The Moscow "Weiss" Manuscript

The music of the great lutenist Silvius Leopold Weiss (1686-1750), the exact contemporary and friend of J.S. Bach, is at last becoming increasingly well known through recordings. The present MS, unknown in the West until 1963, was published in 1976 in an eccentric edition which is now out of print. Important recent research on the MS shows that it could not have been compiled during Weiss’s lifetime, nor in his home city of Dresden, but at least a decade after his death and in Russia. The present edition aims to put the music in that context, and to explain some of its unusual features. An attempt has been made to distinguish between music that is definitely by Weiss, and music that might not be. This is an exceptional collection of excellent lute music, and some of the pieces are among Weiss’s finest work. The edition is presented in two formats: a photographic reproduction and a transcription into staff notation. 168 pp. including 55 facsimile pages in half-tone, reproduced at 85% of original size and a full transcription presented in grand-staff notation for the lute.