more thirds made it possible to play the so-called 'style brisé' or broken style. This tuning was already in use by René Mezangeau (1568-1638), probably the teacher of Ennemond Gaultier (1575-1651), both pioneers on the instrument. The work of these French composers (who should not go unmentioned: Jacques de Gallot, Charles Mouton and François Dufaut) was imitated in Germany where composers such as Esaias Reusner (1636-1679) and Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1686-1750) further developed the genre. The 'tombeau de Mezangeau' is probably the first instrumental tribute to a deceased teacher/fellow musician. In this case by Ennemond Gaultier to his deceased teacher/colleague Mezangeau. The obscure composer Johannes Fresneau (1615-1670) was a French/Dutch baroque lutenist who lived and worked in Leiden from 1637. His work has been found in various manuscripts spread across Europe.