Search - Silvius Leopold Weiss :: Weiss: Lute Sonatas (Transcribed for Guitar) [Box Set]

The aim of this project is to transcribe for classical concert guitar the surviving lute and theorbo sonatas of Silvius Leopold Weiss (1686-1750), taking into consideration modern performance and compositional techniques. Weiss was a first-rate composer and a contemporary of Bach, although Weiss was by far the more famous of the two during their lifetime. His twenty-nine surviving works are on a level with the great piano concertos of their age. The only reason for the swift disappearance of Weiss's music from the concert repertoire soon after his death was the speed with which the instruments for which he wrote (the lute and theorbo) became obsolete. Kurt Schneeweiss graduated in classical concert guitar from the Robert Schumann Conservatory of his native city Düsseldorf in 1987, after which he continued his studies at Bonn University's Institute of Musicology. Dedicated to expanding the existing guitar repertoire, Schneeweiss has made guitar versions of Weiss's sonatas, works that are second to none in their genius and that were written for a very similar instrument. In this way he believes he can create world-class repertoire while retaining the characteristics of genuine guitar music.