Although he composed roughly one tenth of the pieces in the Thesaurus Harmonicus, Besard was not a professional musician. Educated in law and medicine at the Universities of Dôle and Heidelberg, by around 1600 he had established himself as a lute teacher in Cologne, while continuing to practice as a lawyer and doctor. It has been suggested that he paid for the publication of the Thesaurus by working as an editor of legal texts for his publisher Grevenbruch. Besard later moved to Augsburg where in 1617 he published a second book of lute music, Novus partus, and an expanded edition of his lute tutor in German. Nothing further is known of Besard after this date.

Attempting to condense a collection of music as vast as the Thesaurus Harmonicus into a one hour length recording is a seemingly quixotic endeavour and this in no way claims to be a comprehensive survey of the text. The pieces were chosen for purely personal reasons as being the most interesting, moving and outstanding works I discovered while exploring the book. Much more has been left out than is included in this collection, my intention being to create an expressive musical programme rather than an academic overview.

The Thesaurus Harmonicus contains some of the best-known lute music along with some of the most obscure. Both are presented here. The pieces by Dowland are probably the most famous works for lute, though they contain subtle variations that should make them interesting to even the most experienced listener. Many of the pieces in the collection are extremely short, especially the dance tunes. Tracks 2 and 14 are both formed of three shorter pieces put together to create a longer structure, using one of the dances as the theme in a rondo-esque structure.

1. Praeludium (Lorenzino Romanus)
2. 3 Branles a corde avallee (anon)
3. Canaries (anon)
4. Fantasia (Lorenzino Romanus)
5. Allemande (anon)
6. Courante (anon)
7. Galliarda (Pomponio da Bologna)
8. Praeludium (Lorenzino Romanus)
9. Fantasia (Lachrimae Pavan) (John Dowland)
10. Galliarda (Captain Digorie Piper's Galliard) (John Dowland)
11. Fantasia (John Dowland)
12. Preambel (Lorenzino Romanus)
13. Passamezzo (Jean-Baptiste Besard)
14. 3 Voltes
15. Allemande (Une Jeune Fillette) (Jean-Baptiste Besard)
16. Branle (Jean-Baptiste Besard)

Listen to: the entire album.

Release date: 03/21/2015
James Akers lives in Epsom England

Tagged as: Classical, Renaissance, Instrumental, Composer: Jean-Baptiste Besard, Composer: John Dowland, Composer: Lorenzino Romanus, Lute

1. French Kiss by 1KUB: energetic electro rock, rediscovering and recreating raves
2. Liquid Data by woodrowgerber: indie/electronic pop fusion - for daydreams, nights out, and everything in-between
3. Archive 02 by theDGTL: where hip hop beats meet elements of electronica, soul, jazz, and more
4. A Cocktail of Vibez by 4oresight: Chill Electronica with a Touch of Alternative House and Hip-Hop
5. Final Beats Vol. 2 - Hinterland Milano Crew by Dubmaster Conte: Dub, reggae, electronica, downtempo, chill out, trip hop
6. End of Summer by 4oresight: Chill Electronica with a Touch of Alternative House and Hip-Hop
7. Senescence by Icicle: He Who Sings Thinks No Evil
8. Home in the Light by Destiny Love: Inspirational singer/songwriter music for relaxation
9. Final Beats Vol 3 - Hinterland Milano Crew by Dubmaster Conte: Dub, reggae, electronica, downtempo, chill out, trip hop
10. Broadwood Grand Pianoforte 1809 by Susan Adams: Marvelously played classical piano pieces
11. The Fifth Dimension by Entheogenic Sound Explorers: Dubby, hypnotic ambient with a sense of hope and being
12. Green Transformer by Monom: ethnotronica, World music, electronic, downtempo, ambient techno, dystopia, cinematic, far-east, Australia and Europe
13. Morphogenesis by Musical Mandalas: Electronic guitar meets mandalas with an ambient feel
14. Whisper by Suzanne Teng: world flute with a serene energy
15. Sonic Reflections by Dubmaster Conte: Dub, reggae, electronica, downtempo, chill out, trip hop
16. Mattheson - The Melodious Talking Fingers by Colin Booth: solo harpsichord music
17. Quadretti di una esposizione - 18 Quadretti musicali per violoncello ed orchestra by Vito Paternoster: cellist extraordinaire
18. Affinity by Massimo DeAngelis: original jazz fusion with hints of rock, classical and Latin music
19. Tracks for Film and Television Vol 1 by L2A2: Emotional orchestral compositions for film,television or simply daydreaming
20. Aegean Dreams by Beth Quist: electro-Balkan / Indian meets New Age.

• MP3: High quality MP3 variable-bit-rate files. Most people download these: they are audiophile files that play everywhere.
• ALAC: Perfect quality Apple Lossless format files. If you use iTunes or an iPod, get these. They're an exact audio copy of the original CD, and include the CD artwork and artist info. This is the same format as High Definition audio provided by the iTunes store.
• AAC: High quality Apple Audio Codec files. If you use iTunes or an iPod, these files sound great and include CD art and artist info. This is the standard format provided by the iTunes music store.
• WAV: Perfect quality WAV files. This format works everywhere, and is an exact audio copy of the original CD. It sounds fantastic. Album art and artist info is unfortunately not possible with this format.
• FLAC Perfect quality open source FLAC files. This is an open source audio format. It is an exact copy of the original CD, and includes CD artwork and artist info. Works great on Linux, VLC and many audio players based on open source.
• OGG: High quality open source OGG files. This is an open source audio format. It is a compressed (smaller file size) version of the original CD, and includes CD artwork and artist info. Works great on Linux, VLC and many audio players based on open source.
• 128k: Medium quality 128K MP3 files. These are medium audio quality MP3 files that will work on every device. The audio quality is good enough for most uses. These files are intended for cases where you want to conserve disk space.