Sebastian Ochsenkun’s Tabulature Book for Lute, with its Latin motets, German psalms and songs, and Italian and French pieces, was published in 1558 as a collection of contemporary vocal music arranged for solo instrumentalist. Josquin des Préz is the most prominently represented composer, but other renowned composers, such as Nicolas Gombert from the Spanish court of Emperor Charles V and Ioannes Mouton from the court of King Francis I of France, can be heard on this recording as well.
Ochsenkun was the lutenist of Prince Elector Ottheinrich of the Palatinate. Rising to a technically challenging task, he always produced the complete texture for his instrument by transcribing all the voices into lute tablature where contemporaries settled for two or three. Nevertheless, Ochsenkun’s intabulations are excellently suited for having a voice sing to them, as demonstrated on this recording. Renowned singers Dorothee Mields and Jan Kobow join for several tracks. Viewed historically, Ochsenkun’s work is regarded as testimony to the high level of lute playing during the middle years of the sixteenth century in Southern Germany. With his aspiration to high quality, he reaches beyond his times and his instrument to touch us today.
